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Redfish- Presenting the Fly

January 16, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

This is an exerpt from the book, Redfish on the Fly, by Capt. John Kumiski

big redfish on fly

To get reds to take your fly, you need to show it to them properly.

It was a redfish fisher’s dream, a school of at least 500 fish, swimming fast, up on top, crashing bait all around us, one of the finest sights in all of angling, and one that one doesn’t see very often in the Mosquito Lagoon.

Rob Ricks was trembling with excitement. He had caught exactly one redfish on fly in his life, and badly wanted another. It was practically certain that the deed would now be done.

“Cast out in front of them, and just make it look alive,” I told him. Rob was a weak caster. When he got the fly in the water, not very far away, there was so much slack in the line that the cast was useless. “Try it again,” I said. “Lead them, put it where they’re going and let them swim into it.” Rob tried again with the same result. And again, and again, and again.

Finally the fish disappeared. We’d caught exactly none. The moral to this story?  Your casting must be second nature in order to take advantage of opportunities, especially once in a lifetime opportunities like this one was. But it’s a great segue into this section’s premise- after locating the redfish, how you present the fly to them is the single most important variable in getting one to bite, much more important than what’s at the end of your leader.

Read the rest of this article at this link: Redfish- Presenting the Fly

Or, read the book Redfish on the Fly. Find it at this link: Redfish on the Fly

What are your favorite ways to present flies to reds? Let us know in the comment box below, please!

John Kumiski

 

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Another Awesome Week- Banana River- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 13, 2012 by · 1 Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1.14.12

Upcoming Events Dept-

The Old Florida Outdoor Festival, February 10, 11, and 12th. I will be there at least part of the time in the Coastal Angler Magazine booth.
Merritt Island NWR Show and Tell Seminars- March 3 and 4
Details to follow…

Every year around the turn of the year I inventory my fly tying materials and order what I anticipate I will need for the following year. Natural materials vary a lot so you really need to inspect them. I buy these at fly fishing shows or fly shops. Synthetic materials have standard quality so I buy them where the price is best, usually from Cabela’s.

This year I shopped around. Hook and Hackle had better prices on some items than did Cabela’s. So I bought some of my stuff from Hook and Hackle. I will never make that error again.
The Estaz and flashabou packs from H&H were tiny, ridiculous. Cabela’s costs a few cents more but the portions are way better.

Cabela’s, sorry I wandered! Won’t happen again!

Where do you buy your fly tying materials? Why do you buy them there? Please use the comment box to let us know.

Fishing, ah yes-

Son Alex was supposed to accompany me to the no motor zone on Monday, but he wouldn’t get up. Tossed the Prowler on the chariot and went solo.

The day was gorgeous. We had a stretch of five days with no wind and hardly any clouds. I don’t ever remember that happening before.

Had to paddle a ways but I ran over a redfish at least three feet long. Immediately staked out the boat and went wading in those leaky boots (sent them back to Redington the other day). Was throwing to a pair of black drum went I looked over my shoulder. There were at least 50 big reds almost swimming into me.

One took the Merkin. I had it on five or ten minutes when the hook pulled. One reason I like a #2 hook for those big fish is because they don’t bend out the way the #4 hooks do (Mustad #3407). Perhaps I need a higher quality hook in those smaller sizes.

Anyway, after I bent the hook back the school had spooked off. I waded around looking for them and spotted a trio of black drum. They ignored me repeatedly. Finally, with the leader butt in the tip of the rod, they were all facing me, looking at the fly, just lying there. I watched them watch the fly, two rod lengths away. Everyone was motionless. Then I just ticked the fly and the center fish sucked it up. WHAM! Fish on!

That fish got way into my backing, a lovely sight. When I finally got him up close enough to leader I was tring to do just that and CRACK- there goes the rod (sent that back to Redington, too). Got the fish anyway.

It was a big fish and I wanted a photo, so holding on to the fish with one hand I got the camera out of the Simms bag , set it on self timer, put it on the front hatch of the kayak, and pressed the shutter button. Then I posed and got a single frame with the fish. I think it worked pretty well!

I took a picture of me holding a big, rod-breaking black drum.

I didn’t get any other photos but did get two redfish in the 20 pound range, and several 30 inch redfish, all on the Merkin. Quite the awesome day. Wish Alex had been there.

Tuesday young Trae Mays, a fly fisher from Dallas, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon redfishing. It was my favorite kind of day- we only fished one spot. It was loaded up, and the fish were eating well. The fly of choice was a rootbeer colored redfish worm.

The best one of many redfish that Trae caught while fly fishing.

Trae told me it was the best day of fly fishing he’d ever had, something this reporter truly loves hearing. We released eight or ten fish, and had numerous missed strikes and blown shots. Lots of fun was had by all! The boat was back on the trailer at 2:30.

Wednesday afternoon I had a half day with Tom and Tommy Novak, father/son from Cleveland. Need I say I went back to The Spot? But we had weather- wind, clouds, spitting rain. A front was coming in. The fish were gone. 🙁

Went to spot #2. Tommy got a rat redfish on a gold spoon. Then we ran over a couple. SInce the wind was now cranking at about 20, I skegged out the boat and tossed a couple of mullet chunks out. Four slot fish later the bite stopped, so we changed venues.

Tom Novak got this redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon. They don't come like this in Lake Erie.

At the last spot we got one more rat red and two beautiful catfish. The boat was on the trailer at 5.

And that is this week’s Banana River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work.

I keep saying it- life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

 

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Fly Fishing with Lefty

January 13, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Lefty Kreh, the current great godfather of American fly fishing, has been on the scene for more than 50 years. Since his birthday falls right around now, it’s time for a couple Fishing with Lefty stories. Both are as true as my memory will allow.

About 20 years ago the Backcountry Flyfishing Association was having Lefty come for a weekend seminar. At the time I didn’t know it, but Lefty would fly in to town on Friday night, give the seminar on Saturday and Sunday, then leave late Monday afternoon. That way he would have time to fish on Monday morning.
Mel Schubert called me to tell me, “I’m taking Lefty fishing on Monday. Would you like to come with us?”
Did I want to go? I would have missed the birth of my children for that. Heck, I would have missed my own birth for that.

A few weeks later I found myself in the boat with God, incarnated as Lefty Kreh.

I was intimidated. My plan for the day was simple- keep my mouth shut, my ears open, and don’t do anything stupid. It was a simple enough plan, and should have been easy to carry out.

Mel poled. Lefty fished. I sat there, thrilled, following my plan, taking everything in like a hawk. The bite was stinky but it was a beautiful day.

Around 10 o’clock or so Lefty stopped to rest. It was then I made my mistake. At the time Lefty worked for Sage fly rods, and he was using one of their products. “How do you like that rod, Lefty?” I asked.
“It’s a great piece of equipment,” he said. “Pick it up and try it.”

You didn’t follow the plan, John.

“No. I don’t want to embarrass myself,” I said.

Lefty said, “Sage pays me to put that rod in people’s hands. Pick it up and try it.”

Reluctantly, I picked it up. Before I did anything I looked at the leader. There was a wind knot in it. I said nothing, and cast the rod a few times. It really was a great piece of equipment. Then I handed it back to the maestro.

He looked at the leader and said, “Johnny, you put a wind knot in my leader.”

I said, “That was there when I picked up the rod.”

He gave me a hard look and said, “I don’t know if I should believe you or not.”

I said, “Lefty, you can believe what you want but I’m telling you, that was there when I picked up the rod.”

Even God gets wind knots sometimes. I’ve never concerned myself with them overly since then, figuring if Lefty gets them everybody will. I just check the leader periodically and if there’s a knot in there I take it out or replace the section. It was a valuable learning experience.

Several years pass, and the fly fishing club books Lefty again. Now I know the drill, so I call him and ask if he wants to fish with me on Monday. He did. We booked the day.
My son Maxx, then eight years old, attended the seminar with me. I got the idea he should come with us, and asked the maestro if that was OK. It was.
Monday morning Lefty, Maxx, and I launched the boat. There was a school of big redfish in the Indian River Lagoon at the time. Lefty still had the eight-weight Sage. I went looking for those fish, without success. All morning.

Noon came and went and we still hadn’t found the fish. Giving up, I cranked the motor and started to run. By divine intervention the school surfaced 100 yards ahead of me. It was an incredible spectacle, hundreds of 20 to 30 pound reds slamming a big school of big mullet. I poled Lefty into casting range. “I’ve never seen this before,” he said.

He had a little bendback tied on, maybe a size 2. The fish, intent on the big mullet, completely ignored it. I said to him, “Lefty, your fly is too small.” He said, “I didn’t bring any big flies.” “I have some,” I said.

I got off the tower, dug out my big fly box, and handed it to him. He pulled out a white Deceiver, half a chicken on a 3/0 hook. His hands were shaking as he tied it on.

Ready again, I poled back to the fish. You know, if you go from a little #2 fly to a big, wind-resistant 3/0 fly, your casting stroke will have to slow down. In his excitement Mr. Kreh forgot this. His backcast was hitting the water and he was swearing at himself. “I can’t cast this fly with this rod. This is a ten-weight fly!”

I thought to myself, “I could cast that fly with that rod. This is Lefty Kreh. Oh my God, Lefty has buck fever!”

I was dumbfounded.

He got over it quickly. The fly soon shot out into the fish and one nailed it immediately. I eventually pulled it into the boat. Lefty was thrilled. At 28 pounds it was the biggest he’d ever gotten on fly!

This was also a valuable learning experience for me. I’m a fishing guide. If Lefty Kreh gets buck fever, there’s a good chance anyone else I ever have in my boat might get buck fever too.

This is why we go fishing. If you didn’t get that rush of adrenaline you’d be better off bowling or playing golf.

Lefty has taught LOTS of people LOTS about fly fishing. The two most valuable lessons he taught me was when I was out with him, fly fishing with Lefty.

Thank you, Lefty! Happy birthday!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

 

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

 

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American Shad Time on Florida’s St. Johns River

January 12, 2012 by · 2 Comments
English: A depiction of a shad fish, as taken ...

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every year by the end of January, a silvery fish ranging from one to four pounds in size visits the St. Johns River until about the end of March. The fish is the American Shad, and they swim up the St. Johns with love on their minds. This year Charlie McCullough has already caught some.

Some years there are zillions of them. Some years back Rodney Smith took his son Jake, I took my son Maxx, and we met Tammy Wilson at Hatbill Park for some fly fishing for shad. The fish were thick, so much so the boys got tired of catching them on fly and began catching them by hand.

Some years there are hardly any. Why they vary in number from year to year is somewhat of a mystery, but probably has to do with reproductive success of various year classes and the amount of predation they’ve been subject to.

While many anglers enjoy slow trolling for them with light spinning tackle, they are a superb fly rod fish. You’ll need a five- or six-weight outfit with a sinking line, a three to four foot, 10 pound test leader, and an assortment of small, brightly colored, weighted shad flies. If you don’t catch a mussel from time to time you’re probably not fishing deep enough.

Cast your line quartering upstream, using just enough retrieve to maintain contact with the fly. When your line is pointing directly downstream, strip the line in until you can lift it out of the water and repeat the process.

Where are the fish? That varies from year to year. Hatbill Park, Marina Isle, Lemon Bluff, Puzzle Lake, Mullet Lake, they might be in all, any, or none of those spots. One year we had excellent fishing from the banks of the river at the Morgan Alderman Ranch, just upstream of Lake Harney. The Fly Fisherman in Titusville (321.267.0348), Orlando Outfitters (407.896.8220), and Mosquito Creek Outdoors (407.464.2000) can all point you in the right direction. Or, you could ask me!

Shad fight hard, with frequent jumps. Most people catch and release them.

Do you like fishing for shad? Let us nw where and how you fish for them!

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

 

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New Year’s Fishing Roars In- Banana River- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 9, 2012 by · 1 Comment

The Orlando Area-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1.8.12

The new year brought a blast of cold air with it.

Tuesday the wind blew about 25 miles an hour. The high was in the 50s. The temperature Tuesday night got close to freezing.

Wednesday morning, in the most relaxed way, I put one of the kayaks on the roof and drove to River Breeze to paddle fish the Mosquito Lagoon. It was still only in the 50s when I got there about 11 AM.

Last time I paddle fished I whined about the water being too high and too dirty. Someone pulled the plug, because the water was all gone. I had to walk a good part of the way to my intended fishing spot.

Ha-ha. There was no water there. Literally. The parts of the pond that still had water were only a few inches deep. I found nine seatrout in the 5-7 pound range floating, dead.
Quite sad.

I found a small, deep (three feet or so) hole in an otherwise shallow canal. Redfish were stacked up in there. I didn’t count but I was well into double digits before I took pity on them and stopped. Most were small but half a dozen or so were in the slot. The fly was a brown redfish worm. I think an acorn would have worked.

I wanted to check other spots but couldn’t go anyplace else. There wasn’t enough water to float the kayak. I walked it most of the way back and loaded it up around 4:30.

Thursday morning there was frost everywhere. Chris Myers and I took the Reflection 17 to the no motor area of the Banana River Lagoon. It is amazing how fast that water cleared up once the cold weather finally got here.

The day was cool, chilly, a tad breezy, but sunny and spectacular!

The fishing was ridiculous. We both caught redfish, black drum, and seatrout all day long, mostly on a black redfish worm. The trout averaged about 20 inches long, solid fish all. Chris got a couple reds on a green crab pattern.

Chris Myers got the nicest trout of the day.

Most of the trout we got were like this or a little bigger.

We threw at some big reds but the biggest we got, and Chris got all three, were about 32 inches. Chris complained that the “little” 32 inch reds beat the big ones to the fly. I like days where that’s the biggest problem. They are much too rare.

Capt. Chris got three reds like this, as well as several smaller ones. And a black drum!

Friday Dr. George Yarko and I were at Haulover Canal at the relatively brisk time of 8:30 AM. The day was perfect, magnificent. There were no clouds, hardly any wind. The temperature rose into the low 70s.

There should have been fish everywhere.

We went as far north as JBs Fish Camp. Anyone who fishes the Mosquito Lagoon will tell you that’s a fair ride. We maybe saw two dozen fish all day.

George had one bite, a trout, on a DOA Shrimp. As luck goes, the fish came off. Several other guides went fishless too, so I know it waren’t just me!

Back in the day I would have been upset. Now I wonder why they weren’t there, and appreciate the day for the finest example of Florida weather.

We were off the water before 4 PM.

On Saturday Iowa City fly fisher Mark Hale joined me for some fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was spectacular. After the beatdown of the previous day I had some concern about our chances of success. And the first three places I looked held nothing.

Then I got lucky, and found a school of about 150 fish.

Mark had never caught a redfish before but he crushed the jinx by nailing five to 25 inches, using a rootbeer colored redfish worm. We were two happy boys.

Mark Hale got his first, second, third, etc redfish on Saturday, courtesy of the Mosquito Lagoon.

Sunday Jonathan Evans, a fly fisher from Virginia, joined me for some fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was spectacular.

We saw a few fish in the first spot- no bite. We saw a few fish in the second spot- no bite. The third spot had quite a few redfish, and we had shots at at least a dozen tailing fish. No bite. We got pushed off that spot by some yahoos. The fourth spot was barren.

Somewhere in there Jonathan caught a ten inch seatrout on a blind cast. It would turn out to be the only fish boated.

The next spot had some big (20 pound class) reds in deep, dirty water. We’d get a glimse and Jonathan would fire a cast. This happened a dozen times at least- no bite.

The last spot had the most fish of anywhere we’d been. We spent an hour there. Jonathan had one bite but the hook didn’t stick. Finally it was three o’clock and time to roll out. I hated to leave without the elusive fish but we’d had dozens of shots, changed flies a half dozen times, and still hadn’t had any success.

Some days it just don’t work.

Life is great and I love my work.

I keep saying it- life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Two Glorious Days- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

December 31, 2011 by · 1 Comment

 

The Report from Spotted Tail 12/31/11

Happy New Year to everyone! This is the last post of 2011. I hope everyone has their resolutions, and maybe their hangover cures, ready. Thank goodness I won’t need that last thing.

Seatrout season opens tomorrow. R U ready?

Are you ready for some seatrout?

If you read the blog post Frontal Assault, you know my feelings about fishing after cold fronts. The best days of the winter to fish are as soon as the weather stabilizes after a front.

Tuesday night a nasty front came through. The air temperature dropped over 20 degrees and the water temperature and level likewise dropped.

I met David Juth, a fly fisherman from Virginia, at Parrish Park at noon on Wednesday for a late half day. We were both wondering how the drop in water temperature would affect the fish. Frankly I wasn’t expecting much.

We got out on the Mosquito Lagoon. It was a little chilly, in the low 60s. The day was spectacular- clear blue sky, bright, warm sunshine, no clouds at all, and best of all, no wind. We found several redfish at the first place we looked, although the water was still dirty so they were hard to see. We even found a tailing fish.

After working that shoreline, we tried another. We saw fish here and there, and then found tailer’s heaven. Redfish were tailing all around us. David couldn’t believe it. He’d never fished in saltwater before and he almost thought he was dreaming.

Using my favorite little black fly, the redfish worm, he managed to get four bites, hooking three fish and boating one. Had the water been cleaner I’m sure he would have done much better.

I still have concerns that the algae will take the winter’s worst cold and still not clear up. Perhaps that’s just pessimism on my part.

Anyway, we both counted the afternoon as a rousing success and you couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.

I was back in the same area the following day with son Alex. He got a new Ross CLA #4 (a really nice reel) for Christmas and we wanted to give it some exercise. The weather again was outstanding, although there were a few scattered clouds. The water had dropped two or three inches overnight and I almost had to get out and push a couple of times when the boat got stuck on shallow spots.

The fish had changed locations, and were certainly not tailing like the previous day.

In spite of that Alex had several shots at fish and caught one slot redfish that took an olive-colored slider.

The company and the day were both outstanding. The fish was just a bonus.

The blog will soon get a new look. I’m installing a new theme. Expect some changes, hopefully for the better.

Life is great, and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

Best wishes for a fantastibulistical new year!

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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Keep Your Expensive Gear Dry!

December 27, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Boats float on water. Water in general and saltwater in particular ruins our stuff, especially stuff like sandwiches, cell phones, and cameras. If your sandwich gets soggy you’re out a lunch, but if your phone or camera gets wet you’re out a hundred or more dollars and perhaps an important safety device. Keeping things dry aboard any boat, and especially a small boat like a canoe or kayak, is not just an academic exercise. It’s important.

You’ll find a variety of things to keep your belongings dry, particularly if you use some imagination, and what you choose will depend on your budget, your boat, what you need to keep dry, and how long you intend to stay out. Just to keep this piece manageable, we’ll only discuss day trips here. Camping trips, especially long ones, require a separate treatment.

We can divide portable dry storage containers into three main categories: waterproof bags, waterproof boxes, and waterproof packs. The easiest bag to use is any kind of plain plastic bag. The main advantage to these is they’re cheap and readily available. Their main disadvantage is a simple one. They don’t work very well. Water has soaked things I’ve had in ziplock bags many times. They’re not to be trusted except to keep minor splashes off of things.

A proper waterproof bag is a rubberized cloth or heavy plastic sack with some combination of a folding top and snaps or straps. You put your items in the bag, fold the top over two or three times, and strap or snap it down. These bags come in various sizes and they work well. I imagine if the bag was completely submerged they would leak, but I’ve used them for years in all kinds of boats without a problem. They take the shape (more or less) of the items inside and the space they’re given, and are a good choice for any small boat applications.

Waterproof boxes also work well, and are fairly inexpensive. The classic waterproof box is similar to an ammo box, except the waterproof boxes are made of plastic and usually have a gasket to seal the water out. A cam-action latch closes the box firmly. These boxes are fairly small but easily fit items like car keys, wallet, phone, and a small point and shoot camera.

A cooler is a type of box, but is only moderately good as a dry box. When it rains, coolers get water in them, and your stuff gets wet. A small, six-pack sized zip-top soft cooler may work well if you give an added layer of plastic like a ziplock bag. If this combo gets dunked though, it may fail to keep your belongings dry.

If you have larger items you might consider a bucket with a snap-on lid. For years I have used a bucket picked up at a Dunkin Donuts store to carry my cameras, sometimes several thousand dollars worth, on all kinds of boats. It was a very good investment, not too stylish perhaps, but very functional. It doesn’t fit well in a lot of places, though.

Most photographers use a specialized camera box called a Pelican Case to carry their equipment. Pelican Cases are professional devices and work exactly as they are supposed to. Their only disadvantages are the initial expense, and they are a little pricey, and the fact that they look and carry something like a briefcase. You can’t carry a Pelican Case and fish at the same time. But you could back your pickup truck over one and your cameras would still be fine.

If you fish out of a boat and like to wade, carrying a camera with you and keeping it dry becomes a problem. The Dry Creek Backpack from Simms solves it. This excellent piece of equipment is the size and shape of a standard daypack, and has the daypack’s shoulder straps so you can carry it on your back, but has the material and tie down straps and snaps of a waterproof bag. You can put whatever you want in this pack, and even if you fall down in the water your stuff will stay dry. As with all of Simms products it’s made to the highest quality standards and will last for years. You can see the Dry Creek Backpack at www.simmsfishing.com.

The fact is, most of us need and will use a variety of the methods used here. If you spend much time around the water in small boats, it can’t be helped.

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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Two Tough Days- Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

December 24, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 12/22/11

Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

For the cosmically inclined, you must visit this link: http://skysurvey.org/

The Milky Way in one of its finer moments…

The water in the Mosquito Lagoon seems to be getting dirtier again. I had an unsettling thought yesterday- what if it stays the way it is now, permanently?


We looked for this fish for two days without success.

Monday Dr. Todd Preuss, a fly fisher from Atlanta, joined me for our annual fishing trip. We went to the Indian River Lagoon. I poled six miles of shoreline. We ran over quite a few fish that we couldn’t see because the water is so dirty. We saw three or four shoreline fish all day. Todd used the blindcasting technique all day, alternating between a rattle rouser and a Dupre Spoonfly, with equally dismal success. He had two bites all day, missing one and landing a seatrout of about 16 inches on the other. Ouch.

Wednesday fly caster Peter Della Pelle, Medford High School class of 1970, joined me for a day’s fishing, accompanied by his brother-in-law John. We tried the Indian River Lagoon first. The water was slick calm and I prayed the fish would be moving. No such luck.

Again, we ran over a reasonable number of fish. We could never see them until they blew out. John was blindcasting a spoon and got one small redfish. We found a school of big fish but couldn’t see if they were redfish or black drum and never got a bite on anything we tried, including mullet chunks. It’s sad that in 18 inches of water you cannot see a single individual in a big school of fish because the water is so dirty.

After fishing three stretches of shoreline with identical results I decided to pull the boat and go to the Mosquito Lagoon. It was worse. In five hours we saw exactly three redfish. John got another red, maybe 10 inches long, on the gold spoon.

Went through a lot of gas, poled a lot of miles, checked out a dozen spots, saw very little. A very tough day, all in all.

I sure hope something changes soon!

Life is still great, and I still love my work.

And I still think that because life is short, you should still go fishing, even when catching is tough.

Have a great holiday!

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, Florida Fly Fishing Tip: Little Black Flies

December 16, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Redfish Worm, top; Clouser Minnow, bottom. Both are simple, effective flies for sight fishing redfish and black drum.

You need two flavors of little black flies for use for reds and black drum in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon system. They’re small (#4), and lightly weighted (1/80th ounce lead dumbbells).

One is a simple black Clouser Minnow. The wing is simply black bucktail, and some sparse flash. I usually use Flashabou Accent on these smaller sized flies, sometimes gold, sometimes copper, but if Fire Fly in purple comes to hand I use that. I haven’t noticed much discrimination on the part of the fish in regards to the color of the flash.

The other fly I call a Redfish Worm. It has the 1/80th ounce lead eye, a tail of either a short piece of zonker strip or Arctic Fox tail dyed black, and a body of large black Cactus Chenille (or similar product). That’s it. It’s simple, but looks good when wet.

Both flies are tied with a double mono prong weedguard, and both are simple, five minute ties even with the ‘guard. There’s no sense complicating one’s life needlessly.

Of course the way they’re fished is as important as anything else. Use them when shallow water (less than 12 inches) fishing in the Indian River Lagoon or the Mosquito Lagoon, from a kayak or while wading, looking for redfish and black drum. The reds will almost always be slot fish, since you’re in less than a foot of water. Most of the fish I see while doing this are singles, and I seldom see more than four or five together.

Once I see the fish, I want to be close enough that after I cast I know, make that KNOW, exactly where the fly is in relation to the fish. That means I am close enough to them to see everything. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized.

Reds and blacks require somewhat different presentations. Reds tend to be both more aggressive in their approach to a fly and more spooky than blacks.

For the reds try to anticipate where the fish will go and put the fly there, about two to three feet in front of it. That fly sits in that spot until the fish is either close enough to see it when it’s twitched, or until it’s obvious that the fish is not going where you hoped it was. If the fish sees the fly most of the time they’ll crush it, but sometimes they ignore it or spook off. If the fish doesn’t go where you thought they would, or if the cast misses, or if the time is available, try again. Keep trying until the fish eats, spooks, or is out of range.

For the blacks try to drop the fly mere inches in front of them to attract their attention right away, or place it such that you can drag it right into or by their face. Blacks tend to be pretty myopic, and very lackadaisical in their approach to a fly. The fly has no olfactory stimulus for them, so the visual stimulus needs to be real strong. Even then many times they ignore it or spook from it. But if you get enough shots you will find plenty of takers.

Could you have success with other flies in these types of situations? Probably. But if the sexy, simple, little black flies are working, why would you want to use anything else?

I hope you found this Mosquito Lagoon Florida fishing tip useful!

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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Indian River Lagoon Water Slowly Clearing- Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

December 10, 2011 by ·

The Report from Spotted Tail 12/11/11

The Mailbox-

-Got this email from Rick Roberts: “This University of Florida Fisheries Management Grad Student Project is gathering information with the goal of developing new strategies for the management of of the Florida Gulf Coast snook fishery. Your participation in the following survey is requested. Here’s the chance to take part in the future of fisheries management click this link to answer these important questions.”
http://www.snookfoundation.org/news/research/492-ufl-students-developing-snook-vision-.html

-Mike Adamson sent this email in response to last week’s report: “I usually take my first NMZ trip just after Thanksgiving and usually with great anticipation. On Friday I went all the way to Buck Creek in 15 mph out of the N on Friday. Traveled up on the middle of the outer bar and back along the shoreline. This was a great paddle in bad water.
“Much like your exploration, the water had about 6” visibility and the fish were scarce. Almost no bait except for one spot N of the bent tower on the outer bar. Spooked 3 fish all day. No tails or fins.”

When it comes to fishing misery loves company.

Thursday night Mosquito Creek Outdoors hosted a Crappie and Shad fishing seminar. The information exchange was phenomenal. A website called www.crappie.com has most of the information you need if you’re interested in catching specks.
The captain’s meeting for the annual shad and crappie derby is at MCO this upcoming Thursday night (December15). There will be refreshments and prizes. Hope to see you there.

Dr. George got this nice redfish in the Indian River Lagoon.

Most of my week was spent moving my website to a new server. Only on Friday did I manage to get out, accompanied by Dr. George Yarko. Tom Van Horn gave me an Indian River Lagoon tip, which I wanted to check.

It was a beautiful day, with a light wind out of the east. The water is still dirty, but less so than it was. Hopefully as water temperatures drop the water will continue to clear.

We did not find any 40 pound redfish, but fish to 30 inches were prowling near the shoreline. We got five or six, all on chunks of ladyfish. I cleaned one. It had a small fish, either a small mullet or large mud minnow, in its stomach.

He followed up the first redfish with this nice pair.

I also got a decent trout, about 20 inches long, using a DOA Deadly Combo.

While I hope to get out more this week coming, there is much more website work to do.

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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