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Orlando Area Fishing Report

March 10, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report 31014

Upcoming Events-

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register. Registration closes on Thursday 3/13.

The Mitzi is still for sale! It’s just had an annual service, and the hours were 984.

The computer tells you the number of total hours, as well as the number of hours in each RPM range.

The computer tells you the number of total hours, as well as the number of hours in each RPM range.

Tuesday Tammy and I went kayak fishing in the Indian River Lagoon. I ran over a few trout, so I tried blind casting with a gurgler. There was no response from any fish. We paddled up the shoreline for a couple miles. I only saw five redfish, but got good shots at two of them and caught both, using an unweighted slider. Fish were pretty scarce though.

Orlando area fishing report

A nice fly-caught red!

orlando area fishing report

The fly that did the deed. The eyes are plastic beads.

Wednesday I rode my bike to a small pond for some reconnoitering, carrying my waders in a daypack. The pond looked great. I put on the waders and boldly stepped into it. The bottom was goosh. I couldn’t go very far. But in the twenty minutes I fished I got three fat bluegills and hooked and lost a bass, all on a small popping bug.

I wanted to fish Thursday but the tornado warnings and small craft advisory deterred me. I should have gone.

I wanted to fish Friday bit the 20 mph winds deterred me. I’m glad I didn’t go.

Saturday I went out with Shane Shearer on the Mosquito Lagoon. We toured the south end of the lagoon looking for fish, again with a 20 mph wind out of the north. Tossing DOA CAL Shad we got a half dozen trout to about five pounds and four small reds.

Sunday Jerry Wang, a fly caster from California, joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was spectacular, the water crowded with boats. We actually saw a lot of fish in the morning, mostly reds. There were several schools of high speed fish racing around on a flat. When they behave like this these fish are almost impossible to catch. They did not disappoint. Other than that we saw a fish here, a fish there. The fish seemed to be more numerous in dirty water, where they were hard to se. Where the water was clean we hardly saw any. So, Jerry ended the day with a small trout and a small red, not an impressive day, catch-wise.

I was encouraged by the numbers of fish, though. Maybe things are finally picking up.

And that is this week’s Orlando area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report

February 28, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report 3114

Upcoming Events-

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link for more information or to register…

-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 16. Visit this link for more information or to register…

Blog Posts this Week-

–A New Mobile Marine Service for Central Florida

The Mitzi is still for sale!

The azaleas are blooming. Pines drop prodigious amounts of pollen. Soon the oranges will blossom. Spring is coming to central Florida.

This week illustrated why Orlando area saltwater fishing is so great for anglers, why this is such an awesome time of year.

On Sunday Miamian Tim Wright joined me for some shad fishing on the St. Johns River. We tossed and trolled 1/16th ounce crappie jigs. We got a dozen or so shad, and two stripers (or hybrids) too. All in all a good day.

orlando area fishing report

On Monday Scott Radloff and I went out of Port Canaveral hoping to fish a cobia or tripletail. We found some flotsam and there was a tripletail under it. I tossed a shrimp and a few minutes later he was mine. Then Scott got one. Then we each got another one.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

We found some floating sargassum that was devoid of fish.

We idled up to a buoy. I didn’t see anything there. Scott cast a shrimp at it. A big cobia came around from the far side of the buoy and inhaled the shrimp, not ten feet from the boat. A melee ensued. It was near ending when I netted the fish, except I couldn’t lift it over the gunwale of the Mitzi. Scott helped and the beast came aboard. It flopped around a bit, but did not beat things up the way it would had I gaffed it. All in all a really good day.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

 

orlando area saltwater fishing report

Tuesday morning I met the Tamazon. She put a bag over my head and spun me around until I puked. I had to swear in blood on a Bible on my mother’s grave to never reveal where she was taking me.

When she took the bag off my head I was sitting in a kayak, on a flat, with a flyrod in my hand. There was nothing there in the way of fish.

Then Tammy took me through a portal into another dimension. In this dimension there were tarpon rolling like crazy. I thought maybe she’d brought me to Hell for a while, since every strike led to a miss. No, it was just incompetence, because I finally caught one, on a small gurgler. Then she hooked and broke one off. Then she got one. Then I got another one. Then she got another one. Of course in between there were lots more misses and jumped-off fish. And then, in the manner of tarpon everywhere, they shut down. But it had been an amazing hour.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

When we re-entered this dimension we did some blind casting on the flat. She got two redfish. I got one. They were all small. Then two pinfish attacked my flies, hitting so hard they almost ripped the rod out of my hand. OK, that may be a fish tale. But I did get two pins on fly.

Then she put the bag back over my head and brought me back to our meeting spot.

Wednesday morning Scott Radloff and I went to the Indian River Lagoon for some scouting, hoping to find some redfish and/or trout. The loss of grass is continuing. I sure hope there’s not another algae bloom this summer. I’m not optimistic, since none of the causes have ben corrected.

We looked in several areas without seeing much. At the last spot there were actually some redfish tailing. We crossed a white hole out of which we spooked at least a dozen nice trout. I wonder if we would have spotted them had the sun been out. At any rate Scott got a red on a jerk bait, thus keeping the skunk of the Mitzi and the week’s streak alive.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

When I got home I fired up the smoker and smoked a bunch of thick cobia chunks. Yum Mee!

Thursday found me at the fly tying desk, cranking them out.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

Friday fly fisher Domenic Catanese and his friend Tai joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. The day started cold and windy. It would stay cold and only got more windy, although the water temperature rose almost three degrees through the day. There were quite a few fish at the first place we looked. They got out of Dodge as soon as they realized we were there.

For the rest of the day we would see a fish here and three there, but never in time to make a decent presentation. We did not get a bite, or even get close to a bite. We did see two boats hooked up in the Haulover Canal on the way in. One guy pulled in a big black drum. That was our fishy entertainment for the day.

And that is this week’s Orlando area saltwater 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

February 22, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report 22214

Upcoming Events-
-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link  for more information or to register…
-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 16. Visit this link  for more information or to register…

Blog Posts this Week-
– Sharkwave Fly Lines Coming
– Lunkerhunt Swim Bentos Bait
– Oil Drilling Coming to the Everglades

The new issue (March 2014) of Florida Sportsman has an article about the Indian River Lagoon Odyssey, by John Kumiski! Check it out!

On to the fishing, men!

Monday the weather was gorgeous, so I strapped the kayak to the roof of the chariot and drove over to the Banana River Lagoon. I got there after nine o’clock. Six cars were already there. I avoided the other boats as much as I could.

Travelling along the shoreline I saw two small trout, two small redfish, and then a school of about 20 small reds, less than 20 inch fish. They elicited no response in me.

I went out to the second bar. There was nothing there.

I went to the third bar. Two boats were there, one on each side. I went up the middle. The water was clear, there was hardly any grass, and I saw nothing. I kept going.

On the fourth bar there was a school of black drum, not the big ones. Two tasted my black bunny leech. The larger one was 12 pounds or so.

I left them, hoping to find big fish. A group of eight big reds was swimming high in the water. I got two casts at them but they ignored me.

The paddle back was uneventful, as no fish were seen.

The grass up there is all gone, and so are most of the fish. It’s a sad thing.

Tuesday found me on a bus travelling to Tallahassee for the Clean Water Rally. Senator David Simmons, the senator from my district, was one of the speakers. Good work, sir!

I had a meeting with my district’s representative, Rep. Jason Brodeur. He told me he understands the need for clean water, would be sponsored a bill addressing clean water issues. It was good to hear, but show me the money. Stay tuned.

One of the speakers was a woman from Naples, Dr. Karen Dwyer, of the Stone Crab Alliance. Here is what she had to say: ” The Everglades oil rush is on. In addition to the 115,000 acres leased for oil exploration, Collier Resources just issued two more leases for massive seismic testing operations to identify more locations for oil drilling: 103,000 acres to Tocala, LLC and 234,500 acres to Burnett Oil, all in the Big Cypress National Preserve in the western Everglades. Everyone. March 11. Please. Pack the EPA Meeting. Take a stand for the Everglades and our water. Now is the time. No one can take your place.”

Fight for your right to clean water!

Fight for your right to clean water!

How this has escaped the state and national news media is beyond me. All fishermen should be going crazy over this- hydraulic fracturing in the Everglades? WE CAN’T LET THIS HAPPEN!!! I will be in Naples on March 11. I hope to see you there.

Wednesday Rick DePaiva, one of my dearest friends, came up to fish with me. Because he likes going there and because I got a good report from one of my subscribers we went to KARS Park and launched the canoe.

The weather was awesome.

The short version is that we went most of the way to the NASA Causeway, went out to the islands on the other side of the channel, and worked it hard. We saw maybe eight fish and had one half-baked shot that did not work. So we went fishless. Had a good time other than that, enjoying the day and Rick’s company.

black-drum-release.jpg

 This is what we wanted. It is not what we got.

            Again, most of the grass is gone. This area had such thick grass just a couple years ago, too. Bad, bad, bad Bad BAD.

And that is this week’s not so great 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Lunkerhunt Swim Bentos Bait

February 20, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Lunkerhunt Swim Bentos Bait

Whether a fish you cast to bites or not generally depends more on how you present the bait than what it is. That having been said, a confidence factor definitely affects how that bait gets fished.

I just got three packages of confidence in a box FedEx delivered.

Lunkerhunt makes fishing lures. They’re based in Toronto. What could they know about saltwater lures? A glance at the picture below shows that clearly they understand what fish will bite and what fishermen will buy. Their baits are gorgeous.

lunkerhunt swim bentos

Their website says, “Designed to perfection, the Lunkerhunt Swim Bento™ is one of the most realistic baitfish imitators on the market. The Swim Bento™ features a lively keeled tail, holographic core, and biologically correct detailing. All of these elements are incorporated into a soft yet durable body construction that enables the Swim Bento™ to come to life with the slightest movement.”

These baits have not made it off my desk yet but there can be no doubt that they will catch any kind of inshore saltwater fish Florida fishermen are interested in.

You can see how to rig them properly here and here. These rigging instruction will work for any kind of jerk bait, too.

I usually fish these types of baits slowly, with gentle twitches of the rod tip to give the bait a dying minnow type of action. Of course, every situation is different, so individual interpretation comes into play.

The Lunkerhunt website shows all their other baits (they specialize in baits for bass and pike) and also tells you where you can get some Swim Bentos of your own. There are also a bunch of videos there if you like that sort of thing.

What are you waiting for? Go get some Swim Bentos!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.

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St. John River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

February 15, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

St. John River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report 21514

Upcoming Events-

-Floridians for Clean Water Rally in Tallahassee, February 18

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…

-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 16. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…

I’m still trying to sell that Mitzi skiff, an awesome little boat. See the details here…

We had some decent fishing this week. I did not carry a camera for any of it.

Sunday about noontime I launched the kayak at CS Lee Park on the St. Johns River and paddled upstream, dragging a tandem rig consisting of a Spoiler Shad and a crappie jig as I went. I talked to a few other anglers along the way, all of whom complained about the lack of action.

There was a bit of a traffic jam at the mouth of the Econ so I kept going to another spot farther upstream.

No one was at my spot, where it was discovered I had forgotten the anchor. I put the boat ashore and started casting, getting two shad and a sunfish in about an hour. Not exactly hot, but better than no cheese!

A flats skiff idled up the river, then started fishing right in front of me. At first I wasn’t crazy about this but the guy kept his distance and had a kid with him. He hooked a fish and handed the rod to the youngster. Good work!

When the boat was facing me and the wind was right I could hear snippets of conversation. “That’s Charlie Chapman!” I thought. “You sound like Charlie Chapman!” I hollered.

It was Charlie Chapman, a.k.a. the Mustache Man. He put the boat ashore and we chewed the fat for a couple of very pleasant hours, until the boy, his grandson, said, “Are we going fishing or not? We’re burning daylight here!” It was real good seeing him, it had been literally years. I hope they got some fish.

St. johns river and mosquito lagoon fishing report

The Mustache Man, a number of years ago, with a fat Banana River Lagoon redfish.

I paddled back to SR 46, again dragging the tandem rig, but did not get another bite. Didn’t care.

Monday Ed Farrell-Starbuck joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon kayak-fly-redfishing. Ed had never been before and wanted to learn how to go about it. I explained to him that every trip was a search mission. Most days it works, some days it doesn’t. Groundwork layed, off we went.

We paddled a long time without seeing much. Then we found a hole full of redfish, nice fish that averaged five to six pounds. They did not want to leave, and were fairly bitey.We were both using brown flies; mine was a slider. We both got five or six, a pretty good afternoon. The fish finally turned off, so we headed back. I did not see any more fish along the way.

mosquito lagoon redfish

This fish took a slider.

Tuesday Frank Moss and his friend Bruce drove up from Tampa to do some shad fishing on the St. Johns River. Frank had an old cane fly rod and wanted to catch a shad with it. Bruce was a spin fisherman.

I put two lines out with tandem rigs to troll up to the fishing spot. The fish immediately told us we were at the fishing spot- double hookup right off the bat!

We ended up getting fifteen or twenty shad, strangely no sunfish, crappie, etc. Frank got a couple shad on the cane rod before switching to spin. It was a great afternoon, and thank you, gentlemen.

Wednesday I went scouting with the Mitzi out of River Breeze. There was a number of places I had been wanting to check. At the first I had been poling less than five minutes when I spotted maybe a half dozen reds together, relaxed. I tossed a DOA CAL shad at them and one jumped on it, a little feller of 20 inches or so. Thinking it might be a good day, I continued poling, changed spots, continued poling, etc. What I found was lots of places not to look again, seeing perhaps a dozen fish in five hours.

On a slightly more ominous note, some guy with a red Texas scooter tower boat is out there running every shoreline he can looking for fish, scaring away everything in sight. When are fishermen going to learn that running shorelines wrecks the fishing for everyone? Fish stop using the shorelines when they’re geting run over by motorboats all the time.

Friday morning Dave Caprera and his friend Jim joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fly fishing. It was a little chilly at pick-up time, in the 40s. We went to the hole that produced all the fish for me on Monday. Of course it was barren, previews of coming attractions.

We looked in a lot of spots, from JBs Fish Camp down to Tiger Shoal. We found the occasional single and one small school of about 30 fish. We had maybe four good, solid shots all day, but none of the fish felt like taking the fly, and we ended up with a bagel for the day.

The weather was about as perfect for tailing fish as it gets, but nary a one did we see. I dropped them off at about 4 PM, then headed back to River Breeze.

And that is this week’s St. Johns River and Mosquito 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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

The First 2014 St. Johns River Fishing Report

January 4, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

The First 2014 St. Johns River Fishing Report

Last week I wrote, “Several reporters have indicated shad are in the St. John’s River. I will be checking that out this week.”

Tuesday afternoon the kayak and I went to the St. Johns for a little over three hours, launching at CS Lee Park, where the Jolly Gator is. I had four bites and landed two shad. Pretty slow fishing.

Thursday afternoon son Alex, John Napolitano, and I went back in the Mitzi. We timed it so that we would be there right when the front came through, so we were there less than an hour. In that time we got one shad, one blue gill, one redbelly, and one crappie. I hooked and lost another speck. All fish were caught on crappie jigs or Creme Spoiler Shad, great lures for this kind of fishing.

St. Johns River Fishing Report

John Napolitano with his first shad of 2014.

St. Johns River Fishing Report

John got this fat redbelly too.

This crappie was fooled by a Creme Spoiler Shad 1.5".

This crappie was fooled by a Creme Spoiler Shad 1.5″.

The front was a strong one, with high winds and brief but heavy rain. The run back to the ramp was short but entertaining.

The photos from the Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure are posted at http://johnkumiski.com/portfolio/2013-indian-river-lagoon-paddle-adventure/

I drove to Miami and back yesterday. Came back with Bob Stearns’s Maverick Mirage HPX-T. I believe I will take it out for a spin today.

The first Florida Clean Water Rally is coming up-

clean water rally

And that is the extent of 2014s First St. Johns River 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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

Third Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure Report

December 22, 2013 by · 1 Comment

Third Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure Report

A Merry Christmas to All!!!

Blog Posts this Week:
Demand Clean Water Now!

In our last installment our Paddle Adventurers were at River Palms Cottages.

The remaining Paddle Adventurers ended up spending two nights at River Palms. The second day there we gave a talk at the Florida Oceanographic Institute on Hutchison Island. Ellie kindly gave us a $100 gift card for a local restaurant, so we got to eat once again.

Son Maxx and his darlin’ Sydney showed up to join the adventure that night. So did Nate Lemars, a friend of Rodney’s. Maxx came in a vehicle. Nate had been chasing us in a kayak for three days.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Stretching before paddling.

Sunrise was spectacular. A departing sportfisherman serenaded us for a while with Eminem at ear-shattering volume. Then we packed up and departed ourselves.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Mike Conneen watches as the sun rises at River Palms.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Eminem goes out to sea in this sportfisherman.

Our goal was modest- Long Island, near the St. Lucie Inlet. It was an easy paddle. Rodney and I spotted a couple of fish on Marcia’s flat. We stopped and fished it but nothing bit our offerings, so we continued to the island.

Long Island was one of the nicer spoil islands that we camped on, so much so that we spent two nights there (unused weather days). There was some seagrass on the ocean side of it where there were a few fish. Rodney got a seatrout, Nate got a legal-sized snook on the last day of the season. Most of us got a few jack crevalle, although they were all small.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

The peas grew around out campsite.

The next morning Nate got a nice flounder. Then we had some visitors (other than the rats).

First were Marcia Foosaner and her friend Ros. They gave us presents including a pair of pompano jigs (never did catch a pompano, though) and a pompano. They couldn’t stay long and were too soon gone. Thanks to them for being so gracious.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Sydney with a sea star.

Jim Moir, Disney Conservationist of the Year, was next. He did not bring gifts but invited us to camp in his yard. As it turned out we did, too.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Rodney takes a turn at the stove.

Dinner that evening was a fish-lover’s extravaganza- pan-fried flounder and snook, baked trout and pompano. Delicious and bastante!

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Dinner- delicious and plentiful.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Everyone was happy, feeding the beast.

After dinner we got the fire cranking. Mim and Sydney went to work with the palmetto fronds, making a fire visible from space. Yes, I’m exaggerating.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

The ladies were pyromaniacs. Who knew?

In the morning Mark Nichols and Ed Zyak came in. They had coffee and doughnuts- how to be popular when visiting campers!

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Coffee and doughnuts will make friends quick when offered to campers.

Mark invited me to go fishing with them, and I jumped at the offer. We stopped at a flat near the inlet and got out to wade. Almost immediately I spied a cruising fish and tossed a faux shrimp at it- BANG! A twenty-four inch snook was my reward. Other than a few small jacks it was all we got, but the wading was very pleasant and it’s always enjoyable being around Mark and Ed. Many thanks to both of them.

When I got back to camp everyone was gone to Jim Moir’s house but Rodney. The paddle was short and easy, an outgoing tide and north wind pushing us along. Then we got to the house. I had missed Maxx and Sydney, who had already left for home.

It’s on top of a cliff. Two telephone poles with a pulley system are used to move the boats up to the top. I wanted a photo of the operation but all able-bodied men were involved in moving boats and gear, so no time for photos.

The house was gorgeous. The fact it had hot showers and flush toilets made it that much more appealing. We shared our dinner with the Moirs and they shared theirs with us, quite lovely. Our most heartfelt thanks to them for their hospitality.

It was cold that night. For the first time on the trip I got inside of my sleeping bag.

An early start greeted us the next morning. We had a long paddle, a tide to beat, a program to give at the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, and had to find a place to camp. We slid the boats down the “ramp” with the help of the pulley, loaded up, and headed out.

We paddled south through the Narrows. Aptly named, in spots it was barely wide enough for the Old Town. I thought we should see fish and wildlife there but it was very sparse.

We came back out to the ICW. A north wind pushed us along nicely. We came to the Hobe Sound refuge and beached our craft. Mike volunteered to stay with the boats while we did our talk.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

A dredging operation along the ICW.

In the middle of the talk a woman stuck her head into the room and said, “You guys have a place to stay tonight at the Jupiter Pointe Marina.” She came in a woman but left as an angel. What great news that was! As it turned out Mike was not only watching the boats, he was looking for a place for all of us to sleep.

A little after 3 PM we left the refuge, with three and a half miles to paddle to reach the Marina. We got there about 30 minutes before sunset. What a place! A beach for the boats, a big grassy area for us, a bar and restaurant, flush toilets, running water, picnic tables, firewood- they really did us right! All the Paddle Adventurers send Jupiter Pointe Marina their deepest appreciation.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Jupiter Pointe Marina by moonlight.

In the morning we took our time. It was our last day and we did not have far to go, so no need to hurry. That last paddle took us past some plush properties to the north of Jupiter Inlet, and Rodney even caught a crevalle jack. We came to Jupiter Light and the light keeper came down to yell at us- “You can’t stay there, you have to go on the other side of the fence!” What a jerk. We just left.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Jupiter Light was nice, the keeper, not so much.

We got to the River Center on the Loxahatchee River, at Burt Reynolds Park. It was kind of a weird feeling. We were done paddling! What an anticlimax! Jim, Mim’s friend, showed up with some sparkling cider and champagne for us and we all had a toast. We took a few photos. Rodney and I had a presentation to give at the River Center, so we headed off to do that.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

Photos were taken.

When we were done our friends were still waiting for us so everyone could say goodbye. I don’t know if there were any tears but there were plenty of hugs. Then we all loaded our gear into vehicles and got in. That was that.

That wasn’t that, though. I have the most wonderful new friends, new brothers as Bones would say. I had been blown away all along the lagoon by the kindness and generosity of strangers. I have new hope that the people who had been so kind, so generous, so concerned, can all get organized and fight to preserve, to restore this fabulous place we call the Indian River Lagoon.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

The core group. We grew on each other.

It would be a tragedy to do anything less. Demand Clean Water Now!

My most sincere thanks to everyone who paddled with us, especially the core paddlers- Nick, Mike, Bones, and Rodney.

Indian River Paddle Adventure

That is this week’s exciting version of the Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Fishing Stories, Paddle Fishing Florida, Photo Essays · Tagged: , , ,

Second IRL Paddle Adventure Report

December 14, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

paddle adventure

Second IRL Paddle Adventure Report

Gray sky, howling wind. The whitecaps were breaking over the gunwales of the canoe. The shoreline was only inching closer. The “adventure” part of the IRL Paddle Adventure made its presence felt in an all-too-real way.

The IRL Paddle Adventurers left Samson’s Island after a pleasant two night stay. A pair of great horned owls serenaded us to sleep each evening while we were there. We observed that they were a mating pair. Apparently the actual act of mating occurs very quickly in great horned owls, taking approximately three seconds in this particular case.

paddle adventure

These owls serenaded us.

I thought I might find owl pellets at the base of the tree they were in. What I found was an active beehive. I left the area as quickly as possible.

The Trip to Lagoon House was uneventful. There was not a lot of camping space there and several of us were literally at the water’s edge, But the Lagoon-Palooza was well attended and MRC garnered several new members. The IRL Paddle Adventurers would like to sincerely thank everyone who came out to see us.

On the next day’s paddle we stopped at Honest John’s Fish Camp and ate our lunch. Honest John’s represents the finest of what’s left of old Florida- funky, laid-back, gracious, a cool place. We chatted with Elliot, who worked there, and Barbara Arthur, a wonderful lady, one of the owners. She has several IGFA world record seatrout to her credit, quite the woman.

paddle adventure

Honest John’s Fish Camp

Our next stop was Long Point Park, near Sebastian Inlet. The park graciously donated two campsites to us for our stay. It was sad getting there in a way because that’s where Dee Kaminsky was leaving us. Mike Conneen’s brother Matt came by with two pots of vegetarian chili with all the fixin’s and fed the lot of us, the sort of kindness that has made this trip so outstanding. The IRL Paddle Adventurers would like to sincerely thank Matt Conneen for his delicious contribution.

paddle adventure

The storks hoped for handouts that never came.

On the bright side of this particular stop, Karen of Karen’s Kayaks joined us for the overnight and the next day’s paddle and Brian the kayak fisherman joined us for three days.

paddle adventure

Brian brought a cheering section.

A half-dozen wood storks hung around waiting for handouts. Since we had hardly caught any fish (a recurring theme on this trip) we had nothing for them. Feeding the wildlife is never a good idea anyway.

We paddled through miles of stinky water the next day. The seagrass has been replaced by a red alga that collects in depressions on the bottom where it rots. The rotting algae stinks. It was like that for miles.

paddle adventure

This stuff collects and rots, raising quite the stink.

We thought we would catch some fish in the vicinity of Sebastian Inlet but no one did. Nearing Wabasso Rodney managed to get a slam- redfish, two snook, seatrout, and a crevalle thrown in for good measure. All the fish combined maybe would weigh two pounds.

paddle adventure

The larger of Rodney’s two snook.

paddle adventure

Our best redfish of the trip- so far.

Evening found us at the Environmental Learning Center at Wabasso, the nicest of this type of facility that I’ve seen. They allowed us to camp there, take showers, and wash our nasty clothes. Then, Lou and Laurie of Chive in Vero Beach came out with a portable kitchen and cooked us an amazing dinner- steak, shrimp, three-beans and rice, condiments, sauces, truly amazing stuff. The IRL Paddle Adventurers would like to sincerely thank Lou and Laurie for their delicious contribution.

I got confused navigating the next morning and missed the route I wanted to take. Because of that error we got to meet Dr. Grant Gilmore, who had come out to see us. We stopped and conversed about IRL fisheries and their protection. Apparently the county wants to put in a boat ramp at the location of the best seatrout spawning habitat remaining in the south end of the Indian River Lagoon. Dr. Gilmore does not think this is a good idea, and I agree with him.

paddle adventure

Dr. Grant Gilmore makes a point.

Just north of the north causeway in Vero Beach the most amazing thing happened- we began seeing seagrass again. With the seagrass came all kinds of bait, too. Crabs, no. Large fish, no. Rays, no. But there was still grass there, and we’ve seen it more or less all the way to Jensen Beach.

Rodney’s son James and two of his friends joined us on the south side of Vero beach. They camped with us that night on the best spoil island of the trip. There was a pocket of deep water on the north side of it and we caught jacks and ladyfish there, most of us catching at least a few. I even broke out the fly rod and caught a ladyfish.

paddle adventure

James was happy to see us too.

Sunset was spectacular, a gorgeous, calm evening.

paddle adventure

James photographs the sunset.

 

paddle adventure

Dusk at Home Sweet Home.

Morning broke gray and windy, a solid 15 from the north. Mim, a kayaker from Sebastian, joined us for the duration of the trip.

paddle adventure

Mim truly is epic.

Rodney and I tied our canoe to Nick’s and we put up sails. We made great time to Fort Pierce and without thinking it through too well kept right on going. We stopped at a speck of dirt south of the causeway. Suddenly the wind doubled in intensity, pushing up big, ugly whitecaps. We had to leave- our speck would be underwater at high tide. So we made for the nearest shore. It was a tense, scary ride but fortunately everyone made it safely.

But now we had to find a place to stop.

The entire shoreline there is mangroves behind which are mosquito impoundments. There is no place to stop, much less camp. We got to Little Mud Creek just before sundown and that’s where we spent the night, wind howling, surf crashing.

paddle adventure

There were miles of mangrove shorelines south of Fort Pierce.

We got going as early as possible the next morning. Our destination was Jensen Beach.

Both Caribbean Shores and River Palms Cottages offered us donated lodging. We ended up at River Palms, from where I type this. The IRL Paddle Adventurers would like to sincerely thank both facilities for their generous donation. My only regret is we couldn’t manage to stay at both places.

Mim bought all the Paddle Adventurers dinner last night. The IRL Paddle Adventurers would like to sincerely her for her generous donation!

Speaking of donations, you can still sponsor a paddler and donate to the MRC Education fund at this link…

We are scheduled to give a presentation at the Florida Oceanographic Institute in an hour. Tomorrow we recommence our adventure.

Life is short- go fishing.

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Fishing Stories, Photo Essays, travel blog · Tagged: , , ,

Selecting Successful Seatrout Flies

November 27, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Selecting Successful Seatrout Flies

selecting successful seatrout flies

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” -Ecclesiastes 1.9

More fishermen fish for seatrout than any other inshore gamefish along the coasts of the southeastern United States. You would think that reams of information would be available on selecting successful seatrout flies. Not so.

Here in Florida the average seatrout weighs between one and three pounds, so they’re not very big. They’re fairly easy to catch most of the time. They don’t fight very hard. And they’re usually hard to sight fish. So most serious fly fishers look for other species.

Challenging Targets

A seatrout over five or six pounds is a difficult fish to fool. They can be sight fished, best during the winter but also while they’re spawning. They are as spooky as any creature with fins. A seatrout over five pounds that is sight fished and caught on a fly rod is a great trophy.

The smaller ones are fun and will save the day when more appealing species aren’t biting. The larger ones present a formidable target in their own right.

Eyes Bigger Than Stomach?

A seatrout of any size is a glutton. A big seatrout will take a very large bait.

While poling one time I spotted what I thought was a dead fish lying on the bottom. I went over to investigate and was heartbroken to see it was quite a large seatrout, belly up. I poked it gently with the push pole and was surprised to see it wiggle weakly. I said to my fisherman, “It’s not dead! Reach down and pick it up.” He did, and we put it on a Boga Grip. It weighed a whopping nine pounds. Not many fly casters can say they’ve caught a nine pound seatrout with their bare hands!

I started examining the fish. It was pretty beat up. I looked down into its mouth. There was the tail of a one to two pound mullet sticking out of the fish’s throat. If a big seatrout will take a mullet this size they’ll also take a large fly.

Smaller seatrout seem to prefer shrimp. While larger fish will certainly eat them, they usually fill up by eating baitfish, principally by ambush feeding. Mullet, menhaden, pigfish, pinfish, pilchards, etc., all help big seatrout stay fat and healthy. So your best bet with seatrout flies, if you prefer the larger fish, is to stick with baitfish patterns.

Color, Flash, Sound

Bright colors and flash seem to attract the eye of big trout. Red and yellow, red and white, chartreuse and white, all seem to work well. Fluorescent and even luminescent colors are frequently outstanding. But I’ve also had good success with realistic color combinations, and drab colors like black, gray, brown, and grizzly, especially when sight fishing for them.

You can find trout in various depths of water. For shallow water fish (about fifteen inches deep or less), and these are almost always big ones, you need a fly that kisses the water when it touches down. The small “Plop!” of a lead eye spooks them badly in this situation.

For fish in deeper water, noise seems to be a great attractor. Flies that incorporate rattles can be extremely effective. Those luminescent materials can greatly add to the effectiveness of deep water patterns, too.

To read the rest of this article, visit this link…

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying · Tagged: , , , , ,

Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 15, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events-

The Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure kicks off on November 30. Paddle a section or the length of the lagoon with us!

My Mitzi Skiff 17 is for sale. For information, visit this link…

On Sunday Tammy and I went to the Indian River Lagoon for some rare Sunday fishing for me, and part of her ongoing birthday celebration. Hope it was a good birth month, Tammy! Anyway, we visited to power plant first to get a few ladyfish. In what proved to be a bad omen we did not get a bite there.
We crossed the lagoon and went on a search mission. We did not have to search very hard. There were lots of fish there- black drum, redfish, seatrout. In one of the most serious cases of fish lockjaw I have ever seen we did not get a single bite.
Tammy had been up most of the previous night fishing at Sebastian Inlet and was low on gas. The lack of cooperation from those lagoon fish pushed her right over the edge.

This is how great the fishing was.

This is how great the fishing was.

We were off the water about 130 PM.

Monday morning found me launching the Mitzi (it’s for sale!) at River Breeze for my first look-around up there since getting back from Alaska. I did lots of fruitless searching. In the last spot I looked the fruit showed in the form of some tailing reds, and trout in potholes.

mosquito lagoon seatrout

Nice trout on a DOA Shad Tail.

After getting a couple on a DOA Shad Tail I switched to fly and got a nice top-of-slot redfish. Some more investigation is warranted.

mosquito lagoon redfish

Aye! ‘Tis a handsome fish!

Wednesday my new sunglasses came! Smith Optics has awesome customer service.

I also put the almost-final-finishing-touches on the sailing rig for the Old Town.

Wednesday night Susan and I went to the University for Light Up UCF, a good thing to bring the kids to. There are a few rides, an ice skating rink, a saucer run, a showing of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a light show, and faux snow. I couldn’t help but notice a few attractive co-eds, too …

Light Up UCF. Can you see the ghost of Christmas present?

Light Up UCF. Can you see the ghost of Christmas present?

 

You can ride the ferris wheel.

You can ride the ferris wheel.

 

The Tornado is good if you enjoy regurgitation.

The Tornado is good if you enjoy regurgitation.

Thursday morning the weather forecast did not look promising. But it looked better than Friday’s. So I tossed the kayak on the roof of the van and drove to River Breeze.

The water was too high. It was windy. It was cloudy. There were hardly any cars in the parking lot. I launched the boat and went a-paddling.

No fish were visible. I blindly fished a hole which has produced while fishing blindly in the past. It did not produce today.

I went to a second hole and fished it blindly. It did not produce either.
While standing on the bank eating a tangerine two redfish swam by, giving me the fin as they passed. I could hear them laughing at me.

I fished a third hole. A bold, eight-inch redfish got between me and the skunk.

The day was awesome. Didn’t see another hominid the entire time I was out.

While paddling back I came up with a new mathematical equation which rivals e=mc2 in simplicity and elegance. OK, I’m exaggerating. But here it is:

equation

For the non-mathematically inclined-

Clouds plus wind plus rising water plus falling water temperature equals no fish.

Argonaut Publishing Company is having a big Christmas Sale on all of its fishing books by one Capt. John Kumiski. Visit this link to do some holiday shopping!

That is this week’s exciting version of the Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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