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Back in Central Florida Fishing Report

September 4, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Back in Central Florida Fishing Report

Two weeks ago in my last fishing report I wrote, “I am taking a bye week next week. No fishing will happen because of travel, unpacking, reunion with family and friends, and sorting through all the business that I’ve ignored for the past three months. See you in two weeks!”

central Florida fishing report

On the ferryboat to Ketchkan: Jess, Jonathan, Nuttapong, and yours truly.

 

central Florida fishing report

Sunset at the Seattle airport.

Those two weeks are up and here we are again! And it is good to be home!

After returning home, some time was spent unpacking. One of the things that had to be unpacked was a cooler full of frozen fish, both salmon and halibut. I smoked some salmon, and made a side of gravlax.   Both turned out deliciously!

The boats had to be cleaned up and re-stocked, made ready to fish. That job was finished on Monday for the Mitzi.

Tuesday morning found me launching the boat on the Indian River Lagoon. The first order of business was to see if any big tarpon were around. There were none that I could find. I did find some little ones and got a bite on a DOA CAL shad tail, which was missed. I don’t know if he missed or I did, but at any rate there was no hookup.

That same shad tail also accounted for four redfish (all low-end slot fish) and one seatrout. There were reasonable numbers of fish, although they were very spooky. It was nice to pick right up again after being gone for three months, though.

Wednesday morning found the Mitzi being launched at Port Canaveral. If the parking lot was any indication there was not much going on. I ran south down the beach. The weather was awesome but the water was very dirty. Some mullet were in the surf south of the pier. There were a few big tarpon busting them at one place but it was scattered and quickly ended.

I went out to sea a bit and headed north. One quick school of tunny busted about a mile of the beach, a flurry that only lasted two or three seconds. All the way to Cape Canaveral that was all I saw.

Along the beach at the Cape the mullet were quite thick, enough so that I got the net out and caught some bait for future reference. There was nothing eating them other than pelicans that I could see.

The boat was back on the trailer at about 2 PM. I hadn’t seen many fish and certainly didn’t touch one.

Thursday was errand day.

Friday the Old Town went bass fishing on the St. Johns. It was slow, but I did get this fish on a popper:

central Florida fishing report

If this fish was all I caught it would have been worth the trip.

 

central Florida fishing report

These big mayflies must have hatched yesterday. The nymphal shucks were everywhere.

 

central Florida fishing report

Dragonflies have been hatching too, apparently.

Otherwise a half dozen yearlings was all I had to show for about five hours of searching and casting.

I try never to go off my property on Labor Day weekend, but I certainly hope you enjoy the time off, no matter what you choose to do.

And that is the Back in Central Florida Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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The Godsey Whale Pass Fishing Report

August 8, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

The Godsey Whale Pass Fishing Report

The Godseys are a family. Although we had other guests, eight Godseys spent the entire week here. Thus the Godsey Whale Pass Fishing Report.

Official sign of the week:

whale pass fishing report

You’ll see this sign on the road into Whale Pass.

Monday I had half the Godsey clan. We got some halibut, black cod, Pacific cod, and pink and coho salmon. It was good.

whale pass fishing report

Alder with a kid-sized halibut.

I am figuring out how to catch the ocean salmon (both pinks and silvers) on spinning tackle. We sight-fish them, after a fashion. Salmon jump, like mullet do. When we see them jump, we cast to them. The lures of choice are the Sting Silver, from Haw River Tackle Company, and the DOA CAL jig, 3/8 ounce, with a three inch DOA CAL shad tail #308, Glow with holographic flake belly. I am 100 percent certain I could catch them with flies too. Experimentation on this front has been impossible with the children on board.

 

whale pass fishing report

Two of the Godsey brothers with another kid-sized ‘but.

Tuesday I ran a glacier trip without the Godseys. The Peters and the Levines joined us for that one. Fog covered the Sumner Strait on the way, making navigation a challenge. In spite of that, we made it to Petersburg without incident, and then on to the LaConte Glacier. It was still there, and put on a good show. Then they went kayaking.

whale pass fishing report

For the iceberg fans- they get pretty darned big.

 

whale pass fishing report

For the iceberg fans- they get pretty darned big!

 

whale pass fishing report

Paddling with icebergs, always cooool.

On the way home I stopped in Petersburg again to pick up supplies for the Lodge. While waiting for the van for a ride back to the dock a car pulled up. The driver asked me, “Want a ride?” He turned out to be Don Holmes, who runs the M/V Juno out of Petersburg on glacier trips and other non-consumptive charters- kayaking, hiking, whale-watching, etc. Great guy, very knowledgeable. Thank you for the ride, sir!

Wednesday the Godseys went to the glacier. The weather was absolutely spectacular and the glacier was calving like crazy. Awesome day.

Thursday the Godseys went to Memorial Beach, hoping to catch some Dolly varden. The forecast called for a southeast wind, but it was blowing hard out of the northeast. The waves were high, the water was dirty, and the fishing was blown out. We got some pink salmon along the ride back.

Friday the Godseys were again on the Blashke. Although fishing was slow, we picked up four halibut, several Pacific and black cod, and a few salmon. We had to negotiate fog to get out to the fishing grounds. Once we were there, the scene was ethereal- floating in the fog, whales blowing all around us. The fog would thin out. Long, twisted strands of vapor floated above the water’s surface, moving slowly in step with the cosmic beat. Then the fog would thicken again, and the shoreline would once again disappear.
Once the fog finally cleared, the whales were still all around us. One surfaced within 100 feet of us. They are enormous, magnificent, amazing animals. It turned out to be a whale-watching day with a side of fishing.

whale pass fishing report

Another Godsey halibut.

 

whale pass fishing report

The whales are amazing.

Saturday all the guests left. The next batch comes in on Sunday.

And that is the Godsey Whale Pass Fishing Report from Spotted Tail and the Lodge at Whale Pass.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Wind and Clouds North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

May 29, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Wind and Clouds North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

No fishing around this week. Three days out, all on the Indian River Lagoon. Solid east winds and clouds hampered our efforts every day.

Monday I stayed home, in my humble opinion the best thing to do on Memorial Day weekend. Aubrey Thompson is going to Alaska so I tied some flies for him. When I emailed him to ask where he wanted them sent, we had the following “conversation”:

AT- You are a gentleman! And that, by the way, is the highest compliment I know.

JK- i don’t usually get accused of that. something to do with growing up outside of boston…

AT- One of the finest gentlemen I ever knew was poor, black, a convicted murderer, and not intimately familiar with conventional habits of hygiene. I do not, of course, mean to suggest that any of these practices apply to you.

JK- he wasn’t from boston though, was he?

AT- No. He may have been a convicted murderer, but he wasn’t a Yankee.

I found it amusing enough to share. And Aubrey, thank you for the compliment.

Anyway, Tuesday Rodney Smith joined me for some IRL angling. His first fish was a nice red, slot fish, DOA CAL jerk bait.

indian river lagoon fishing report

Rodney and the DOA- a deadly combination.

On my turn I missed two nice trout in a row, then managed to stick a little 12 incher, all on a minnow fly. On Rodney’s next turn he missed three trout in a row, and before we could switch places he nailed a nice three pound fish on the same fly. The plan was for a short day, so we then went home.

indian river lagoon fishing report

Rodney’s trout was respectable if not a trophy. Clouds obviously were an issue.

Thursday Anton Faith’s fishing education continued. We went to the IRL and checked some spots I hadn’t looked at in a long time. One was OK, the other not. I was tossing a DOA CAL jerkbait, Anton a Bass Assassin. We each got a redfish, slot fish.

indian river lagoon fishing report

Anton was very happy with his redfish. Clouds again!

I missed three trout in a row and in fact did not get one. Anton also missed a strike. Our hookup to miss ratio was not good. But Anton did get his first-ever fish on an artificial lure, a great achievement. No, you don’t have to rely on bait!

Friday’s charter was father and son. Dad was Col. Carl O’Hall, US Army (ret), son was Carl O’Hall, Esq., on the IRL! We had a bite and a miss early on a surface plug. Then Carl the Younger got a handsome trout on a DOA CAL jerkbait.

indian river lagoon fishing report

Speaking of happy, here’s Carl with his seatrout. Smile! The clouds showed up shortly afterwards.

Then he missed another one on the same bait. Then he hooked and lost a redfish while using a Johnson Minnow. Again, our hookup to miss ratio was not good. I ought to get the hook file out and do some lazer points on my hooks…

indian river lagoon fishing report

Then we had a little manatee encounter.

We saw plenty of fish this week. Other than on Tuesday they were not very aggressive and seemed to have their radar on for boat detection. It was challenging but entertaining. I look forward to the coming week!

And that is this week’s Wind and Clouds North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

May 23, 2015 by · 1 Comment

orlando fishing report

Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

Please take some time this weekend to consider the sacrifices made by so many, so that we can enjoy the lifestyle we have. And have a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

As seems to be the habit lately, I did some fishing around this week. Generally it was good. A tactical error prevented many fish from being caught one day.

I apologize for the quality of the photos. We did not have any beautiful models available. No offense, Aubrey!

Monday found Anton Faith and I out in the Bang-O-Craft, on the Indian River Lagoon. Some snook had been discovered last week and I wanted another crack at them. All the fish at that spot were gone, including the snook. Sad!

We went to another spot I had been wanting to check. Bingo! No snook, but lots of nice seatrout. This is where the tactical error occurred. Anton doesn’t fish much and I brought frozen mullet for bait. I filleted them, then cut the fillets into strips. You can’t throw them very far. The fish were spooking before we could get into range. The one fish we got came on a 3″ DOA CAL Shad tail.

Tuesday morning Scott Radloff and I launched the Mitzi at Port Canaveral. There was a lot of Sargassum in the water. I was guardedly optimistic. There was almost no bait and we did not find any fish. The water off Cocoa Beach is very dirty. We pulled the boat at 10 AM and went to the Indian River Lagoon.

orlando fishing report

The jerkbait was an almost brilliant choice.

Remembering my tactical error from the previous day, I opted to try a 5.5″ DOA CAL jerk bait, since the fish eat it and I can throw it a long way. It was an almost brilliant choice. Between us we got over a dozen nice trout and reds. We were done a little after 2 PM.

orlando fishing report

No fish were harmed in the making of this photo.

Has anyone noticed how hot it’s been? Thunderstorms are becoming a daily affair. It will start cooling off around October. Welcome to the long, hot, Florida summer!

Wednesday found me up at the Villages, at the request of the Tri-County Fly Fishers, a very active and nice group of people. We discussed fishing opportunities in the Indian River Lagoon system for an hour or two, after which I drove home again. Thanks to all of you for having me up there.

A couple months back I blogged about the Sevylor inflatable kayak, which had been purchased to access a remote spot on the St. Johns River. For some unfathomable reason I decided to drag an Ocean Kayak Prowler back there on Thursday. I would drag the boat 100 yards and stop to catch my breath. Then I would do it again. And again. Ad infinitum. It took way too long. The entire time this song flowed through my mind:

I got a mule. Her name is Sal.

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.

She’s a good old worker and a good old pal.

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.

It was a feasibility study. I think if I were 26 instead of 62 it might be feasible. As it is I won’t be doing it again, I don’t need exercise that badly. I’m no mule! Anyway, the bass were biting, but they were all small ones. The best one I got maybe hit 13 inches, all but one hit the gurgler in the photo.

orlando fishing report

This fish was not worth dragging the kayak a half mile.

orlando fishing report

The killer fly, a gurgler.

 

On Friday Aubrey Thompson, Ph.D., fly fisher, joined me on the Indian River Lagoon. Man, we saw some fish. They were not eating very well. Aubrey managed a half dozen bites, only one of which posed for photos. It was a right solid trout, right at 26 inches!

orlando fishing report

 

 

orlando fishing report

Come to me!

 

orlando fishing report

A solid trout at 26 inches.

orlando fishing report

And the release shot.

And that is this week’s Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog

www.johnkumiski.com

www.rentafishingbuddy.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report

April 18, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report

Blog posts this week-

–Mystery Tackle Box a Winner

–How to Tie the Electric Sushi Fly

Electric Sushi

Electric Sushi

Summer in Alaska is not too far off. One of the things I would like to do this summer is figure out how to catch salmon in the ocean on fly. If any readers have any insight into this, I sure would like to hear from you.

OK, fishing. Wednesday Scott Radloff joined me for an Atlantic Ocean trip out of Port Canaveral. The ocean was a little snotty, and there was a high rain chance. We went to the Cape. The acres of bluefish were gone. But the water along the beach was calmer than in Canaveral Bight so we stayed there. Casting jigs we got steady action from ladyfish, bluefish, and jack crevalle.

Scott put a ladyfish chunk on his big rod, hoping to get a tarpon bite. He hooked a shark in the six to seven foot range instead. We had to use the boat to chase it down. He had it on for at least fifteen minutes, but the fish finally snapped his 50 pound braid. He hooked two other sharks but they both cut him off quickly.

orlando fishing report

Scott battles the brute. The brute won.

I got another bite on the bucktail jig, but this time it was a real fish. Weren’t we surprised when a 70-80 pound tarpon came flying out of the water! I may have been a little undergunned with the outfit I was using, but the fish threw the jig on its third jump. But I jumped a tarpon on April 15, the earliest day ever for me on this coast.

Thursday and Friday I was part of a three boat charter arranged by Capt. Chris Myers, on Mosquito Lagoon. The water is definitely a brown color now. I did not see any clear water at all. That and all the clouds made sight fishing next to impossible- except when tails were showing. Fishing was not fast but by using cut ladyfish we managed two slot redfish and a bunch of hardheads. We got a few short trout on the DOA Deadly Combo, too. Not spectacular but better than a skunking.

Friday saw us out with the same crew, and Rock Man was with me again. He got the first red of the day, a pretty 10 pound fish, in the first 15 minutes.

orlando fishing report

Rock plays a fish on a spectacular morning.

 

orlando fishing report

Noah records Rock’s redfish for posterity.

 

orlando fishing report

Rock and his redfish…

He would end up getting three more reds and a black drum besides. Noah managed a slot red, too. And of course since we were using cut bait there were catfish involved. Again, not spectacular but certainly acceptable.

orlando fishing report

Noah got in on the action, too.

 

orlando fishing report

Just before we finished Rock boated this beauty.

It’s been raining this week, every afternoon. I went to check the Econ this morning, thinking about fishing there. It is blown out, the water having risen almost five vertical feet. Guess I won’t be fishing there for a while.

And that is this week’s Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

 

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog

www.johnkumiski.com

www.rentafishingbuddy.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

 

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report

April 12, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report

Last week an attempt was made to almost poetically describe how lucky those of us who live and fish in central Florida are. This week again re-emphasises that fact. Fact! Not fiction! Not opinion! FACT!!!

So Monday the Sevylor inflatable kayak got pumped up and somewhat unceremoniously dumped into my favorite St. Johns River location. The Sevylor reminded me again how lucky we are to have fairly rigid plastic kayaks for most of the paddling we want to do. That thing paddles so badly. Anyway, the bite was not hot. Five bass came to hand, all on surface flies, in about four hours. The place was just too quiet. No surface activity, no alligators, it just didn’t look right. That’s OK, I’ll be back.

About noon on Tuesday the Ocean Kayak was dropped into the Econlockhatchee. Shortly afterwards I hopped in and we went off down the river.

Godzilla lives there, no kidding. There are some gawdawful big alligators there.

The bass bite again was not hot, although I certainly caught some. Once I switched to streamers I did a little better. Certainly the redbellies and stumpknockers were aggressive.

orlando fishing report

Redbelly on Electric Sushi. What else could happen?

 

orlando fishing report

How about redbelly on sexy fly?

At one point the kayak was pulled up on the bank so I could wade along a sandbar and cast to the shoreline. When the bar ended I turned and headed back upriver to where the kayak waited patiently for me. As soon as I had turned around a fat garfish glided gracefully across the bar, only about 15 feet away. The streamer landed a foot in front of him. One twitch and WHAM! He hit it like a barracuda, just an awesome strike. I actually hooked and landed him, one of two I got.

orlando fishing report

How about spotted gar on sexy fly??

With a small bluegill popper or rubber spider you could easily have 40 or 50 fish days there right now. Please let me know if you’d like me to show you.

orlando fishing report

This bass took an ugly foam gurgler.

orlando fishing report

Same fish, different angle. It was a decent sized one.

Wednesday the Bang-O-Craft was launched at River Breeze for some scouting for my Thursday/Friday charter. The water is low, but in most places it’s also kind of dirty. I saw a fish here, a couple fish there, and managed to successfully sight cast two nice redfish into submission using a silver Johnson Minnow. I got a lot of fish on the DOA Deadly Combo but all of them were small ones. Still, enough fish were observed that I thought we had a reasonable chance of catching a few over the next couple of days.

Thursday Dr. Jim Colgan and Dr. Bill Thomas joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Good guess if you said we launched the Mitzi at River Breeze. With the exception of a single anemic seatrout caught using the Deadly Combo, we got our only fish, a rather anemic-looking 15 inch red, at about 2 PM, on a Johnson Minnow. We maybe saw a dozen fish all day. Yeah, it was not a skunking but it was dangerously close, certainly a real tough day. The good doctors decided that they had had enough fun and declined the option on Friday.

With my newly opened up Friday I decided to use the kayak to really explore a place I had unsuccessfully dabbled in several years earlier. My Friday attitude was, “If there are fish here I will find them.”

The paddle was lovely with lots of birds. I got to watch skimmers skimming, coots cooting, and bald eagles bald eagling. The only fish I found, however, were Gambusia and mullet. The experiment, although extremely pleasant, failed.

 

My friend Tammy has a job and can only fish on weekends. Even though I don’t like fishing weekends I do like fishing with Tammy, so Saturday morning an 830 we launched the Mitzi at Port Canaveral and went out onto a somewhat snotty Atlantic hoping to find tripletail. We did not find one. But we did find acres of bluefish, with lots of crevalle jacks and a few big ladyfish thrown in. All these denizens of the deep attracted a load of big sharks, too. We lost a couple hooked fish to shark attacks and hooked several big sharks on chunks of ladyfish.

Tammy used a big ChugBug until a shark relieved her of it, then used a Mirrolure. A jack tore the back hook off and she kept right on catching fish with it. I used several Upperman jigs. I’m pretty sure anything with a hook would have worked. The fish were REAL numerous and REAL aggressive. We had a wonderful time.

orlando fishing report

The fish were plentiful and aggressive.

And that is this week’s Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog

www.johnkumiski.com

www.rentafishingbuddy.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

 

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report

April 3, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report

A blessed Easter to all the Christians out there.

Although it’s not saying much, we found way more fish this week than last.

It started on Monday, when on a solo trip the kayak was launched on the Banana River Lagoon. The wind was light and there were no clouds. In some clean water, holy cow, there was an honest-to-God school of redfish, at least 100. They were small ones, about 24 inches, but I got four- two on a pink Electric Sushi and two on a brown slider. Then they made themselves scarce.

Orlando Fishing report

For those wondering what Electric Sushi is, here’s a real bad picture of one.

Orlando Fishing report

Sushi would not be my first choice in redfish flies. This red did not know that.

Orlando Fishing report

Another red, on the more traditional Slider.

In the meantime I had seen some nice seatrout lying sunning themselves. The next several hours were spent sight-casting to fish that were averaging about 25 inches long. Four different flies were tried, all unweighted minnow imitations- Electric Sushi, Polar Fibre Minnow, EP Streamer, and SexyFly. All worked. It was an awesome day that came to an end too quickly.

Orlando Fishing report

Speaking of bad pictures, here’s one of a fly-caught seatrout.

Orlando Fishing report

The fish splashed water all over the camera, but you can see the Electric Sushi fly.

Tuesday the now retired Dr. George Allen joined me for a Port Canaveral excursion. The weather was awesome, light winds, hardly any clouds. A couple of weeks ago I had found a big school of black drum out there. I went back to the place because that’s what you do. It’s not like I expected the fish to be there weeks later. But to my surprise and joy they were. George got one, a brontosaurus-sized beast, on a jig.

Orlando Fishing report

George and the brontofishsaurus.

We went along the beach looking for surface activity. Spinner sharks kept jumping out of the water. We saw a ray swimming. I got one cast off before the ray dove. That cast did not get a bite. Did not see much else.

After a few hours of looking without success, we tried blindly casting towards the surf. Bam! Bam! Ladyfish, bluefish, jack crevalle, all on bucktail jigs, steadily. No big fish, but some solid action. I kept four bluefish for the smoker.

Finally we reversed course, moving farther out off the beach. I spotted a ray and moved to intercept. It dove. George spotted a ray and we moved to intercept. It dove. They were very spooky. We couldn’t get close enough to cast at them. I spotted a ray and moved to intercept. It maintained its course, and a well-placed cast resulted in a nice cobia coming up and eating the jig, plainly visible to us, a beautiful thing to see. George fought the fish up to the boat where I netted it and bingo- we finally got cobia, the first of the year, a nice fish of 30 pounds or so!

Orlando Fishing report

Coe-Bee-Ahhhh!

Wednesday the Brinkman was busy, as I sat there and fed it charcoal and wood chips for four hours while the fish smoked. Yum-mee! We’ll be eating smoked cobia and smoked fish dip around here for a little while, at least.

Thursday the Reverend Jay Bergstresser and his brother Hank the Mercenary joined me for a half-day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We were taking it easy, just fishing for seatrout. We used DOA Deadly Combos in some of my favorite spots. The bite was not on. We caught quite a few fish, but all but one were undersized. Still, the weather was nice and the company was good, and we enjoyed ourselves. Hank got de-stressed, an important consideration. And of course we all got closer to God, a real important consideration.

On Friday the USGS gauge on the Econlockhatchee at Snow Hill Road read just over two feet. Time to go fishing!

While the river was low and clear and the weather was awesome, the bass bite was relatively slow. Although I missed a couple strikes, I got three bass in five hours. I also got a sunfish slam, and a spotted gar, all on a white foam popping bug. The river is so beautiful…

Orlando Fishing report

You have to love how aggressive the stumpknockers are.

Orlando Fishing report

The best bass of the day.

Those of us who like to fish are lucky we have such a wide variety of fishing we can do in central Florida. Even with the continuing onslaught of progress there’s still lots of incredible fishing here.

And that is this week’s Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Not Covered Up With Fish Orlando Fishing Report

March 28, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Not Covered Up With Fish Orlando Fishing Report

I can’t say we were covered up in fish this week.

Last Saturday Mr. Mike Conneen and I went looking for cobia and tripletail out of Port Canaveral. The weather wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darn nice. We went down to Patrick AFB and back up to the cape. We saw one fish that I could not clearly identify. Mike saw it and said it was a cobia. We saw one tripletail. I put a live shrimp on his nose and he ignored it. I got a two pound jack off the cape. That was it, for eight hours invested.

Back at the dock the FWC girl was doing creel survey. She told me 75 percent of the boats coming in had not caught anything at all. “It’s a virtual biological de-sert!”

Orlando Fishing Report

Roland with his best trout.

Monday Mr. Roland Gerencer and his eight-year old son Roland joined me on Mosquito Lagoon for a half day. The goal was to keep the boy entertained. It was cloudy and windy with intermittent drizzle. We had to work at it, using DOA Deadly Combos, of course. We got a few small trout and a ladyfish. The young man was happy.

Tuesday I went to the Banana River Lagoon, which I had been wanting to do. When I got there the lagoon was white-capping below a low ceiling of clouds. I said no. There was a spot on the Indian River Lagoon I had been wanting to check, so I drove up to the Merritt Island NWR. The Haulover Canal bridge was closed so I could not get over it. I gave up and went home.

Wednesday the famous horse veterinarian Dr. Mark Cheney joined me for a day’s fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We literally were in fog most of the day, terrible visibility. Somehow we saw a few fish but did not get a single shot until on the way in I spotted a tripletail on a crab buoy. Mark made a good cast and the fish just sank out of sight. The skunking was pretty thorough.

orlando fishing report

A crappie, on a crappie jig. We get the shad on these, too.

Thursday Warren Wnek and Mark Soley saw some shad action on the St. Johns River with both shad and crappie, getting a couple dozen fish using both fly and spin tackle. Doubles, even! Steve Baker, your shad flies were the ticket!

orlando fishing report

Warren, angler-at-large. The lure is a Pixie spoon.

Saturday the wind was pushing good out of the northwest and a front had dropped the morning temperature to about 60 degrees. That first ride with John Iufrate and his friend John was chilly! Using DOA’s Deadly combo they got a couple dozen trout to 20 inches and a couple redfish, one shown in the photo. It was a decent if unspectacular day, catch-wise.

orlando fishing report

John holds John’s redfish.

And that is this week’s Not Covered Up With Fish Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog

www.johnkumiski.com

www.rentafishingbuddy.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Vernal Equinox Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

March 20, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Vernal Equinox Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

Pagans everywhere! Celebrate the Equinox!!!

For disturbing news you won’t get on TV (like we need any more disturbing news), this summer’s algae bloom is already in full swing in the Indian River Lagoon system around Titusville. Two reports came in that it’s bad from Max Brewer Causeway south past NASA Causeway. On Sunday’s On-the-Water Show and Tell I circled Mosquito Lagoon twice. Water that was crystal clear last week is muddy brown now. The south end is just plain brown. This is not a good harbinger for summer fishing, or future fishing for that matter, in the lagoons. I hope to check the Banana River Lagoon this week coming.

Speaking of the show and tell, I got a little feedback-
-“I enjoyed them both very much and I think I learned a great deal.”
-“Thanks for the seminar, John. It was informative and enjoyable. I had been wanting to go on one for years.”
The next one is in October. Don’t miss it!

Casey Borland, who I fished last week, made a short GoPro video of our trip. It’s good. It made me laugh!

Fishing report, oh yes! Sunday, no fishing, the show and tell happened.

Monday I fished the brothers Gardner, Kevin and Joe, from Tallahassee, Florida. We went out of the Port with hopes of finding and catching tripletail and cobia. We ran south almost to Patrick AFB and then idled north a couple miles past Cape Canaveral. We did not see any fish other than a few hand-sized tripletail- not at all what we had in mind. The weather was awesome, the seas a little sloppy for the Mitzi.

They had to drive back to Tallahassee, so we started heading back to Port around 2:30. On the way back we ran into a large school of large black drum, hooked a half-dozen, and boated two. Not what we expected but I never look a gift horse in the mouth while fishing.

saltwater orlando fishing report

Joe got this drum on a swimbait.

 

saltwater Orlando fishing report

I don’t like the Boga Grip but it’s the only way Kevin could hold the beast.

Toosday I had a doctor appointment. Afterwards I met Michael Parks and his son Landon, from Atlanta. We used paddle vessels to go fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. We found a few tailing fish and Landon hooked and caught a very nice one, one of two reds he got.

saltwater Orlando fishing report

Landon does battle from the Dagger.

 

saltwater Orlando fishing report

It was his biggest fish to date.

Wednesday Michael and Landon joined me again. This time we used the Mitzi and fished in Mosquito Lagoon. The water looks bad. Lots of Rhodophyta floating around and covering the bottom. We saw five redfish, no dice as far as catching them goes. They did get a few trout on the DOA Deadly Combo, though. They had to drive back to Atlanta so we were off the water at 3 PM.

Thursday and Friday I got ready for the celebration of the equinox. Maybe I’m part Druid…

And that is this week’s Equinox Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing News, Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Variety Pack Orlando Fishing Report

March 13, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

The Variety Pack Orlando Fishing Report

Sunday, a lovely day, found Chip, Casey, and Robert in the Mitzi skiff as we searched for hungry fish in the Mosquito Lagoon. We found lots of fish. They were not hungry. At the first spot we cast to fish for a couple hours but did not get a bite. At the second spot we cast to fish for a couple hours but only got one bite. It was missed. At the third spot we cast to fish for a couple hours. Chip got a decent trout and two rat reds on a DOA CAL shad tail. Robert missed a strike on a Johnson Minnow. Other things we tried included DOA Shrimp, jerk baits, and live shrimp. It was a beautiful day, but frustrating from a fishing standpoint.

Monday, likewise lovely, found Chip, Casey, and I in kayaks on the Banana River Lagoon. We did some fairly serious paddling. We found a school of black drum. Casey had a bite but lost the fish, then they would not bite any more.

We went looking for other fish.

I found another school of black drum. My fishermen were not nearby, so in order to get their attention I hooked a fish, using a black Bunny Leech. Chip and Casey came over PDQ. 

Orlando Fishing Report

Casey battles a fish.

 

orlando fishing report

It was the first black drum he’d ever caught.

 

orlando fishing report

It took a DOA Shrimp.

 

orlando fishing report

Then Chip got one on a black Bunny Leech, tied by Steve Baker.

 

orlando fishing report

Aye, ’tis a handsome fish!

Casey got one on a DOA Shrimp. Then Chip got one on a black Bunny Leech tied by Steve Baker. Then Casey got another on a DOA Shrimp. Then the fish would not bite any more.

We had a chance to cast to some tailing manatess. We did not take it.

We had more shots at fish before we left but did not get any more bites.

Still working the run of awesome weather, Rodney Smith and I went out of Port Canaveral on Tuesday on a cobia mission. The waves were running three to five feet, but it wasn’t very windy. The Mitzi handled it beautifully.

orlando fishing report

Rodney works a tripletail in close.

 

orlando fishing report

We saw more turtles than cobia.

The first fish we saw was a tripletail, sitting under a small clump of sargassum. Rodney threw a shrimp over and the fish gobbled it. We ended up seeing quite a few tripletail and hooked five or six, boating four legal fish ranging between five and ten pounds. I found myself wishing I had brought a fly rod because catching a ‘tail on fly would have been pretty straightforward. We did not, however, see a single cobia. 

orlando fishing report

Some delicious eating on display. The fish. I mean the fish.

Back at the Port we ran into Fred Cisneros. He had also been searching for cobia and had seen only one. I guess they are not here in force yet.

The Kumiskis had tripletail fillets sauteed in coconut oil for dinner Tuesday. Very delicious it was!

Thursday I water-tested my new boat, a Sevylor inflatable kayak (read the review here…). This is not a terribly seaworthy little boat. Its main function for me will be small pond fishing for bass and sunfish. It passed that test admirably, as I got five bass on surface flies.

Sevylor Quikpak K1 Review

The Sevylor Kwik Pak K-1, ready for launch.

 

Sevylor Quikpak K1 Review

This was the best trip of the morning’s feasibility study. This boat will help me find a bigger one.

So in four day’s fishing this week I handled seatrout, redfish, black drum, puffers, tripletail, and black bass. I wish I had gotten a couple of sunfish, too! And that is this week’s Variety Pack Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

 

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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