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A Gift from God Fishing Report

February 10, 2024 by · Leave a Comment

A Gift from God Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Gift from God Fishing Report. The theme here is, if you learn to enjoy just being out around the water, watching Nature do her work, any fish you catch are a bonus. How much of a bonus? A gift from God, obviously. Food for thought, especially when the skunk follows you home.

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Fishing and Other Bits

Monday it was cold. Tuesday and Wednesday we had gale warnings, small craft advisories, the whole nine yards. I worked some on the van, but Wednesday afternoon found me needing some movement. I went for a walk along the Econ, just to walk. Beautiful afternoon if a bit blustery. Spring is here. The red maples have already gone to seed, the willows are completely leafed out, and many of the other trees are breaking their buds and growing new leaves. There are wildflowers blooming. It’s gonna be new green around here for three or four weeks!

An Econ resident suns himself along the riverbank. Taken with my phone.

From a fishing perspective, the Econ is still high, with the gauge at about four feet. If it doesn’t rain, it might be fishable in a couple weeks.

A cloudy Thursday found me at the Banana River Lagoon, in a different spot than last week. It may have been wind-caused, but the water looked terrible. I paddled a long way before seeing a fish. But when they were found there were a lot of them, big black drum, tailing. Not real interested in my fly. In fairness, it was impossible for me to see what was going on. After 30 or 40 frustrating minutes I got a bite. The fish was on just long enough to stampede all the other ones. Then he came off.

This is what I was looking for. When I found some, I couldn’t seal the deal.

I waited 30 minutes, hoping. I left and came back, something I almost never do. The game was over. After tying on a DOA Shrimp and inserting a rattle into it, I made a cast. Bam! First cast, nice trout, pushing five pounds, a great skunk chaser.

Fat trout on a DOA Shrimp.

Unfortunately, that was it. The next four hours was, for the most part, casting practice. I enjoyed a few ospreys and a bald eagle. There was no bait, no grass, and very few fish. It will probably be a while before I try that spot again…

Friday morning the kayak and I visited Mosquito Lagoon. The water there is amazingly clean! A qualifier- I was north of the canal. No idea what it looks like down south. Anyway, I was just getting started when here comes a fish, right at me. I hadn’t even uncorked the fly pole yet! I threw the DOA Shrimp in front of it and got the eat, but missed it.

It was a while before another chance came.

That chance came in the form of a tail, up and down. Made my best guess and let the slider fly. That never works, but it did this time, a black drum of eight or ten pounds, decent fish. Skunk chaser!!

A skunk chaser!

The next chance had two fish tailing within 10 or 12 feet of each other, the closer clearly a redfish. After at least two handfuls of casts (that didn’t spook the fish!!!) it finally ate the slider. I even took its picture.

Now if I could get a trout I would have not just three fish, but a Mosquito Lagoon Winter Slam, which sounds way more badass than “three fish.”

That trout was hard to find. Several reliable winter trout spots were checked. None produced a fish. Running out of time, I tried one more spot.

It would be awesome to say, “They were stacked in there like cordwood!” Reality was, one bite, one seatrout, all I needed, on a black and purple Clouser Minnow. O, successo!

This fish represents slammage.

Even though I only got three fish, I got more than three fish. I got the Mosquito Lagoon Winter Slam! And got to enjoy a simply superb weather day on the water in the process, which, when you think about it, makes those three fish a gift from God. Every fishing trip should be a day of thanksgiving.

And that, folks, is a Gift from God Fishing Report. Thanks again for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Go on a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2024. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

June 15, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Jensen Beach Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6.16.12

On Sunday, friend and neighbor Tom Van Horn and I made a trek to Jensen Beach to stay at River Palms, to do some fishing on Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday Doug Pike and I went out with Capt. Squeeky Kelly. Fishing with Doug was awesome. He was once editor of Tide magazine. He was one of my favorite magazine editors when I was writing a lot, so it was a pleasure getting to spend the day with him. And Squeeky is quite the character. We spent a lot of time laughing at stupid stuff.

We got about 20 trout to about 22 inches or so, not particularly hot fishing. Most of the damage was done with a DOA Bait Buster, shallow running version.

seatrout on DOA

Capt. Squeeky holds the best fish of the day, caught on a DOA Bait Buster.

Several of the other boats had a similar problem as far as getting fish. Although tough fishing-wise, it was still a great day, wonderful weather, fantastic company.

On Tuesday Willy Le and I went out with Capt. Marcia Foosaner, one of my oldest friends from that part of the world. Usually when I fish with Marcia I watch her catch fish. She typically schools me pretty well.

It was another fairly tough morning. We went wading, all three of us tossing the three inch DOA Shrimp in various hues. I hooked a nice snook, which cut me off. A smallish crevalle and small flounder followed. Marcia hooked, then lost, a redfish. Willy and I each got a mangrove snpper. Then I hooked another snook, a five pound fish that I caught. We photographed and released it.

Snook taken on a DOA Shrimp

WIlly Le holds a snook fooled by a DOA Shrimp.

I hooked another snook and got cut off again. Then Willy hooked and lost the fish of the day, a solid snook which tossed the hook during a head shake.

All too soon it was time to head back to River Palms, to head home. Tom dropped me off at about 4 PM. The two days had flown by.

Wednesday morning found me at the chiropractor. My back has been a mess.

Thursday’s trip fell through. Quality time was spent with my bride.

Friday Susan and I celebrated out 32nd wedding anniversary. I got to do some honey-dos.

And that, short though it may be, is this week’s Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral Offshore Fishing Report

April 1, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.31.12

Upcoming Events/Volunteers Needed
In celebration of Earth Day 2012, Anglers for Conservation are coordinating a series of Hook Kids on Fishing programs throughout the week of April 14-22. Volunteers are needed. This is the perfect opportunity to work within the fishing community while having a very rewarding experience. All volunteers’ will received a free Anglers for Conservation fishing hat! Contact Rodney Smith at 321-750-3374 or rodney@anglersforconservation.org.

Fishing this week- lots of fish, not many big ones.

On Monday, Matt Williams of Winter Park joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We did some searching for redfish and did not find very many. Matt caught three on a Johnson Minnow, all out of the slot- on the low end. He got a lot of trout on the DOA Shrimp, but again many were short, with only a few in the slot. The weather was pretty nice too, a little breezy but otherwise a beautiful day.

There are manatees swimming all through the lagoon systems now. They tend to hang out in the deeper water just off the edge of the flat. Please avoid running your boat in these places, unless you like colliding with 2000 pounds of ugly-cute critter.

On Thursday Sam Sharata, his son Alex, and his nephew Luis joined me for some fishing, again on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was beautiful, a bit breezy. We started off fishing for trout, always a good strategy when youngsters are in the boat. They were biting the DOA Shrimp pretty well, although again, lots of shorts.

The dehooker is such a great device for removing these fish from the hook. It’s better for the fish, too- you don’t even need to touch them. There are several commercially made versions of this tool in the market, the best known of which is the ARC Dehooker.

Anyway, after a while we went searching for redfish. It took a while but we found a school of about 50 and managed to get two in the 24 inch range before they vacated the area. Then we fished trout again until our day was done. A fine day it was!

redfish from the mosquito lagoon

Alex (L) and Luis with Luis's first redfish ever.

redfish from the mosquito lagoon

Alex got his first redfish, too.

On Friday I was the guest of Dr. George Yarko for an offshore charter on Capt. Jeff Brown’s 29 foot Copout. There were lots of menhaden off Cocoa Beach, where we filled up the livewell. Then we went looking for king mackerel.

using a cast net to catch bait

Jeff Brown tosses a net to catch bait.

Apparently we missed them by one day, and did not raise one. So we went further out looking for dolphin. George got a small one that hit a trolled rigged ballyhoo. Another hour of trolling went by and not another bite was had, so we went bottom fishing.

The red snapper bite was hot, and Dr. Yarko had their number. There’s currently a moratorium in place on red snapper so we had to release all of the tasty critters, even the one that I caught. More for the next trip.

red snapper

George got bigger ones, but this was the best photo.

Working our way back in, we came across a lovely line of weeds. Jeff shut off the engines and let us drift along. Some flying fish erupted from the water and I spotted a dolphin swimming along. A cast with a pogie brought an immediate hookup. A second cast got another. Sadly the second fish broke off but the first one was gaffed and brought aboard. We saw a couple dozen more of the mahis, but could not convince them to take either a live or a cut bait, very strange.

A small mahi-mahi caught off Port Canaveral.

It wasn't real big but it was very tasty!

We were back in the Port at about 4:30 after a grueling ride back.

On Saturday Steve Kruska, has son Karstin, and his friend Adam Rosati joined me to do some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Karstin was nine years old so you know we went straight to the trout. And they were pretty cooperative, although again the average fish was about 14 inches, with maybe a half dozen fish in the slot being caught.

Small Spotted Seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

Karstin got a bunch of fish like this, which kept him busy.

We also got a ladyfish and a small red. Everything was taken on a DOA Shrimp.

Small Spotted Seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

Word on the street is these fish are more entertaining than walleyes.

I only poled one flat looking for reds and we did not see one. But we caught trout until the final bell.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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