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Another Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

April 27, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Bumper sticker of the week:

stupid is

The seatrout were on fire again this week. See the photos below.

Tried to fly fish the Econ on Monday. The water was just a bit too high. Didn’t get a bite, but didn’t try very hard.

Didn’t fish Tuesday because of the weather, but did go out running along the FT. As I suspected, the chiggers are active. Ouchie.

An oak tree along the trail...

An beautiful oak tree along the trail…

Wednesday Dee Kaminski joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The weather was almost perfect. It was a little slow but fairly steady on both trout and redfish. Both of us threw soft plastics. I missed my last five strikes in a stunning display of incompetence. That particular hook has been retired. A very nice day was had by all, except perhaps the fish.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Dee hooked up, the school running away.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Thursday son Maxx joined me, again on Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was perfect and the trout were ON in a big way. We got at least 15 over 20 inches in length. Most were on DOA CAL jerkbaits, (yes new penny is still the hot color) but we got a couple nice fish on flies too. Maxx got a couple reds as well.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Yes. it was this good. DOA jerk baits on both fish.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

We got some on fly.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Friday son Alex joined me on Mosquito Lagoon. Ya shoulda been here yesterday! We got some nice trout but it was nothing like the previous day. It was considerably windier, with nice little whitecaps on the deeper areas. We were in the same places doing the same things.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Saturday I was a volunteer at the Hook Kids on Fishing event on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. About 50 kids showed up, parents in tow. All the kids got fishing instruction, a fishing rod and reel, a tackle box, and an hour’s worth of supervised fishing, all for free. Great event, great time. Thanks to Anglers for Conservation for putting this and all their other events together. AFC deserves support from all of us!

 

The Introductory Speech

The Introductory Speech

 

True anglers, the kids had a good time even though most did not catch a fish.

True anglers, the kids had a good time even though most did not catch a fish.

And that is this week’s exciting 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

April 19, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

It’s a casting platform. It’s a seat. It’s a dry box. It’s my new Yeti.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Ordinarily my feeling is that lure color is way more important to the fisherman than to the fish. Sometimes though, the fish just completely shatter than notion.

On Sunday Rick Schooler and his friend Dave joined me for a full day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Rick was throwing a 5.5 inch DOA CAL jerkbait, new penny color. Dave was tossing the DOA CAL airhead, red with gold glitter. Fishing was not particularly hot, but after Rick got his third fish Dave wanted what Rick had. Oh my God, I only have two left!

mosquito lagoon fishing repot

Rick, a fish, and the magic lure.

In the meantime, as circumstance allowed, I tossed a Deadly Combo. Over the course of the day I made dozens of casts with it and did not once get a bite.

Dave got his new penny jerkbait and proceeded to catch right up with Rick, both numbers and size-wise. The bite was principally from 20 inch-plus trout, two of which swallowed the baits.

mosquito lagoon fishing repot

Not to be outdone, Dave gets into the act.

Rick had a puffer mangulate his bait. In an effort to stretch the new penny supply out I had him try a jerkbait in the greenback color. While he used it without success Dave got three beautiful fish. Rick understandably wanted a new penny bait. I switched him out and he immediately nailed one.

The new penny color was the only thing on which we caught a fish. We ended up with two reds and ten or so trout, all but two of which were over 20 inches in length. Pretty fair day for a weekend.

mosquito lagoon fishing repot

The smallest fish of the day, a very aggressive little guy!

Took Monday off. Had to see the optometrist. Love those dilation drops into the eyeball.

Tuesday my eyes had recovered sufficiently to go scouting on the Mosquito Lagoon. Launched at Beacon 42, headed south.

The trout were awesome, got eight between 20 and 25 inches. And although the new penny jerkbait worked extremely well, I also got fish on a DOA Shrimp and a DOA CAL shad tail. Four redfish were silly enough to bite too, even watched one do a 180 to take the new penny jerkbait. And I missed a half dozen strikes. Weather was great, fishing was great, and I was by myself, in which there is an element of great!

mosquito lagoon fishing repot

Who is that masked man??

Thursday I went scouting again in Mosquito Lagoon. Launched the boat at Beacon 42 and went north.

I don’t think the trout were quite as thick as they were down south. On the other hand, different day, different result. I still got several nice ones, and saw many more than I got. A pair of dolphins started shadowing me, hoping to eat my released fish. I pulled up the MinnKota and took my business elsewhere.

moasquito lagoon fishing report

One of the beggars, waiting for a handout.

There were a lot more redfish up north than down south. I got one on the first cast to the first school that I saw, using a DOA CAL shad tail, Arkansas shiner color. I didn’t see fish everywhere I looked, but I saw enough to keep anybody busy. It helped that the weather was close to perfect!

UWMosquitoLagoonRedfish

On Friday Dave Arcury and his 16 year old son Nick joined me for a half day on Mosquito Lagoon. I felt extremely prepared, until I saw all the whitecaps. The wind was coming hard out of the south.
I went to the redfish spot first. I could really only go one way, and the fish moved before we were close enough to cast- four times in a row. At that point it was obvious we wouldn’t get a fish there so we went after trout.

They weren’t terribly cooperative although Nick got two on the new penny jerkbait. The larger one was above the slot, a handsome fish.

We decided to soak a couple baits to see if we could get a red. Less than five minutes later one of the rods went off and Nick battled a 26 inch red to the boat. All of today’s fish were photographed (by Dad, I forgot the cameras in the car) and released. Before we knew it time was up.

It was a veritable manatee orgy at the boat ramp. I shot a few- photos, that is!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

You’d have to be at sea a real long time to think these were mermaids.

And that is this week’s exciting 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

April 6, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

On Monday Rodney Smith met me at Port Canaveral. He had a fishing rod and a dozen shrimp. That was eleven more than we needed.

We searched for cobia and tripletail for six hours, finding exactly none. The lack of piscatorial activity gave us plenty of time to discuss our upcoming IRL Paddle Adventure,
 where we will paddle an Old Town canoe the length of the Indian River Lagoon. Click the link and check it out. Consider joining us for a segment, or helping some other way.

Tuesday was a honey-do day.

Wednesday I went on a solo scouting trip to Mosquito Lagoon, launching at Haulover Canal. In some places I found absolutely nothing. In other places I found good numbers of fish, especially big trout. I got four nice ones and several small ones, and a flounder as a bonus. The effective lures were 5.5 inch DOA CAL jerkbaits and the DOA CAL Airhead.

orlando saltwater fishing report

 

orlando saltwater fishing report

 

orlando saltwater fishing report

My fishermen for Thursday were 11 year old Zachary Peters and his mom Deanna. Twenty-five knot winds and spitting rain greeted us at the boat ramp. We hung around for a bit hoping it would blow over. It did not, and we called the day without launching the boat.

The weather on Friday wasn’t very nice either but at least there wasn’t much wind. Lee and Mick from Detroit met me at River Breeze and off we went, in spite of the threatening sky. We found a spot with spooky tailing reds. It started raining. Two quick lightning flashes close by caused us to forego the fish. We waited the storm out on the porch of the Eldora House. They have nice rocking chairs there.

After the storm passed we returned to the tailing reds spot. The fish were all gone. I couldn’t believe it but there you go.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for fish, mostly without success. Lee got a trout on a jerkbait and that was it for the day. Another storm chased us off the water at 3 PM.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

March 30, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

A blessed Easter to all the Christians out there. I hope the pagans and infidels have a nice day too.

 

We caught a few fish this week.

On Monday three gentlemen, led by Mr. Peter Scribner, joined me for an eight hour kayak fishing extravaganza out of River Breeze. It was a beautiful day but windy and not at all warm.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

It was beautiful out if you didn’t mind the chill wind.

We had to do some searching, as fish were not concentrated anywhere we looked. I’d guess we paddled at least ten miles. Neither Peter nor Rich caught a fish. Chuck got seven redfish and a beautiful trout, all on a small Johnson Sprite.

orlando saltwater fishing report

Chuck, my 76-year old role model, with another fish.

At 76 years old Chuck is a role model for all of us. He easily kept up with me all day. I can only hope I can still kayak fish all day if I’m lucky enough to reach that age.

 

Wednesday Scott Radloff and I took the Mitzi on a scouting trip out of Haulover Canal. It was cold. It was windy. There were no fish in the first place we looked. Spots two and three had quite a few nice trout. Spot number three had a few reds too. We got a trout about 24 inches long on a juicy piece of mullet.

orlando saltwater fishing report
Spot number 4 had some black drum and a few reds. I sightfished up a 30 incher on a juicy piece of mullet.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

The last spot was seatrout city. Using five and a half inch DOA CAL jerkbaits we got a half dozen 18 to 22 inch trout, a nice way to end the day.

Thursday Mr. Brian Burns joined me for a day’s Mosquito Lagoon fishing. He got three nice trout on the five and a half inch DOA CAL jerkbait at the first spot. None of the fish at the second spot would bite. Muds everywhere, but no action.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

At the third spot Brian went to work. Switching back and forth between a DOA Airhead and the CAL jerkbait he got seven or eight more trout and a slot red besides. The fish were spooky and not very bitey but there were so many that he got a bunch anyway. It was not too windy and was just beautiful out.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

Friday son Alex and I launched the boat at Port Canaveral. We hoped to find tripletail and if we got lucky a cobia. When we cleared the jetties it was beautiful, clear sky, hardly any breeze.

We ran south to Satellite Beach, then out about 2.5 miles. I had heard there were weeds out there. We didn’t find any. But someone had turned on the wind machine. I came about to start looking for fish and there were whitecaps everywhere. Three waves in succession poured into the cockpit. Yikes!

It’s hard to spot fish cruising at 3000 rpm, but that’s what we did so the bow would stay up above the waves. Eventually I stumbled onto a tripletail. It was a real one. Alex hooked it up and it just swam away, breaking the 20 pound power pro after about 20 seconds. Fish 1, anglers 0.

We saw another one, fairly small. It refused the delicious hand-picked shrimp we used to tempt it.

A while later I spotted another one. This one must have been hungrier, because it immediately inhaled the shrimp. Alex fought it up to the boat, where yours truly dipped it up. A fine ‘tail it was, and one delicious broiled fillet was more than three of us could finish. But I digress…

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

We saw two other tripletail as we ran them over. We decided we had had enough fun at about 2 PM.

Saturday James Cran and his friend Mike came all the way from Ontario to fish in the Mosquito Lagoon. The fish could not have been much less hospitable. We spooked several hundred fish over the course of six hours with only two bites all day. Both were missed.

At the last spot Mike fooled a slot redfish using a Road Runner with a four inch DOA CAL jerkbait for a tail, the first fish of the day. Shortly after James got a dink trout on a jig. That was it.

Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

March 23, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Bumper Sticker of the Week:

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Blog Posts This Week:

–Paddleboard Fishing Mosquito Lagoon
–Celebrate World Water Day
–Solo Skiff Review

It was an interesting week in a number of ways. The weather was unsettled, to say the least.

Monday Tim Baker of East Coast Paddle took me paddleboard fishing for three hours on Mosquito Lagoon. I had never been on a paddleboard before. They are very cool. Read the blog here.
The wind was running between 10 and 15 mph though- not good for paddleboarding. Tim got a trout on a jerk bait. I saw six or eight fish as I whizzed by. I should have worn either shorts or waders. Live and learn.

Paddleboard Fishing in Mosquito Lagoon

Tim got this trout from his paddleboard.

Tuesday was very exciting with trips to both David Maus Toyota and the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in Orlando. Arch criminals stole my arches (that’s a joke, folks). There are podiatrists in my future.

Wednesday I got caught in the rain while running on the FT. It was fun.

Thursday was errand and other minutia of life day.

Friday Tom Mitzlaff took me for a spin on his new Solo Skiff boat. It’s an awesome little boat. Read the blog here.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

We found quite a few redfish, very spooky ones. They were the kind that you lead six feet with a small, non-descript fly, and when you twitch it when they get close they spaz out and flee at a high rate of speed. Both of us had several shots and all of them ended in identical fashion.

We wanted tailers. We got nervous wrecks.

And that is this week’s exciting 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

February 23, 2013 by · 4 Comments

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events-

-Titusville Surf Fishing Workshop, Wednesday, March 6, 6-8 pm. There are several other surf workshops coming up along the Space Coast in the next two months. For more information please email Rodney Smith irlcoast@gmail.com

-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, MINWR, March 2; On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar, March 3

What a week!

Sunday morning found me at Parrish Park holding a conversation with my potential fishermen as to whether to go out or not. Picture it- sun shining, no clouds, temperature of 39 degrees, wind howling along at 20-25, Indian River Lagoon covered in whitecaps- how could they fail to go?

They wisely decided not to, and I lost the day’s work.

Monday fly fisher Chris McGoldrick joined me on a still chilly but enormously nicer day for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Chris is a middle school social studies teacher in Brooklyn. I hoped he would have a good day. Having taught middle school myself I know he deserved one.

He had lots of shots, at both trout and redfish. Only a single one resulted in a bite. The fly did not stick very long. Sadly, he did not get a fish.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Mr. McGoldrick enjoyed himself in spite of the visit of this critter…

mosquito lagoon fishing report

…the dreaded skonk!!

 

On the way home something happened to the engine of the chariot. The “check engine” light has been on for a couple years now, but in addition to the running rough and loss of power it started flashing off and on. At least the van got me home.

Monday night I rented a Chevy Silverado to take out my Tuesday party.

 

Tuesday Bill and Mike Crochunas, father and son, joined me for a six hour Mosquito Lagoon trip. The fish were all over the first spot, by the hundreds. In an hour of trying we could not get close enough to any of them to reach them with a cast. Leaving fish to find fish is never a good plan but that’s what we did.

We didn’t find a whole lot else, and what we did find was not much more cooperative.

Mike ended up with a couple of decent trout he got on a DOA CAL jerk bait. The reds all finned their noses at us. That was it for the day.

Sometimes I think I should just switch to bait fishing, you know, get a party barge with a big cooler, etc.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

A couple of trout like this was all we had to show for our efforts.

Wednesday morning found me at the service department of David Maus Toyota. The ignition coil on the number six cylinder had failed. For only $520 I got a new spark plug, ignition cable, and ignition coil installed on that one cylinder, which took most of the day.

Not as much fun as being out in a boat.

Not as much fun as being out in a boat.

Thursday’s trip didn’t start until 930, at fly fishing client’s Harold Brown’s request.

We got to fishing spot number one. Schools of fish are moving all over the place. We get close enough to see, and cast to, some of them. They were black drum. They completely ignored the fly several times, and swam away rapidly after seeing us. An hour of that and I was ready for something else.

Spot number two had no fish.

I barely got the boat in to spot number three. At first we didn’t see much but then we started seeing big trout, good numbers of them. Harold had at least a half dozen take the fly. The hook never stuck any of them.

A rat red attacked the fly with gusto. We released him as a reward.

We fished those fish for about four hours and never got one of those beautiful trout, or anything besides that one red. In the meantime the water had dropped a couple inches.

Because we started late it was now into the latter stages of daylight. The boat would not float out the way I got in. I had to remove my pants, put on the wading booties, and slog through the mud for 150 feet to get it out of there. We did get out, though.

Friday I was part of a four boat charter, along with Chris Myers, Tom Van Horn, and Drew Cavanaugh. I had three guys in my boat, Mike, Derek, and Alan. I remembered why I charge an extra hundred dollars for that third passenger. At least I only got hooked once. I did have to re-rig a couple times after cutting out the tangles.

We got on a school of big reds first thing. We had some good chances. The fish did not cooperate. Not only that. they quickly vacated the area. Can’t imagine why.

Spot numbers two and three had nothing.

At spot four we got a few small trout and ladyfish. By now the wind was a solid 15, with lots of clouds. Sight fishing was out of the question.

In desperation I anchored along the whale tail and soaked bait. We were rewarded with a 22 inch trout and a fat little catfish, our last fish of the day.

So I saw a lot of fish this week, but did not catch very many of them.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

We didn’t catch anything like this this week.

More repairs to the chariot on today’s agenda.

And that is this week’s exciting 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 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

December 24, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Merry Christmas to All, and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year to Everyone!

Upcoming Events-

–Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013

– Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Clean-Up, February 9, 2013. Contact Nancy Corona, 321-861-0668 or nancy_corona@fws.gov

My bride had knee surgery. I spent most of this week taking care of her, as she can’t get around very well. She’s doing fine, thanks, and we expect a complete recovery.

Only three days were spent on the water this week but many other things got done.
-My website got hacked and crashed. It needed a complete re-build. That took some time.
-As long as I was at it I built a new website for my sister, the glass artist. See it at http://www.cherylkumiski.com

Blog Posts this week:

-A Christmas Gift to You

On Wednesday Tammy Wilson met me at Parrish Park. We spent four hours looking around the Mosquito Lagoon for fish. We did not see many, perhaps because we started late.

Tammy got a trout and a redfish, both out of the slot, while blind-casting with an olive colored bunny leech.

I got two smallish trout blind-casting with a DOA Shrimp.

 

A cold front came through Thursday night. The water level dropped six or seven inches, and the water temperature dropped by 10 degrees, between sunset Thursday and sunrise on Saturday. At that point I met Jason and Jonathan Brege, my fishermen for the next two days.

It was 38 degrees at the boat ramp and the flag was almost straight out. The Indian River Lagoon was covered with whitecaps. They wanted to go anyway so we launched the boat at Titusville Marina. That first boat ride was almost like the brain freeze you get when you eat ice cream too fast.

We fished in every dredge hole and canal I know. We came up with a grand total of three trout to 23 inches, all caught on jigs. Late in the day we found a bunch of fish, mostly trout but a few reds too, up on a flat. We could not get them to eat anything and didn’t get a bite there.

 

Sunday dawned much more placidly. With the winds forecast to be light and variable we went to Mosquito Lagoon with the intent of fly fishing. The first spot, which had been holding fish, was nearly barren. Playing a hunch I went to the spoil islands. Good call.

Both Jason and Jonathan got their first ever seatrout and redfish on fly. An imitation crab and a minnow pattern did the damage. They took turns fly fishing, so the “off” guy tossed a jerkbait, which also accounted for several trout.

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The trout were running large…
Jonathan with a fine trout.

The trout were running large, between 20 and 25 inches. The best redfish was 26. We got enough of each that I lost track (three or four is enough for that to happen, though).

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Brother Jason with trout on fly.

The weather was spectacular, the fish were cooperative, my fishermen were great guys, it was a fantastic weekend. Happy Christmas to me!

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The brothers with a fat Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

December 8, 2012 by · 1 Comment

Orlando Area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events– Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013

Monday, quite a beautiful day, found me paddling the Ocean Kayak on the Banana River Lagoon in the no motor zone, hoping to find big redfish and black drum. Six hours of paddling later I had found none. There was no seagrass at all. It was hard finding the spots- without the grass there was no frame of reference.

I saw three or four redfish and maybe thirty trout in two schools. Tossing a gurgler around where the trout were seen netted two strikes, both of which were missed.

There is no reason for me to go back there for a while.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The launch at the nmz. The “dock” is real wobbly. If you fall into that muck they’ll never find you. That’s where all the grass is- dead and stinky along the shoreline!

Thursday Tammy Wilson and I went out on the Mosquito Lagoon in the Mitzi. The weather was really nice, very little wind. Lots of clouds at first gave way to mostly sunny skies.
At the first spot there were quite a few redfish. They were quite nervous and didn’t want us near them. Tammy cast a streamer fly at some of them and got two nice fish, both seatrout. They apparently were swimming with the reds.

The fish did not hang around very long, so we went looking in some other places. As could be expected, some were barren and some were fairly fishy. We did not get another fish, though.

We were off the water by 3:00 PM.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We started off boating by Braille, using the compass to find the spot in the fog, glasses all wet, unable to see. We did find it. There were fish there. We could only see them when they moved, pushing up a wake. They would not let us into casting range.

While poling out of there a redfish tailed in front of the boat. It was one of many fish that were there. Dr. George got one on a DOA CAL jerkbait, nice work on his part.

We couldn’t find any more fish at that spot so went to one other. It was good. George got four out-of-slot redfish and a 26 inch seatrout using cut bait, a solid hour of catching there.

When I went to load the pictures of the previous two days fishing into my computer I opened the camera to remove the memory card and it wasn’t in there. It was still in the card reader from the previous use. Well DUH! No photos.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

A file photo of Dr. Yarko with a nice red.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

June 9, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6.9.12

On Sunday, friend and neighbor Karl Dienst joined me for a quick strike. We launched at Kennedy Point at 6 AM. We got to the fishing spot and no one else was there! Amazing.

The fish were not as thick as they were. We did not see a redfish. Karl got several nice trout on a white plastic worm, the kind you use for largemouth bass. I got a few on the Bait Buster. We also got a few nice ladyfish. Still looking for tarpon, still haven’t seen any.

Seatrout on DOA Bait Buster

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

The boat was on the trailer at 10AM.

Monday I went solo, launching at Marina Park. Got a couple trout and ladyfish on a Chug Bug, but it was slow. Saw one pod of redfish that would not let me near them. Switched to a Bait Buster and got a couple more trout.

I ran around much of Turnbull Basin and didn’t see much. On an ominous note, the nasty water we had last summer is showing itself again- found one large spot of dirty water on the west side south of the safety zone, and a big chunk of filthy water around Duckroost Cove.

After going to another spot I went wading, got four slot redfish on a black Clouser Minnow, quite satisfying.

Monday afternoon Sue and I brought son Alex to the airport, sending him off to Goodnews. It’s that time of year.

Tuesday morning Scott Radloff and I launched the Mitzi at Lee Wenner Park. It was overcast and windy, coming out of the west.

Scott got a small red on a Gulp on this third cast.

We got a nice trout on a DOA Shrimp in the next hour. It was too slow and visibility was not that great, so we put the boat on the trailer and went to Kelly Park, launching into the Banana River Lagoon.

I had gotten good reports about the BRL but we fished until 2 PM and got one trout that Scott convinced to take a Chug Bug. Not a lot of seagrass there any more.

Wednesday fly caster Darrin Prestangen met me at Marina Park. It was overcast and windy, terrible fly fishing conditions. Darrin, used to blind-casting in the streams of Colorado, blind-cast all morning. We did not get a fish. We did get rained on. We did see another boat pull in a 30 pound class redfish on the northwest side of the railroad trestle.

In the afternoon we went to where I had gotten the four reds a few days earlier. It was still very hard to see, but Darrin managed to sight-fish his first ever redfish (a small one) and a 20 inch seatrout, both on sliders.
The boat was on the trailer at 3 PM.

seatrout, indian river lagoon

Darrin's first saltwater fish was this nice trout.

Thursday I did honey-dos. The weather was awful. It was a good day to stay home.

Friday Darrin joined me again, his last hurrah for this trip. We launched at Parrish Park. It was overcast but the wind was light.

We saw one tailing fish at the first spot, at which we did not get a shot. It did not tail very long.

We found a small school of fish at the second spot. We found them by running them over. There was a stampede.

We ran over several singles too. There were fish there but between the clouds and the dark bottom we could not see them at all.

We went back to the place where Darrin had caught his two fish the previous trip.

In a stunning turn of events there were more fish there than the previous day. Darrin got two reds and a fine black mullet on the estaz crabby thing fly. The fly goes into commercial production tomorrow! The reds at this spot run small, but at least we could sight fish.

mullet on fly

Mullet, on fly!

 

mullet on fly close up

The fly goes on sale tomorrow!

 

We went to another, similar spot and there were even more reds. Again, they were small, about 20 inch fish, but he got four more on a Son of Clouser. There were many refusals and blown shots. In spite of the clouds fishing was actually quite good. If the fish had been bigger I would have said it was excellent. At any rate we had a great time.

redfish, son of clouser

This red (and several others) fell for the Son of Clouser.

redfish, indian river lagoon

Although the fish ran small, at least we could sight fish.

redfish tail featuring spots

The double spotted tail...

The boat was on the trailer at 3 PM.

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

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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

Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 25, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5.26.12

Sunday found fly fisherman Bill Schell (from Washington state) and I floating around in the Mitzi on the Mosquito Lagoon. The sky was unmarred by any clouds at all- pretty rare for this time of year.

Bill could cast. For fly guides that’s usually the kiss of death. As a general rule, good caster = no fish. And so it seemed at the first spot, that I had just scouted three days earlier. Absolutely nothing there.

Hit spot #2 on a whim. There were some big trout there and Bill had one hit his sexyfly, but it came unbuttoned. No more bites, off the the next place.

Remarkably enough, the next place had quite a few fish, both nice trout and reds. And Bill managed to get one of each. Not great, but so many more than none. Then the east wind came up and although we kept fishing, the fishing had ended.

 

mosquito lagoon redfish on fly

Bill's first Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

Monday found fly fisherman Bill Schell and I floating around in the Mitzi on the Mosquito Lagoon. Wind was light out of the south, just perfect. Again, no clouds. Someone must be living right.

We went straight to the third spot from Sunday. He had to blind cast at first since the sun was too low to penetrate the water. It’s not like the fish cooperated by tailing or anything.

He hooked and lost a trout, then caught a redfish and another trout by casting blindly with a PolarFibre Minnow.

Mosquito Lagoon seatrout on fly

Bill got a couple of trout like this one.

Pass number two we tried a slider. Again, one trout, one redfish by blind casting. We were starting to be able to see but all the shots were in close and none worked.

Pass number three we could see well. Casts to redfish made with the slider were studiously ignored. Out came a crab pattern. The first fish he threw it to took it, as did the second. Then a couple refusals happened before a last fish took it.

Mosquito Lagoon redfish on a crab fly

The crab fly produced Bill's best fish- and at the end, how it should be.

Again, the east wind ended it for us, but it had been a good morning.

 

Wednesday I went to the Econlockhatchee for a couple of hours. A weird thing happened. I saw quite a few bass and became interested in trying to catch one. They ignored my bluegill bug, and would inspect but not eat the streamers I tried. If anyone has any good patterns for catching bass in the Econ, would you please share one with me?

Sunfishing was slow- only got a few modest redbellies.

 

Thursday Scott Radloff and I went to the Indian River Lagoon. Unlike me, Scott is a Gulp fan. He got a redfish on one within five minutes of my shutting the motor off. He would get another a few minutes later.

I hooked and lost three nice trout on a Chug Bug.

We saw a lot of both trout and redfish that wouldn’t look at our offerings. Literally. They would see them and either turn around or make a wide circle around them.

We saw a lot of fish but ended up catching one nice trout, two slot reds, and a couple of ladyfish.

 

John Riggle joined me on Friday. We again fished in the Indian River Lagoon. The weather was spectacular, with a very light breeze from the north.

John started the morning tossing a Chug Bug. A slot redfish was his first victim, followed by trout after trout. The constant bites on the surface plug were wonderful to see.

 

spotted seatrout, indian river lagoon

One of many trout caught by John Riggle on Friday.

I was able to set the skiff on an easy drift, parallel to the shoreline, and fish a little myself. Tossing a DOA Bait Buster I got a slot red and several trout too.

We caught at least a dozen trout. The smallest was 17 inches, the largest 23. Five or six reds were caught too. There were a lot of missed strikes.

Once the wind cranked up, about 10 AM, the bite slowed way down. The boat was on the trailer about noontime.

 

That is this week’s Indian River Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

 

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