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Kayak Redfishing This Week- Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 15, 2011 by ·

The Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/15/11

The gauge was at 1.5 all last week. I like it at 0.5 or lower, especially for paddle fishing. It has dropped the past couple days, though- good news!

Why paddle all week? I had a kayak charter on Friday. Scouting was needed. Besides, I really like paddling.

Wednesday found me at one of my favorite paddle spots on the Indian River Lagoon. Of course the water was too high. That’s been a recurring theme. The water was also very dark. I lost sight of the paddle blade about halfway down. And it was windy, out of the north. Then just to complete the picture, it got overcast.

In spite of all that there were fish blowing up along the shoreline.

I couldn’t see them, even when I tried wading. They kept spooking off of me. After changing flies five times I finally had one eat on a Mosquito Lagoon Special. I was so surprised I pooched it. That was the extent of my catching.

Thursday found me at a different spot on the IRL. The water was still high and dirty but the wind was less, and it was gloriously sunny. The bird life was rich and varied, and there were loads of mullet around. But in three hours of paddling I saw zero fish, although I ran over two. Didn’t even make a cast.

My trip Friday was an afternoon half day. A front came through Thursday night, dropping the water temperature to 67 from 71, not a good thing. The wind was blowing 20 out of the north. The water level dropped to 1.3, a little lower but still too high. At least the sun was out!

When I left the house I still didn’t know where we were going to fish. We (Patrick Gallagher, a fine Irish-American lad) ended up launching at Eddy Creek, fishing the north side. The water was very green and ridiculously high. I wondered after we got there if the wind hadn’t piled up the water at the south end of the lagoon. If so I certainly erred going there.

We rounded the point and fought the wind up into Galinipper Basin. We had a nice lee shoreline at the north end. Patrick was tossing a Johnson Minnow, mostly catching grass. We saw a minnow skip and he dropped the spoon there, I mean right now. A fish bit and he pulled in a nice flounder. It was the only fish (other than mullet) that we saw, and we were out until sunset.

Saturday I was part of a two boat trip with Capt. John Turcot. We picked up our anglers at 9AM at JB’s Fish Camp, giving the air a chance to warm first.

My anglers were Nadim and Terry. As their daughter says, “My dad is from Iraq and my mom’s from Arkansas!” Needless to say it was an interesting and entertaining day. They were a wonderful couple.

The weather was outstanding. We began searching shorelines and lo and behold- there were redfish working them. Our first was a little 12 inch rat, caught on a piece of mullet, as were all of our fish.

Shortly, Nadim hooked an in-the-slot red. Unfortunately for the fish, it never made it out of my boat alive.

Nadim the engineer with his redfish dinner on the fin.

Terry’s red came into the boat a while later. It joined Nadim’s fish in my cooler.

The second half of the redfish dinner, this one served up by Terry.

Once Terry realized that she couldn’t keep any more fish, she didn’t want to fish any more. I was able to use almost an hour of our time to scout for the next day’s trip.

When I cleaned the fish one of them had an empty stomach. The other had a fairly large (for the size of the fish that is) blue crab in it.

When I washed the boat I also washed the cooler. I forgot to put it back in the van and left it at the car wash. Dang!

John Turcot and his family could use some prayers for those of you who have some to spare.

Sunday morning I met Joseph Modrano, an angler from Seattle, at River Breeze. We mounted up on the Mitzi and went forth seeking the elusive red drum. Again, the weather was outstanding.

We fished about a half dozen spots over the course of the day. The water at the north end of the lagoon is way cleaner than at the south end, and actually looks just like it’s supposed to in many places. We found fish everywhere we looked except for one spot.

Joseph battles and photographs at the same time. And people say men can't multitask.

Again, all the fish we caught were in the slot, actually, towards the lower end. We’re not seeing six and eight pound fish. I don’t mind the smaller fish, heck, it’s way better than it had been! But I want to find some bigger fish too.

Joseph Modrano. Redfish. A good combination.

I was also encouraged to see quite a few seatrout. They took a severe beating in that winter freeze a couple years ago. It’s good to see some decent ones up on the flats.

Modrano used a Johnson Silver Minnow all day. He was pretty darn good with it, and he had never been sight fishing before. We pretty much had shots all day long, putting four or five fish in the boat. All managed to make it out alive.

Monday I had the pleasure of fishing Capt. Chris Myers, one of my favorite people to fish with. We launched at River Breeze and fished north of Georges Bar. Again the weather was superb. The water had dropped a few more inches, we found lots of clean water, and saw good numbers of fish all day long. We actually caught several redfish while using those dangfangled fly poles, Myers with a black Redfish Worm and me with a small (#4) tan crabby, shrimpy looking thing.

In the afternoon after the breeze kicked in Myers switched to a spin pole and proceeded to get a few more using a three inch DOA Shrimp. It was an outstanding day.

The week started kind of slow but picked up a good head of steam. The water is slowly dropping, clean water is available, and there are fish around. They are eating. It’s an encouraging trend. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Proposed FWC Seatrout Rule Changes a Terrible Idea

November 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wants to change the seatrout rules, making trout more available to commercial fishermen and increasing the bag limit for recreational anglers. Are they kidding?

An excerpt from an email sent to Stuart Patterson from the Commission:
“The Commission considers the spotted seatrout population in Florida a success story. Over the past twenty years, the regulations in place helped spotted seatrout rebuild from low population levels to abundant and healthy levels. The most recent spotted seatrout stock assessment showed that the stocks are exceeding the Commission’s seatrout management goal. Because of this, the Commission is looking into relaxing both commercial and recreational regulations in order to increase fishing opportunities for fishers in Florida.”

A few comments on this-
-could they please define “abundant and healthy”?
-the Commission’s management goal must be really low.
-how does fewer fish in the water equate to increased fishing opportunities?

I’d like to know where the commission is doing these studies. I certainly don’t see abundant, and I’m out all the time. If you want to see abundant, try visiting Louisiana or Texas. Here in Florida they’re abundant all right- abundant eight inch fish.

Another excerpt-
“One aspect considered is that commercial landings of spotted seatrout in Florida are very small relative to the recreational landings. For example, in 2009, the commercial harvest made up only 2% of the entire spotted seatrout harvest in Florida.”

I would also like to know how the Commission makes this determination. Just who is counting the catch of the fishermen? What makes the Commission think their numbers are accurate?

Even if we grant that the data is accurate, what difference does it make if the commercial catch is only 2 percent of the total landings? If there aren’t enough fish in the water now, taking more out can hardly be expected to improve the fishing.

The proposed regulations will be discussed in a final public hearing at the November Commission meeting. You can see more details about the spotted seatrout recommendations that will be discussed as they are added to the meeting website: http://www.myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/2011/november/16/november-16-17,-2011/.
I hope to see you there.

I think the bag limit ought to be reduced to three and the size limit increased to an 18″ to 22″ slot.

Let the commissioners know what you think of their idea as soon as you can- the meeting is next week!

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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Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing- Returning to Normal?

November 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/7/11

We needed to scout on Monday, having been away for two weeks. Rain poured down most of the day. We didn’t go.

Tuesday an east wind of 20-25 met me at the ramp. Still the sun was out, so off I went.

I actually found some fish. The water had dropped since my last visit and in a few places it showed signs of clearing up a bit. Redfish were working along a few shorelines. I tried fishing while simultaneously poling. Never easy to do, it’s even harder when the wind is howling. Still, tossing a Johnson Minnow, I got three bites and put a slot red in the boat (released it).

I was supposed to be scouting, not fishing, so I stopped fishing and continued looking. I didn’t see much anywhere else.

Wednesday Mike, Tom, and Gunther joined me looking for some redfish on spin action. The water had come up a couple inches, but the fish were still where I had left them- cruising the bank, crashing minnows, even saw a couple tailers.

Mike got the first red on a DOA CAL shad tail. The fish was almost under the bow of the boat when Mike stuck him. I haven’t had one bite so close to the boat in years. It was quite extraordinary. It wasn’t a big one, 22 inches or so, but it was a redfish and I was darned glad to see it come aboard. It posed for a photo and was released.

This apparently suicidal redfish took the lure right at the bow of the Mitzi skiff.

Mike had the hot hand, as a while later he made a beautiful cast in front of a cruising fish. The fish ate the CAL tail and a few minutes later 25 inches of redfish was being photographed. It was also released.

The DOA CAL shad tail, detailed to show rigging.

We had several other shots which were not converted and our half day ended much too quickly.

Thursday I cruised the wildlife refuge looking for gremlins that might booger up the show and tell. The main one was that all the dike roads except the Gator Creek- Peacock Pocket road are closed, even Biolab.

Friday Nick Colantonio and John Carnacchia (spelling probably wrong on that name), fly fishers from Tampa, joined me for some redfishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. The water was a foot higher (see the graph here) and two degrees cooler than it was on Tuesday. The wind was again fairly howling, this time from the west.

The fish were NOT cruising shorelines, and believe me we looked. After four hours we had seen four fish and only had a shot at one of them. We came to a small hole in the area where I had been seeing the fish on Wednesday. “Would you guys indulge me for 15 minutes?” I asked.

After staking out the boat I chucked two pieces of mullet containing circle hooks into the hole. I asked Nick to let me know when 15 minutes was up.

At six minutes one of the rods went off and John reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits again. Six minutes later one of the rods went off and Nick reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits out again. Fifteen minutes went by without another bite so we pulled the lines in and went fly fishing again.

We ran over a few fish but the water was too deep and dirty for us to see them until they blew out. Nick got one shot at the end of the day but the fish spooked off the fly. With that we wrapped up a tough day.

Saturday we had the show and tell and Sunday the on-the-water show and tell. Both went well. Wish you’d been there!

Today son Alex and I went redfishing together. Actually Alex fished and I poled. The water is even higher than it was on Friday and it is still rising. We had a couple half baked shots, the kind where you try to make a hurried nine foot cast. The water is too high and dirty for sightfishing. Hopefully it will drop some this week. We need a west wind to blow some water offshore!

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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Canoe Camping at Canaveral National Seashore

November 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving hurtles towards us. This holiday kicks off Florida’s finest camping season.

At the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon a labyrinth of islands, channels, and shallow ponds hosts loads of  wading birds, dolphins, redfish, and seatrout. Canaveral National Seashore administers a dozen National Park Service campsites here. Accessible only by water, these are “wilderness” sites. A few have a fire grate and a picnic table. The others have space for your tents, and that’s about it.

A spectacular sunrise over the Mosquito lagoon.

I’ve gone camping here by canoe and kayak many times over the years. While sometimes the fishing hasn’t been good, other times it has been outstanding. Either way, I always have an enjoyable time.

A Typical Trip
Obtain the necessary camping permit from Canaveral National Seashore, Turtle Mound station. Launch your boats at River Breeze Park in Oak Hill, or at Turtle Mound on the east side of the lagoon.

After dinner roast marshmallows and watch the sun set. After it gets dark you can stargaze for hours. During the winter months Orion (the easiest of all constellations to recognize), Gemini, Taurus, and Canis Major are all clearly visible. Sirius, in Canis Major, is the brightest star in the sky! If you’re lucky you’ll see satellites, or a meteor streaking across the heavens. You certainly don’t get to see meteors every day.

A lovely Mosquito Lagoon sunset, from a different vantage on a different day.

After breakfast go fishing. Fishing being fishing, sometimes it’s great and sometimes you’ll get skunked. But the wading birds will be thick. You will see pelicans, ospreys, and maybe a bald eagle, and dolphins are commonly encountered. If you don’t catch any fish, cook some hot dogs over a blazing campfire. When you roast a wiener on a stick over an open fire, they are as good as hot dogs can be!

A Warning
You can expect raccoons to visit your campsite while you’re here. Make sure to pack your food in raccoon proof containers. A hard plastic cooler with a rope tied around it works well. On one trip we left our s’mores fixings in a shopping bag, unattended on a table, for less than five minutes. A raccoon quickly found and tried to steal the bag. The chocolate and crackers fell out as he ran off, but he made a successful getaway with all of our marshmallows.

A Quick Look at the Fishing
The most common gamefish here are redfish and seatrout. A ten pound spinning outfit is appropriate. Effective lures include soft plastic jerkbaits, weedless gold spoons, and small popping plugs. The area is shallow with a lot of grass, so weedless lures are a must. Popular natural baits include shrimp and cut mullet. Small crabs can also be effective.

A younger Maxx casts to a redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon.

I kayak fish this area a lot, ordinarily using fly tackle. The preferred technique is to paddle along shorelines, searching for fish to which to cast the fly. Particularly during the cooler months (when camping is most enjoyable) fishing for both reds and seatrout can be excellent.

On the very first camping trip my boys and I made here we paddled over a school of at least 200 redfish. We continued on to our campsite and dropped off our gear, then went right back to where the fish were. Between us we got a dozen fish, many on fly tackle. If you spend some time hunting for fish here usually you will find some.

Redfish this size are quite typical of what you will find here.

Florida saltwater fishing laws apply here. If you choose to fish you will need a saltwater fishing license.

Nuts and Bolts
Canaveral National Seashore lies northeast of Orlando about one hour’s drive. To camp there you must obtain a permit (fee required) from their office at Turtle Mound, on Florida route A1A south of New Smyrna Beach. They accept reservations by telephone one week in advance, and especially during the busy spring season reservations are strongly recommended.

Their website URL is http://www.nps.gov/cana/. Click on the “Activities” button. Then click on the “camping” button to see their camping brochure. The phone number at the Turtle Mound station for more information about camping or reservations is 386-428-3384 Ext. 10.

The different campsites have varying capacities. Some sites, like the two on Orange Island, can fit three small tents maximum. Others, like the spoil island campsites, could hold 20 or more people. Remember, these are unimproved sites with no fresh water, electricity, or toilet facilities. If you don’t bring what you need you won’t have it out there.

Another point to keep in mind is that adjacent to Canaveral National Seashore is the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. No camping is allowed here at any time. So if you intend to camp on a spoil island in the Mosquito Lagoon, be sure to find the right one.

While this piece emphasizes paddling to the campsites, there are no restrictions on motor vessel use here. You can easily use a boat with a motor to gain access to any of the CNS campsites, or to go fishing. You will still need the national park service permit to camp, of course.

The Mosquito Lagoon wasn’t named on a whim. The bugs can be nasty when the weather is warm, so the best time to camp is from about Thanksgiving through about Easter. The prudent camper will bring bug spray at whatever time of year they camp, anywhere in Florida.

Remember to bring sunblock and plenty of water. Have fun, and enjoy your trip!

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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Everglades, Naples Fishing Report

October 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Everglades, Naples Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/30/11

Upcoming Events- Last call! Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

The Florida Fishing Road Trip- Installment 2

October 27
Dear Diary-
On the 25th we got up early and drove off of Sugarloaf Key at 6 am. Our destination- Flamingo, Everglades National Park.

We got there a little after 10 am, and launched the boat in the Buttonwood Canal. We ran to the entrance to Mud Lake, dropped the canoe in the water, and paddled through the creek into the lake. We were hoping to find snook.

Running through the Buttonwood Canal.

The water was high. It’s always dirty in there. So sight fishing was again going to be difficult.

We saw a redfish right away as it blew out when we ran it over. A while later Alex spotted a red, close to the canoe. Using a four weight TFO he smartly dropped a small chartreuse Clouser Minnow right in front of it and BAM, he’s on. Darn nice work by Alex.

Alex fights a redfish in Mud Lake. Look at the color of the water.

A short time later a crash along the shore indicated the presence of another fish. As it turned out there were two. They were swimming away, but Alex threw the Clouser in front of them and one immediately jumped on it for redfish number two.

Sight fishing in the high, stained water worked well enough for a couple of these.

We didn’t see anything else in Mud Lake.

We paddled through the creek into Bear Lake. Fish were crashing at the entrance. We got a couple ladyfish, again on the Clouser.

Paddling down the lake yielded no chances at snook or reds. Some baby tarpon were rolling. We changed to the baby tarpon gurglers. In spite of missing a bunch we got four between us, including a tarpon double, on fly. Nice! Yes, they were micro-tarpon, but they are still tarpon, my favorite fish. And we got them on surface flies. So we counted the trip as a success.

Your intrepid blogger got this micro-tarpon on a gurgler.

Alex also used a gurgler to get this slightly larger specimen.

On the way back through Mud Lake Alex was blind casting along the mangroves and that chartreuse Clouser got him a little snook. So he got two reds, two tarpon, and a snook on fly in one day, certainly some kind of Everglades slam.

The snook was small but it completed the slam, all on fly.

We camped in Flamingo that night. The mosquitoes were thick. But the stars were beautiful. We saw two satellites. Fireflies flashed intermittently. We were asleep by eight thirty. I slept like a log. Man, I miss camping.

On the 26th we fished some ponds behind Cape Sable. The water was really high and dirty. I spotted a redfish working some mangrove roots and Alex got it on that same Clouser. It was the only shot we would have.

We got back to Flamingo about four thirty, loaded the gear up, and headed to Fort Myers. The drive was fortunately uneventful.

Today we launched the boat at a public ramp near Wiggins Pass. Once on the Gulf we headed south. The hope was that diving birds would give away the location of feeding Spanish mackerel and little tunny.

The hope was not realized. Plenty of bait, plenty of birds, no fish.

Along the beach were loads of mullet, oddly enough swimming north. We hoped to find tarpon with them but what we found were blacktip sharks. Several bit the mullet we tossed at them, and Alex got one of 50 pounds or so to the boat. With the exception of a couple of ladyfish and a small jack it was all we would catch.

There were lots of sharks like this blacktip, right along the beach.

Blacktips are magnificent animals.

Reach in there and get that expensive hook out, will you?

I’d never been to this section of the Florida coast. It was quite nice and I would like to visit again.

October 28
Dear Diary-
Last night Rick took us to Café Brazil. They have Brahma and Antarctica now! I had Alex try both. Alex and I had muqueca. It was so delicious. Sometimes I miss Bahia, I’ll tell you.

The last day of our trip is here. Alex sleeps while I write this. Our intent is to head to Sarasota and see if the little tunny are along the beach there. It’s on the way home.

The weather forecast today is iffy at best. A tropical storm churns in the Gulf, headed this way. So if it’s pouring the deal is off. We can only go out there and see.

October 29
Dear Diary-
An anticlimax. We got to Sarasota and it was pouring water from the sky. I was all for going out anyway but Alex would hear none of that. So we drove home, cleaned up the car and boats, and put stuff away. The trip was over.

A day later it’s still raining. Alex made the right call.

Next week- back to the lagoons!

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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Mullet Are Thick Along the Beach- Beach Fishing Report

October 16, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Beach Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/11/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

Monday- smoked some salmon. Repaired cast net. It needed repair badly. There were several gaping holes. Various other odds and ends. I rode my bike to the Econ to see how high it was. I’ve seen it higher- once.

Tuesday- took the newly repaired net to Port Canaveral hoping to catch some bait for the freezer. There were a lot of mullet between the Trident basin and the north jetty. The net worked well. After getting what I needed I went out onto the ocean on a feasibility study. The waves were easily handled by the Mitzi. There were weeds everywhere. The water was dirty. I didn’t spend much time, but did not see any fish.

Wednesday- went to the no motor zone. Didn’t expect much, since the water is dirty everyplace else. Plus we had three feet of rain fall (an exaggeration- seven inches, really) over the weekend. But I had been dying to go since I got back from Alaska, and the weather was good for it. So I went.

It went as expected. The water was extremely high and extremely dirty. The bottom was not visible anywhere. There were lots of manatees, lots of alligators, lots of black mullet. Didn’t see a fish or get a bite.

Friday- Morris Klapper and his son-in-law Eric Bridges joined me for a day on the near coastal Atlantic. Last week I asked “where are all the mullet?” We found them. They were fairly solid from Cape Canaveral all the way to Satellite Beach, and REAL solid in some places, millions and millions of them. There were lots of bluefish and some ladyfish with them. We saw three tarpon but did not get a bite from one. All we caught were bluefish and ladyfish. We stayed busy all day, though.

We spent all day trying to find this, but no success.

I tried to get out off the beach to look for mackerel or other species but it was too rough for the Mitzi. Maybe next time…

Coming up next- road trip!

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 Still Dirty in Mosquito Lagoon- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

October 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/9/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

In the wee hours of Monday morning son Alex and I climbed into the chariot and drove to new Smyrna Beach. We launched the boat at about 2 AM. The tide was high, and slack.
Our plan was to visit lit docks and fish them. We didn’t have much success at first, but then the water started moving.

On one hand it seems strange that one dock will have fish boiling all around it when nearby docks have nothing, but that’s always how fishing is. So it was this night.

We hardly kicked fish butt. We got many undersized trout, many ladyfish. Alex got a rat red and I got a decent sized bluefish. We used DOA CAL jigs and 3″ DOA Glo Shrimp. Nothing photo-worthy came aboard. Everything was released.

After it got light we caught a few mullet and ran out of the inlet. It was too rough to ride around, so we just anchored near the tip of the north jetty. There were redfish there. Using mullet chunks we caught two decent ones in an hour and saw several other people catch some too.

If you want to soak bait there are quite a few fish like this at Ponce Inlet right now.

The mullet are supposed to be running. I’d like to know where they all are.

On Wednesday Luiz, Sergio, and Messias, all from Sao Paulo, joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We tried fishing with lures. We tried fishing with bait. We caught nothing other than three catfish. The water is still dreadfully dirty. You can’t see anything.

Finally I anchored at the jetty at Haulover Canal. Soaking mullet chunks there we got two redfish in about three hours, very slow fishing. At least we weren’t skunked!

Luiz got this nice redfish. You can see how dirty the water is.

They were fun guys to be around and I certainly needed to brush up on my Portugues.

On Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me. The forecast was for hard east winds. Holy cow, it was correct! We anchored at the west end of the Haulover Canal and soaked mullet chunks for four hours, chewing the fat the entire time.

There were lots of dolphins around. There were lots of manatees around. Apparently yacht season has started. Out of the wind it was a lovely morning.

We did not see many mullet. This time of year they should be everywhere you look. We did not catch anything other than one over-aggressive sting ray. We left at noon.

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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On-Location Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Seminar Upcoming

October 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

My next Mosquito Lagoon/Indian River Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar is on November 5.

Show and Tell Seminars are all-day fishing seminars that take place in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, with the express goal of helping you catch more and bigger fish in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons.

Learn how to catch reds like this bruiser in the Mosquito lagoon and Indian River Lagoon.

We traverse (in vehicles) the dike roads along the margins of the lagoon system. We stop repeatedly to discuss locations, tactics, and techniques for fishing for redfish, seatrout, and other species found in the lagoon system. We cover knots, rods, reels, lines, lures, and baits, as well as how to fish those lures and baits. We visit all the open boat ramps, canoe/kayak launches, and wading access points in the wildlife refuge. I show you where to fish, and tell you how to fish it!

Seatrout like this one are common catches in the Mosquito Lagoon if you know how.

You will learn more in one day during this popular seminar than you could in a year on your own!

Here’s what attendees at past seminars had to say:

“I just wanted to write and thank you again for the seminar on Saturday. It would have taken me at least a year of scouting to learn what we did in nine hours from you, and that’s just the information on when and where to catch fish. The instruction on techniques and tackle would take years of experimentation to learn on my own!” -Steve Crowder

“I want to thank you for a very interesting seminar! I learned a great deal about our resident redfish, and can’t wait to apply what you’ve taught me.” -Jeff Graybeal

” I really enjoyed your seminar yesterday. I am a fly fisherman from the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, so I learned a ton about shallow salt water fishing. It will be invaluable to me as I begin to explore the Space Coast.” – Mark Mielbrecht

“A couple of friends attended your Show and Tell yesterday. Rave reviews. Mark was effusive in his email about the whole experience. He can’t wait to get back out. Every time I send someone your way they come back a satisfied customer. Nice job!” -Mike Adamson

“I really enjoyed Saturday. You made it really hard to go back to work instead of fish!” -Greg Rhodes

The next Show and Tell is scheduled for November 5, 2011. Visit this link for more information or to sign up!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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Tough Fishing this week on Mosquito Lagoon, Atlantic Ocean

October 2, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 10/2/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

On Monday morning I picked the boat up from the shop. New steering, awesome! Mechanic Rod Miller (321.225.8800) does my work and has for many years. He gets my highest recommendation.

After picking up the boat I went to Post Canaveral to catch bait. There were quite a few mullet (and jellyfish) in the port, and I got some of both. I don’t like jellyfish in the net but it was unavoidable unless you didn’t throw the net.

The waves at the jetty were at the design limit for the Mitzi. I fished there, along with two other boats, for about an hour. I hooked one bluefish. I didn’t see the other boats do much, either. Then, tired of waves coming over the bow and no fish, I left and went home.

Wednesday the weather was awesome and Scott Radloff and I went out of the Port hoping to find some mullet run action. We found enough mullet to use for bait and that was IT. There were almost no mullet along the beach, which we ran well past the tip of the cape. Then we headed offshore, hoping to find a weedline.

We did find sargassum weeds. They were essentially fishless. We looked for several hours, and saw exactly three tripletail. One was small, one was a tiny, aquarium-sized fish. The third was 21 inches long, as we found out when we measured him atop my cooler. He ate a finger mullet. We ate him. His bite was the only one we got in over five hours.

This tripletail took five hours to find. Although legal, it wasn't very big.

Friday morning Dr. Mike Sweeney joined me for a morning’s fly fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. If anything the water was even dirtier than it was last week. We spent more time running than fishing, saw maybe six redfish wakes in four hours, and did not get a single shot. The water needs to drop and clear up before there will be any realistic hope of successfully fly fishing there. There are lots of mullet there though.

A cold front came through last night. Hopefully that will stimulate more activity along the coast.

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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High, Green Water- Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

September 25, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 9/25/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup will be posted 30 days prior.

Monday I decided it was high time to check out the lagoons. I got a late start, launching the boat after 10 AM. The water was high, and green. Although there were a couple of fishing rods aboard, the plan was just to ride around and look for fish.

The water in the lagoons looks like the water in this ancient bath.

And I did find some. There weren’t any schools, but rather some areas where there were decent numbers of singles. Most of the time you could only see their wakes, but in some places you could actually see their bodies. Approaching thunderheads convinced me to load the boat at about 130.

Tuesday Mr. Erik Penfield joined me for a half day fishing. I was confident we’d get into a few even though we didn’t start until 930. Unfortunately that confidence was misplaced. We went to the places where I had seen the fish the previous day, but due to the clouds and ripple we couldn’t see anything. Blind casting with a variety of lures produced only one small ladyfish and a pinfish. We tried chunking mullet for a while, but got only a single spider crab. I was disappointed we didn’t do better. The boat hit the trailer at 130.

Wednesday at 7 AM I launched the boat at Port Canaveral. Rodney Smith was my guest. He was looking for a flounder for supper. By the cruise ship basin we found some jacks busting on mullet and got three or four on Chug Bugs. Then we netted some finger mullet and headed to the jetty.

The rollers were 3-4 feet with some chop. There was a lot of sargassum weed. We anchored the boat and started fishing, trying to ignore the waves coming over the bow periodically. In over four hours of fishing we got a couple more jacks, a ladyfish or two, and a bluefish. And Rodney did get his flounder, not a real big one, maybe a couple pounds though. We used egg sinker rigs with the mullet, strictly bait fishing. It was surprisingly relaxing and fun.

Thursday I got up too early and drove to Stuart for a fishing date with Mark Nichols. We went wading, tossing a variety of DOA products. Although it was fairly slow, the glow shrimp worked best, accounting for four or five seatrout in the 18-20 inch range. The fish were fat and healthy. It was great seeing and fishing with Mark, it had been way too long since I did that. The water in Stuart looks better than the water around Titusville. I can’t say that very often.

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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