Ree-Dik-You-Loess Report

Thank you for reading this Ree-Dik-You-Loess Report. While it was like winter around here this week, I got out two days, one to the Florida Trail and one to Mosquito Lagoon.

Thank you to those of you who responded to my new slideshow posted at https://johnkumiski.com. I realized that if you look with a mobile device, the show isn’t obvious. The first photo is of a sunrise, very pink and purple. If you scroll on that photo, the next one appears as if by magic!

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Monday and Tuesday

found me working on a website and pulling ferns. The forecast for Wednesday made me want to go for a walk, to get out of the house.

Wednesday

Susan gave me a ride to the Curryville Road trailhead for the Florida Trail. I brought a camera, figuring to get some photos along with a much-needed walk. From that trailhead back to my house is around two miles or a bit more. It was so nice out- I thought quite often that I should have gone fishing. Anyway, here are a few photos from the walk. If you want more, there’s a slideshow at https://johnkumiski.com/a-short-walk-on-the-florida-trail/

A January oak leaf on the FT.

Mills Creek

Swampy spot along the trail. The FT has a lot of these, and the trail frequently goes right through them.

Palmetto fibers.

Marsh fern

Pollen cones on a sand pine. Yes, they are dropping pollen.

Thursday-

more website work. And the forecast for Friday changed for the better! There was still website work to do, and ferns to pull up, but a decision was made to go fishing. Neither the website nor the ferns were going anywhere.

Friday

morning found me riding the chariot, heading east, carrying the kayak on top, to Mosquito Lagoon. The thermometer read 39 degrees when I left the house, around 0830.

The lagoon was almost slick calm, and the sky was cloudless. Could be a good day.

Got nothing at the first spot.

The second offered me a shot at a nice red, and I converted with an olive over white Clouser Minnow. A second, smaller red fell for it shortly after.

My first victim, released of course.

By now I could see pretty well. There were six or eight more fish there, and they were spooking off the splash of the fly. I changed to an unweighted fly. Then they spooked off its movement. When this happens, you can either keep changing flies, trying to find the magic fly, or leave fish that are clearly not interested in eating to try to find some other, more cooperative ones. This is what I did.

It was a good call.

The next fish was easily 15 pounds. It got into my backing- twice. Wow, that hasn’t happened for a long time! And he had friends, from dinky 18-inchers up to ten pounds or so, and some trout too. They were all hungry and aggressive. It was Ree-Dik-You-Loess.

The fish of the day.

These guys crashed the party, too.

When the bite finally slowed, I had to drink water, pee, and eat some lunch. It was after 1 PM. While eating lunch, thinking about my next move, I realized my day was over. I had a good paddle back to the put-in, an hour’s drive, and it was my night to cook.

It’s kind of weird to realize that on January 10, I may have had the best day of fishing I’ll have all year. Hey, take ’em when you get ’em, and be glad you hit it right.

That’s the Ree-Dik-You-Loess Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

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