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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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Orlando area fishing report 3/19/11

March 19, 2011 by · 2 Comments

The Report from Spotted Tail 3/19/11

Upcoming Events-

On April 9 I’ll be giving fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. We’ll be tying wooly worms and wooly buggers. Come out and see us.

Don’t know how I got on his e-mailing list but I get a weekly blog from a fellow by the name of Bruce Turkel. It’s often interesting and thought provoking. This week’s was especially relevant. You can read it at this link: http://turkeltalks.com/index.php/2011/03/14/whats-even-better-than-being-lucky/

Fishing was pretty solid this week. The week had the most perfect weather I’ve seen well, maybe ever.

Monday fly caster Warren Pearson joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We had a good time. The weather was fantastic, and we were in fish most of the day. In spite of being a weak caster Mr. Pearson got himself a couple fine reds and missed several strikes.

On Tuesday the scene was repeated with John Stafford. Mr. Stafford preferred spin tackle. On about his fourth cast of the day a 16 pound red inhaled his DOA CAL jerkbait. If I said it got better after that it would be an exaggeration. But it stayed pretty darned good and eight or nine reds and trout were released.

Wednesday luck went south though. Mike Rudy and his friend Jim joined me, again on Mosquito Lagoon. We found a big school of fish right away and couldn’t get a bite on anything, including mullet chunks. Jim hooked a fish from the second school we found, only to break it off. We found a third school and could not get a bite, and ended up with one break-off and no released fish, in spite of seeing hundreds of reds. The weather was beautiful, and we had a good time. But it was a frustrating day from a fishing standpoint.

Thursday fly fisher Jose Colon, president of New York’s Salty Flyrodders, joined me. Again the weather was awesome, and again we saw loads of fish. Again they were not biting very well. This week had the fullest full moon of the year, since the full moon coincided with the lunar perigee. I wonder if that had anything to do with the redfish behavior the past couple of days? Anyhow, Jose did get one on a brown redfish worm, and missed a couple of strikes. He had hundreds of shots. Both of us enjoyed the day tremendously.

A redfish virgin no longer. Sr. Colon and his fish.

I had Friday off. What does a fishing guide do on his day off? He goes fishing! Scott Radloff and I went out of Port Canaveral looking for tripletail and cobia. There were lots of tripletail out there, although most we saw were small. We did get a 22 inch fish on a DOA Shrimp. We spent hours looking for cobia. Finally this enormous black shape materialized briefly. I cast a home-tied jig at it and hooked up immediately. Some minutes later a 30 pound class cobia was netted by Scott. I’ll be firing up the smoker later today.

No one wants to see pictures of me, but the fish is nice!

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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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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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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orlando fishing report- 2/26/11 Redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon

February 26, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 2/26/11

Upcoming Events

March 5- MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details. Last call for the Show and Tell Seminar! Prime slots still available!

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

Fishing success (as frequently happens) was up and down this week.

On Tuesday John Anders and Heather, visitors from Ontario, joined me for a half day on the Mosquito Lagoon. Although it was a beautiful day we didn’t see many fish and the ones we did see were not very cooperative. Heather finally broke the ice with a nice trout that whacked a jerk bait. John got two rat reds on a RipTide Weedless Jig. Sometimes guides will complain that the fish were there and the fishermen couldn’t catch them but Mr. Anders is a tournament fisherman and was very competent. It just wasn’t happnin, mon!

Tuesday night I had a nice visit with the Florida Fly Fishing Association. The program went well. Thanks for having me, gentlemen!

Thursday fly fisher Five O’Clock Bob from Vermont shared the Spotted Tail with me. The weather was crapalacious- cold windy, foggy, overcast. How windy you ask? It hit 25 mph, measured with an anemometer- not exactly prime flycasting weather. Bob had a fine red nail his black bunny booger on the third cast of the day. The fish broke off. It would turn out to be the only bite we got. Amazingly we saw quite a few other fish but it was borderline unfishable. Any fish seen under those conditions, much less caught, was a major victory. The water was real low- I had to get out and push a couple times.

Thursday I had a split half day. In the morning Dan LaRosa and Ron Ten Berge joined me. The weather was awesome. There should have been fish everywhere. There wasn’t, although we certainly saw enough that we should have caught some. The gentlemen had some fine casts, lures right in the fish, both trout and reds. We found them both tailing and laid up on the flats. We had one strike all morning, and did not hook the fish. Yes- the dreaded skunk visited.

The afternoon trip was with old friend Susan Cocking, up from Miami to write a piece about redfishing with the space shuttle going up. We got the skunk off pretty early with a nice trout that fell for a DOA Shrimp.

This trout de-skunked Spotted Tail.

Then we found a school of redfish and got them on the DOA, the RipTide Weedless Jig, some real (dead) shrimp, and on fly with the redfish worm. I wasn’t keeping tally but we probably got eight or nine.

The fish didn't say anything about the launch. Unimpressed?

Then we raced down to watch the shuttle blast off. It went! It was spectacular! Take that you dirty Klingons!

The launch was flawless. Take that, Klingons!

Friday Rod Miller made love to my Yamaha for me while I got new tires for my van and trailer. New tires on the van- it’s almost as good as…, well, no, not that good. But pretty darned good, none the less. And the Yamaha is good for another year now. So let’s go fishing!

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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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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More Stupid Ideas from our Legislators

February 13, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Mr. Bill Gunn of Melbourne sent me this as an email. It’s important enough that it needs to be passed along and responded to by all Florida readers.

Greetings.

Sportsmen have a long history of supporting conservation. States fund fishery and game enforcement, research and conservation through user fees raised by selling licenses. The attached link is an article from Florida Today regarding a Florida State Senator who is proposing that Florida eliminate the requirement for both fresh and saltwater fishing licenses within the state.

Florida fisherman and hunters are a very lucky lot. I lived in Connecticut where license fees go into the general fund. Their legislature is not mandated to earmark those funds toward programs impacting our sport and they skim off user fees for other purposes. But in Florida the funds are dedicated.

Note that Federal Law calls for states to administer Saltwater fishing licenses or the feds will impose a national licence requirement. If this proposal passes we will have no freshwater license and a federal saltwater license. Florida will loose funding for FWC, conservation, research and enforcement.  Please take a moment to read this article and voice your concerns to the State Senator sponsoring the bill. I believe he is misguided.

Stay hooked,

Bill Gunn
President, FFF Florida Council

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110213/COLUMNISTS0308/102130328/1067/SPORTS05/CCA-will-fight-Senator-s-plan-kill-licenses

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Orlando area fishing report 2/13/11

February 13, 2011 by · 2 Comments

The Report from Spotted Tail 2/13/11

Upcoming Events

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

February 19-  Hook Kids on Fishing program at Kiwanis Island Park from 9-11am. Kiwanis Island Park is located directly on Sykes Creek immediately north of State Road 520 (951 Kiwanis Island Park Road Merritt Island). Volunteers should show up no later than 8:00 am.

February 26- Beachside Hook Kids on Fishing program in Satellite Beach from 9-11am. The program will be held at the pond located directly west of the Satellite Beach library and east of the skate park. Volunteers should show up no later than 8:00 am.

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.

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

Only two days saw me out this week just past.

On Wednesday the Ocean Kayak and I visited my favorite pond. It was a beautiful day! Regular readers may recall the fine day I had there a few weeks back blind casting with a rattle rouser. I certainly remembered, and hoped for a repeat.

I tied on the rattle rouser and tossed it for a couple hours. I had only one bite, hooked the fish, then lost it. No problem with the hook this time, either.

Even though the solitude was enjoyable, after a couple hours I decided to try a different spot.

I went to another pond. It had been quite a while since my last visit. It wasn’t quite dry, but the seagulls were walking across it. It was about an inch and a half deep. There were dead catfish around the shoreline, badly decomposed, almost mummified.

I went out into the main part of the Indian River Lagoon. In about three hours one shot at a trout presented itself. The cast was good, I thought. The fish did not agree.

I saw three reds but did not get a shot at any of them. And then the sun was low and it was time to go home.

Friday Dr. George Yarko and I launched the Mitzi at River Breeze. The thought crossed my mind, “If we find any fish it will be by the grace of God.” It was maybe 50 degrees, overcast, misty, and windy, horrible winter redfish weather here. I forgot my sunglasses and didn’t even miss them.

My intuition proved correct. Actually we did run over about a half dozen fish but didn’t have a crack at any of them. We couldn’t see anything.

I did get one short trout on a jig. As far as catching fish goes that was it for the day.

We talked about music, concerts and such, and money, and women, and a variety of other things, and had as good a time fishing as you can when the fishing’s not so hot. The boat was back on the trailer at about 2:30 pm.

I’ll be out a bunch this week coming. And I am looking forward to it a LOT!

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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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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Orlando Kayak Fishing- Orlando area fishing report 1/30/11

January 30, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 1/30/11

Upcoming Events

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

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

Sadly, the Mitzi sat in the yard all week. The Ocean Kayak lived on the roof of the van all week, though!

Monday we went to the Banana River Lagoon, launching at about 9 am. The water surface was like a sheet of glass, reflecting the low overcast in the sky. I paddled to the first spot, where not a sign of life showed itself.

The second spot was a large flat that had a few, widely scattered large redfish tailing on it. I got a decent shot at exactly one and he fled in terror when the fly (a black and green clouser minnow) moved.

The third spot beckoned.

Upon arriving there I again found widely scattered tailing reds. The first one I threw to spooked off the fly. The second was cruising in water so thin its back was showing. Even with the overcast I could see it plainly and managed to get the fly right in his face. He ate it.

He couldn’t get good purchase in the thin water so he didn’t fight very well. But he was fat, around the 20 pound mark. It was around noon and certainly nice to finally deskunkify, especially with a fish like that.

In the next hour a couple more shots followed. I convinced another tailer to eat. He was smaller, around 14 pounds, but fought harder in slightly deeper water.

By now the sun had come out and it was easy to see it was well into the afternoon. There was a long way to go so I turned the bow of the kayak south and started the return trip. I only had three unsuccessful shots the entire way and with some sore buns put the ‘yak on the roof of the van at about 430. No black drum and only a handful of trout were observed the entire day.

Friday again saw ‘yak and I at the Banana River Lagoon, launching at about 10 am. The sun was out, gloriously so. Not a single cloud marred the sky. The breeze was chilly and at the edge of practical kayak fly fishing, speed wise.

Found a tailing red within sight of the van, wasn’t ready. By the time I got so the fish had disappeared.

Shortly afterwards I found a big slob red tailing in about a foot of water. I waded to it and cast a bunny booger about a half a dozen times. Missed every one, and finally spooked the fish. It turned out to be by far the best shot of the day, and set the tone for the day too.

Hours later I found some black drum in dirty water, hard to see because they weren’t tailing. I finally got a bite from one and missed it. It was the only bite of the now rapidly aging day.

I saw a few tailing reds on the way back but did not get a shot. No trout were found. No humans were found, either. Altogether a glorious, if not fish-filled, day.

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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