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Skipped a Week Orlando Fishing Report

December 20, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Skipped a Week Orlando Fishing Report

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you all for your support this year!

Last week’s skip was not intentional. I fished Thursday and Friday, had a yard sale Saturday, and fished Sunday. The report just didn’t happen.

Thursday’s fishing was a solo scouting trip to Mosquito Lagoon. Starting late, the Mitzi didn’t hit the water until after 11. I checked six spots and found fish in four of them, catching two slot reds and a flounder, all on a DOA Shrimp.

Friday I went with Tom Van Horn. We checked some different spots and didn’t find much until we went to one of my fishy spots from the previous day. Tom got a couple reds and a beautiful 25 inch trout, again all on a DOA Shrimp.

The yard sale was a success. I sold $100 worth of stuff I didn’t use any more, met some of the neighbors, and tied a couple dozen flies.

Sunday Michael Edwards and his friend Mitch joined me for a day’s fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. It was cold on that first boat ride but generally the weather was spectacular. Those fish I found Thursday? Mostly MIA. Michael got a low-end slot red in the first spot we tried. Mitch had a bite late in the afternoon that he unfortunately popped off on the strike. In between we either saw very spooky big trout (LOTS of them) that would not bite, or hardly anything at all. I for one was very disappointed.

Orlando Fishing Report

Here’s my water chariot, complete with surrounding litter.

Tuesday the weather looked awesome, as did the water level and the water temperature. Although it’s still got a ways to go, the water level is finally starting to get to get near normal winter levels!

The water levels at the Hauler Canal this week.

The water levels at the Haulover Canal this week.

I took a solo kayak trip to the Banana River Lagoon. It took me quite a while to find some fish. Once I did it was pretty hot with the nice trout and the slot reds for a couple of hours, mostly on a black redfish worm.

Orlando fishing report

One of several nice trout that took the redfish worm.

 

Orlando Fishing Report

Forgot to mention I got this little feller. There were lots of them around.

Thursday I made another trip, intending to look for big fish. Again there was a lengthy search mission, but I found a school of black drum and released five between fifteen and thirty pounds. They were eating pretty good. All of the took a black bunny leech. On the way back to the car I got four slot reds, too. Awesome day. The sunset was arguably the most spectacular of the year, but hard to photograph while driving at 70 MPH.

Orlando Fishing Report

It’s hard to photograph these when you’re by yourself.

That, my friends, is the Skipped a Week 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Thanksgiving Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 30, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

I hope everyone had a magnificent Thanksgiving holiday.

Monday Scott Radloff and I went to Mosquito Lagoon with a simple, straightforward mission- to catch a redfish for Thanksgiving dinner. We failed, catching one seatrout each. At least they were in the slot.

Tuesday and Wednesday were monsoons, heavy rain and wind. Did not fish.

Thursday the Kumiskis hosted about 35 friends and family, no fishing.

Friday morning I met Bret Felberg, his brother Keith, and his father Stuart for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The air temperature was in the high 40s and it was blowing pretty good. I was not optimistic. But we got a half dozen rat reds and four or five seatrout to about five pounds, on DOA Shrimp and pieces of mullet, much bett er than I thought we’d do.

Here’s what the water levels and water temperature did this week:

water temp

 

gage height

You can see where fishing might be tough.

That, my friends, is a Thanksgiving Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Next week’s report will be late because I’ll be travelling.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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The Orlando No Fishing Report

November 22, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando No Fishing Report

First of all, wishing everyone a magnificent Thanksgiving holiday. Don’t forget to count your blessings and give thanks!

Friday morning Sue and I drove to Madeira Beach to go to Ashley and Anton’s wedding. It was a lovely affair and we had a great time, spending the entire weekend over there. See the photos here… http://johnkumiski.com/ashley-anton-got-married/

Monday there was a monsoon as a strong cold front pushed through.

Tuesday was cold and windy with intermittent light rain. It was almost comfortable at the auto repair palace- Auto Nation Toyota Winter Park. They do good work there.

Tuesday evening I attended the public scoping meeting for the Port Canaveral Rail Extension. The Port Authority wants to build a rail line along the route shown at this link… http://www.portcanaveralraileis.com/documents/Port_Canaveral_Project_Area.pdf

Gadzooks!

In order to build the 11 miles of track they want to build a new causeway and trestle bridge across the Banana River Lagoon, which will certainly involve dredge and fill. Once the track is in place a 200-car train will come and go along the track four times a week.

I fail to see how this project benefits the people of central Florida as concerns their quality of life. It certainly won’t be good for the health or biodiversity of the Banana River Lagoon, or for those of us who enjoy using it.

To get more information about the proposed project, visit these links… http://www.portcanaveralraileis.com  …https://www.facebook.com/nofillnokill

You can make comments to the Surface Transportation Board at http://www.stb.dot.gov/Ect1/ecorrespondence.nsf/incoming?OpenForm

My letter to them is at this link… http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/canaveral-rail-extension-letter/

Please paste and copy and send the Surface Transportation Board a letter. If you enjoy fishing in the no motor zone please take the 15 minutes to send the letter. That’s the beauty of the democratic process. You need to write!

 

Some more thought provoking reading- http://www.scribd.com/doc/247019882/Rethinking-Industrial-Animal-Production

 

Broken cars and computers kept me occupied on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday too. The fact that the water temperature dropped 11 degrees over the past four days did not make me want to rush out to go fishing, either. The weather this week has been awful. But my computer is now restored and has had a memory upgrade (I wish I could get one of those) and my car is ready to go. Susan’s car needs a little more work, but the big stuff is fixed.

Friday I worked on various things, especially books. It was reasonably nice out but I just couldn’t get jacked to go fishing, as windy as it was.

One of the errands I ran on Wednesday was to Mudhole Custom Tackle (http://www.mudhole.com ) to get some parts for a rod repair. One of the things I’m thankful for this year is that Mudhole is 15 minutes drive from my house, and they stock every fishing rod component known to man. The rod got repaired on Friday.

 

An ebook version of Fishing Florida’s Space Coast is now available at Amazon at this link… http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PX4PS8C

I’m also working on an ebook revision for Redfish on the Fly. Now that the computer is repaired that work should go a little faster.

I got the new Florida Sportsman magazine on Friday and had an article in it, featuring photographs of handsome son Alex.

 

And because I did not go fishing once this week, that, my friends, is a fortunately rare Orlando No 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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Hot Redfish Bite Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 15, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Hot Redfish Bite Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Fishing Florida’s Space Coast has been released as an ebook. See it here… http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/490918

Upcoming Events:
-Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure kick-off party, at sunset on November 29th at the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach.
-ENVIRONMENTAL ALERT! Banana River Lagoon public scoping meeting, Office of Environmental Analysis, on proposed Port Canaveral Rail Line. Come provide your comments. The meetings are:
-November 18th, 5-8 pm @Eastern Florida state College, Titusville Campus, John Henry Jones Gymnatoriam, 1311 North US1, Titusville, FL 32796;
-November 19th, 5-8 pm, Radisson Resort at the Port Convention Center, 8701 Astronaut Blvd., Cape Canaveral, FL 32920
Please attend if you want to protect our lagoons and the No Motor Zone fishing area.

Those who have known me a long time may remember when the only motor vessel I owned was a 14 foot MonArk jonboat. I still have that boat, although power has been an ongoing problem. Last spring I bought an 8 hp Mercury, almost new. Good! Worked great!

Sitting over the summer bunged up the fuel tank and line. I replaced them thinking it would run OK then, so much so I took it to Mosquito Lagoon on Wednesday.

It was not OK. The carburetor must have shmutz in it, since the boat would not run.

I poled it upwind as far as was comfortable and sort of wind-drifted back. I saw four redfish and caught one smallish trout. A guy in a Hyde drift boat fished everywhere I did before I got there though. Kinda weird seeing that boat out there rowing around. I was not surprised to not see very much.

One of my projects for next week is to dissect that carburetor and clean it out. I want that boat running like a top for shad season.

 

Thursday Capt. Chris Myers joined me in the Mitzi for a more serious Mosquito Lagoon fishing trip. We launched at River Breeze. The water was pretty dirty in the first two places we looked and we did not see anything, nor did we get a bite.

We found some clean water behind some spoil islands. There were scattered single redfish there, and Myers proceeded to rail on them with a DOA Shrimp and a DOA CAL jig with a shad tail, getting seven or eight. He is really good, a pleasure to fish with. We saw a few nice trout in there too but with one exception they eluded us.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

We checked another spot. The water was dirty and we did not get a shot at the two fish we saw.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The last place we checked was near one of the many islands between Georges Bar and Slippery Creek. There were scattered single redfish there, too, and he got another seven or eight. The fish were not very big, none over 24 inches, but it was good to see so many, and also good that they were eating so willingly.

 

Thursday evening I spoke to the Backcountry Flyfishing Association about the Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure. They are a great bunch of people! It was good to see old friends and meet new folks. We all had a real good time.

 

Friday morning a cold front came through, so there goes the fishing for at least a couple of days.

That is this week’s version of the Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

 

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

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Only Fished One Day This Week Freshwater Orlando Fishing Report

November 7, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Only Fished One Day This Week Freshwater Orlando Fishing Report

It’s been one of those weeks. A real cold front came through. The water temperature in the Mosquito Lagoon went from the 80s to the 60s in four days. My computer crashed. More stuff broke on my old car. The wind howled all week. I didn’t have any charters.

Another week went by with only one day of fishing in. It seems to be a disturbing trend.

On the other hand, Fishing Florida’s Space Coast has been released as an ebook. See it (and hopefully buy it) here… http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/490918

Recent Blogs-

-The Old Town Has Had Its Last Ride

–There’s a New Ebook on Fishing Florida’s Space Coast!

Upcoming Events: I’m speaking on the Indian River Paddle Adventure at the Backcountry Flyfishing Association November meeting, 630 pm on November 13, Orlando Outfitters. Come see!
-Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure kick-off party, at sunset on November 29th at the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach.

ENVIRONMENTAL ALERT! Reader Robert Pence sent me the following email:

“The Canaveral Port Authority has begun the permitting process for the building of a rail line from the North Port area to Merritt Island. This line will cross the Banana River Lagoon to the south of KARS Park, effectively, if not entirely, closing access to most of the present No Motor zone. It will also cause more damage to the Banana River Lagoon ecosystem and fishing in the Indian River Lagoon.

“If this has an undesirable effect to you, please attend one of the two public scoping meetings being held by the Office of Environmental Analysis and provide your comments. The meeting are:

-November 18th, 5-8 pm @Eastern Florida state College, Titusville Campus, John Henry Jones Gymnatoriam, 1311 North US1, Titusville, FL 32796;

-November 19th, 5-8 pm, Radisson Resort at the Port Convention Center, 8701 Astronaut Blvd., Cape Canaveral, FL 32920

“Please attend if you want to protect our lagoons and the No Motor Zone fishing area.”

Even though I think the Port Authority will do whatever it wants I hope to see some of you there.

OK, fishing. Once in a while fishing lures show up in my mail box. I don’t ask for them, they’re like gifts from God (or at least lure manufacturers). Last week a three-pack of ZMan Pop Shadz showed up. They’re soft plastic baits, five inches long. Nothing revolutionary there. You rig them on a 5/0 offset wide-gap hook, making them pretty darned weedless. Nothing revolutionary there, either. They have a popper face. That’s unusual in a soft plastic bait. And, they are buoyant enough to float, even with the hook in them. This combination is revolutionary, in a minor way.

I was looking forward to trying them. I had been looking for a lure like this for a long time.

I took them to one of my bass fishing spots in the St. Johns River system. The weeds were thick, and the Pop Shad went right through them. I only got one bite on it, from a ten inch bass, but it was the only bite I got on anything. Let’s not forget that 15 degree plus water temperature drop. The fish must be reeling.

So the test was not an unqualified success but I like the way the bait works. I am going to catch some fish on this bait in both salt- and freshwater.

They also have a PopFrogz. It looks good, too. See them both at http://zmanfishing.com/store/categories/elaztech/pop_shadz

Gotta go work on my car. See you next week, when I will hopefully get some fishing in!

That is this week’s exciting version of the Freshwater Orlando Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

 

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

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Another Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report

October 31, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Another Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report

I spent some time this week working on my van, as explained last week. I’m not done yet.

I spent some time this week publishing ebooks. See them all here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

flamingo book cover 2 copy

The weather Thursday screamed “Beach!”, so I gathered up Scott Radloff and off we went. It said the same thing to lots of other people too- it was the most cars I’d yet seen at the new Port Canaveral boat ramp.

When we came out of the Port there were birds diving out along the buoy line about a half mile out. We went out there to look and fish were breaking sporadically. My first cast with a jig, some big fish took it and headed out to sea. My 20 pound braid broke before that first run ended, and I never saw what it was. The activity died.

There was a fleet in Canaveral Bight, as I expected. We joined it, netting some menhaden in the process. Bull reds are underneath the menhaden and that’s why everyone was there. It took me a while to figure out I need two ounces of lead on the leader to get down to the fish. Once that was done we got four reds and several bonnetheads. The fish were big but it was boring bait fishing.

port canaveral fishing report

Here’s a lovely sequence of events: Scott hooked up, fish near boat;

port canaveral fishing report

about to bring it into the boat;

port canaveral fishing report

pretty darned pleased with things;

port canaveral fishing report

showing his fish some love; and…

port canaveral fishing report

…making sure it swam away strongly. There would be more fish if everyone were this careful.

It was killing me watching guys hang those big fish off Boga-Grips, too, the worst thing you could do to the fish short of throwing it in a cooler. There were some big dead redfish floating out there. We left the craziness to see what else we could find.

port canaveral fishing report

The bonnetheads became a nuisance.

There are acres of fish off Cape Canaveral- big Spanish mackerel, bluefish, jack crevalle. There are lots of sizeable blacktip sharks in there with them. We played with those fishies for a while, using Haw River Tackle Sting Silvers (the fish are on the smoker as I write this), then went looking for tripletail and cobia.

We found some handsome weedlines, but all the trips we saw were junior-leaguers, not a legal one in the lot. We did not see a cobia. We did find a few tunny breaking, and I got one on a CAL jig.

So if we wanted to maximize our fish catching we would have stayed on the reds, or the Spanish. That wasn’t that important though. The hunt is where it’s at.

I brought a canoe I’ve owned since the 70s to the landfill today, a sad moment, that. See the blog here: http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/old-town-last-ride/

And that, my friends, is another Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report. At least it was again an awesome day!

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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An Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report

October 26, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

port canaveral fishing report

An Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week: When Are Tailing Redfish Best?

We purchased the vehicle I drive new- in 1999. It ain’t so new anymore, pushing 250,000 miles. It hadn’t been in for a check-up in a year and a half. When I brought it in earlier this week the news was not good. I needed a broken motor mount and all my belts replaced, as well as the water pump. Bam! There goes two days and a thousand dollars. It needs more maintenance work, but I can do a lot of it. Maintaining the car is not fun, but my cash flow has not been very good. Either way the piper must be paid to keep the chariot running.

Tuesday’s forecast screamed “BEACH” so George Alan joined me for some Port Canaveral fishing. It was good.

We found a school of menhaden right off the bat. There were tarpon rolling around it. A toss of the net yielded about two dozen baits. A couple minutes later a monster tarpon danced at the end of my line.

It was a brief interlude. My line was not up to the challenge. Shortly after we jumped another. That did not last long either.

Sharks joined the party, not exactly invited. Sharks as a rule do not wait for invites. There were some brutes and they kicked our butts.

George hooked a nice fish. It turned out to be a pushing-thirty-pounds redfish. Then I hooked one too. We ended up getting four of them. See photo above.

Then the sharks just got to be ridiculous. We left the fishy area just to get away from them.

We did not find much else.

On the way in we found another big school of menhaden. George hooked one of the bigger spinner sharks I’ve ever seen. Those always end the same way, with the line parting. On a day loaded with sharks it seemed a fitting ending.

I spent much of another day this week publishing another ebook, this one titled The Ten Best Redfishing Spots in North America. I hope it sells!

best redfish spots in north america

 

And that, my friends, is the Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report. At least it was an awesome day!

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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An Up-and-Down Port Canaveral Fishing Report

October 18, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

An Up-and-Down Port Canaveral Fishing Report

First, upcoming events-

-October 25, Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. Learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

-October 26 Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ – Only two seats left!

A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog about the mullet run. Unknown to me at the time it had already peaked and ended, all in that week. It’s scary how few mullet there are, and why didn’t they show up this year???

top ten flies for redfish

My newest mini-ebook is published- Top Ten Redfish Flies. You can see it here- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/485052

We had strong east winds the first three days this week, along with thunderstorms on Wednesday. That cut fishing to two days. I spent my time building a hen house. Really.

Thursday George Alan joined me for some Port Canaveral scouting. We headed north up the beach, looking for mullet and breaking fish. The waves from the hurricane had the surf UP! We did not see any mullet nor did we see breaking fish.

Next we looked in deeper water, hoping to find weeds. The ones we found were sparse. We did not see any fish around them.

We continued south, heading in to Cocoa Beach a mile or so south of the pier. There was muddy water and diving pelicans. Tarpon were rolling. I tried for what seemed like a long time to net some menhaden, and finally had a throw that caught about 20.

I jumped the first tarpon about three minutes later.

port canaveral fishing report

George hooked a big one. While he fought it I hooked another, smaller one. A sweet form of pandemonium reigned aboard Spotted Tail for a few minutes!

port canaveral fishing report

We hooked about a dozen fish, leadering two. It was pretty awesome.

port canaveral fishing report

Friday Robert and Joe Salvino, father and son, joined me for some fishing out of Port Canaveral. The weather was awesome and the waves significantly bigger than the previous day. The surfers were loving it. The tarpon were rolling in muddy water out off the Cocoa Beach pier. I could not catch any menhaden to save my life. I met a guy named Joe at the dock when we came in who told me no one could catch any. We tried throwing Bait Busters without success for a while, and I found myself wishing I had a couple BFLs with me. But, I didn’t, so we went down the beach looking for bait and whatever else.

We found a school of jacks. Joe fired a CAL jig out and one nailed it. Joe learned that even an eight pound jack is a way different critter than a smallmouth bass or walleye.

joe jack

I kept throwing the net and coming up empty. Finally one throw yielded six pogies. By the time that happened though, the tarpon had disappeared. Joe hooked a shark, which bit through the leader. Yes, it was that kind of day.

We got a few more jacks and a few bluefish in Canaveral Bight, again on CAL jigs. We tried looking for tripletail. We found one small one. It looked at the DOA Shrimp but I think it intimidated him, since it was about a third as big as the fish.

We fished around the jetty on the way in, getting but missing one bite. It was a far cry from the previous day. As Terry Shaughnessy would say, “Ya shoulda been here yesterday!”

And that, gentle reader, is the Up-and-Down Port Canaveral 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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The Mid-October Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

October 11, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

The Mid-October Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

First, upcoming events-

-October 25, Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. Learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

-October 26 Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

The mullet are not in anywhere near as great numbers as I thought last week. Sadly.

The season’s first cold front came in over the weekend.

On Monday Rodney Smith and I went fishing out of Port Canaveral. I had a jacket on, since it was about 60 degrees when I launched the boat. The wind was about 10, NE. Our first order of business was to run north along the beach, looking for the schools of mullet I knew would be there. They weren’t. Off the cape we looked for the menhaden schools that had been there. They were gone.

Rodney started off fly fishing, using a small Clouser Minnow. He took a fish on each of his first seven casts. When that slowed we tossed jigs up into the surf line, steadily catching ladyfish, bluefish, small jacks, and a few Spanish mackerel.

After a while the smaller sized fish ceased being entertaining, so we went looking for bigger fare. Off Cocoa Beach there were some menhaden schools. They were thick, and I wanted to net some. It was too deep. My net doesn’t sink fast, and in deep water the pogies just swim out from under it when they see it coming.

We each put a finger mullet on and tossed them by the menhaden. It didn’t take long for my line to come tight. A Monster tarpon tailwalked past the boat, shaking its head, rattling its gills. The 80 pound leader, apparently damaged by a bluefish, broke.

We hooked several 50-100 pound class sharks, but had no more tarpon bites.

We checked for mullet along the beach again before we went in, but they were still not along the beach. Waaagh!

My first ebook, How to Catch Fish with the 3 Inch DOA Shrimp, is now available. Check it out at this link!  Please support your local author!

DOAShrimpCover copy

Wednesday I went to Playalinda and got my Golden Age pass , the best thing about aging. It gives you free access to all national parks and monuments for the rest of your life. I hope I live long enough to get my money’s worth from it!

I stopped at the beach and talked to some gentlemen who were fishing there. One, a fly caster from the Seattle area, had gone through lots of flies and had a blast with jacks, ladyfish, and Spanish mackerel, right from the beach.

I launched the boat at the south end of Mosquito Lagoon and explored it pretty thoroughly. In spite of the glowing reports I had been getting I saw very little and did not get a bite.

After pulling the boat I drove to Port St. John and launched in the Indian River Lagoon to check it out down there. The result was identical. In both places the water was high and dirty. If you prefer to sight fish you’re pretty much out of luck. Most years at this time the power plant is killing it but I did not see a fish or get a bite there, either.

Friday I met angler Steve Gibson and we launched the boat at Kennedy Point, intending to fish the Indian River Lagoon. We worked it hard for six hours, and Steve did get some kind of slam, getting a redfish and a snook on a Zara Spook and a seatrout on a streamer fly. We won’t go into their size, but we did not take any pictures. Suffice to say all three together would not have made much of a meal.

So although I didn’t exactly kill it this week, that is the Mid-October Saltwater Orlando 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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The Mullet Run Kick-Off Port Canaveral Fishing Report

October 4, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

The Mullet Run Kick-Off Port Canaveral Fishing Report

swimming mullet2

All Hail the Mighty Mullet!

First, upcoming events-

-October 11th-18th Third Annual SPACE COAST SURF FISHING TOURNAMENT. Learn more by going to: www.scisft.AnglersForConservation.org.

-October 25, Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. Learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

-October 26 Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

Although they are coming in fits and starts, the mullet appeared along Brevard County beaches this week. There are two mullet flavors-

-The silver mullet (“finger” mullet) are the smaller species, rarely reaching 12 inches long. These fishies are cold intolerant and migrate south, like snowbirds from New York, along the beach and through the lagoons every year at this time. These are the mullet that we who use such things use for bait.

-The black or striped mullet are the larger species, reaching weights in excess of five pounds. I have used these for bait but you need a LARGE hook, and it’s real hard casting a bait that weighs over a pound. These fish can be filleted and fried, or broiled, or smoked, and are quite good if eaten when very fresh. They are more tolerant of cold water than the silvers, but are aggregating to spawn now.

port canaveral fishing report

You can imagine a mullet like this might be hard to cast.

Predators love both types, and both types are easily caught with a cast net when they are in the giant schools we find at this time of year.

To have maximum mullet run success, find a school of mullet that has an obvious escort of large predatory fish. You’ll be able to see the evidence, believe me! Cast the lure of your choice or your live baits into the mullet school, either live-lined or on an egg-sinker rig.

port canaveral fishing report

This is an example of a large predatory fish.

Things change real fast from day to day along the beach at this time of year, depending on air and water temperature, wind speed and direction, and bait movement.

On Monday Joe Bak and I did some scouting out of Port Canaveral for my Tuesday charter. The charter wanted tarpon and redfish so that’s what I was looking for. We found a few tarpon down by Patrick AFB, hanging around the menhaden schools that were there. I managed to catch one about 80 pounds using a live menhaden for bait.

There were lots of sharks there and after losing a half-dozen hooks we decided to try something else. There was Sargassum in the water so we went looking for tripletail. We found lots of weeds, but no fish at all.

We ended up in Canaveral Bight. Silver mullet were working down the shoreline and were being mightily harassed. We got ladyfish, bluefish, crevalle jacks, and Spanish mackerel of DOA CAL jigs and Chug Bugs. No redfish were seen.

port canaveral fishing report

A modest sized ladyfish, one of the rod-benders along the beach right now.

Approaching weather chased us off the water at about 1 PM.

Tuesday at 7 AM I launched the Mitzi at the Port, joined by Sherman Harris and his brother-in-law Brent. A toss of the cast net at the boat ramp yielded a day’s supply of mullet for bait. Then we went fishing.

A 45 minute stop at the north jetty yielded jacks, bluefish, and ladyfish, although nothing of any size. We then headed south.

port canaveral fishing report

There are LOTS of bluefish around.

Before we reached the pier we found a school of hundreds of seven and eight pound crevalle. Chug Bugs, jigs, and of course live mullet all worked, with Chug Bugs being the most fun.

South of the pier fish were breaking all along the beach, mostly small jacks with bluefish and ladyfish mixed in. Chug Bugs and DOA CAL jigs accounted for many fish.

We finally got to where the tarpon had been the previous day. Although the menhaden were still there, the tarpon were gone. Keeping an eye on the building clouds we went further south.

Schools of big mullet were working down the beach at Patrick AFB. Tarpon and sharks were exploding on them. We hooked a few sharks and one big tarpon, landing none of them.

A shrimp boat was working about a mile off the beach. We went out to investigate. No pelicans, no dolphins, and no fish, very disappointing.

Rain showers were now appearing all around us. I headed back north up the beach.

We ended up in Canaveral Bight. Silver mullet were working down the shoreline and were being mightily harassed. We got ladyfish, bluefish, crevalle jacks, and Spanish mackerel of DOA CAL jigs and Chug Bugs. No redfish were seen.

port canaveral fishing report

The Spanish mackerel is a personal favorite. They are delicious broiled or grilled.

Back at the boat ramp we ran into Capt. Rick Banks, who I had not seen in years. Rick makes a unique line of high quality lures. See them at this link…

Thursday son Alex and John Napolitano joined me for some beach fishing. After netting some mullet we headed south, and found what were probably the same school of eight pound jacks I’d found on Tuesday. They were not quite as cooperative, but we did get a couple, one on a mullet and one on a Chug Bug.

Again there were some breaking fish along the beach- jacks, ladyfish, bluefish, and Spanish mackerel, but not as many or as widespread as on Tuesday.

We got to south Cocoa Beach and the menhaden were all gone. Sorry boys, no one is home.

We went further south, hoping to find them. We did not. We did find a massive school of black mullet, which was being harassed by sharks and tarpon. We hooked one of each, losing both.

The mullets were big and thick.

The mullets were big and thick.

We went down along Satellite Beach, finding nothing. There was a lot of Sargassum, so we went out looking for tripletail.

The weeds were thick in places. The only tripletail we found were on things other than the weeds- a board, a plastic jug, a couple crab trap buoys. All the fish were very small. We caught one about a foot long on a chartreuse DOA Shrimp. We let the fish go of course.

We ran north again, ending up in Canaveral Bight. There were no mullet along the beach. There were some menhaden and we got some bluefish around them on jigs and Chug Bugs.

The mullet will be along the beach for a few more weeks, after which the run will be over until next year. Get out there and take advantage of this long, live chum line!

And that is the Mullet Run Kick-Off Port Canaveral 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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