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Orlando Area Fishing Report

May 24, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report

It was a weird week. And even though I do not like to fish on weekends, especially Memorial Day weekend, fishing Saturday made up for almost all of the other weirdness.

Monday was a no fishing day and at this point I can’t even remember why not. On Tuesday morning I met Tammy and we paddled to a Mosquito Lagoon fishing spot. Fishing was not hot. I did get a seatrout of five pounds of so on an Electric Sushi streamer. I missed the three larger fish that bit prior to the one I caught. There were also blown shots and fish that weren’t spotted in time, etc.  I was not on top of my game.

Wednesday morning I went to the Econ. I had a new fly, a sexyfly tied in a fire tiger color, I was sure would kick bass butt. I got one bite, a bass that, if I were being generous, I would say was a foot long. Two others followed the fly but did not bite. The experiment did not work, although to my credit I stuck with it until I left at about noon.

Lighten Up for Black bass

These are some of the flies I throw for bass. The fire tiger one that failed is on the lower right.

Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday I had the pleasure of sitting in Florida Hospital with my mom and her husband, only to be told in the end that they couldn’t find anything wrong. She’s home again doing what she was doing before the hospital stint. If you should find yourself in this situation bring LOTS of stuff to do. And a sweater. You could hang meat in there.

Scott Radloff and I got to Port Canaveral at about 7 AM Saturday morning. The parking lots were already almost at capacity and it was a zoo at the boat ramp. Anything less would have been disappointing.

We got the Mitzi in the water and the car parked and went looking for bait. From a half-mile south of the Cocoa Beach pier south to Patrick AFB the menhaden are solid all along the beach. The first toss of the net came up empty but the second had more fishies than I could lift. We let most of them go.

I would have been happy with anything but I was looking for tarpon. We put six in the air and leadered four, along with bites from several moderate to large sized sharks of various types. The weather was warm and sunny. The best part was, all those hundreds of boats that had been launched were nowhere near us. I don’t know where they went but no one bothered us.

orlando area fishing report

There goes one hospital day!

 

orlando area fishing report

There goes another hospital day!

Catching four tarpon will make up for a lot of strangeness, that’s what I know.

orlando area fishing report

What hospital???

And that, gentle reader, is this week’s Orlando area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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  • Six reasons why Menhaden are the greatest fish we ever fished.
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St. Johns River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 2, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

St. Johns River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week-

-Saturday on the ‘Goon

-The Continuing Saga of the Bang-O-Craft

-Casting for Recovery and Typhoon Tackle Join Forces to Fight Breast Cancer

This week we feature a joint St. Johns River and Mosquito Lagoon fishing report. It’s pretty rare to hook a seatrout and have it go on a hot run that peels line off the reel. That happened this week. But I get ahead of myself…

Monday I went back to the chiropractor. When I left he still had not fixed my back. I don’t think I will be visiting that particular chiropractor again.

After I left the doctor’s office I went to the St. Johns River system to do a little bass fishing. When I got there it was slow. No bites on a couple different surface flies. Did not see any activity. I switched to a streamer. It wasn’t hot fishing, but I got two decent fish.

St. Johns River fishing report

Two bass were caught on this fly.

I saw a couple fish pop something on top, so I switched to a white gurgler. You know, gurglers are kind of stupid-looking flies, real easy to make. They work like crazy for everything. I got about a dozen bass to three pounds and three bluegills on this one before it was time to leave. Turned out to be a real nice day, even with the back problem.

st. johns river fishing report

I got more fish on the gurgler, and it’s more fun to use.

Tuesday a number of things happened, none of which directly involved wetting a line. I put a new axle on the trailer of the Bang-O-Craft. I wanted to get the wheels on too, but nowhere I looked had the parts I needed.

I found those parts Wednesday at Tractor Supply, and got the wheels on. Then I took the boat to the car wash and blasted it. Although a huge improvement it will need another major cleaning before it’s ready to use. The new fuel tank came on Wednesday, too. Now all I need is a motor and the Bang-O-Craft will be back in business. I am so looking forward to using that boat again.

Thursday son Alex and I went to Mosquito Lagoon to do a little scouting, getting somewhat of a late start, almost 9 AM. There were lots of clouds and quite a bit of wind, AND the water is already at summer levels, 1.3 on the gauge .

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Alex was hot, getting eight or ten trout like this one.

What does all that mean? It means sight fishing was real difficult. However, fish were biting. We got about a dozen trout. While none were big, only one was short. They were running about 18-20 inches, decent fish. We got them on DOA CAL jigs and also on 5.5 inch jerkbaits. I also got two reds on a RipTide weedless jighead with a four inch DOA CAL jerkbait affixed to the hook.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The jig-and-jerkbait combo works well.

Tammy was supposed to join me for Friday’s scouting but couldn’t make it, something about her windshield having Montezuma’s revenge? So I went by myself.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Cloudy, windy, high water. Tough to see, so I blindcast a 5.5 inch DOA CAL jerkbait. The first bite was the trout that ripped the line off the reel, a fat, beautiful fish that was every bit of seven pounds. I selfied us and let it go.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

This is by far my best trout this year.

The second one was a bit smaller, but the hook tore one of the gill arches loose and the fish was dead when I brought it into the boat, which made me sad. I did not want to kill it, but that’s what happened.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Aye, ’tis a handsome fish!

I checked a spot that had the occasional tailing redfish so I broke out the fly rod. After using the eight foot three-weight for bass fishing that seven-weight was like a rocket launcher. I had three shots and blew all three by casting too far. I cast blindly for about 20 minutes while I watched the weather coming, hoping to get a trout before I had to leave. Didn’t happen. Rain and lightning drove me back to the dock, where the boat was trailered at noon.

And that is this week’s St. Johns River 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Saturday in the ‘Goon

April 28, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Saturday in the ‘Goon

Guest Blog by David Caprera

Did you ever get a tune stuck in your head while paddling? How about while paddling in a crowd? I launched a bit before ‎7am and caught a ‎24 inch red at ‎7:30. By ‎2 when I called it a day, I had still caught a red at ‎7:30. With apologies to Chicago and sung to the tune “Saturday in the Park.”

Saturday in the ‘Goon
I think it was a boaters’ convention
Engines raring, JB’s blaring
Ear plugs are a good invention.

People swimming, people sailing
The water is the color of tea
A boat staked out on every point
I couldn’t find a place to pee.

Saturday in the Goon
Isn’t there a race at Daytona
Men with guts, but women with breasts
Big enough to give you a bonah.

The weatherman said “‎2 to ‎4”
Building in the afternoon
By ‎2pm a guy was surfing
On the white caps in the lagoon.

Saturday in the Goon
I think that the fish are all gone
If you must fish on a weekend day
Plan to be launched by dawn

Can you dig it (Yes I can). Fade out.

In addition to his career as a poet, David Caprera has had a moderately successful career in law. He guest blogs for us now and again.

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Fishing Report

April 25, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week– Bananas and Boats 

Other People’s Recommended Blog Posts This Week (Read this one first, though!)-  Decline in Angling Because Fish Don’t Taste Like Chicken

Yes, we fished around this week, had some great fishing, and some ill luck in other ways.

On Monday Mr. Eric Israel and his friend Justin joined me for some fly fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. There was a small craft advisory. The lagoon surface looked like a washing machine, not exactly a great fly fishing day.

We did not see many fish. We did find a few tailers, though, and Eric managed to catch one on a slider. It was the only bite we got.

orlando area fishing report

This fish chased off the skunk.

Tuesday I gave a fly casting lesson, and then sold the Maverick. I couldn’t sell the Mitzi so I sold the Maverick instead. Not what I wanted to do, but there you go. I can’t keep two boats that do essentially the same thing. So the Mitzi is no longer for sale.

Wednesday I joined Tom Van Horn and Danny Mello for some ocean fishing. It started off really slow. We had to go all the way to Patrick AFB just to catch some menhaden. Then we went on a major search mission, which turned up exactly one undersized tripletail. We gave a few half-hearted casts at it and gave up.

It’s reptile mating season. We saw some large turtles doing the nasty out in the ocean. How does the she-turtle breathe? I guess they have big lungs.

Tom spotted some commercial kingfishermen. We went out and joined them and got two nice kings by slow trolling. Then a cobia came swimming by. Danny got that, too.

orlando area fishing report

This fish is not having a good day.

orlando area fishing report

orlando area fishing report

This was Danny’s first cobia ever. Not a bad way to start.

In the afternoon it was manta ray city. We found 10 or 12 rays. Not all had fish on them but enough did that our day became borderline epic, with a half dozen cobes to about 50 pounds boated. Fantastic.

orlando area fishing report

This one will be a tough act to follow.

Thursday morning all I wanted to do was go bass fishing. Could I go? No! I had a flat tire. After jacking up the car I could not get the wheel off. I pulled out the rivet that caused the flat and patched the tire while it was still on the car, pumped it full of air, put the lugs back on, and dropped the car back down. It seemed to work, so then I went fishing.

Fun with cars...

Fun with cars…

I seem to have hurt my back during the tire wrestling, though.

I just went to the Econlockhatchee for some close-to-home kayak fishing. While it did not help my back, the fishing was good. I got about 20 bass to three pounds, and a sunfish slam (bluegills, redbellies, stumpknockers). I had a blast, with all fish caught on gurglers or poppers. I still don’t understand what a three inch long stumpknocker is thinking when it hits a gurgler tied on a #2 hook but I guess you have to give them credit for trying.

orlando area fishing report

The Econ is a lovely stream, although less litter would be awesome.

It’s reptile mating season, and Godzilla is there along the Econ. In one place I flushed two monsters off the bank. Have to assume it was gator love. Wish I’d seen it.

I could not lift the kayak to get it back to the car, and had to drag it up there. I barely was able to load it on the roof. Once home I just climbed into bed.

Friday morning I could barely walk, so instead of going fishing I went to the chiropractor. He did not fix the problem.

And that is this week’s Orlando Area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Fishing Report

April 5, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing ReportOrlando Area Fishing Report

The Mitzi is still for sale!

Blog Posts This Week– Poppers for Seatrout

It’s April and I’m thinking about tarpon. Friends on the west coast have already seen some.

On Monday I went bass fishing. I threw the same bluegill popper I threw last time I went, with much the same result- three or four bluegills and about 20 bass, mostly little ones with a couple decent specimens thrown in for variety. It was a beautiful day and a very enjoyable several hours.

orlando area fishing report

 

 

orlando area fishing report

Tuesday was Tammy Tuesday, so let me just copy her facebook post:

“Yesterday’s original plan was to fish the lagoon. Last second change had us going offshore. My faithful companion and mentor and friend John Kumiski had some issues getting across the bridge to port because of a bad accident.
“Change of plans again. He called and we decided to fish the IRL instead. So I left the port and headed to Port Saint John and we launched. Got into some jacks and trout and talked about what a beautiful day it was. As we could see the bridge from where we launched we saw traffic moving again. Next thing I know John is motoring to the ramp. Boat back on trailer and off to the port we go.

orlando area fishing report
“It was a long day of hunting for anything out there. A whole lot of nothing until a lone undersized tripletail appeared. We finally caught and released it. We looked everywhere and found nothing. Finally john decided to pull a Hail Mary and head to a spot a good bit away but likely unbothered yet for the day.

orlando area fishing report
“The lone tripletail on that structure was dinner last night. Just as we were giving up and admitting to and accepting the suck, though…. Divine intervention in the form of a huge ray leaping from the water 100 yards away.
“One rod set up and one cast made. A few minutes later there was much celebration aboard the Mitzi. We looked for that ray again hoping to pull another cobia off of it but it was not to be. So glad john never gives up! Another adventure toosday with John Kumiski in the books.”

orlando area fishing report

In spite of the beautiful weather, did not fish Wednesday.

Thursday Brad and Greg joined me as part of a two boat trip on Mosquito Lagoon. It was slick when we got there and although we saw a decent number of fish we could not get near them. In the third spot we tried Brad got a bluefish on a DOA CAL Shad. We then tried the DOA Deadly Combo out at the edge of the flat and got a few trout, small ones. At the last place we looked we found a school of big reds. In spite of having cut mullet in them numerous times over the next 45 minutes we did not get a bite. Stomachs growling at us, we gave up, ran up to Goodrich Seafood, and had quite the delicious lunch, after which we returned to the dock and pulled the boat.

Friday Scott and Ryan joined me for a half day on the Indian River Lagoon. Ryan got a rat red right away of the CAL Shad. Then we just spooked a bunch of fish. Ryan wanted to try fly fishing so I took them to the small trout spot and gave him a lesson. He was good enough to get two or three while Scott railed them with a barb-pinched-down DOA Shrimp.

We changed spots and saw some nice, spooky reds and trout. Ryan got a hit on the CAL Shad from a nice red but missed it. On the way back to the dock we saw birds diving. Breaking fish, how lucky was that? Ladyfish and bluefish, we got a few of each before the frenzy stopped. We were happy to have run into a bunch of fish to end our day.

And that is this week’s Orlando Area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Fishing Report

March 10, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report 31014

Upcoming Events-

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register. Registration closes on Thursday 3/13.

The Mitzi is still for sale! It’s just had an annual service, and the hours were 984.

The computer tells you the number of total hours, as well as the number of hours in each RPM range.

The computer tells you the number of total hours, as well as the number of hours in each RPM range.

Tuesday Tammy and I went kayak fishing in the Indian River Lagoon. I ran over a few trout, so I tried blind casting with a gurgler. There was no response from any fish. We paddled up the shoreline for a couple miles. I only saw five redfish, but got good shots at two of them and caught both, using an unweighted slider. Fish were pretty scarce though.

Orlando area fishing report

A nice fly-caught red!

orlando area fishing report

The fly that did the deed. The eyes are plastic beads.

Wednesday I rode my bike to a small pond for some reconnoitering, carrying my waders in a daypack. The pond looked great. I put on the waders and boldly stepped into it. The bottom was goosh. I couldn’t go very far. But in the twenty minutes I fished I got three fat bluegills and hooked and lost a bass, all on a small popping bug.

I wanted to fish Thursday but the tornado warnings and small craft advisory deterred me. I should have gone.

I wanted to fish Friday bit the 20 mph winds deterred me. I’m glad I didn’t go.

Saturday I went out with Shane Shearer on the Mosquito Lagoon. We toured the south end of the lagoon looking for fish, again with a 20 mph wind out of the north. Tossing DOA CAL Shad we got a half dozen trout to about five pounds and four small reds.

Sunday Jerry Wang, a fly caster from California, joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was spectacular, the water crowded with boats. We actually saw a lot of fish in the morning, mostly reds. There were several schools of high speed fish racing around on a flat. When they behave like this these fish are almost impossible to catch. They did not disappoint. Other than that we saw a fish here, a fish there. The fish seemed to be more numerous in dirty water, where they were hard to se. Where the water was clean we hardly saw any. So, Jerry ended the day with a small trout and a small red, not an impressive day, catch-wise.

I was encouraged by the numbers of fish, though. Maybe things are finally picking up.

And that is this week’s Orlando area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report

February 28, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report 3114

Upcoming Events-

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link for more information or to register…

-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 16. Visit this link for more information or to register…

Blog Posts this Week-

–A New Mobile Marine Service for Central Florida

The Mitzi is still for sale!

The azaleas are blooming. Pines drop prodigious amounts of pollen. Soon the oranges will blossom. Spring is coming to central Florida.

This week illustrated why Orlando area saltwater fishing is so great for anglers, why this is such an awesome time of year.

On Sunday Miamian Tim Wright joined me for some shad fishing on the St. Johns River. We tossed and trolled 1/16th ounce crappie jigs. We got a dozen or so shad, and two stripers (or hybrids) too. All in all a good day.

orlando area fishing report

On Monday Scott Radloff and I went out of Port Canaveral hoping to fish a cobia or tripletail. We found some flotsam and there was a tripletail under it. I tossed a shrimp and a few minutes later he was mine. Then Scott got one. Then we each got another one.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

We found some floating sargassum that was devoid of fish.

We idled up to a buoy. I didn’t see anything there. Scott cast a shrimp at it. A big cobia came around from the far side of the buoy and inhaled the shrimp, not ten feet from the boat. A melee ensued. It was near ending when I netted the fish, except I couldn’t lift it over the gunwale of the Mitzi. Scott helped and the beast came aboard. It flopped around a bit, but did not beat things up the way it would had I gaffed it. All in all a really good day.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

 

orlando area saltwater fishing report

Tuesday morning I met the Tamazon. She put a bag over my head and spun me around until I puked. I had to swear in blood on a Bible on my mother’s grave to never reveal where she was taking me.

When she took the bag off my head I was sitting in a kayak, on a flat, with a flyrod in my hand. There was nothing there in the way of fish.

Then Tammy took me through a portal into another dimension. In this dimension there were tarpon rolling like crazy. I thought maybe she’d brought me to Hell for a while, since every strike led to a miss. No, it was just incompetence, because I finally caught one, on a small gurgler. Then she hooked and broke one off. Then she got one. Then I got another one. Then she got another one. Of course in between there were lots more misses and jumped-off fish. And then, in the manner of tarpon everywhere, they shut down. But it had been an amazing hour.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

When we re-entered this dimension we did some blind casting on the flat. She got two redfish. I got one. They were all small. Then two pinfish attacked my flies, hitting so hard they almost ripped the rod out of my hand. OK, that may be a fish tale. But I did get two pins on fly.

Then she put the bag back over my head and brought me back to our meeting spot.

Wednesday morning Scott Radloff and I went to the Indian River Lagoon for some scouting, hoping to find some redfish and/or trout. The loss of grass is continuing. I sure hope there’s not another algae bloom this summer. I’m not optimistic, since none of the causes have ben corrected.

We looked in several areas without seeing much. At the last spot there were actually some redfish tailing. We crossed a white hole out of which we spooked at least a dozen nice trout. I wonder if we would have spotted them had the sun been out. At any rate Scott got a red on a jerk bait, thus keeping the skunk of the Mitzi and the week’s streak alive.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

When I got home I fired up the smoker and smoked a bunch of thick cobia chunks. Yum Mee!

Thursday found me at the fly tying desk, cranking them out.

orlando area saltwater fishing report

Friday fly fisher Domenic Catanese and his friend Tai joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. The day started cold and windy. It would stay cold and only got more windy, although the water temperature rose almost three degrees through the day. There were quite a few fish at the first place we looked. They got out of Dodge as soon as they realized we were there.

For the rest of the day we would see a fish here and three there, but never in time to make a decent presentation. We did not get a bite, or even get close to a bite. We did see two boats hooked up in the Haulover Canal on the way in. One guy pulled in a big black drum. That was our fishy entertainment for the day.

And that is this week’s 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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St. John River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

February 15, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

St. John River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report 21514

Upcoming Events-

-Floridians for Clean Water Rally in Tallahassee, February 18

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…

-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 16. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…

I’m still trying to sell that Mitzi skiff, an awesome little boat. See the details here…

We had some decent fishing this week. I did not carry a camera for any of it.

Sunday about noontime I launched the kayak at CS Lee Park on the St. Johns River and paddled upstream, dragging a tandem rig consisting of a Spoiler Shad and a crappie jig as I went. I talked to a few other anglers along the way, all of whom complained about the lack of action.

There was a bit of a traffic jam at the mouth of the Econ so I kept going to another spot farther upstream.

No one was at my spot, where it was discovered I had forgotten the anchor. I put the boat ashore and started casting, getting two shad and a sunfish in about an hour. Not exactly hot, but better than no cheese!

A flats skiff idled up the river, then started fishing right in front of me. At first I wasn’t crazy about this but the guy kept his distance and had a kid with him. He hooked a fish and handed the rod to the youngster. Good work!

When the boat was facing me and the wind was right I could hear snippets of conversation. “That’s Charlie Chapman!” I thought. “You sound like Charlie Chapman!” I hollered.

It was Charlie Chapman, a.k.a. the Mustache Man. He put the boat ashore and we chewed the fat for a couple of very pleasant hours, until the boy, his grandson, said, “Are we going fishing or not? We’re burning daylight here!” It was real good seeing him, it had been literally years. I hope they got some fish.

St. johns river and mosquito lagoon fishing report

The Mustache Man, a number of years ago, with a fat Banana River Lagoon redfish.

I paddled back to SR 46, again dragging the tandem rig, but did not get another bite. Didn’t care.

Monday Ed Farrell-Starbuck joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon kayak-fly-redfishing. Ed had never been before and wanted to learn how to go about it. I explained to him that every trip was a search mission. Most days it works, some days it doesn’t. Groundwork layed, off we went.

We paddled a long time without seeing much. Then we found a hole full of redfish, nice fish that averaged five to six pounds. They did not want to leave, and were fairly bitey.We were both using brown flies; mine was a slider. We both got five or six, a pretty good afternoon. The fish finally turned off, so we headed back. I did not see any more fish along the way.

mosquito lagoon redfish

This fish took a slider.

Tuesday Frank Moss and his friend Bruce drove up from Tampa to do some shad fishing on the St. Johns River. Frank had an old cane fly rod and wanted to catch a shad with it. Bruce was a spin fisherman.

I put two lines out with tandem rigs to troll up to the fishing spot. The fish immediately told us we were at the fishing spot- double hookup right off the bat!

We ended up getting fifteen or twenty shad, strangely no sunfish, crappie, etc. Frank got a couple shad on the cane rod before switching to spin. It was a great afternoon, and thank you, gentlemen.

Wednesday I went scouting with the Mitzi out of River Breeze. There was a number of places I had been wanting to check. At the first I had been poling less than five minutes when I spotted maybe a half dozen reds together, relaxed. I tossed a DOA CAL shad at them and one jumped on it, a little feller of 20 inches or so. Thinking it might be a good day, I continued poling, changed spots, continued poling, etc. What I found was lots of places not to look again, seeing perhaps a dozen fish in five hours.

On a slightly more ominous note, some guy with a red Texas scooter tower boat is out there running every shoreline he can looking for fish, scaring away everything in sight. When are fishermen going to learn that running shorelines wrecks the fishing for everyone? Fish stop using the shorelines when they’re geting run over by motorboats all the time.

Friday morning Dave Caprera and his friend Jim joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fly fishing. It was a little chilly at pick-up time, in the 40s. We went to the hole that produced all the fish for me on Monday. Of course it was barren, previews of coming attractions.

We looked in a lot of spots, from JBs Fish Camp down to Tiger Shoal. We found the occasional single and one small school of about 30 fish. We had maybe four good, solid shots all day, but none of the fish felt like taking the fly, and we ended up with a bagel for the day.

The weather was about as perfect for tailing fish as it gets, but nary a one did we see. I dropped them off at about 4 PM, then headed back to River Breeze.

And that is this week’s St. Johns River 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon Report

February 9, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Report 2914

Upcoming Events-
-Floridians for Clean Water Rally in Tallahassee, February 18
-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…
-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 16. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…

Blog Posts This Week-
-Make A Home For Florida Bats
-How to Buy Fishing Sunglasses

On Monday fly fisher Dalen Mills joined me for a Mosquito Lagoon trip. As soon as I came out of Haulover Canal I was on the compass. The fog was too thick to see anything. I found a fishing spot and there were some sizable reds tailing there. The problems were, as soon as they stopped tailing they were very hard to see, and Dalen couldn’t see them at all if the tails were down. We managed to spook all of them away without getting a bite.

English: Section of Florida map showing east c...

English: Section of Florida map showing east coast from St. John’s River to Mosquito Lagoon, 1839.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once the fog cleared we went looking in other places. The seatrout left the spot that was so full of them last week, and as a matter of fact we did not see a legal trout all day.

There were no fish of any kind where we looked on Tiger Shoal, and we were there for about an hour.

We worked our way north of George’s Bar, finding a reasonable number of redfish. Dalen had some good shots at tailing fish but they all spooked off his flies. I got one small red on a DOA CAL shad and we each got a small trout and that was it for the day.

On Tuesday fly fisherman William Lynch came down from Jacksonville for some Mosquito Lagoon sight fishing. There was a little fog as we left the dock but nothing like the previous day. We went to the place Dalen and I had found the foggy fish the day before. They were not there.

We spent the day checking spot after spot. Some spots had a few tailers, some spots had no fish at all. WIlliam was unable to convince a fish to take his fly. Wind and clouds made the job difficult. At 4 PM I put the Mirage back on the trailer.

Wednesday I took son Alex to the doctor. Thursday I took him to a surgeon, who re-attached a ligament in his left wrist. He’s now in a cast, but should be as good as new in six weeks.

I wanted to fish Friday and Saturday but a steady, soaking rain talked me out of it. Even though it’s Sunday I may go today.

The water temperature at the Trident Pier as I write this is 67 degrees. The cobia show up when it hits 71. Stay tuned…

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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

Orlando Area Fishing Report

February 1, 2014 by · 4 Comments

Orlando Area Fishing Report 2114

Upcoming Events-
-Floridians for Clean Water Rally in Tallahassee, February 18

orlando area fishing report

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 15. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…
-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 16. Visit this link http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ for more information or to register…

 

What a week. I started working on an ark after the fourth day of rain, but the sun actually shone for a few minutes today.

Last Sunday Tammy Wilson and I went to the St. Johns River in the Mirage to fish for shad. There were lots of boats out there. We saw some folks we knew. They both said the same thing- the bite was good this morning, but it slowed down. Since we were already there we fished.

It wasn’t hot but it was steady. With spin tackle we got them with little crappie jigs and Creme’s Spoiler Shad, and with fly tackle on a chartreuse and silver shad fly. We probably got 15 or so in three hours, and a couple of crappie besides. Nice enough day!

orlando area fishing report

This is the fly I’ve ben using for shad.

Monday morning I drove through the rain to meet my fisherman, the Rev. Del Schomberg, a fly fisher from Oregon. He had never fished in Mosquito Lagoon and was hoping to catch a redfish.

It was raining lightly as we idled out of Haulover Canal. It started to rain harder as I ran to spot number one. Running in the rain is not my idea of fun so we stopped at an alternate spot.

It was loaded with seatrout.

Del got a couple fat slot fish by blind casting a slider before the rain stopped. At that point he said he’d still like to try for reds so we went hunting.

orlando area fishing report

This is a trout caught on a slider.

They were not where they had been.

We looked in a variety of other spots. Some had fish, some didn’t, but nowhere were they thick. All the clouds made it hard to see. The best shots we had came when I found aboput a dozen tailing fish scattered over a 100 yard stretch of flat. We did not convert.

We found a school of about 30 fish that started moving almost as soon as I spotted them- no shot.

We found a bunch of fish in potholes. Blindcasting into the holes did not work, and sight fishing to fish we could see in the holes did not work either.

We ended up with the two trout and nothing else. At least it turned into a nice day.

It rained quite hard every day the rest of the week. I kept myself busy by adding some new articles to my website, tying flies, wrapping new guides on rods, trying to organize my tackle, and that sort of thing.

orlando area fishing repot

My tying was out of my comfort zone this week.

Instructions for how to tie this fly can be found here…

I am ready to do some fishing this week, I’ll tell you that!

And that is this week’s Orlando Area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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