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Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing- Returning to Normal?

November 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/7/11

We needed to scout on Monday, having been away for two weeks. Rain poured down most of the day. We didn’t go.

Tuesday an east wind of 20-25 met me at the ramp. Still the sun was out, so off I went.

I actually found some fish. The water had dropped since my last visit and in a few places it showed signs of clearing up a bit. Redfish were working along a few shorelines. I tried fishing while simultaneously poling. Never easy to do, it’s even harder when the wind is howling. Still, tossing a Johnson Minnow, I got three bites and put a slot red in the boat (released it).

I was supposed to be scouting, not fishing, so I stopped fishing and continued looking. I didn’t see much anywhere else.

Wednesday Mike, Tom, and Gunther joined me looking for some redfish on spin action. The water had come up a couple inches, but the fish were still where I had left them- cruising the bank, crashing minnows, even saw a couple tailers.

Mike got the first red on a DOA CAL shad tail. The fish was almost under the bow of the boat when Mike stuck him. I haven’t had one bite so close to the boat in years. It was quite extraordinary. It wasn’t a big one, 22 inches or so, but it was a redfish and I was darned glad to see it come aboard. It posed for a photo and was released.

This apparently suicidal redfish took the lure right at the bow of the Mitzi skiff.

Mike had the hot hand, as a while later he made a beautiful cast in front of a cruising fish. The fish ate the CAL tail and a few minutes later 25 inches of redfish was being photographed. It was also released.

The DOA CAL shad tail, detailed to show rigging.

We had several other shots which were not converted and our half day ended much too quickly.

Thursday I cruised the wildlife refuge looking for gremlins that might booger up the show and tell. The main one was that all the dike roads except the Gator Creek- Peacock Pocket road are closed, even Biolab.

Friday Nick Colantonio and John Carnacchia (spelling probably wrong on that name), fly fishers from Tampa, joined me for some redfishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. The water was a foot higher (see the graph here) and two degrees cooler than it was on Tuesday. The wind was again fairly howling, this time from the west.

The fish were NOT cruising shorelines, and believe me we looked. After four hours we had seen four fish and only had a shot at one of them. We came to a small hole in the area where I had been seeing the fish on Wednesday. “Would you guys indulge me for 15 minutes?” I asked.

After staking out the boat I chucked two pieces of mullet containing circle hooks into the hole. I asked Nick to let me know when 15 minutes was up.

At six minutes one of the rods went off and John reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits again. Six minutes later one of the rods went off and Nick reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits out again. Fifteen minutes went by without another bite so we pulled the lines in and went fly fishing again.

We ran over a few fish but the water was too deep and dirty for us to see them until they blew out. Nick got one shot at the end of the day but the fish spooked off the fly. With that we wrapped up a tough day.

Saturday we had the show and tell and Sunday the on-the-water show and tell. Both went well. Wish you’d been there!

Today son Alex and I went redfishing together. Actually Alex fished and I poled. The water is even higher than it was on Friday and it is still rising. We had a couple half baked shots, the kind where you try to make a hurried nine foot cast. The water is too high and dirty for sightfishing. Hopefully it will drop some this week. We need a west wind to blow some water offshore!

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Canoe Camping at Canaveral National Seashore

November 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving hurtles towards us. This holiday kicks off Florida’s finest camping season.

At the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon a labyrinth of islands, channels, and shallow ponds hosts loads of  wading birds, dolphins, redfish, and seatrout. Canaveral National Seashore administers a dozen National Park Service campsites here. Accessible only by water, these are “wilderness” sites. A few have a fire grate and a picnic table. The others have space for your tents, and that’s about it.

A spectacular sunrise over the Mosquito lagoon.

I’ve gone camping here by canoe and kayak many times over the years. While sometimes the fishing hasn’t been good, other times it has been outstanding. Either way, I always have an enjoyable time.

A Typical Trip
Obtain the necessary camping permit from Canaveral National Seashore, Turtle Mound station. Launch your boats at River Breeze Park in Oak Hill, or at Turtle Mound on the east side of the lagoon.

After dinner roast marshmallows and watch the sun set. After it gets dark you can stargaze for hours. During the winter months Orion (the easiest of all constellations to recognize), Gemini, Taurus, and Canis Major are all clearly visible. Sirius, in Canis Major, is the brightest star in the sky! If you’re lucky you’ll see satellites, or a meteor streaking across the heavens. You certainly don’t get to see meteors every day.

A lovely Mosquito Lagoon sunset, from a different vantage on a different day.

After breakfast go fishing. Fishing being fishing, sometimes it’s great and sometimes you’ll get skunked. But the wading birds will be thick. You will see pelicans, ospreys, and maybe a bald eagle, and dolphins are commonly encountered. If you don’t catch any fish, cook some hot dogs over a blazing campfire. When you roast a wiener on a stick over an open fire, they are as good as hot dogs can be!

A Warning
You can expect raccoons to visit your campsite while you’re here. Make sure to pack your food in raccoon proof containers. A hard plastic cooler with a rope tied around it works well. On one trip we left our s’mores fixings in a shopping bag, unattended on a table, for less than five minutes. A raccoon quickly found and tried to steal the bag. The chocolate and crackers fell out as he ran off, but he made a successful getaway with all of our marshmallows.

A Quick Look at the Fishing
The most common gamefish here are redfish and seatrout. A ten pound spinning outfit is appropriate. Effective lures include soft plastic jerkbaits, weedless gold spoons, and small popping plugs. The area is shallow with a lot of grass, so weedless lures are a must. Popular natural baits include shrimp and cut mullet. Small crabs can also be effective.

A younger Maxx casts to a redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon.

I kayak fish this area a lot, ordinarily using fly tackle. The preferred technique is to paddle along shorelines, searching for fish to which to cast the fly. Particularly during the cooler months (when camping is most enjoyable) fishing for both reds and seatrout can be excellent.

On the very first camping trip my boys and I made here we paddled over a school of at least 200 redfish. We continued on to our campsite and dropped off our gear, then went right back to where the fish were. Between us we got a dozen fish, many on fly tackle. If you spend some time hunting for fish here usually you will find some.

Redfish this size are quite typical of what you will find here.

Florida saltwater fishing laws apply here. If you choose to fish you will need a saltwater fishing license.

Nuts and Bolts
Canaveral National Seashore lies northeast of Orlando about one hour’s drive. To camp there you must obtain a permit (fee required) from their office at Turtle Mound, on Florida route A1A south of New Smyrna Beach. They accept reservations by telephone one week in advance, and especially during the busy spring season reservations are strongly recommended.

Their website URL is http://www.nps.gov/cana/. Click on the “Activities” button. Then click on the “camping” button to see their camping brochure. The phone number at the Turtle Mound station for more information about camping or reservations is 386-428-3384 Ext. 10.

The different campsites have varying capacities. Some sites, like the two on Orange Island, can fit three small tents maximum. Others, like the spoil island campsites, could hold 20 or more people. Remember, these are unimproved sites with no fresh water, electricity, or toilet facilities. If you don’t bring what you need you won’t have it out there.

Another point to keep in mind is that adjacent to Canaveral National Seashore is the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. No camping is allowed here at any time. So if you intend to camp on a spoil island in the Mosquito Lagoon, be sure to find the right one.

While this piece emphasizes paddling to the campsites, there are no restrictions on motor vessel use here. You can easily use a boat with a motor to gain access to any of the CNS campsites, or to go fishing. You will still need the national park service permit to camp, of course.

The Mosquito Lagoon wasn’t named on a whim. The bugs can be nasty when the weather is warm, so the best time to camp is from about Thanksgiving through about Easter. The prudent camper will bring bug spray at whatever time of year they camp, anywhere in Florida.

Remember to bring sunblock and plenty of water. Have fun, and enjoy your trip!

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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Water Still Dirty in Mosquito Lagoon- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

October 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/9/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

In the wee hours of Monday morning son Alex and I climbed into the chariot and drove to new Smyrna Beach. We launched the boat at about 2 AM. The tide was high, and slack.
Our plan was to visit lit docks and fish them. We didn’t have much success at first, but then the water started moving.

On one hand it seems strange that one dock will have fish boiling all around it when nearby docks have nothing, but that’s always how fishing is. So it was this night.

We hardly kicked fish butt. We got many undersized trout, many ladyfish. Alex got a rat red and I got a decent sized bluefish. We used DOA CAL jigs and 3″ DOA Glo Shrimp. Nothing photo-worthy came aboard. Everything was released.

After it got light we caught a few mullet and ran out of the inlet. It was too rough to ride around, so we just anchored near the tip of the north jetty. There were redfish there. Using mullet chunks we caught two decent ones in an hour and saw several other people catch some too.

If you want to soak bait there are quite a few fish like this at Ponce Inlet right now.

The mullet are supposed to be running. I’d like to know where they all are.

On Wednesday Luiz, Sergio, and Messias, all from Sao Paulo, joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We tried fishing with lures. We tried fishing with bait. We caught nothing other than three catfish. The water is still dreadfully dirty. You can’t see anything.

Finally I anchored at the jetty at Haulover Canal. Soaking mullet chunks there we got two redfish in about three hours, very slow fishing. At least we weren’t skunked!

Luiz got this nice redfish. You can see how dirty the water is.

They were fun guys to be around and I certainly needed to brush up on my Portugues.

On Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me. The forecast was for hard east winds. Holy cow, it was correct! We anchored at the west end of the Haulover Canal and soaked mullet chunks for four hours, chewing the fat the entire time.

There were lots of dolphins around. There were lots of manatees around. Apparently yacht season has started. Out of the wind it was a lovely morning.

We did not see many mullet. This time of year they should be everywhere you look. We did not catch anything other than one over-aggressive sting ray. We left at noon.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Tough Fishing this week on Mosquito Lagoon, Atlantic Ocean

October 2, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 10/2/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

On Monday morning I picked the boat up from the shop. New steering, awesome! Mechanic Rod Miller (321.225.8800) does my work and has for many years. He gets my highest recommendation.

After picking up the boat I went to Post Canaveral to catch bait. There were quite a few mullet (and jellyfish) in the port, and I got some of both. I don’t like jellyfish in the net but it was unavoidable unless you didn’t throw the net.

The waves at the jetty were at the design limit for the Mitzi. I fished there, along with two other boats, for about an hour. I hooked one bluefish. I didn’t see the other boats do much, either. Then, tired of waves coming over the bow and no fish, I left and went home.

Wednesday the weather was awesome and Scott Radloff and I went out of the Port hoping to find some mullet run action. We found enough mullet to use for bait and that was IT. There were almost no mullet along the beach, which we ran well past the tip of the cape. Then we headed offshore, hoping to find a weedline.

We did find sargassum weeds. They were essentially fishless. We looked for several hours, and saw exactly three tripletail. One was small, one was a tiny, aquarium-sized fish. The third was 21 inches long, as we found out when we measured him atop my cooler. He ate a finger mullet. We ate him. His bite was the only one we got in over five hours.

This tripletail took five hours to find. Although legal, it wasn't very big.

Friday morning Dr. Mike Sweeney joined me for a morning’s fly fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. If anything the water was even dirtier than it was last week. We spent more time running than fishing, saw maybe six redfish wakes in four hours, and did not get a single shot. The water needs to drop and clear up before there will be any realistic hope of successfully fly fishing there. There are lots of mullet there though.

A cold front came through last night. Hopefully that will stimulate more activity along the coast.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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High, Green Water- Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

September 25, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 9/25/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup will be posted 30 days prior.

Monday I decided it was high time to check out the lagoons. I got a late start, launching the boat after 10 AM. The water was high, and green. Although there were a couple of fishing rods aboard, the plan was just to ride around and look for fish.

The water in the lagoons looks like the water in this ancient bath.

And I did find some. There weren’t any schools, but rather some areas where there were decent numbers of singles. Most of the time you could only see their wakes, but in some places you could actually see their bodies. Approaching thunderheads convinced me to load the boat at about 130.

Tuesday Mr. Erik Penfield joined me for a half day fishing. I was confident we’d get into a few even though we didn’t start until 930. Unfortunately that confidence was misplaced. We went to the places where I had seen the fish the previous day, but due to the clouds and ripple we couldn’t see anything. Blind casting with a variety of lures produced only one small ladyfish and a pinfish. We tried chunking mullet for a while, but got only a single spider crab. I was disappointed we didn’t do better. The boat hit the trailer at 130.

Wednesday at 7 AM I launched the boat at Port Canaveral. Rodney Smith was my guest. He was looking for a flounder for supper. By the cruise ship basin we found some jacks busting on mullet and got three or four on Chug Bugs. Then we netted some finger mullet and headed to the jetty.

The rollers were 3-4 feet with some chop. There was a lot of sargassum weed. We anchored the boat and started fishing, trying to ignore the waves coming over the bow periodically. In over four hours of fishing we got a couple more jacks, a ladyfish or two, and a bluefish. And Rodney did get his flounder, not a real big one, maybe a couple pounds though. We used egg sinker rigs with the mullet, strictly bait fishing. It was surprisingly relaxing and fun.

Thursday I got up too early and drove to Stuart for a fishing date with Mark Nichols. We went wading, tossing a variety of DOA products. Although it was fairly slow, the glow shrimp worked best, accounting for four or five seatrout in the 18-20 inch range. The fish were fat and healthy. It was great seeing and fishing with Mark, it had been way too long since I did that. The water in Stuart looks better than the water around Titusville. I can’t say that very often.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Big Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

June 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6/4/11

Upcoming Events-
-June 11, free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at noon. The Clouser Minnow is the fly of choice this time.

Bumper Sticker of the week department:

On Memorial Day my family drove to the Villages to spend the day with more family. It was Uncle Don’s 75th birthday! My two boys were the only adult males there who weren’t veterans. A moment of silence please, for all those who did not come home.

Party Day at Uncle Donald's. It didn't get real crazy.

Tuesday I went walking/running on the Florida Trail. Couldn’t help but notice numerous redbellies spawning in the Econ River.

Thursday Rick Roberts and I went out on the Mosquito Lagoon. He got a red on a Johnson Minnow. We got numerous trout on DOA Shrimp. All were small. I got a nice flounder on a DOA Shrimp and lost another one right at the boat.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. We hooked three redfish by using mullet chunks. Only one was boated, but it was a pig, about 30 pounds.

Dr. George battles a big redfish on Mosquito Lagoon

Mission accomplished!

The water in the Mosquito Lagoon is still very low and it’s getting kind of dirty- not as bad as the Indian River but not like winter time. Between the clouds and the murky water it’s getting hard to sight fish.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Fishing Report- One Fish, Two Fish, RedFish, BlueFish

May 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5/29/11

Upcoming Events-
-June 11, free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at noon. The Clouser Minnow is the fly of choice this time.

Last Sunday wife Susan and I went to Playalinda Beach, sans fishing tackle. I’m always looking, though. There was no bait along the beach, an observation reinforced by the fact we saw exactly one pelican there in almost four hours. Conversation with fishermen along the beach revealed that a few had caught a smattering of pompano and whiting.

Monday Rodney Smith and Rick Roberts joined me for a day’s search along the beach north of Port Canaveral. Based on my observations on the previous day I wasn’t expecting anything.

I got a flounder by the north jetty on a DOA CAL jig. Working our way north we didn’t see anything, but Rick got a nice whiting, also on a jig. A couple small jacks and a bluefish also fell prey to our approximately 10,000 casts.

North of Cape Canaveral there were quite a few menhaden but no fish eating them.
Back at the jetty Rodney got another flounder, again on a jig. The day was enjoyable but fishing wasn’t very exciting.

Tuesday I went kayak fishing, launching at River Breeze about 9 AM. I paddled along shorelines for miles. I found a few redfish off the shorelines in white holes. Blindcasting into a hole with a redfish worm I got a low end slot red.

I found one shoreline fish, a crawler, that gave me an excellent shot. It took the redfish worm and was released a few minutes later. It was about five pounds.
I had one other decent shot but the cast was less than perfect and did not work. It was a lot of paddling for only two shots but it was a gorgeous day and I had the whole place to myself. And I did get two reds on fly.

Cody Zimmer got this Mosquito lagoon redfish a few weeks back. I just recently got the image.

Wednesday afternoon I hiked up the Econlockhatchee and fished my way back, using a green foam spider. Because I switched to a six pound tippet I kept the same fly the entire way- amazing! Many redbellies popped that spider and at least a dozen were released but they were running small. One small bluegill was fooled too.

The river is very low right now, awesome for wading and fly casting. Maybe if I went at either end of the day rather than during the hottest part of it I would do better.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some flats fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. We launched at Kennedy Point Park. Using DOA Shrimp we caught trout after trout. None would hold batter, as they were all short. We tried sight fishing for a bit but the water is real dirty and the clouds made it impossible to see. So we went back to trout fishing.
We also got a ladyfish and a bluefish. Although nothing of consequence was caught I’d guess we released two dozen fish. Thank goodness for the dehooker!

Cody got this trout the same day, same place, as the redfish above. George and I didn't get any like this on Friday.

Yesterday I helped Rick Roberts put together a powerpoint presentation for Angler Action (www.angleraction.org). This worthwhile endeavor is putting together an angler-owned database of fish population data so anglers will have their own data to use in shaping regulatory policy. Check out their website and consider submitting your catch data. It’s for the best of causes- fishing in our future.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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High Pressure, Full Moon Reds, and Endeavor Blasts Off- Orlando Area Fishing Report

May 22, 2011 by · 4 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5/22/11

Upcoming Events-

-June 11, free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors.

The quick and dirty fishing report for the week of the full moon!

Monday, Mosquito Lagoon. Eric Robbins used DOA Shrimp during a half day trip to get a slot red, numerous trout, a couple of bluefish and a bunch of ladyfish. We also watched space shuttle Endeavor blast off. We didn’t see a lot of reds but really didn’t spend much time looking for them.

Endeavor blasts off on a cloudy Monday morning.

Tuesday, Mosquito Lagoon. Keith and Myrna Daugherty used DOA Shrimp to catch a bunch of seatrout. At the end of the day a mullet chunk produced a nice red for Keith. We didn’t see a lot of reds.

Mosquito Lagoon seatrout

One of many trout Myrna and Keith caught.

Keith got this nice red on cut bait.

Wednesday, brothers Steve and Dave Ritchie, Mosquito Lagoon. We tried flyfishing for reds. Spot #1, the fish were there in decent numbers. The fish wouldn’t let us into casting range, and the Ritchie brothers can cast. Spot #2, a school of fish bolted and waked off when we were about 150 feet away, no chance at them. So far the fish were not uncatchable, they were uncastable. Spot #3, we had some shots at spooky big reds. One actually checked out the fly, a black bunny leech. That’s as close to a bite as we got. Subsequent spots had no fish. On the bright side it was a beautiful, windless day. We ended up with a suicidal eight inch trout and a small pinfish.

Thursday, Ritchie brothers, Indian River Lagoon. Scouted large portion of IRL looking for a redfish school or tarpon. Didn’t find either, despite incredible weather. Found an area with some singles. Dave struck first, getting a slot red on a Merkin crab, his first redfish ever. Steve got another one on the same pattern a short time later, his first on fly. We had a couple shots at 20-30 pound class fish that were tailing, and numerous shots at black drum, none of which were converted. Dave hooked and lost another slot red. Not a great day but an improvement over Wednesday.

Indian River Lagoon Redfish

Steve's first fly rod red. A Merkin did the trick.

Friday, Ritchie brothers, Indian River Lagoon. Heavy fog early. Clouds hampered visibility but it remained almost slick calm most of the day. We fished the same area as the previous day and did not get a shot until almost noontime. The fish were lying in the thick grass. We would only see them after we ran them over. There was no tailing, there were no busts. It was like they were comatose. It was very frustrating.

Steve started throwing a Zara Spook and got a nice trout, over 20 inches.

I finally spotted a push coming at us. Dave made a perfect cast and hooked a fish, Hallelujah! It was a black drum of tem pounds or so, fooled by a Merkin. Steve hooked another one a short time later but the hook pulled, on the same fly pattern.

Indian River Black Drum

Dave used a Merkin to get this black drum.

Nearing 2 PM some breeze came up. Shortly afterwards I spotted a big red tailing. Dave had a shot at it but did not convert. Later Steve had a shot at another big red, made a perfect cast. The fish took the Merkin. Steve fought it for 20 minutes and then the hook pulled again, heartbreaking. We tried to find another without success. The boat was back on the trailer about 3 PM.

On Saturday Tom Van Horn and I gave a tarpon fishing seminar at Mosquito Creek Outdoors. There were about 30 seats there and most were filled, a nice bunch of people. There were raffles and prizes given away, and lots of good information was exchanged.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Hot Mosquito Lagoon Trout Bite This Week- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5/14/11

Upcoming Events-

-Space shuttle Endeavour’s launch, Monday, May 16, 8:56 a.m.

-On May 21, Fly Fishing for West Coast Tarpon seminar at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at 10 AM. Tom Van Horn will also be giving a tarpon seminar aimed at east coast fish.

Bumper Sticker of the Week Dept:

On Monday I finally got onto the Atlantic, accompanied by Scott Radloff. Our goal was to find some bait, then search for tarpon first and giant crevalle second.

We found bait, both mullet and menhaden, near and past Cape Canaveral. While we were fishing around the mullet we noticed a very dark spot moving north off the beach. It turned out to be a school of crevalle, not giants but rather fish of about five pounds. There were thousands of them.

We chased them up the beach for several miles. We didn’t count but we caught a lot on DOA CAL jigs.

When we finally gave up on them we fished around the menhaden schools they had led us to. The bluefish were thick, but there was not much else. We saw one shark and three or four barracuda, nothing more. All we caught were blues.

It turned out to be a 50 or 60 fish day, but nothing spectacular in the way of size. Still, it was beautiful out and even the smaller fish were quite entertaining.

On Tuesday I was back in Mosquito Lagoon, joined by fly fishing Canadians Mark and Cody Zimmer. We found loads of big redfish tailing. They would not take any of the flies we tried. We had a bright moment when Mark cast a crab fly into a small school of big tailers and his line came tight. The fish he caught was a red of maybe 16 inches. In the middle of all those big ones, too!

Cody wanted a fish bad so the last 30 minutes we chunked with mullet. He got a four pound and a six pound trout, then a red of about 15 pounds. I forgot my camera, so there are no photos of these fish. 🙁

Again, it was a beautiful day and tons of big fish were spotted, but it was frustrating not being able to convince them to eat anything.

Wednesday Steve Kas and Jim Trub came up from Boca Raton, bringing Steve’s Archer Craft. I joined them and we went looking for all the fish I’d seen the previous day. They flat out disappeared. We looked from Pelican Island to Georges Bar and saw one redfish all day.

On the bright side the trout bite was pretty strong. We got a couple dozen to about 20 inches by casting jigs around the outside of several different bars.

Jim Trub with one of the many trout we got.

Steve Kas with another Mosquito Lagoon trout

Still, they wanted redfish. It was maddening not being able to find any after seeing so many the previous day. Ya shoulda been here yesterday!

Spotted Tail was on the Mosquito Lagoon again on Thursday, joined by Karl Dienst and his friend Brad. Tossing DOA Shrimp and CAL jigs we got a lot of trout, ranging from eight inches to almost 20. There were a lot of ladyfish around, too. We concentrated on trout fishing most of the day. With about an hour to go we went looking for reds. We found a few slot fish and Brad got two on ladyfish chunks.

Brad got a bunch of these seatrout on the DOA Shrimp.

Every fishing guide loves scenes like this- ready to boat a Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

A cheesy grin for the best fish of the day.

On Friday Jim Shwartzentruber and his friend George, fly casters from Utah, joined me hoping to bag a big red or two. It was not to be. We searched all day, me poling and them blind casting with a black bunny fly, and saw maybe a dozen reds. Once the wind started cranking the fishing got very tough too. They did get three of four decent seatrout, but again, those were not the target.

I hope the reds start cranking again like they did on Tuesday. I have every day this coming week booked up.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Orlando area fishing report 3/11/11

March 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 3/11/11

Emails from readers-
“I read with interest your blog on littering; that is one of my pet peeves. I also cannot understand how people can carry in, but not carry out. Long ago, I got into the habit of taking out more whenever I went fishing (trash, not fish). It’s not hard to do. I was inspired by your blog to start this habit in my new home. Monday and Tuesday, I fished the Banana River off the 520 causeway, near the hospital. I carried home a full trash bag each day. Also, I hope people driving by saw a crazy guy in chest waders with a trash bag in his hand picking up trash along the shoreline. By the way, I caught some trout, too, one of which measured 30 inches.
“I’ll call you when I return in May, so we can go fishing. Thank you for being a great guide and a great person.” -5:00 Bob

God rewarded you for picking up trash with that fine trout, Bob. Great work and thank you.

“I spent last week fishing large areas between Sebastian and Vero Beach. A combination of wind, tidal fluctuations and shallow water made accessing the fish difficult in my north-country deep V boat. On an information seeking trip, at the tackle shop below the bridge in Vero, I picked up a copy of your 2005 redfish book and used to it find some scattered reds. Without your guidance, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to continue to seek redfish, and would have turned to the more predictable trout and ladyfish. I even picked up a few flounder, a new species for me. Pretty cool.
“So thanks for selflessly putting your flats experience between covers. The book is an undervalued resource at $12.95, and should be priced at least twice as much based on the specificity and depth of the information. I’ll journal the experience, and will use your book to shape tactics during future visits to the IRL.” -Jeff Kutcha, Jackson, MI

Thanks for the kind words, Jeff. Send the other $12.95 to me directly, please!

Sunday Bill Carey and I did the On-the-Water Show and Tell on the Mosquito Lagoon. While it was not a fishing trip we found some redfish and managed to get six or seven on RipTide weedless jigs and Johnson Minnows. Thanks for coming out, Bill.

Monday was cold and windy. That didn’t stop Steve Ranier and his uncle Mike from braving the elements aboard Spotted Tail. We started off with a quick five or six redfish in the pole/troll area of Mosquito Lagoon, using RipTide weedless jigs and DOA Glow Shrimp with an inserted Woodies Rattle. When that well dried up we went on a search mission. Some spots were barren, others had fish that wouldn’t eat, and they got a few more fish in other spots. We knocked off in 20 mph winds an hour early. I’ll be glad when the Haulover Ramp opens again.

Tuesday’s trip was cancelled because of the weather.

Wednesday Jim Revercomb and his son Wes joined me, again on Mosquito Lagoon. If anything it was even windier than Monday. The graph I checked afterwards showed wind speed peaked at 24 mph. Jim actually tried to fly fish, and we actually found a tailing fish. Between the winds and clouds it was almost impossible. By using spin tackle they managed three reds boated and a couple missed strikes. A RipTide weedless jig and a Johnson Minnow again did the damage. Again, we knocked off an hour early due to the conditions.

It poured all morning yesterday. I’m not booked today.

Tomorrow I’ll be giving fly tying demonstrations and lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. If you want to learn to tie the Redfish Worm and maybe some related patterns, come on out and see me!

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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