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How to Pack for a Florida Canoe Trip- The Tackle Box

October 19, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

How to Pack for a Florida Canoe Trip- The Tackle Box

The path of the Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure takes it the length of the most biologically diverse estuary in North America, the Indian River Lagoon system. This blog discusses How to Pack for a Florida Canoe Trip- The Tackle Box. The Fly Box will be covered in a separate blog.

We will find many species of fish. I want to keep track of how many different kinds we can catch. Redfish, snook, seatrout, snapper, moonfish, jacks, it’s a long list. Since it’s a paddle trip, you don’t have room to bring a ton of tackle. I hope the list below is an exercise in minimalism.

The spin rod I’m bringing will be a two piece, 6.5 foot light action rod with a Shimano Spheros 3000. On the reel will be Power Pro 10 or 15 pound braid. Most of the time there will be a section of twenty pound fluorocarbon on the business end.

A small box of lures is joining me. In the box are the following:

-three 1/8th ounce weedless jigheads and 10 matching soft plastic tails;

-three shallow running DOA Bait Busters;

-one dozen three inch DOA Shrimp, assorted colors;

-two Chug Bugs with single hooks;

-two five-inch Rebel jointed swimming plugs (couldn’t find a link for these) with single hooks*;

-two 1/4 ounce Johnson Minnows;

-about one dozen DOA CAL jigheads, 1/16th to 1/4 ounce;

-a 12-pack of Woodies Rattlers plastic worm rattles;

-a bag of 00 size split shots and a few DOA pinch weights.

*We drag a Rebel behind the boat as we paddle. If you stop paddling the plug floats instead of snagging on the bottom. I don’t know how it will work in the lagoon but it used to work well in the Everglades.

In a one gallon Ziplock bag are:

-one package each of 3/0 and 5/0 Daiichi D65Z hooks for jerk baits;

-a package  of 5/0 Daiichi D84Z circle hooks just in case;

-a quart-size Ziplock with a handful of DOA CAL 5.5 inch jerkbaits;

-a quart-size Ziplock with a handful of DOA CAL AirHeads and the DOA  longneck hook designed for these baits;

-a quart-size Ziplock with a handful of DOA CAL  three inch shad tails;

-a quart-size Ziplock with a handful of DOA CAL four-inch jekbaits.

And we simply MUST accessorize, dahlink:

-a Dr. Slick line nipper on a cord around my neck;

-a pair of Dr. Slick bullet head pliers in a holster on my belt;

-an orange grabby glove (couldn’t find a link for these) for lipping tarpon;

-one each Seaguar fluorocarbon leader wheels in 20 and 30 pound test.

That’s my tackle kit, and I’m sticking to it.

And that is the end of Packing for a Florida Canoe Trip- The Tackle Box blog.

As always please share any questions, comments, and suggestions.

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com

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

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How to Pack for a Florida Canoe Trip

October 15, 2013 by · 1 Comment

How to Pack for a Florida Canoe Trip

With our big paddle on the Indian River Paddle Adventure coming up I thought I would share how to pack for a Florida canoe trip. There are many ways that will work. Here are a few of them.

First of all, on a long trip there’s no ice. Don’t bring anything that requires refrigeration. For example, hard cheeses hold up better than do soft ones, although if it’s hot the hard ones don’t hold up too well, either. Instead of butter, bring margarine. Instead of a stick, get it in a tub. For milk you have a choice between boxed and powdered. Eggs, both raw and boiled, go in an egg carrier. Hopefully you get the idea.

Raccoons want your food and water, so you have to pack it such that their desires are frustrated. Food not in cans or bottles goes into a hard plastic cooler . The raccoons can open one of these so you must bring enough cord that you can tie it shut.

Cans and bottles can go in a crate if cooler space is at a premium.

Store breakfast, lunch, and snack items in a five gallon plastic bucket with a snap-on lid. I got mine at doughnut shops but the square ones kitty litter comes in look like they would be even better. You will need several of these. They double as camp seats, too. Use a marker to write the contents on the lid. This will make life in the canoe less confusing.

Raccoons will chew through the water bottles that bottled water comes in. You need something more durable, something on this idea…

Food going into the cooler will need to be repackaged in plastic ziplock bags. A bag of pita bread is already perfectly packaged. A box of pasta or crackers is not. At your house the pasta or crackers come out of the box and go into a bag. This way you’re not carrying trash with you, the pasta or crackers are protected from moisture, and the bag will come in handy for something else once the pasta or crackers get eaten. Do this with all your food, and stow it in the cooler (except for lunches and snacks, already mentioned). Bring extra ziplock bags!

The garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes, hard squashes, and any fresh fruit also go in the cooler.

My cook kit is in another crate like the one already mentioned.

Your clothes go in a plastic bucket like the one already mentioned. Carry a large plastic trash bag for dirty clothes. Sneak a few clothespins in your stuff someplace.

Your pillow, sleeping bag, and bulky warm clothes have to go in a waterproof bag.  Carry straps are handy.

The sleeping mats, tent, tarps, extra cord, that kind of stuff goes in a big duffel bag . It’s nice if it’s waterproof.

Personal items can be carried in small waterproof bags.

This system of How to Pack for a Florida Canoe Trip may not be the best or most elegant but it has served me well over many canoe trips. If you have comments, questions, or other suggestions please let us know about them!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report, Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

September 22, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report, Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

What a week! A Harvest moon and the autumnal equinox, too! Both have an effect on the fishing.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

A moon like this affects the fishing for better or worse.

Upcoming Events-

Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 26

Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar, October 27

Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure starts December 1. Paddle the length of the lagoon!

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report– On Tuesday son Alex and I went to the Mosquito Lagoon, getting a late start because I had to see the hygienist first. While it was a beautiful day (the weather has been awesome) as far as catching fish went we might as well have stayed home. We saw maybe ten redfish, all a rod’s length away, and did not get a shot.

Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report– Thursday Scott Radloff and I went to the Indian River Lagoon. After a short boat ride we saw diving birds. Breaking fish, one of fall’s pleasures. Ladyfish, bluefish, and gafftopsail catfish were in the mix. Nothing too thrilling there but it was certainly a fun way to kick off the day.

The new power station in Port St. John is up and running now. There are lots of ladyfish there. Didn’t see anything else.

Went for a ride and ended up poling miles of shoreline. There were enough slot reds to keep it interesting. The fish were spooky and it was a long time before we convinced one to bite. We ended up getting four on DOA CAL shad tails rigged weedless on a worm hook. One was a gorgeous thirteen spot fish.

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report– Friday I went to the Banana River Lagoon, breaking out the kayak to do so. I hadn’t been in a kayak in months and it was great to be paddling again. I learned (again!) that stupid stuff can happen to you at any time.

Two hours or so of paddling were under my belt before I saw anything other than lots of mullet. Excited for having seen a redfish, I anchored the boat and got out to wade. The wind was blowing a little too hard to fish effectively from the boat.

The fish were not thick, but they were good sized. I had several poor shots and two good ones. None of the fish took the fly, which got changed a few times.

Working my way back to the kayak, I tied the painter to myself and kept wading, towing the boat behind me. Shots at fish continued coming sporadically, and I finally fooled one with a small grizzly Seaducer. I photographed myself with the fish. I should have noticed at that point that my paddle was gone but it did not register.

Banana RIver Lagoon fishing report

The lone biter of the entire affair.

After wading another hour or so without any more bites the clouds got thick enough I couldn’t see any more. The atmosphere was telling me it was time to bag it. I ate lunch, reeled in the fly line, and went to paddle back. Now I noticed the paddle was gone.

Crap. I had three or four miles to go. At least the wind was out of the north-northeast.

Human hands make lousy kayak paddles.

The wind blew the boat along at about one mile an hour, putting me back at the chariot about 4 PM. Fortunately the weather was still beautiful, and other than losing a nice Aqua Bound paddle it had been a wonderful day with a nice redfish on fly as a bonus.

Indian River Lagoon fishing report

I think I will tether my paddle while wading from now on, though.

Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report, Again– Saturday fly fisher DJ Montigny joined me for a 3/4 day. He had never caught a fish in saltwater before, so we went to the power plant and knocked that right out. Two regrets- the ladyfish were dinks, and there were no tarpon there.

After 30 minutes DJ had had enough of the little ladyfish. We went looking for redfish. It took us most of an hour but we found big ones, enough to keep us entertained for the rest of the day.

We couldn’t find a fly they would bite.

They were exhibiting strange behavior, swimming quite rapidly most of the time, but circling through the same area repeatedly. We found and lost a sizeable school. Other than that they were in small groups, from pairs to a half dozen. We saw a lot of fish in the 20-30 pound range.

DJ had some great shots and by all rights should have had three or four bites. We also saw a big school of crevalle and in an almost-unheard-of situation did not get a bite from them either.

If it hadn’t been for those dink ladies we would have gone fishless.

I think the full moon boogered up the fish this week. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

That is this week’s exciting version of the Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report, and Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

March 30, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

A blessed Easter to all the Christians out there. I hope the pagans and infidels have a nice day too.

 

We caught a few fish this week.

On Monday three gentlemen, led by Mr. Peter Scribner, joined me for an eight hour kayak fishing extravaganza out of River Breeze. It was a beautiful day but windy and not at all warm.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

It was beautiful out if you didn’t mind the chill wind.

We had to do some searching, as fish were not concentrated anywhere we looked. I’d guess we paddled at least ten miles. Neither Peter nor Rich caught a fish. Chuck got seven redfish and a beautiful trout, all on a small Johnson Sprite.

orlando saltwater fishing report

Chuck, my 76-year old role model, with another fish.

At 76 years old Chuck is a role model for all of us. He easily kept up with me all day. I can only hope I can still kayak fish all day if I’m lucky enough to reach that age.

 

Wednesday Scott Radloff and I took the Mitzi on a scouting trip out of Haulover Canal. It was cold. It was windy. There were no fish in the first place we looked. Spots two and three had quite a few nice trout. Spot number three had a few reds too. We got a trout about 24 inches long on a juicy piece of mullet.

orlando saltwater fishing report
Spot number 4 had some black drum and a few reds. I sightfished up a 30 incher on a juicy piece of mullet.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

The last spot was seatrout city. Using five and a half inch DOA CAL jerkbaits we got a half dozen 18 to 22 inch trout, a nice way to end the day.

Thursday Mr. Brian Burns joined me for a day’s Mosquito Lagoon fishing. He got three nice trout on the five and a half inch DOA CAL jerkbait at the first spot. None of the fish at the second spot would bite. Muds everywhere, but no action.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

At the third spot Brian went to work. Switching back and forth between a DOA Airhead and the CAL jerkbait he got seven or eight more trout and a slot red besides. The fish were spooky and not very bitey but there were so many that he got a bunch anyway. It was not too windy and was just beautiful out.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

Friday son Alex and I launched the boat at Port Canaveral. We hoped to find tripletail and if we got lucky a cobia. When we cleared the jetties it was beautiful, clear sky, hardly any breeze.

We ran south to Satellite Beach, then out about 2.5 miles. I had heard there were weeds out there. We didn’t find any. But someone had turned on the wind machine. I came about to start looking for fish and there were whitecaps everywhere. Three waves in succession poured into the cockpit. Yikes!

It’s hard to spot fish cruising at 3000 rpm, but that’s what we did so the bow would stay up above the waves. Eventually I stumbled onto a tripletail. It was a real one. Alex hooked it up and it just swam away, breaking the 20 pound power pro after about 20 seconds. Fish 1, anglers 0.

We saw another one, fairly small. It refused the delicious hand-picked shrimp we used to tempt it.

A while later I spotted another one. This one must have been hungrier, because it immediately inhaled the shrimp. Alex fought it up to the boat, where yours truly dipped it up. A fine ‘tail it was, and one delicious broiled fillet was more than three of us could finish. But I digress…

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

We saw two other tripletail as we ran them over. We decided we had had enough fun at about 2 PM.

Saturday James Cran and his friend Mike came all the way from Ontario to fish in the Mosquito Lagoon. The fish could not have been much less hospitable. We spooked several hundred fish over the course of six hours with only two bites all day. Both were missed.

At the last spot Mike fooled a slot redfish using a Road Runner with a four inch DOA CAL jerkbait for a tail, the first fish of the day. Shortly after James got a dink trout on a jig. That was it.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

 

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

 

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

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

March 4, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
mosquito lagoon fishing report

This fish was NOT caught by me this week.

Upcoming Events-

-Titusville Surf Fishing Workshop, Wednesday, March 6, 6-8 pm. There are several other surf workshops coming up along the Space Coast in the next two months. For more information please email Rodney Smith irlcoast@gmail.com

Blog posts this week: Trip Planning

Sunday afternoon I went to the St. Johns River on a shad hunt. In a little more than two hours only two bites were had. Both were missed, and nary a fish came aboard. Rain chased me off the river.

Monday Steve Timmons joined me on the Mosquito Lagoon. The fish are continuing in their spooky ways and we only got a few trout.

Tuesday I was supposed to fish Sue Cocking. I called her Monday night and told her not to drive up. As it turned out it was a good call- the weather Tuesday was awful, windy and rainy.

Windy Wednesday fly fisher Eric Malmbourg joined me on Mosquito Lagoon. There were fish on Tiger Shoal that wouldn’t eat, in spite of a few excellent shots. The fish were gone from a couple other spots. At the end of the trip we found some reds on the south side of an island, where they were out of the wind. Again Eric had a few good shots but no bites. He ended up with one dink trout for our efforts.

On Friday the weather was marginal but I took the kayak out of River Breeze to see if it was still possible to catch a redfish on a fly. In spite of the overcast I found a school of fish in a big white hole and even wading I could hardly get near them. In three hours I did get two on a slider.

The clouds cleared, the sun came out, and I found some nice fish tailing. Although they were also pretty spooky I managed to get two more, much nicer fish. The bigger one was pushing ten pounds. After I got those two, though, all the other stopped tailing and apparently disappeared.

It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. I did not want to leave.

On Saturday I had seven folks for the Show and Tell Seminar. It was cold and windy but otherwise it went well. Wendy Radwan emailed me, “I wanted to thank you so much for your time and efforts for the seminar yesterday.  You could see that I took copious amounts of notes, and I’m excited to read your book and to try out some sites along the dikes.” Thank you, Wendy!

On Sunday I had four folks for two on-the-water show and tell sessions. Oh yeah, it was Alaska weather, cold and windy. At least it wasn’t raining! We circumnavigated the Mosquito Lagoon once in the morning and again with a different crew in the afternoon. We didn’t see a fish either time, except when coming back into Haulover Canal at the end of the day we watched a nice black drum get caught..

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Orlando Area Fishing Report

February 2, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report

Upcoming Events-

– Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Clean-Up, February 9, 2013. Contact Nancy Corona, 321-861-0668 or nancy_corona@fws.gov

-Titusville Surf Fishing Workshop, Wednesday, March 6, 6-8 pm. There are several other surf workshops coming up along the Space Coast in the next two months. For more information please email Rodney Smith irlcoast@gmail.com

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, MINWR, March 2; On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar, March 3

If the state of Florida has its way the Merritt Island NWR cleanup may be completely unneccessary.

ENVIRONMENTAL ALERT!!!! DANGER! DANGER!

Reader Michael Adornetto writes, “I was wondering if you could make mention of the proposed Shiloh launch complex in your next fishing report. I fear that this launch complex will keep us from protecting the refuge and our beloved fishery of the Mosquito and north Indian River Lagoons. We need to get the word out to make people aware.

“Space Florida and Lieutenant Governor Carroll are trying to get NASA to give the State control of 150 acres where the Shiloh citrus area is north of Haulover on the west side of State Road 3 by north Indian River Lagoon. They want to build a commercial launch site outside of NASA so they don’t have the red tape and regulations of working with NASA.”

If you bird, fish, hunt, or paddle the lagoons I probably don’t need to explain the negative impact this would have on your recreation.

Links for more information:

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130130/SPACE/130130024/Space-Florida-continues-push-land-state-run-launch-complex-KSC

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130102/NEWS01/301020021/Florida-pursues-studies-new-commercial-launch-complex

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/09/24/space-florida-seeks-to-run-shuttle-landing-facility-build-commercial-launch-complex/

Obviously, a massive publicity and letter writing campaign needs to start immediately so we can keep this complex on either the NASA property or Canaveral Air Force Station.

If you think a new space complex on what is now national wildlife refuge property is a bad idea, send a short email to let your state senator and state representative know. You can find them at these links:

http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov

Next week I will have a letter you can copy.

Blog Post this week: Life is Short

Fishing!

Monday Father Rick Voor and his friend Scott joined me for some kayak fishing out of River Breeze. My last trip there had been good so I was optimistic. The fish quickly crushed that optimism by not being there. We worked hard for over five hours. We got two rat reds and a micro-flounder between us.

Near the end of the trip we spotted what I at first thought was a couple of tailing fish. Casting to “them” proved fruitless. And, they started not looking like fish.

Investigation revealed a small sea turtle in distress. How much distress? Enough we could pick it up by hand. I called Layne Hamilton, Rob Leonard, and Jane Whaley to get advice as how to proceed. I didn’t get any of them. Rick and Scott tried a few calls too. We left the turtle there, probably to die, very sad.

orlando area fishing report

Father Rick’s turtle. The first person to correctly identify the species will win a free copy of Rodney Smith’s book Enjoying Life on the Indian River Lagoon.

Wednesday I went bike riding in Little Big Econ State Forest. Yeah, that’s a kick! Great thing to do when it’s too windy to fish.

Friday afternoon Alex and I went to the St. Johns for some shad action. It was a beautiful day and the fish were biting good enough that we had a couple of doubles, ending up with a dozen or so shad in less than three hours. Strangely, no other species of fish were caught.

 

Orlando area fishing report

One of many shad we caught.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Orlando Area Fishing Report

January 26, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report

Upcoming Events-
– Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Clean-Up, February 9, 2013. Contact Nancy Corona, 321-861-0668 or nancy_corona@fws.gov
-Titusville Surf Fishing Workshop, Wednesday, March 6, 6-8 pm. There are several other surf workshops coming up along the Space Coast in the next two months. For more information please email Rodney Smith irlcoast@gmail.com
-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, MINWR, March 2; On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar, March 3

Blog Posts this Week-
–UV Skinz- A Review

Tuesday’s out-of-the-box thinking led to some excellent fishing.

I left the house at close to three o’clock in the afternoon, heading to River Breeze, armed with a kayak and a three-weight. After paddling to the fishing spot I was happily surprised to see redfish tailing all over the place. It was cold and windy- I was not expecting this.

tailing redfish mosquito lagoon, orlando area fishing report

The first two clumps of tailers refused the fly, which led to a change. Three fish were boated and released before sunset, an outstanding evening’s outing.

Wednesday morning found me in the same spot with the same tackle. The tailers were gone. At a different spot a trout chased several mullet to the surface. Some blind casting with a minnow imitation led to two missed strikes, and the capture of two nice trout. The bigger of the two was at least two feet long. A redfish fell for the fake, too.

mosquito lagoon seatrout, orlando area fishing report

On the way back to River Breeze I found some more tailing redfish, and managed a nice one on a little shrimpy looking fly. It was a beautiful if chilly morning. The fish were just icing on the cake.

Thursday I launched at KARS Park as the sun came up. It was a gorgeous morning. There was no one else there, which made me think I wouldn’t find any fish. I paddled quite a distance, and loaded the kayak back onto the chariot at 1 PM, not having seen a single fish. Won’t be going back there for a while.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We went to where all those fish were last week, didn’t see any. When I started up again the steering cable went. We drifted most of the way back to Haulover, casting DOA Shrimp. We got a load of trout, mostly shorts. I cleaned two fish for Mary Jo, who was glad to get them.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Orlando Fishing Report

January 6, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Fishing Report

Upcoming Events-
-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013
-Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Clean-Up, February 9, 2013. Contact Nancy Corona, 321-861-0668 or nancy_corona@fws.gov
-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, MINWR, March 2; Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar, March 3

Blog posts this week: Seven Must Have Lures for Winter Fishing in Florida’s Lagoons

New Website Department- http://johnkumiski.com -photography and a more literary writing sampler than I typically post here, even a few poems! Please check it out and tell me what you think. Thanks!

The coffee this morning is especially delicious.

On Tuesday Dr. Ken Unger, from Calgary, did some Mosquito Lagoon fly fishing with me from the Mitzi. Although the sky was overcast for much of the day, until about 1 PM the lagoon was slick calm. There were a lot of fish around, just lying around. I would have expected tailing everywhere but no, they wouldn’t do that. We ran over a lot of fish.

Ken did get a few reds on a crab pattern. We tried for trout. They had moved from some spots and were protected by copious amounts of floating grass in others. He got a few good strikes but none were converted.

 

orlando area saltwater fishing report

Dr. Ken with a decent red.

It was a little frustrating but we had a good time and we did get some fish. Here’s what Ken said: “Wanted to thank you for the good day yesterday. Enjoyed the company. Learned a little which is something I always want to do in a new area. Caught some fish. A good start to the new year. I will be back. Thanks again.”

On Thursday morning I braved the fog, launching the kayak at KARS at about 730. I dared not get more than 150 feet from shore. There was no wind. I didn’t have a compass, or for you modern types, a GPS either. The sun hid behind the clouds. If I couldn’t see shore I would be utterly lost. It was very cool but very spooky at the same time.

Paddling steadily north I ran over the occasional trout. The object was to find big reds or black drum. Stopping at one place I cast a streamer for trout for a while but did not get bit. The quest continued.

The fog burned off around noon.

I went most of the way to the NASA causeway.

I did not find what I was looking for.

On the way back I saw a tail, as it turns out the only one found. I stalked the fish. It was a big black drum. It ignored my fly and swam off. I would not see another.

The final score was one shot, no bites, four fish seen- pretty disappointing. More searching needs to be done. It’s the right time of year.

Speaking of the right time of year, shad are being caught in the St. Johns River. I do not have any details. I wanted to go Friday but that 60 degrees and raining put me off. Too much like Alaska.

Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report

There are some shad in the St. Johns River!

Yesterday son Maxx and I went running along the Florida Trail, most of the way to Orlando Wetlands Park. Beautiful day, nice woods. Hamstring is kind of tight today, though.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Orlando area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 17, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events- Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013

Last week I was off on a rant about pretentious marketing for beer. A forum reader responded-
“You mention the beer label being pretentious and say it would be so even if it was on a bottle of wine. Well dear sir, beer is MUCH more complicated than wine, both in production methods and in complexity of flavor. Beer takes on a much broader spectrum of flavor and craft beer is only now beginning to be appreciated like fine wine here. Look for the price of select beers to go up up up over the next several years.

“You are right in saying marketing has taken a turn for the worse, with many beers being overpriced and severely overhyped. In some cases you can go to a limited release and buy a bottle for $20, then turn around and sell it to some ebay collector for $100+, I’ve seen some local cigar city beers go for $350 per bottle. Keep in mind most wines are incredibly easy to make and materials cost is less than beer, but they sell for much more due to the stigma of being a high brow beverage.”

And there you have it. I appreciate the response, sir.

Fishing, oh yes. For a lot of folks fishing and beer go together. But on to the Mosquito Lagoon fishing report…

On a windy Sunday fly fisher JB Walker joined me for a day on Mosquito Lagoon. We had sun a good part of the day and saw reasonable numbers of redfish, including a 20 pound class fish and a school of about 50 or 60 fish. Neither hung around very long. The fish were not bitey at all, very spooky actually.

JB got one small one which we both worked very hard to get. It was a tough day.

Alex and I joined birthday girl Tammy Wilson (now 29) for some kayak fishing on Tuesday. Overcast made it tough to see, except for the rolling tarpon. I got two bites (they weren’t very bitey, either) and caught one.

Mosquito Lagoon fishing report

This tarpon fell victim to a small polar fibre minnow.

Alex fooled three, hooked one, landed none. Tammy got one (in her words) “pecker trout.” I imagine that means it was monstrous.

We watched an eagle harass a flock of hundreds of coots. They were fleeing for their lives and the volume of the sound they made flapping was remarkable. The eagle left them alone after a while. The whole thing was very cool, unless you were one of the coots.

Overcast again on Wednesday morning. I went running along the Florida Trail. There was a new sign that said “panorama parking .4 mi.” Not having seen too many panoramas along there I went to check it out. There were eleven turkeys in the field when I got to its edge. They saw me and left in a hurry, but again, very cool.

Several whitetails were also spooked by my passing.

Birthday girl Tammy (she’s birthday girl for the week) met me for a Banana River Lagoon kayak expedition on Thursday morning. It was solid overcast all day, with a wind from the northwest at 10 mph or so.

We paddled a long way without seeing anything.

One redfish actually tailed near me at one point. I tried but failed to catch it. But blind casting in that area quickly netted two other redfish (black bunny leech, #2).

Tammy bummed a leech from me and she started catching fish too. We ended up with around ten reds to about 27 inches, three snook, a half dozen trout, and a single black drum, all casting blindly with fly rods. Pretty amazing for central Florida. I can’t remember the last time that happened to me.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

One of many fish fooled by a black bunny leech.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

After catching a bunch of fish I pulled out and devoured my secret good luck charm.

On the way back we met kayak fishing guide Dee Kaminski. Quite a lovely woman, and a fishing guide to boot.

 

Friday Dr. George Yarko launched the Mitzi at River Breeze. The sun was out but the wind was honkin at about 15 out of the north. The water is too high (check the gauge here). We only saw one fish all day. George got an out of the slot red on a DOA Shrimp. I missed one strike on a Johnson Minnow. That was it for five hours of effort.

Saturday JB Walker joined me again for some fly fishing. While it was not as windy as Friday, the wind made fishing more difficult. The water is too high. We saw a marginal number of redfish but many of them weren’t spotted until we were almost on top of them. You just can’t see them in the depth of water currently there. We had a few shots but did nor get a bite.

I sure hope the water level drops soon.

Three pictures of me in one report. How scary is that? Halloween is over, John!

That is this week’s Orlando area and Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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

Sight Fishing for Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon

November 15, 2012 by · 1 Comment

Sight Fishing for Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon

Guest Blog by David Caprera

Sight Fishing for Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon

 

The sport has long been called sight fishing but I have only recently come to understand its intentions. I had naively assumed that the term meant you cast to sighted fish with the intent to hook and capture them. But I have come to believe I have been guilty of “overthinking”, that the term means exactly what it says it means, nothing more nor less, and I am actually becoming damn good at it.

Tonight is our last night of our current trip to Florida, the primary purpose of which was to play bridge (some good, some bad), but I was able to spend several mornings kayaking in Mosquito Lagoon. I caught one redflish on fly but saw many.

How many, you ask? Well, enough to consider myself to be a successful sight fisherman. I made some very good sightings. Admittedly, when a three foot long bronze back projects itself out of six inches of water and shines in the morning sun like a brand new penny, I may not be alone in my ability to sight it. But sight it I did. Many times.

This idea of casting near, but not too near, the fish, hooking and landing it is vastly overrated. It totally overlooks the “banging the paddle on the kayak floor trick”, the “fly imbedded in your thumb trick”, or the “the amazing flying crab fly” where one casts the fly well over a mangrove limb and proceeds to lower the fly from overhead to the unsuspecting redfish who when confronted with a crab from the sky has not since been seen in Volusia County. Add to that the usual bad flies, bad casts, bad knots and hooking your hat, and you should begin to understand what I am talking about.

So a sight fisherman I remain.

Dave Caprera is a tax attorney and fly fisherman now splitting his time between New Smyrna Beach and Denver.

Filed Under: Fishing Stories, Fishing Tips, Guest Blogs, opinion · Tagged: , , ,
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