Two Days Kayaking Orlando Fishing Report

Two Days Kayaking Orlando Fishing Report

We had two beautiful days this week, sandwiched between days that were good for web-surfing. I went kayak fly fishing on those two days- the two days kayaking Orlando fishing report.

Interesting Reads for No-Fishing Days
-Could the Internet Out-Evolve Humanity? A thought-provoking essay on our love affair with devices: http://www.iflscience.com/technology/not-so-science-fiction-after-all-internet-could-out-evolve-humanity

-Got Sunscreen? The Melanoma Foundation wants to keep you from getting skin cancer. They say, Practice Safe Skin! And to help, they are giving away sunscreen dispensers, putting their money where their mouths are. Learn more at http://mfne.org/practice-safe-skin/

-The FWC Confirming Spawning Redfish. Redfish spawn in east central Florida’s lagoons. And the FWC is collecting evidence! It’s an interesting read- http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/fish/red-drum/telemetry/

Fishing!
Atrocious weather on Monday kept me home. Tuesday afternoon was cold and windy, Since I had to get out I mounted the bicycle and went for a lovely ride in the woods, flushing a flock of about a dozen turkeys. I’d never seen them all fly off before, pretty amazing stuff.

Wednesday found me launching the kayak in the Indian River Lagoon. The birds (and the day itself) were fantastic, coots and eagles and ibis and herons and egrets and more. The fish, well, not so much, but I did get a trout and a redfish using a black bucktail bendback.

Orlando Fishing report

The trout on the black bucktail bendback.

Still, days like that are worth being out fishing on even if the fish don’t bite so well. The fish were gorgeous, too.

orlando fishing report

File photo of a redfish like the one I caught. Who knows? Maybe it’s the same fish.

Thursday morning I launched at River Breeze. The water is still too high for really successful kayak fishing, but the water is clean up there for the most part!

Orlando Fishing report

Remember this? It’s seagrass, and there is still some growing near Oak Hill.

Although cloudier than the previous day it was pretty spectacular again. Between 9 AM and about 230 PM I ran over a dozen or so fish, had a couple half-baked shots, and got one rat red. Between 230 and 4, when I packed it in, I had shots at a couple tailers, got three nice reds and a half dozen trout to four pounds.

Orlando Fishing report

This was the last and nicest fish of the day.

Those cold days are always better in the afternoon. If I didn’t have to cook supper I would have stayed until dark.

Orlando Fishing report

This sweetheart took a surface fly, a white Gurgler. The gill tear was a pre-existing condition. The fish swam off apparently none the worse for our encounter.

I had been working on an article about Bouncer flies for Fly Tyer magazine. The nasty weather Friday let me finish it and get it sent off.

And that is the Two Days Kayaking Orlando Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Seatrout like this are the main subject of this week’s Mosquito Lagoon Fishing report.

Upcoming Events
-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival- the largest birding and wildlife festival in the United States! January 20-25 at Eastern Florida State College – Titusville campus, 1311 North US 1, Titusville. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

Unrelated to fishing but supercool, read about the entire universe captured in a single image here…

Universe1

Fishing!
My honey-dos, although not completely finished, temporarily wrapped up Thursday about noon. FINALLY! I hitched the trailer of the Bang-O-Craft to the van and drove to the Kennedy Point ramp, cautiously optimistic.

The water looked like s–t.

I rode around the Indian RIver Lagoon for two hours looking for some reasonably clean water, without success. Places that were crystal clear a few weeks ago were horribly dirty now. I did not even pick up a fishing rod, put the boat back on the trailer, and drove home.

Friday I went to the Mosquito Lagoon for some serious scouting. The water there is still pretty dirty but way better than the IRL. That water is still unseasonably high. I guess with the ice caps melting I should get used to the new normal.

I saw a few reds, even a couple tailers, did not get one. Saw another boat get a couple, though, just beating the shoreline blindly.

Using my fish finder, the DOA Deadly Combo, I found trout in several places. About one in six was a legal fish, although I released everything. It was encouraging to see a few reds and to catch quite a few trout.
To flush the motor I stopped at CS Lee Park on the way home. Reid Martin was there. He had gotten five shad in the St. Johns, up near Puzzle Lake, along with a four pound largemouth that took his shad fly. Good to see some shads showing up!

Saturday I went scouting again, using the Mitzi, bringing a childhood friend along, Mr. Kevin Linehan. Kevin was never much of a fisherman, so he just went for the ride and to get out. We had some good reminisces!

Blind casting with the 3″ DOA CAL Shad I got a few reds. I wouldn’t call it hot fishing but if you work it you might get a few. The trout on the Deadly Combo was a pretty sure thing, though. We kept one for Kevin’s dinner.

Saturday night my phone rang. Qi Guojung wanted me to take him and his friends fishing the next morning. Sure thing!

So Sunday, instead of watching playoff football I had a boat full of Chinese men out on Mosquito Lagoon. Due to a language barrier we didn’t converse much, although they certainly talked a lot. But I couldn’t understand them. They LOVED the Deadly Combo. They caught a lot of trout, and ended getting eleven legal fish, no big ones, 15-18 inch trout. They had a great time, and so did I. Xia xia!

And that is the Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Two Redfish Orlando Fishing Report

Two Redfish Orlando Fishing Report

Yes, we did fish this week, three days. No, we did not catch a lot of fish. We got a total of two redfish, thus the Two Redfish Orlando Fishing report.

Upcoming Events

-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival- the largest birding and wildlife festival in the United States! January 20-25 at Eastern Florida State College – Titusville campus, 1311 North US 1, Titusville. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

-Brevard County Oyster Restoration- the Brevard Oyster Restoration Project has an ongoing need for volunteers. If you care about the health of the Indian River Lagoon, this is a way to show it. Nothing we can do for water quality in the lagoon will be more valuable then restoring water filtration into this ecosystem. I’m signed up for January 15, and hope to see some of you there. http://brevardoystergardens.org/volunteer/?sheet_id=24

A GREAT Idea- You know about electricity, but what about ‘hydricity?’

The new word in solar energy is “hydricity.”

An international team of scientists has come up with a way that can make solar power a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week energy source: Combining the power of the sun with clean-burning hydrogen fuel.

Hydricity combines hydrogen production with a solar thermal power plant’s utility-scale electricity production. During the day excess electricity is used to produce hydrogen by running an electric current through water.

The hydrogen that is produced during the day would be used at night to produce electricity through highly efficient fuel cells that emit water vapor. The technology would be crucial for countries looking to increase reliance on solar energy in the wake of last week’s climate deal in Paris.

The scientists, from Purdue University and Switzerland’s Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, say the process they are pitching can produce hydrogen at an efficiency of 50 percent and electricity at an unprecedented 46 percent efficiency.

“The concept provides an exciting opportunity to envision and create a sustainable economy to meet all the human needs including food, chemicals, transportation, heating and electricity,” said Rakesh Agrawal from Purdue. “Traditionally, electricity production and hydrogen production have been studied in isolation, and what we have done is synergistically integrate these processes while also improving them.”

The group’s work has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I hope it works!

——————

Clean Water

It’s incredibly sad that I am the only fishing guide in Florida to have signed this letter…   Where are my colleagues on this???

—————–

Another Blogger

Not to be outdone by me, Mike Conneen has published a real nice blog about our trip to Louisiana, at this link…

—————–

Fishing!

In spite of the fact the gauge read 1.6 I tried kayak fishing again in Mosquito Lagoon on Tuesday. Within the first ten minutes I saw fin tips barely breaking the surface right against the shoreline. I dropped the fly (the same Bouncer Fly I was using last week) in front of him and twitched it once. The fish struck so hard it pulled the rod out of my hand, something that has never happened to me before.

orlando fishing report

The Bouncer Fly. Click on the image for more information!

I got it anyway! Never panic! It was a handsome redfish, seven or eight pounds. No photos- the world does not need more selfies of me with a redfish, at least not this week.

I got to the spot I wanted to check. The water was the color of butterscotch. It was a short check.

I went back where I got the first fish and explored around. I had three good shots. One fish spooked off the fly. One fish either didn’t see it or was completely disinterested, as there was no response whatsoever. The last one ate the fly and I got him too, a clone of the first one. Did not photograph him either. So I got two fine redfish on a Bouncer Fly, not bad for a cloudy, windy day with high, dirty water.

Wednesday about noon found me launching the kayak in the Econlockhatchee. Someone, probably the river itself, dropped a gum tree all the way across the river just downstream of the bridge. How inconvenient.

I tossed that Bouncer Fly for two hours without a touch. Nothing was moving. The whole place just looked dead. I thought about it a while, and decided to bag it. No sooner had I started back then I ran over a bass.

I cut the streamer off and tied on a gurgler. Five seperate fish made attempts to eat the counterfeit. This reporter missed all of them, although I believe four of them were sunfish. Since I had to cook dinner, the ‘yak was back on the chariot at 4 PM. The whole episode reeked skunkily, I say.

Thursday morning found me and Tammy launching the Mitzi at Mullet Lake Park, Tammy’s favorite early season shad spot. Whether we were too early or too late I don’t know, but there were no shad there. There was not much else that was biting either, although we saw quite a few big gar. In four hours we got one redbelly between us. Tammy got it on a white crappie jig. I was skunked again, second straight day. Ouch.

orlando fishing report

This noble fish kept the skunk off of Tammy. I, however, reeked again.

And that is the Two Redfish Orlando Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Two Bites Orlando Fishing Report

Two Bites Orlando Fishing Report

Kayak fishing two days this week I managed two bites, thus the Two Bites Orlando FIshing Report.

Those readers who do not subscribe and have wondered where I’ve been, my last two reports came from Louisiana and can be accessed here: –http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/venice-la-fishing-report-and-photo-essay/

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/the-rest-of-the-kayaking-louisiana-fishing-report-a-photo-essay/

Lots of photos, not much text.

Upcoming Events

-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival- the largest birding and wildlife festival in the United States! January 20-25 at Eastern Florida State College – Titusville campus, 1311 North US 1, Titusville. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

Fishing!

Mike Conneen and I got back from Louisiana Sunday night. Unpacking etc. took place Monday. Photo work and thank yous took place Tuesday. Errands happened Wednesday. There were more errandy things to do Thursday, but it was so nice out I tossed a kayak on the roof of the van and went to the Indian River Lagoon.

Fishing was not hot. I saw a handful of fish. Incredibly, one was tailing and rooting around. Using advanced hoping-for-the-best skills, I tossed a black bendback out where I guessed the fish would be. It was quite a surprise when the line came tight!

A bigger surprise was the size of the fish. It was pushing 20 pounds, a real nice fish. Welcome home!

orlando fishing report

A nice result for one cast.

After a couple photos the fish swam off.

I made one cast, and got one fish. A good afternoon’s work!

After more errands on Friday I decided to try fishing out of River Breeze on Saturday. The water is still a foot higher than I like it, and it’s still real dirty. Expectations were low.

A total of seven redfish were seen, most close enough to be touched by the paddle. I got one shot and hooked and caught the fish. The fly was a Bouncer Fly, shown to me last summer in Alaska by the developer, Steve Duckett. This red was much more modest size-wise than Thursday’s fish but almost as satisfying emotionally. Again, a couple photos and off it went.

orlando fishing report

Battling the beast.

I made one cast, and got one fish. A good afternoon’s work!

orlando fishing report

The Bouncer Fly, a great idea I did not think of.

And that is the Two Bites Orlando Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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  • Fish Pop in Ocean Drop 50% from 1970

North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events

Eau Gallie River muck dreding project public meeting Nov. 12- The St. Johns River Water Management District will host a public meeting on Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. to provide an update on the status of the Eau Gallie River dredging project. The meeting location is Melbourne City Hall, 900 E. Strawbridge Ave.

IRL Paddle Adventure 2015 – Paddle A Portion, November 14. Paddle a portion of the Indian River Lagoon!   http://www.irl-paddle-adventure.com

Ocean Reef Beach Festival- December 5. The ORB returns to Pelican Beach Park, Satellite Beach. Celebrate the ocean lifestyle with exciting conservation and recreation displays, activities and hands on learning!  Food trucks, local ocean artists, live music and more! The event is free and will be held from 10am-5pm. Proceeds to benefit Surfrider Foundation and Anglers For Conservation.

Fishing!

This is a North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report. Only fished two days this week. I’m in the middle of a writing project and had the seminars on the weekend, so…

Wednesday found me on Capt. Chris Myers’s boat. He very kindly poled me around on the Indian River Lagoon for about seven hours. In that time we saw quite a few fish. They were not particularly bitey. Using DOA CAL Shad we got a few slot reds and trout. I was able to get a red of about 25 inches of a shrimp pattern with the fly rod, and followed that up with a 20″ trout on the same fly. The sea grass is disappearing again.

orlando fishing report

The Universe treated Chris and I to this.

Thursday I visited the Florida Historical Society in Cocoa to do some research. I found this image, a seatrout catch from the Banana River Lagoon. The rods look like they might be fiberglass, which means this was probably taken during the 1950s. Them there’s some Button Trout!

orlando fishing report

I was born too late!

Contest of the Week- First person to correctly tell me what a Button Trout is gets a free copy of Flyrodding Florida Salt. PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM BELOW.

Friday I thought I would try the no motor zone. The water had dropped a little bit. Maybe I could see some fish.

The water was horribly dirty. Moby Dick could have swum by and I couldn’t have seen him. It wasn’t good sight fishing weather but it would not have mattered. You could not see the bottom in eight inches of water. Heartbreaking, really, really sad. I got some pictures of the weather…

orlando fishing report

Clouds, rain, and dirty water. At least there was a rainbow (or two).

 

Same rainbow, different lens.

Same rainbow, different lens.

Saturday was the Show and Tell Seminar on the Merritt Island NWR. Four people attended. We spent the day driving around the refuge, discussing where to fish and how to get them to bite. Thanks to all the attendees! We talked to some kayak fishermen who had gotten a few redfish in spite of the dirty water.

Sunday was the Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Seminar. Dave Lair was the only attendee, and again, thanks for coming, Dave! The water in the Mosquito Lagoon looks horrible, at least as bad as the no motor zone. We watched a gentleman catch a black drum in the Haulover Canal. He already had three on a stringer.

And that is this week’s North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Equinox Orlando Fishing Report

Equinox Orlando Fishing Report

Wednesday was the first day of autumn, an important day for pagans. So we have the Equinox Orlando Fishing Report.

Articles posted this week-

Keys to Winter Fishing Success

Wire Flies

orlando fishing report

Wire flies.

Monday morning found the Old Town on the roof of the Sienna. They were heading to the Banana River Lagoon. Their owner wanted to do a feasibility study, paddling the 16′ canoe in the wind with a kayak paddle.

The trip was too to the fifth power. It was too hot. The water was too high, too dirty. It was too windy. There were too many clouds.

In spite of all that I caught too redfish, er, make that two, one on a Clouser minnow and the other on a black bunny leech, both on 15 foot casts. Fishing was tough. To no one’s surprise, the canoe is hard to paddle by myself in the wind. Fishing from it is like fishing from a Rolls Royce compared to my kayaks, though.

I’m looking for a pre-owned canoe in the 12-14 foot range, if anyone knows the whereabouts of one. Would prefer Mohawk, Mad River, or Old Town.

Wednesday was the first day of autumn. I try to always fish on astronomical holidays, so picked up George Allen at 7 AM and drove to Haulover Canal. The ramp had literally tons of seagrass against it, so we went to Beacon 42. We waited for the rain to stop before launching the Mitzi. We fished for maybe 40 minutes before another deluge came. The wind was blowing, it was pouring, and George did not bring a raincoat. The boat was back on the trailer before 10 AM, with one small trout to show for our efforts.

Seven AM Friday morning I joined Chris Rosoff in his Mitzi for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The water at the south end is horribly dirty, although I did get an undersized snook down there on a DOA CAL Shad Tail.

The lagoon should be full of finger mullet right now. Where are they?

Because the water was so high and so dirty we spent a lot of time prospecting with DOA Deadly Combos in a lot of different spots. Our catch included a pinfish and a gafftopsail catfish, and at least 20 undersized seatrout. Chris got a nice trout, about 22 inches long.

orlando fishing report

Chris got the best fish of the day. He’s smiling about it under the Buff. Really.

Due to some mechanical problems we left earlier than we had intended to. We were still out about six hours. We never saw a redfish, not surprising considering the condition of the water.

And that is this week’s Equinox Orlando Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Stalked by a Gator Orlando Fishing Report

Stalked by a Gator Orlando Fishing Report

crocs too

Last time I had gone kayaking on the Banana River Lagoon, a banner day ensued with five redfish and over a dozen fine seatrout. Naturally I had been itching to go back. It happened Tuesday.

All the fish I had found that trip (admittedly, it was a couple weeks ago) were gone, of course. Search mission time.

The search revealed a bunch of black drum tailing, after a long paddle. Still, tailing fish are tailing fish. One took a black Redfish Worm, another a Merkin. I missed a few strikes. The fish were not overly aggressive towards the fly, though.

Realizing that it was a scouting trip more than a fishing trip I left the tailing fish and continued the search. It led me to the shoreline, where an occasional redfish was spotted. In spite of best efforts, none were fooled.

At one point I got out of the kayak and was stalking a fish when a security vehicle drove up to the water’s edge, blue lights flashing. Since I was the only other human being in the vicinity, I paddled over to see what I had done wrong.

“There’s an alligator stalking you,” the Security Man said. I had seen the gator. It was not paying any attention to me. But I did not want an argument with the Security Man. I was curious as to how he knew that, but did not pursue a line of questioning.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I replied.

“You gotta be careful this time of year,” he said. “They’re mating and they get real aggressive. You got an ID?”

When Security Man was done with me I decided I was done too. I paddled back to the chariot, loaded up, and went home.

Thursday found Rodney Smith and me out on Canaveral Bight. The weather looked fine when we left but it clouded up quickly. There was a lot of bait there, and some bluefish, but we didn’t find much else.

The storm moved in faster than I thought it would and we were caught out in it. At least one of us had a raincoat! The lightning was all cloud to cloud, fortunately. The boat was on the trailer before noon. I drove through rain all the way home.

Friday I still wanted to know if there were any fish along the beach, so went out of the Port as a solo act. It was too windy and too snotty for me to do what I wanted to. The bait was still in the Bight, and the bluefish were still there too. I saw a few of the Giant Crevalles bust some baits within casting range. Before I could move to grab a rod they were gone. Having learned all that I could, I headed back to the Port and home.

Saturday found me out on Mosquito Lagoon with David Gunn (Peter’s cousin) and his friend Bill, fly fishers from New England. We found a school of black drum right away and David got one to eat a black Redfish Worm. The fish was a relatively small one of six pounds or so.

The fishy area quickly became crowded with boats and the fish just as quickly disappeared. We were on a search mission the rest of the day. We did not find much. The one bite we had already gotten would be it for the day.

And that is this week’s Stalked by a Gator Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog

www.johnkumiski.com

www.rentafishingbuddy.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report

Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report

Blog posts this week-

Mystery Tackle Box a Winner

How to Tie the Electric Sushi Fly

Electric Sushi

Electric Sushi

Summer in Alaska is not too far off. One of the things I would like to do this summer is figure out how to catch salmon in the ocean on fly. If any readers have any insight into this, I sure would like to hear from you.

OK, fishing. Wednesday Scott Radloff joined me for an Atlantic Ocean trip out of Port Canaveral. The ocean was a little snotty, and there was a high rain chance. We went to the Cape. The acres of bluefish were gone. But the water along the beach was calmer than in Canaveral Bight so we stayed there. Casting jigs we got steady action from ladyfish, bluefish, and jack crevalle.

Scott put a ladyfish chunk on his big rod, hoping to get a tarpon bite. He hooked a shark in the six to seven foot range instead. We had to use the boat to chase it down. He had it on for at least fifteen minutes, but the fish finally snapped his 50 pound braid. He hooked two other sharks but they both cut him off quickly.

orlando fishing report

Scott battles the brute. The brute won.

I got another bite on the bucktail jig, but this time it was a real fish. Weren’t we surprised when a 70-80 pound tarpon came flying out of the water! I may have been a little undergunned with the outfit I was using, but the fish threw the jig on its third jump. But I jumped a tarpon on April 15, the earliest day ever for me on this coast.

Thursday and Friday I was part of a three boat charter arranged by Capt. Chris Myers, on Mosquito Lagoon. The water is definitely a brown color now. I did not see any clear water at all. That and all the clouds made sight fishing next to impossible- except when tails were showing. Fishing was not fast but by using cut ladyfish we managed two slot redfish and a bunch of hardheads. We got a few short trout on the DOA Deadly Combo, too. Not spectacular but better than a skunking.

Friday saw us out with the same crew, and Rock Man was with me again. He got the first red of the day, a pretty 10 pound fish, in the first 15 minutes.

orlando fishing report

Rock plays a fish on a spectacular morning.

 

orlando fishing report

Noah records Rock’s redfish for posterity.

 

orlando fishing report

Rock and his redfish…

He would end up getting three more reds and a black drum besides. Noah managed a slot red, too. And of course since we were using cut bait there were catfish involved. Again, not spectacular but certainly acceptable.

orlando fishing report

Noah got in on the action, too.

 

orlando fishing report

Just before we finished Rock boated this beauty.

It’s been raining this week, every afternoon. I went to check the Econ this morning, thinking about fishing there. It is blown out, the water having risen almost five vertical feet. Guess I won’t be fishing there for a while.

And that is this week’s Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

 

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog

www.johnkumiski.com

www.rentafishingbuddy.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

 

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report

Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report

Last week an attempt was made to almost poetically describe how lucky those of us who live and fish in central Florida are. This week again re-emphasises that fact. Fact! Not fiction! Not opinion! FACT!!!

So Monday the Sevylor inflatable kayak got pumped up and somewhat unceremoniously dumped into my favorite St. Johns River location. The Sevylor reminded me again how lucky we are to have fairly rigid plastic kayaks for most of the paddling we want to do. That thing paddles so badly. Anyway, the bite was not hot. Five bass came to hand, all on surface flies, in about four hours. The place was just too quiet. No surface activity, no alligators, it just didn’t look right. That’s OK, I’ll be back.

About noon on Tuesday the Ocean Kayak was dropped into the Econlockhatchee. Shortly afterwards I hopped in and we went off down the river.

Godzilla lives there, no kidding. There are some gawdawful big alligators there.

The bass bite again was not hot, although I certainly caught some. Once I switched to streamers I did a little better. Certainly the redbellies and stumpknockers were aggressive.

orlando fishing report

Redbelly on Electric Sushi. What else could happen?

 

orlando fishing report

How about redbelly on sexy fly?

At one point the kayak was pulled up on the bank so I could wade along a sandbar and cast to the shoreline. When the bar ended I turned and headed back upriver to where the kayak waited patiently for me. As soon as I had turned around a fat garfish glided gracefully across the bar, only about 15 feet away. The streamer landed a foot in front of him. One twitch and WHAM! He hit it like a barracuda, just an awesome strike. I actually hooked and landed him, one of two I got.

orlando fishing report

How about spotted gar on sexy fly??

With a small bluegill popper or rubber spider you could easily have 40 or 50 fish days there right now. Please let me know if you’d like me to show you.

orlando fishing report

This bass took an ugly foam gurgler.

orlando fishing report

Same fish, different angle. It was a decent sized one.

Wednesday the Bang-O-Craft was launched at River Breeze for some scouting for my Thursday/Friday charter. The water is low, but in most places it’s also kind of dirty. I saw a fish here, a couple fish there, and managed to successfully sight cast two nice redfish into submission using a silver Johnson Minnow. I got a lot of fish on the DOA Deadly Combo but all of them were small ones. Still, enough fish were observed that I thought we had a reasonable chance of catching a few over the next couple of days.

Thursday Dr. Jim Colgan and Dr. Bill Thomas joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Good guess if you said we launched the Mitzi at River Breeze. With the exception of a single anemic seatrout caught using the Deadly Combo, we got our only fish, a rather anemic-looking 15 inch red, at about 2 PM, on a Johnson Minnow. We maybe saw a dozen fish all day. Yeah, it was not a skunking but it was dangerously close, certainly a real tough day. The good doctors decided that they had had enough fun and declined the option on Friday.

With my newly opened up Friday I decided to use the kayak to really explore a place I had unsuccessfully dabbled in several years earlier. My Friday attitude was, “If there are fish here I will find them.”

The paddle was lovely with lots of birds. I got to watch skimmers skimming, coots cooting, and bald eagles bald eagling. The only fish I found, however, were Gambusia and mullet. The experiment, although extremely pleasant, failed.

 

My friend Tammy has a job and can only fish on weekends. Even though I don’t like fishing weekends I do like fishing with Tammy, so Saturday morning an 830 we launched the Mitzi at Port Canaveral and went out onto a somewhat snotty Atlantic hoping to find tripletail. We did not find one. But we did find acres of bluefish, with lots of crevalle jacks and a few big ladyfish thrown in. All these denizens of the deep attracted a load of big sharks, too. We lost a couple hooked fish to shark attacks and hooked several big sharks on chunks of ladyfish.

Tammy used a big ChugBug until a shark relieved her of it, then used a Mirrolure. A jack tore the back hook off and she kept right on catching fish with it. I used several Upperman jigs. I’m pretty sure anything with a hook would have worked. The fish were REAL numerous and REAL aggressive. We had a wonderful time.

orlando fishing report

The fish were plentiful and aggressive.

And that is this week’s Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

http://www.spottedtail.com/blog

www.johnkumiski.com

www.rentafishingbuddy.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

 

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report

Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report

A blessed Easter to all the Christians out there.

Although it’s not saying much, we found way more fish this week than last.

It started on Monday, when on a solo trip the kayak was launched on the Banana River Lagoon. The wind was light and there were no clouds. In some clean water, holy cow, there was an honest-to-God school of redfish, at least 100. They were small ones, about 24 inches, but I got four- two on a pink Electric Sushi and two on a brown slider. Then they made themselves scarce.

Orlando Fishing report

For those wondering what Electric Sushi is, here’s a real bad picture of one.

Orlando Fishing report

Sushi would not be my first choice in redfish flies. This red did not know that.

Orlando Fishing report

Another red, on the more traditional Slider.

In the meantime I had seen some nice seatrout lying sunning themselves. The next several hours were spent sight-casting to fish that were averaging about 25 inches long. Four different flies were tried, all unweighted minnow imitations- Electric Sushi, Polar Fibre Minnow, EP Streamer, and SexyFly. All worked. It was an awesome day that came to an end too quickly.

Orlando Fishing report

Speaking of bad pictures, here’s one of a fly-caught seatrout.

Orlando Fishing report

The fish splashed water all over the camera, but you can see the Electric Sushi fly.

Tuesday the now retired Dr. George Allen joined me for a Port Canaveral excursion. The weather was awesome, light winds, hardly any clouds. A couple of weeks ago I had found a big school of black drum out there. I went back to the place because that’s what you do. It’s not like I expected the fish to be there weeks later. But to my surprise and joy they were. George got one, a brontosaurus-sized beast, on a jig.

Orlando Fishing report

George and the brontofishsaurus.

We went along the beach looking for surface activity. Spinner sharks kept jumping out of the water. We saw a ray swimming. I got one cast off before the ray dove. That cast did not get a bite. Did not see much else.

After a few hours of looking without success, we tried blindly casting towards the surf. Bam! Bam! Ladyfish, bluefish, jack crevalle, all on bucktail jigs, steadily. No big fish, but some solid action. I kept four bluefish for the smoker.

Finally we reversed course, moving farther out off the beach. I spotted a ray and moved to intercept. It dove. George spotted a ray and we moved to intercept. It dove. They were very spooky. We couldn’t get close enough to cast at them. I spotted a ray and moved to intercept. It maintained its course, and a well-placed cast resulted in a nice cobia coming up and eating the jig, plainly visible to us, a beautiful thing to see. George fought the fish up to the boat where I netted it and bingo- we finally got cobia, the first of the year, a nice fish of 30 pounds or so!

Orlando Fishing report

Coe-Bee-Ahhhh!

Wednesday the Brinkman was busy, as I sat there and fed it charcoal and wood chips for four hours while the fish smoked. Yum-mee! We’ll be eating smoked cobia and smoked fish dip around here for a little while, at least.

Thursday the Reverend Jay Bergstresser and his brother Hank the Mercenary joined me for a half-day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We were taking it easy, just fishing for seatrout. We used DOA Deadly Combos in some of my favorite spots. The bite was not on. We caught quite a few fish, but all but one were undersized. Still, the weather was nice and the company was good, and we enjoyed ourselves. Hank got de-stressed, an important consideration. And of course we all got closer to God, a real important consideration.

On Friday the USGS gauge on the Econlockhatchee at Snow Hill Road read just over two feet. Time to go fishing!

While the river was low and clear and the weather was awesome, the bass bite was relatively slow. Although I missed a couple strikes, I got three bass in five hours. I also got a sunfish slam, and a spotted gar, all on a white foam popping bug. The river is so beautiful…

Orlando Fishing report

You have to love how aggressive the stumpknockers are.

Orlando Fishing report

The best bass of the day.

Those of us who like to fish are lucky we have such a wide variety of fishing we can do in central Florida. Even with the continuing onslaught of progress there’s still lots of incredible fishing here.

And that is this week’s Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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