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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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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 Freshwater Fishing Report

April 18, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Freshwater Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week- Port Canaveral’s Giant Jack Crevalle

It has been a long time since all my fishing in a week has been in freshwater, but it happened this week. There you go.

Sunday afternoon I went kayak fly fishing in Lake Pickett. I had always heard it was a good lake. It looked good, except for the jetskiis, water skiers, and various other types of pleasure craft. Sunday afternoon, what did I expect? About a dozen bass to 12 inches fell to a variety of flies. That 12 inch fish was big enough to have broken someone else’s line, since I removed a plastic worm hook from its jaw. All in all the lake had too much traffic for my liking.

Monday found me bass fishing on the St. Johns River. It was cool, cloudy, and windy and I got rained on twice. On top of that the fish were not biting. I got one small bass and a fish I think was a warmouth. If anyone could verify that ID I would certainly appreciate it. Since the fishing was slow I took some pictures of water lilies. I was done by noon.

orlando area freshwater report

What is this mystery fish?

water lily1

water lily

Tuesday son Alex and I took an AHA class in CPR/1st Aid/AED. Now we’re certified for another two years. Everyone should be.

Thursday’s Mosquito Lagoon trip was cancelled due to weather.

Friday’s Mosquito Lagoon trip was cancelled due to weather, so I went to the St. Johns River with Capt. Tom VanHorn. He had told me about the schooling bass, and now he was going to show me. Show me he did! We got fifteen or so to about four pounds on plugs and fly, and were off the water ahead of most of the rain by about 930 AM. It’s good to be fishing close to home.

orlando area freshwater report

orlando area freshwater report

Capt. Tom Van Horn with a fat little bass.

And that is this week’s Orlando Area Freshwater 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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Port Canaveral’s Giant Jack Crevalle

April 16, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Port Canaveral’s Giant Jack Crevalle

MaxxBigJackLR

It was one of my most memorable fishing charters. The surface of the Mosquito Lagoon was slick. We’d been on a school of redfish for two hours and gotten one bite, which was missed. I said, “We should go to Port Canaveral.” So we left the reds, pulled the boat out, and drove to Port Canaveral.

The wind had come up by the time we got there, but by the grace of God we found a long string of jack crevalle only a half mile from the south jetty. These weren’t little hockey puck jack crevalle, or even nice, healthy 10 and 12 pounders. These were the big, mean, break-your-back, take-no-prisoners 30 and 35 pound jack crevalle.

We had four ten pound spinning outfits on board. As I tied a one ounce jig onto the line of one I told my angler, “This is like hunting elephants with a spitball shooter.” I threaded a five inch chartreuse jerkbait onto the hook of the jig and handed him the rod.

We idled around briefly until we found the fish again. Mike started casting. In short order he made a good cast and a cooperative jack nailed the jig.

By this time the sea breeze had kicked in. We had to chase the fish into the waves, which were pouring over the bow. I had serious concerns that Mike would be going swimming, so I had him get behind me and use the poling tower as a lean bar. This had the advantage of slowing down the flood coming over the bow. I told him, “If you catch this fish it will be a miracle.”

The guy was a solid angler, and before too long the fish was beneath us. Mike would pull him in close, and the fish would take off again. Mike had to work around the poling tower, and the pushpole, and the motor. The Mitzi was rocking and rolling, waves were still coming in, and the bilge pump was running non-stop. It was true combat fishing, an awesome battle between two equally determined antagonists.

Read the rest of this story here…

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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Another Orlando Area Fishing Report

April 11, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Another Orlando Area Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week- The Peruke Fly

orlando area fishing report

Last Saturday I accompanied my bride to the Home and Garden Show. It was not very good, BUT, there was a booth (the proprietor was not there) that had fish art made from stainless steel, very cool stuff. The artist’s name is Armando Hevia, his website is metalfish66.com. Check it out.

Didn’t fish Monday. Went for a walk on the Florida Trail. it was lovely. However I got about 15 chigger bites and a single tick, not lovely at all. Pulled the tick off on Friday, when I found it. Think I’ll stay out of the woods until October or so.

Tammy Tuesday got rained out. It poured.

Wednesday I went bass fishing on the Econ, something I’d never really done before. I was such a dumass. It was good, once I figured it out.

I had this demented idea I was going to catch the biggest bass of my life so I brought a five-weight and threw a big bunny eelworm for two hours. I got exactly one bite from a twelve inch bass. I finally lost the fly on some submerged lumber.

orlando area fishing report

The eelworm bass.

I switched to a hideously ugly foam frog I tied, and the bites just kept coming. I don’t know what a redbelly is thinking when it hits a three inch long frog but I got a couple that managed to impale themselves on the stinger hook. And I got about ten bass to three pounds or so, not great but definitely entertaining. The strikes are just awesome!

orlando area fishing report

If anyone out there knows what this guy was thinking I would love to hear from you.

orlando area fishing report

This is more like what I wanted.

Thursday son Alex was supposed to go fishing with me but he wouldn’t get up (after 9 am, I wasn’t trying to smoke him or anything) so I went back to the Econ. I got 20 or so fish, a few redbellies and the rest bass. The biggest was maybe three pounds, but again, quite fun with surface flies, which was all I tried.

orlando area fishing report

These fish will smack some ugly flies…

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some R&R on the Indian River Lagoon. He hadn’t been out for months! We found a school of redfish almost immediately, and got five on DOA CAL shad before they gave us the shake, nice fish, 24 inches or so.

orlando area fishing report

Then a few trout fell to the Deadly Combo. Then we went back to the place where the reds had been caught hoping to find them again. George got five blind casting the CAL Shad, unbelievable. As the east wind pushed us toward the edge of the manatee zone I tossed a Chug Bug, got a couple strikes, and got a nice trout of three pounds or so.

orlando area fishing report

So ended our day, and my week.

A couple weeks ago I showed a photo of the result of jousting against a pushpole with a fly rod. I got the new rod today- sixty bucks! Ouch.

And check out the link below between fly fishing and sex. Great stuff!

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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Poppers for Seatrout

April 2, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Poppers for Seatrout

poppers for seatrout

Lovely when alive, tasty on the table, spotted seatrout are one of Florida’s favorite saltwater fish. The problem is, unless you find a really big one (not easy to do) trout are weaklings at the end of your line. They just don’t get the adrenaline going. But you can make trout fishing more fun by using poppers for seatrout.

There’s the visual aspect of using the plug. You can see the lure, and you can see the fish hit it. There’s the very satisfying “Smack!” sound when a good fish takes it. Believe it or not, the missed strikes are fun, and sometimes a fish will hit it four or five times in a row until the hook finally sticks, or doesn’t.

As in all things in fishing there are a variety of plugs on the market that will work. For most of this type of work I like a popping plug, and the Chug Bug (made by Storm Lures) is probably my favorite. Not only does the “pop” of this lure attract the fish, but it has rattles inside for extra attraction power. It calls the fish to it from quite a distance and there’s something almost magical about its appeal to seatrout. Of course, redfish, snook, tarpon, and crevalle will whack it too. I’ve even caught snapper with them.

poppers for seatrout

Storm’s Chug Bug comes in three sizes. All are effective lures for seatrout.

Another excellent surface lure for seatrout is the DOA Shallow Running Bait Buster. This soft plastic mullet imitation features a single hook, great for when floating grass or other debris makes using a lure with gang hooks impractical. While you don’t get the “bloop!” of a Chug Bug you fish it much the same way.

Seatrout on DOA Bait Buster

The Bait Buster is a great lure for any mullet-eating fish.

During the summertime (coming right up!) your best strategy is to get out early (before sunrise) and find a flat that’s about two feet deep with a bottom that has a mixture of sand and grass. Lots of mullet in the vicinity are a definite plus. Working around the edges of bars or docks is also a very good idea. If you’re in a boat you can drift, use a trolling motor on slow speed, or push the boat with a pushpole. Waders can have good success too, though.

Cast the lure as far as you can, and work it back to you. How fast should you retrieve? How hard should you pop it?

Only the fish can answer this question, and experimentation with your retrieve is the best course of action. When you find what they like best, keep doing it until it stops working.

One time when I had Michael Grant out in my boat we were both tossing Chug Bugs. I was using small, steady pops, reeling at a moderate rate, and was getting the occasional bite. Michael was using great, loud pops, reeling slowly. He was getting bites every second or third cast. Of course I changed my retrieve to imitate was he was doing and my success rate went right up.

So if you want to make trout fishing more entertaining, try to using poppers for seatrout.

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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Another Orlando Area Fishing Report

March 15, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Another Orlando Area Fishing Report

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

Blog Post This Week– How to Fish All Day Without Hurting Your Back

The week started out with a bang that had an unexpected twist. On Monday I took the three-weight out to go bluegill fishing. I only got two. But the bass were on fire, eating my little bluegill popper like great white sharks eating seals. I got twenty or so.

orlando area fishing report

They ate this bug like they were starving.

Lots of little ones, but several decent ones and a fatty that anyone would be happy to get, close to five pounds. They gave that little rod a workout, I know that. It was a wonderful day.

orlando area fishing report

This chunky guy was the fish of the trip.

 

orlando area fishing report

This is a 60s fish- psychedelic.

Tuesday I went scouting in the Indian River Lagoon for my trip on Wednesday. The weather could not have been nicer and holy cow, I found some fish!  I had written a blog a few weeks back about the Lunkerhunt Swim Bentos Bait. The packages were still unopened and I wanted to try one, so the Dace was put on a hook and showed to some prospective clients. They ate it as well as they eat anything else.

orlando area fishing report

This fish did not say no.

orlando area fishing report

This is how I rigged the bait, now beat up from catching fish.

Some said no, of course. I missed a couple of strikes, but got three 20 inch plus trout and one red on the dace. The last fish to eat it was a five pound trout- he actually ate it, was hooked in the gills, and was mostly bled out by the time he was boated.

orlando area fishing report

The suicidal fish. I was sorry it died.

Getting the hook out ruined the lure, so I switched to the old reliable DOA CAL Shad, which nailed the best fish of the day, a 28 inch red. I broke my rod getting pictures of it. I saw a bunch more fish after that but missed the only eater. It was a wonderful day.

orlando area fishing report

This is the fish that broke my Loomis rod…

orlando area fishing report

…and so is this…

 

orlando area fishing report

…and so is this. The lure is a DOA CAL Shad.

Wednesday’s trip was postponed until Friday due to the weather. I took the opportunity to visit the lab at the Orlando VAMC, always an interesting trip. The afternoon was spent doing taxes. It was not such a wonderful day.

Thursday had a high of 59 degrees with 20+mph winds. Didn’t fish.

Friday found me out on the Indian River Lagoon with fly fisher Will Zobel and his buddy from school days, Roger. The weather was a bit breezy and there were rather a lot of clouds that made sight fishing difficult. That being said, we were in fish most of the day- fussy, uncooperative fish. Some fine presentations were made. In spite of that only one small red was caught, and that on a DOA CAL Shad. It was a beautiful day, but tough and frustrating from an angling standpoint.

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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