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Why Won’t That Redfish Bite?

April 8, 2011 by · 1 Comment

“They’ve gotta eat sometime.” We’re talking about fish here. Fish we want to, but can’t, catch. Uncooperative fish.

Compared to mammals, fish are simple creatures. A redfish brain, about the size of a garden pea, is not real good at analyzing things. In spite of this apparent simplicity, their behavior is maddeningly unpredictable sometimes. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why won’t they eat?”

When a redfish hatches from the egg it is hardly visible to the human eye. In three years it’s grown to 27 inches long and about seven pounds in size. Clearly, they must eat quite a bit in order to do this.

Favorite items of the redfish diet include shrimp, crabs, and small fish. Sometimes they feed very aggressively on anything that moves. Other times (and many guides have told me they’ve seen this many times) you can toss a live shrimp into a school of redfish and not get a single taker. Why won’t they eat?

A friend of mine once told me that when the US Government makes the tide predictions that it uses in the Coastal Pilot, it feeds 16 separate factors into the computer that is making the model. There are six others that are not considered significant enough to consider. Tides are a purely physical phenomenon.

A fish is a biological entity. I can’t even begin to comprehend all the factors that must affect its behavior. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, turbidity, current, wind, waves, atmospheric pressure, moon phase, boat traffic, fishing pressure, these are just a few of the things that affect the behavior of fish.

Unlike us, fish are cold blooded. We have to eat constantly just to maintain our body temperature. Fish don’t. When the water is cold they can go days without eating.

In my line of work I fillet quite a few redfish. I always check their stomachs to see what they’ve been eating. About 25 percent of the time they haven’t been eating anything.

So, why aren’t they eating? The fish aren’t talking, so I don’t know. Trying to figure it out is part of what makes fishing such a fascinating endeavor for us.

But they’ve gotta eat sometime.

Capt. John Kumiski (407.977.5207, http://www.spottedtail.com) has been guiding fishermen for over 20 years. His most recent book is titled Redfish on the Fly.

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Bad Days

March 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Most of us have seen the bumper sticker that says, “A bad day fishing beats a good day at work.” This is undeniably true most of the time. A sunny day in God’s great outdoors always beats a day working at some job you may not like.

But anyone who spends much time outdoors has had some miserable days afield, days when it rained a deluge all day, days when they were wet, cold, tired, and hungry. Usually on these days the fish don’t bite or the birds don’t fly. Days like this simply make us appreciate the good days we have a whole lot more. They don’t qualify as bad days.

What then, qualifies as a bad day outdoors?

Tommy Locke told me of a fly fisherman who had graced the bow of Tommy’s skiff while casting to tarpon. The gentleman wore nothing more than a Speedo thong for protection. The unfortunate man sank a 3/0 tarpon fly to the feathers right between his family jewels, painful just to think about. That fellow had a Bad Day.

I once read a tale about a steelhead fisherman. This poor soul was fly fishing when he had what at first he thought was a bite. He quickly realized the heavy weight at the end of his line, although moving, was not a fish. He managed to swing whatever it was near to the bank down below him, then walked down to see what it was.

To his shock and dismay it was a young woman, quite dead. His fly was hooked on a finger of her glove. Our angler was suddenly having a Very Bad Day.

On an otherwise lovely day, a former local guide went to grab a tarpon at boatside. Not only did the fish choose that moment to jump one more time, breaking the guide’s nose, the fish also managed to bury a hook in his neck, necessitating a trip to the hospital. This was a Bad Day.

Fishermen have accidents sometimes. They get stung by catfish, stingrays, and jellyfish. Their boats sink. They get hooked. They get bitten. They get struck by lightning.

So any day that you get home safely, without the use of a first aid kit (You do carry a first aid kit, don’t you?), a trip to the hospital or police station, or worse, is not a bad day, regardless of how few fish were caught or how miserable the weather was.

Count your blessings, and remember, life is great!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Bob Stearns Comments on Fishing the Full Moon

March 20, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Bob responded to my last fishing report-

“You commented about the possibility of the full moon having an affect on fishing. There is no doubt in my mind that it does, both inshore & offshore. Probably too much night feeding activity. There are always exceptions, such as those full moon nights with a night-long heavy overcast. But other than the affect on tides, I cannot see any reason why the current “super moon” should be any different from any other full moon.

“One observation: For the most part after a full moon night it seems like the fishing is better during the late afternoon than early morning. I noticed that offshore repeatedly. But for inshore late afternoon can mean lousy, windy weather. Especially during the summer months…”

Thank you for your insights, Bob. It’s always good hearing from you.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Working the Fly

March 15, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Reader flyfishtom wrote, “I would like you to mention how to work the flies you tie. Might help us transplants catch a few more fish.”

OK. First of all, Lefty Kreh wrote an entire book about “Presenting the Fly.” In my book, “Redfish on the Fly” there’s an entire chapter about presenting the fly.

So Tom, there’s not a simple, or single, answer to what you want to know. Every cast is different.

To give the simplest answer I can, let’s assume you’re throwing at a redfish you can see. Your job is to anticipate where the fish is going and put the fly there. If you guessed right, don’t move the fly until you’re sure the fish is close enough to see it. Then just give it a gentle hop off the bottom.

If the fish sees it he’ll either flee in abject terror, come over, sniff, and swim off, or come over and eat it. Assuming he’s not aware of your presence, he will almost always respond to your offering. You’ll know if he saw it or not.

Thanks for the question. I hope that helps.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando area fishing report 3/11/11

March 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 3/11/11

Emails from readers-
“I read with interest your blog on littering; that is one of my pet peeves. I also cannot understand how people can carry in, but not carry out. Long ago, I got into the habit of taking out more whenever I went fishing (trash, not fish). It’s not hard to do. I was inspired by your blog to start this habit in my new home. Monday and Tuesday, I fished the Banana River off the 520 causeway, near the hospital. I carried home a full trash bag each day. Also, I hope people driving by saw a crazy guy in chest waders with a trash bag in his hand picking up trash along the shoreline. By the way, I caught some trout, too, one of which measured 30 inches.
“I’ll call you when I return in May, so we can go fishing. Thank you for being a great guide and a great person.” -5:00 Bob

God rewarded you for picking up trash with that fine trout, Bob. Great work and thank you.

“I spent last week fishing large areas between Sebastian and Vero Beach. A combination of wind, tidal fluctuations and shallow water made accessing the fish difficult in my north-country deep V boat. On an information seeking trip, at the tackle shop below the bridge in Vero, I picked up a copy of your 2005 redfish book and used to it find some scattered reds. Without your guidance, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to continue to seek redfish, and would have turned to the more predictable trout and ladyfish. I even picked up a few flounder, a new species for me. Pretty cool.
“So thanks for selflessly putting your flats experience between covers. The book is an undervalued resource at $12.95, and should be priced at least twice as much based on the specificity and depth of the information. I’ll journal the experience, and will use your book to shape tactics during future visits to the IRL.” -Jeff Kutcha, Jackson, MI

Thanks for the kind words, Jeff. Send the other $12.95 to me directly, please!

Sunday Bill Carey and I did the On-the-Water Show and Tell on the Mosquito Lagoon. While it was not a fishing trip we found some redfish and managed to get six or seven on RipTide weedless jigs and Johnson Minnows. Thanks for coming out, Bill.

Monday was cold and windy. That didn’t stop Steve Ranier and his uncle Mike from braving the elements aboard Spotted Tail. We started off with a quick five or six redfish in the pole/troll area of Mosquito Lagoon, using RipTide weedless jigs and DOA Glow Shrimp with an inserted Woodies Rattle. When that well dried up we went on a search mission. Some spots were barren, others had fish that wouldn’t eat, and they got a few more fish in other spots. We knocked off in 20 mph winds an hour early. I’ll be glad when the Haulover Ramp opens again.

Tuesday’s trip was cancelled because of the weather.

Wednesday Jim Revercomb and his son Wes joined me, again on Mosquito Lagoon. If anything it was even windier than Monday. The graph I checked afterwards showed wind speed peaked at 24 mph. Jim actually tried to fly fish, and we actually found a tailing fish. Between the winds and clouds it was almost impossible. By using spin tackle they managed three reds boated and a couple missed strikes. A RipTide weedless jig and a Johnson Minnow again did the damage. Again, we knocked off an hour early due to the conditions.

It poured all morning yesterday. I’m not booked today.

Tomorrow I’ll be giving fly tying demonstrations and lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. If you want to learn to tie the Redfish Worm and maybe some related patterns, come on out and see me!

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Water Bottles and You

March 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

From the REI website- “A 2007 New York Times article reported that Americans consume more than 30 billion single-serving bottles of water annually. (Wow.) The nonprofit Consumer Recycling Institute estimates at least half, and probably closer to 75%, of these bottles turn into waste. That means they wind up in landfills, get incinerated or turn into litter. (Double wow.)

Those figures do not take into account the materials (petroleum being chief among them), production costs and transportation costs associated with plastic bottles. It all provides more incentive to find a reusable water bottle to carry with you on and off the trail.”

I use reusable water bottles made of polyethylene (which I’ve had since college), copolyester (Nalgene, etc), aluminum, and stainless steel (Pura). Susan and I used to buy disposable bottles filled with mineral water. Then we installed a water filter on our kitchen sink, which is where I fill my water bottles with when I go biking, running, hiking, paddling, et cetera.

While they all work my favorite is the Pura 1.2 liter. It fits my hand well, holds plenty of water, and is completely food grade stainless steel, even the stopper. It’s a fine piece of equipment.

The main thing here, though, is that by using a reusable bottle you stop producing the trash and litter that disposable bottles so freely supply. Please, consider the advantages of the reusable bottle. Purchase a few and use them religiously.

I was going to include a comparison of the various types of reusable bottles in this blog. REI did such a fine job on their website that I just linked to their piece here.

The reusable water bottle- it reduces waste and litter. Try it, you’ll like it!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Dress for Success

February 26, 2011 by · 1 Comment

“I don’t know why people think it won’t rain while they’re on vacation!”
-Lefty Kreh

Rob and Steve stepped aboard my skiff. Both men wore cotton blue jeans. Dark clouds covered the sky and rain was clearly falling in the distance. The temperature was not unusual for a February morning in Florida, about 60 degrees.

Steve had a rain parka with him, but no rain pants. Rob had a nylon windbreaker- no rain gear at all.

After we were on the water a short time it started pouring, a good, hard, soaking rain. Steve was at least half dry in his parka. Rob, of course, was completely soaked. He was freezing, especially while the boat was under way. We were back at the dock hours early. And of course as soon as the boat was back on the trailer the sun came out.

This might be Florida but in the winter it sometimes gets cold here. It can rain at any time, during any season. If you intend to fish while you’re here, you need to dress for the weather you will actually be encountering, not for what your fantasy of Florida fishing is.

Your head- you need a hat to keep the sun off. A visor is a poor bare minimum. I wear a Tilley hat, which keeps the sun off face, ears, and neck.

If it’s cold, a wool or fleece watch cap is appropriate. Worn over a ball cap it offers good sun protection for face, ears, and neck.

You need polarized sunglasses to protect your eyes from the sun and errant fish hooks. If you’re fishing after dark bring clear safety glasses for eye protection.

If the forecast temperature is below sixty wear layers of fleece and wool. Long underwear is included in that outfit. Avoid cotton. Once wet it stays that way.

Always carry rain pants and a rain parka. If it’s windy you will get wet when the boat is under way. They make a great windbreaker as well.

Blue jeans are the WORST fishing pants you can wear. They’re hot when it’s hot, cold when it’s cold, and after they get wet they stay that way. Pants made from a cotton/nylon blend are far superior in a boat.

Even in the hot months you need to dress to protect yourself from a relentless and blazing sun. Light weight, ventilated clothing that covers skin is what you need. Patagonia, Columbia, and Ex Officio are all manufacturers that make superior hot, and cold, weather clothing for anglers.

Andrea is properly dressed- hat covers face, ears and neck, sunglasses protect eyes, long shirt and pants protects arms, legs, and torso from a blazing June sun.

So if you want to be dry and comfortable while fishing here, dress for success!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Dust Off the Cobia Tackle

February 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

No reports have filtered in yet about manta rays swimming off the beaches south of Port Canaveral. But the water temperature will soon hit the 68-72 degree mark, so they can’t be far off. When the rays show up, so do the cobia.

Cobia are fairly large fish. They follow the rays, swimming with them as the rays slowly migrate north. They could be as close as a half mile or as many as 10 or 12 miles off the beach. Cobia may also be found around sea turtles, weedlines, buoys and other flotsam, or even free swimming.

If the water temperature hits 72 degrees, cobia will frequently be right at the surface in 40 to 60 feet of water. If the light is good these fish are clearly visible to anyone who is looking for them. The average fish caught out of Port Canaveral weighs between 20 and 30 pounds, but of course smaller ones, and larger ones, are caught every year.

a fish like this will make your day

A few years back Rodney Smith and I went out in my Maverick Mirage on a perfect March day. We saw no mantas, no weeds, no flotsam of any kind. We were two or three miles off of Patrick Air Force Base idling around somewhat aimlessly in what I thought would be a fruitless search for fish. Then I spotted one cruising slowly with his fins out of the water. Rodney’s cast was right on. A few minutes later he was ours. We ended up finding six cobes, four of which we hooked, and three of which we caught. We each kept one, and got a nice tripletail (which was also free-swimming) as a little bonus. Not a bad day at all!

Although many different kinds of lures will work, a favorite for Canaveral cobia is a two or three ounce, chartreuse colored jig, tossed with a 20 pound spinning outfit. Use a 40 or 50 pound test fluorocarbon leader. Cast the jig to the side of the ray and let it sink on a tight line. Sometimes the fish will take it on the drop but if they don’t, work it rapidly back to your boat and try again. When one strikes there won’t be any doubt about it. Set the hook hard.

Another excellent and convenient cobia bait is a lively, six inch long shrimp, hooked through the tail with a 3/0 or 4/0 octopus or 5/0 or 7/0 circle hook. Lively is the key word here. Dead shrimp don’t elicit much response.

Cobia are very found of menhaden. If you can net up some pogies and then you find some cobia you’re sure to hook a few. Hook the pogies through the nose using a 3/0 or 4/0 octopus or a 5/0 or 7/0circle hook. Cast to sighted fish and liveline the baits. Refusals are rare.

Other productive cobia baits include live blue crabs and live eels. Live mullet and pinfish will also work. Day in and day out the shrimp are the easiest to obtain and use, and probably work as well as any other live bait.

You can also catch cobia with a fly rod. You need calm seas, and floating weeds are a big plus. With no flotsam, the fish could be at any angle relative to the boat. It’s hard to be ready for a fly rod shot. Weeds concentrate the fish so you only have to look under the weeds. The farther away you spot the fish, the easier it is to get a quality cast to him.

While many anglers gaff these fish when they come alongside, using that technique to boat your fish means you’ll have one very angry fish aboard. For truly big cobia a gaff is indispensable, but more modest specimens can and should be boated with a large landing net. They are much less likely to destroy tackle (or anything else in their way) if they’re not stuck with that big hook.

Cobia have dorsal spines that can inflict painful wounds on the unwary. Be careful when you get one of these fish in the boat. Larger vessels will have fish boxes that the fish will be dropped into, but in a small boat the fish may be simply lying on the deck. Cover such fish with wet towels to keep the sun off of them.

The cobia run only lasts a few weeks. It is a harbinger of the changing seasons, promising the nearshore angler months of great fishing to come. Take advantage of this fishing.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Kids and Fishing

February 8, 2011 by · 1 Comment

The package of letters my mailman delivered from Jackson Heights Middle School was a bonus, one in which a hundred sixth graders thanked me for speaking to their classes on career day. One of the letters said, “Mr. Kumiski, I’ve never been fishing. Could you take me some time?”

It is a sad, sad thing when a 12 year old has never had the chance to go fishing. For ten plus years I was a teacher in the Seminole County school system, and there’s a lot of kids who never had the chance to fish, to camp, to hunt, to run around in the woods. I do what I can to get kids out, but there are way more of them than I can accommodate. They need your help.

Every fisherman who reads this knows some kids. They might be relatives or they might be neighbors. Many of them have never fished and are just waiting for you to ask them to go. Be sure to get parental permission before you ask the kids!

If you take a kid fishing it’s important that you do just that. Don’t bring them with you. Take them fishing. You might not mind waiting five hours to catch one big fish, but most kids will. The younger they are the more true that is. They want action, and little sunnies, catfish, and other less glamorous species fill the bill.

Lots of snacks area good idea, too. If they’re hungry they won’t have fun. Fun is what you’re after here. Don’t get too hung up on catching fish. Take time to watch turtles, dragonflies, and other wonders of nature.

now THAT's what I'm talking about!

Some kids will go and not like it. My son Alex doesn’t care to fish very much. That’s OK. Some kids will love it though, and become treasured fishing partners.

As it turned out, I already knew the family of the boy who wrote the letter mentioned in the first paragraph. I asked his mother if I could take him out, and we went to the Mosquito Lagoon for a four hour trip. Colin caught the first fish of his life, the biggest being a 23 inch redfish, and said, “Hey, this is pretty fun!” He thanked me at least a half dozen times.

The future of fishing needs today’s kids to become tomorrow’s conservationists. You can help by taking a kid fishing soon.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Shad Fishing- Orlando area fishing report 2/5/11

February 5, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 2/5/11

Upcoming Events

February 22- I’ll be speaking to the Florida Fly Fishing Association in Cocoa.

March 5- MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details.

March 6- Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details.

*******************************************

Every day this week saw me on or in the water. Fishing wasn’t very good.

Monday I went scouting on the Mosquito Lagoon in the Mitzi. It was mostly sunny and at first there was no wind. I saw that and headed straight to a big fish spot.

They were there, finning out and tailing sporadically. I donned waders and stalked them on foot. I had two superb casts with a crab fly, casts I was sure would work. Neither did. The fish moved off and rather than use a lot of time on them on a scouting day I went scouting.

I did not see much else.

There were five boats at the south end of Tiger Shoal. I could see one chasing some fish around, but didn’t see anyone hook up. I poled the entire way across the flat. All I saw were tailing mergansers, nothing with fins.

I ended up with a small black drum taken on a Son of Clouser and several marginal sized seatrout on a chartreuse DOA Shrimp.

Tuesday afternoon I went to the St. Johns River to try for shad. I walked up to the Econ and started fishing. My six-weight had a floating line. I got one crappie and hooked and lost one other fish.

I hitched a ride back down the river with Bill Mieli. Bill, using a #3 sinktip line and a pair of flies, had gotten nine shad. Ah-HA!

Wednesday David Cushman, a fly caster from Virginia, and his brother-in-law Clark, joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. It was cloudy and breezy. I was hoping for better luck than on Monday, but no such luck. We scoured the south end of the lagoon and most fish that we saw we saw as they fled. We just couldn’t see them. Not that there were many around. It was very thin, numbers-wise.

Clark tossed various spinning lures all day without a strike, and David did no better. He really had only one legitimate shot all day. We were victims of a good, old-fashioned skunking.

Thursday afternoon found me back at the St. Johns, this time with a sink-tip. When I got there Tom Van Horn was there already. We fished together for about three hours. Total tally- two bluegills, one shad. We talked to a guy who had been fly fishing up by the Econ. It was slow up there too.

Friday I went back to the St. Johns. The fish come up the river in waves. If you hit the wave you do very well. Between waves there’s not much going on. Some years the waves come one after another and other years there are days between waves. I figured if I kept trying it I was bound to hit one of those waves.

When I got there Ron Presley and Paul McGinnis were staging Ron’s boat for launch. I hitched a ride with them up the Econ a ways, then hopped out and fished my way back to the SR 46 bridge.

Ron and Paul tossed tandem rigs with Tiny TerrorEyz from DOA. They got seven shad between them. I was throwing a chartreuse shad fly. I got one bluegill, one redbelly, one crappie, and one shad. I passed several other fly casters along the way and none of them was doing much.

I like the stretch of river between SR 46 and the Econ because you don’t need a boat to fish it. But Thursday and Friday at least there were no waves of fish there. You could get one or two but you’d better be prepared to work for them.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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