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Hot Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

February 4, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Hot Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The year is young, but this week was the best fishing of the year. Thus the hot Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Upcoming Events-

2017 Fly Fishing Film Festival, February 26, 4 PM. Check the graphic below to get more information.

The week started last Saturday with a kayak fishing charter with Mic Lauric of Atlanta and his cousin Patrick, from Houston. The day began as a search mission, and the search paid off, especially for Patrick. He got numerous redfish and a couple nice trout too. Mic also got a few licks in. One was using the DOA CAL Shad, the other the Riptide Sardine. They seemed to work equally well.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Patrick found this fish tailing in Mosquito Lagoon.

A cold front came through on Sunday. Monday morning found me at AutoNation Toyota with my brides car. They got me out early (just after 9 am!) so I went looking for shad in the St. Johns, launching at SR 50. A couple crappie, a fat bluegill, an anemic redbelly, a beautiful day and boat ride, but no shad. This year’s shad run is shaping up pretty sadly for me.

Tuesday

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Most of the fish caught on Tuesday fell for this silly fly.

The morning was cold but sunny. I paddled (and dragged) a kayak to the place where Pat and Mic caught their fish. For fly fishers redfishing and seatrout fishing doesn’t get much better than it was on Tuesday. Sightfishing big seatrout with a flyrod is tremendous fun. They pull drag!!!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

We might have been wading. Wish there was seagrass.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Being a mullet must be awful.

After releasing three trout in the seven-eight pound range the mischievous part of my brain wondered if I could get one on a gurgler. Good shots at four fish resulted in one crap-your-pants take and another seven or eight pound trout. They were all bigger than the reds, beautiful fish, the first time I’ve been able to sightfish them like that in a couple years. —AWESOME—

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Yes, I do realize I’m blessed.

Wednesday

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Vince says he caught seven redfish on Wednesday.

Steve Bartek and his buddy Vince, local gentlemen, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon skiff fishing action. The weather was perfect, cool and sunny, almost windless. We found a spot with a lot of redfish and stayed there all day. Again, they were throwing the DOA CAL Shad and the Riptide Sardine. They seemed to work equally well, and they worked real well, about a dozen redfish worth not counting missed strikes.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Maybe Steve got the biggest one, though.

Thursday

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom was very pleased with this trout.

Another beautiful day found Mr. Tom Finger of Oviedo, FL in the Mitzi, again on the Mosquito Lagoon. Needless to say we started at the hot spot from the previous day. It almost goes without saying that it was not nearly as hot. After Tom got a red (DOA CAL Shad) the rest of the fish first got lockjaw and then vacated the area.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom was happy with this red, too!

We went looking at a number of other spots, working hard but picking up several more redfish and trout too. At only one place did we not see any fish. Altogether a good day it was.

Friday

morning I went scouting for a Saturday bass fishing trip. Wasn’t I surprised (not in a good way) when I could not get the Bang-O-Craft up the Econ. The water is too low.

My decision to check Lake Harney was foiled by the same problem- shoaling and low water prevented me from reaching the lake, too. I put the boat on the trailer, drove it home, dropped it off, threw a kayak on the van’s roof, and went to the Econ.

The water is low and clear, just gorgeous. For our friends in colder climes, the willow trees are leafed out and flowering, as are the red maples. With the quality of light now the river is Clyde Butcher picturesque.

Three hours later the kayak was returned to the van’s roof. I did not touch a fish in either place, yes, slapped upside the head by the dreaded skunk. Loved every moment of it.

So, that is this week’s hot Mosquito Lagoon 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Windy Week Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 27, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Windy Week Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Oh yes, it was windy all week! So we have a windy week Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Blog Posts this week-
-A Betrayal of the Public Interest- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/betrayal-public-interest/
-Top Tips for Women Hikers- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/top-tips-for-women-hikers/

Sunday we had a major front come through, complete with tornado watches and warnings. There was no fishing by this reporter.

Monday the winds blew over 20 mph all day- still no fishing.

Tuesday the Senter family of Hackensack, NJ joined me for some light tackle fishing on a still-windblown Mosquito Lagoon. Dan the dad and his two sons Zev and Ben tossed DOA CAL shad and Deadly Combos for almost six hours. I figured that because of the storms and the change of weather it would be a search mission. It was. Some of the spots that had been reliably producing fish were barren. They got one slot red and perhaps 20 trout, four of which would hold batter. So it was fairly slow, although we’ve all had worse days.

Wednesday Brownie’s Septic Service visited the Kumiski household for an exciting septic tank pumpout, something that should be done every three to five years… It pretty much tied me up all day.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Capt. Jason with a nice trout.

Thursday Jason Semeyn joined me kayak fishing out of River Breeze, a light tackle half day. I had not been up there in almost a month. The water was pretty clean, if not chock full of fish. Using soft plastics we got a rat red and a half dozen trout to about 24 inches, all by casting into potholes, quite a lovely morning.

In the afternoon it got real windy as another front moved through.

Friday found me at AutoNation Toyota, getting my bride’s chariot serviced. Much to my surprise I was out of the shortly after 9 AM. After taking care of a few things I put a kayak on the roof and went to the St. Johns River.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

This poor creature will be eaten tomorrow.

It was not on fire. I foul-hooked a tilapia. While it was pulling I did not know that, and wondered what in the heck it could be. The filets are in my refrigerator right now. Mmm-mm-mmm.

Two shad fell victim to my crappie jigs, along with a very small warmouth.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Friday’s best bass, on a hair bug.

A half-dozen bass attacked my surface flies, to my surprise and joy. No big ones, though. Still, in part because not a single airboat went by, it was a very enjoyable afternoon.

So, we did not fish much this week, and that is the windy week Mosquito Lagoon 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Elusive Black Drum Fishing Report

January 21, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Elusive Black Drum Fishing Report

This is the Elusive Black Drum Fishing Report!

Upcoming Events
-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 25-30, Titusville, FL. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

Sunday found me in a canoe with Mr. Roger Cook, gentleman and fly fisher from North Carolina. On a spectacular day we were looking for tailing black drum, a fish and behavior that had been plentiful the previous week.

They let us down.

We ran into another fly fisher, a young man named Nick Swain, who was out on a paddle board. He found some drum, not tailing, and caught one while we watched. I photographed him. He invited us to cast to the fish he was working, but we could not get a bite.

black drum fishing report

Nick Swain releases a drum.

We found a few black drum in another spot, and got one on a wool crab. Even though we were out until sunset, that was it for the day. Tough day…

Monday Tammy and I Bang-O-Crafted our way up to Puzzle Lake, searching for American shad. We caught some crappie. We caught some sunfish. But we did not get any shad.

We ran into a couple other folks who had caught a few. One fly fisher called them “the fish of a thousand casts.” Shad should not take 1000 casts. When they’re around you often catch two at a time if you use a tandem rig. There just aren’t many in the stretch between SR 46 and Puzzle Lake. Will they show? That’s the question.

Wednesday I took the Mitzi across Lake Harney and fished the outlet, again for shad. Using crappie jigs I got three, nice ones all. It was still pretty slow.

Going upriver I tried again at the mouth of the Econ. I got two warmouth, nothing else. That was really slow!

I talked to a couple guys who told me their friend had been “killing” the shad near Mullet Lake, with 20 fish days. Perhaps I will check that out…

Thursday Roger Cook and I went looking for tailing black drum again. Although we saw a half-dozen or so, most of the fish were still schooled up in deeper water. Roger managed to get one of those fish to eat a fat brown sparkle crab. I could not get a bite, and ended up fishless at the end of another long, tough day.

black drum fishing report

Roger really had to work. This was his reward…

Roger and I went out on Mosquito Lagoon on Friday. We used fly tackle, and got spanked. We saw some fish, but it was windy, and the water is getting dirty again. DANG!

black drum fishing report

The mighty (and elusive) black drum, about to be released.

We got exactly one decent shot, which we did not convert.

Did the wind stir goo off the bottom into suspension, or are the algae already growing again? Hopefully it’s only the former. Time will tell.

So even though almost all the fish were elusive this week, that is the elusive black drum 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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

Some Good News Lagoons Fishing Report

January 15, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Some Good News Lagoons Fishing Report

Upcoming Events
-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 25-30, Titusville, FL. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

The water in the lagoons has cleaned up considerably and I found some schools of fish this week- good news! Thus the good news Lagoons Fishing report.

A cold front slammed us last weekend, cold, wind, rain, the whole she-bang. Monday afternoon the weather started to moderate, so I took the kayak to the St. Johns on a shad mission. It was slow, but in three hours I got two shad (one on a chartreuse shad fly and one on a pink crappie jig), a couple crappie, and a redbelly. There were hardly any airboats, a lovely afternoon all together.

With charters coming up I went to the Mosquito Lagoon on Tuesday for some scouting. Wasn’t I surprised- the water was pretty clean in places! The bad news is lots of the seagrass is gone. Hopefully the water will stay clean and the grass will come back.

With clean water I could sight fish. The seatrout were sunning in a lot of my favorite spots, nice fish in the 20-inch-plus range. Redfish were also ranging on the flats. My current favorite lure, the three inch DOA CAL shad, was effective on both. I felt pretty optimistic about my trip the next day.

lagoons fishing report

Brent with one of several redfish he caught.

Wednesday Brent Chapeldaine and Tom Howell joined me for Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Out of the gate we hit trout, on the three inch DOA CAL shad. No surprise there. The larger fish had scattered some, but there were enough around that they kept three handsome fish. They also got quite a few redfish to about 24 inches. Basically we caught fish all day, a splended outing. Thank you for joining me, gentlemen!

lagoons fishing report

Tom was howling at how good the fishing was!

Thursday was a Banana River Lagoon trip, with fly fishers Kevin Barnes, from Georgia, and his friend Jamie, from Pennsylvania. The word younger folks would use to describe the fishing is “epic.” Tailing fish most of the day, calm winds, drizzly but not uncomfortably so, and the whole place to ourselves. Wool crabs worked well. Thank you gentlemen for the second awesome day this week!

lagoons fishing report

Jamie had never caught a black drum. He figured it out real quick.

 

lagoons fishing report

They are such beautiful, delicate fish!

 

lagoons fishing report

Mr. Barnes got a few, too.

 

lagoons fishing report

All fish were released.

Friday my old friend Kevin Linehan joined me for some fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. I wanted three trout in the 17-18 inch range for dinner, two for me and one for him. We caught a load of trout but did not complete the task, with one sixteen inch fish for Kevin and zero for me. Saw an honest-to-goodness school of redfish, at least 50 fish. They weren’t happy, but it was the largest school I’ve seen in a couple years, a wonderful thing.

So we have clean water, sight fishing, a school of fish, good catches, some good news for a good news lagoons 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Early January St. Johns River Fishing Report

January 7, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Early January St. Johns River Fishing Report

If you appreciate spectacular weather then you really enjoyed this week. I was fortunate enough to be out every day, four of which were on the St. Johns River or her tributaries. Thus the early January St. Johns River fishing report.

On Monday Anton Faith joined me. We took the Bang-O-Craft up the river, looking for breaking fish, and hoping to find some shad (we did not). We did find breaking fish, though.

The river was pretty low, and continued dropping all week.

Anton does not have much fishing experience. He was armed with one of my ultralight spin rods, with a pair of crappie jigs attached. The fish wanted no part of it. They were all over the fry fly- crappie, bass, bluegills all ate it, and I had what I think was a striper hybrid on for a while, although it escaped. When I tried the spin rod to see if it was the fish or the fisherman, my conclusion was it was the fish. I couldn’t get a bite with it either. Weird.

Anton finally got a bass (his first!) on a mini-plug, the only bite he got. He warn’t skonked, though!

st. johns river fishing report

This is the average St. Johns bass lately.

Tuesday I took the kayak back to the St. Johns, still hoping to find a shad, still looking for breaking fish. Again, found the breaking fish, but no shad. The schooling bass were awesome. No large fish, but on a three-weight they are still pretty feisty. Lots of crappie in the river, too.

An alligator in the ten foot range started stalking me, chased me right out of the best spot. Fish or no fish, I prefer not to become a gator snack.

Wednesday I went out with Tom Van Horn. Our goal was to find shad. Our success was limited to Tom hooking and losing two while using a small jig. We did get a few bass and crappie while shad fishing, though.

st. johns river fishing report

There are lots of crappie in the river now.

We saw son Alex and John Napolitano there. After we left they got three shad, and John got a tilapia too.

Thursday afternoon found me floating down the Econ in a kayak. It was such a beautiful day! The Econ looked great, too, low and clear, just how I like it. It was quite dead, though. I got four junior-league bass (six inches or so), one redbelly, and one stumpknocker.

st. johns river fishing report

This was it for Econ bass this week.

With the river conditions the way they are, if the fish are there you usually see some, even if they’re not biting. I saw lots of mullet. I saw five shad. I did not see any bass or sunfish except for really small ones. They must have all dropped down to the lower river or the St. Johns.

And that is the Early January St. Johns River 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Mixed Bag New Year’s Orlando Fishing Report

December 30, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Mixed Bag New Year’s Orlando Fishing Report

We fished the Mosquito Lagoon one day, and the St. Johns River two days, and the Banana River Lagoon one day. Of course results were a mixed bag. And Sunday is New Year’s Day! So we have a mixed bag New Year’s Orlando fishing report!

Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2017!

Monday around noon I went launched the Bang-O-Craft on the St. Johns. Son Alex and John Napolitano were with me. It was warm and sunny and every airboat in Florida seemed to be there. Fish were popping fry minnows all over the river.

orlando fishing report

Alex casting on the Econ.

At the mouth of the Econ there was a paddling fly caster who steadily caught 12 inch bass on a small white streamer. Since there were three of us we refrained from joining him and went farther up the Econ. We found breaking fish up there but they weren’t taking our flies very well. John and I each got a crappie.

orlando fishing report

Crappie on the fry.

When we went back down the river the other angler had left. We took his spot. Fish were breaking steadily. Using a fry fly I did some damage! Bluegills, bass, and my first shad of this season all succumbed to the fry fly’s charms.

orlando fishing report

Even the shad take the fry.

When the action slowed we went down the river, where we found another spot with breaking fish. Again, the fry fly did some damage, taking some reasonably large bass. The other fly that worked extremely well was a #10 white Gurgler, a silly little fly. The fish liked it, though!

orlando fishing report

A finished fry.

Fry Fly
hook- Daiichi X510, #10
thread- Danville flat waxed nylon, white
wing- craft fur, light grey, light tan, or cream
eye- Witchcraft 3-D, 5 mm

Start the thread. Cut off a clump of craft fur and pick out most of the fluff. Tie it on to the hook, smooth the head, and whip finish.

Glue the eyes on with Zap a Dap a Goo or Duco cement. After the glue dries, coat the head with Softex.

Since the fly is small, you’ll catch some very small fish with it. Some surprisingly large fish will take it, too. The hook is on 3x thick wire, so it will hold a good fish without issues.

orlando fishing report

Drying, not frying.

You can see how to tie a gurgler here http://www.spottedtail.com/how-to-tie-a-gurgler/. Since the #10 is so small I use hackle fibers for the tail and the tying thread for the body- simple!

On Tuesday Greg Scible and Caleb Cousins joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon light tackle action. Unfortunately the action part was fairly slow- a couple trout and small reds. We started fishing the spots that had been so good to me last week- not so good this day. We tried Deadly Combo-ing for trout. We got a few fish but again, pretty slow.

orlando fishing report

Pvt. Caleb Cousins got this redfish while home on leave.

We checked out a couple spots where I had found fish last week. Caleb got a slot red on a DOA CAL Shad. We Deadly Comboed again and got a few short trout. We tried soaking cut mullet in two spots where this worked wonderfully last week. Not even a catfish this day. I cranked the motor to move, and it pooped out. It would not start again.

I had them start fishing while I thought about the problem. They started hitting trout immediately, again on the Deadly Combo. Most were short, but a few were slot fish.

In the meantime I checked the in-line fuel filter. It looked fine, but there must have been some debris in it. When I reassembled it, the boat ran fine. We kept fishing though, and got a bunch of trout.

We ended the day with six reds and about 30 trout, not bad for a slow day.

Wednesday at 8 AM I met Paul MacInnis at the Space Center Badging Station. He got me a visitor’s badge and off we went to the Banana River Lagoon. We had perfect paddling weather- no wind, no clouds. We paddled a long way before we found any fish, though.

The fish we found was a school of large black drum. They were way more interested in each other than in our flies, as we did not get bit.

We got a few small trout, though.

We found some smaller drum. I got one about seven pounds or so on a crab pattern.

I later got a small, beautiful, nine-spot redfish on the same fly. Paul got a fish here and there too.

Some kind of rooted vegetation is beginning to grow on the otherwise barren sand bottom there, and the water is quite clear in most places. Perhaps it was just an off day, but it was pretty slow fishing-wise.

Thursday afternoon I went back to the St. Johns, by myself, by kayak. A short distance from the boat ramp there were breaking fish. My first two casts, on the little gurgler, each garnered strikes from 12 inch largemouths. Before leaving that spot three strikes were missed and two more bass released.

orlando fishing report

Bass on fry. Not a bad schooling bass, ay-tall!

The spots that had been so hot on Monday were not on Thursday. Apparently the fish are following the moving bait.

No shad or crappie were caught, but bluegills and a couple more bass rounded out the catch. All fish were released to make more fish for the future.

Thursday night a cold front came through, putting the kabosh on any thoughts of fishing Friday.

So that is the Mixed Bag New Years Orlando Fishing Report! Have a great holiday!!

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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Flies and Fly Tying, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

December 24, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

This is the 2016 Christmas Orlando Fishing Report, December 24. Best wishes to all for a holiday season full of joy, and a happy and healthy new year full of fishing adventures!

We fished the Mosquito Lagoon two days, and the St. Johns River three days. Of course results were mixed.

orlando fishing report

The lovely little stumpknocker is a very aggressive fish!

Sunday I went paddling on the St. Johns. It was warm and sunny and fish were popping fry minnows all over the river. At the mouth of the Econ there was another paddling fly caster who steadily caught 12 inch bass on a small white streamer. I joined him (he was very gracious) and caught several myself, some on a gurgler.

At other points along the river a small streamer netted me a crappie, some bluegills, redbellies, and stumpknockers, and several more bass. Some of the largemouths were as small as I’ve caught, beautiful little mini-fish. It was a good day and I made a note to return later in the week.

orlando fishing report

Bass of all sizes were crushing tiny minnows.

Monday Tammy joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon scouting. We launched the Mitzi at River Breeze and fished around Oak Hill area. We caught quite a few trout and redfish, some decent if not large ones, even found some tailing fish. The DOA CAL shad was the lure de jour. The day was spectacular if the fishing wasn’t, and fishing with Tammy is always fun.

orlando fishing report

Tammy and seatrout, a winning combination.

 

orlando fishing report

The release!

Wednesday was the winter solstice, historically, or perhaps more accurately prehistorically, the most important day of the year. That’s the day the time of daylight stops getting less and starts lengthening, a cause for celebration! My friend Dr. Todd Preuss joined me for some St. Johns River fly fishing.

As soon as I walked out the door I knew it would be a tough day. The air temperature had dropped close to 20 degrees, the sky was low and grey, and the wind was rocking the trees. All the fish that were there on Sunday were lying on the bottom someplace where we could not find them. We got four fish all day, with the best being a big, black bluegill that Todd fooled on a popping bug. After Sunday it was disappointing fish-wise, although it’s always enjoyable fishing with Todd.

orlando fishing report

Robert and Spencer. They caught some fish.

Thursday Robert and Spencer Cutts, a father-son team from Orlando, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The wind was honkin out of the north, the water had dropped close to a foot, and I did not know what to expect. Some pelicans were diving on a hole so I stopped to check it out. Two days of scouting, wasted!

The hole had fish in it. They weren’t stacked up in there, but we got seven or eight redfish and a couple of beautiful trout. Again, the lure de jour was the DOA CAL shad, although we also used some cut mullet to good effect.

orlando fishing report
When that hole stopped producing we went to another, from which we pulled another six or seven, including a gorgeous, 28 inch, 12 spot redfish. Other holes we tried were fishless, so we visited spot #2 again and got one more red before calling it an (excellent) day.

We never did get into any of the areas that I had so diligently scouted.

I enjoyed tremendously the curiosity and enthusiasm of Cutts the Younger, and Dad was pretty funny too. Thanks to both of them for a great day!

Friday afternoon was warm and sunny. I wondered if the fish were going off on the St. Johns again so I dropped the kayak in at the Jolly Gator and went a’paddling. Six bass and 12 sunfish later, all on fly, I had my answer. The only downside to an otherwise lovely afternoon was the almost astonishing amount of boat traffic on the river. Fishing was good, though.

Shannon Dunn sent me the following email, of great interest to fly fishers of Appalachian trout-
“We’ve recently published a guide to choosing trout flies, together with Bill Bernhardt of NC Fishing, that you may find useful:
http://www.fishfindersource.com/trout-flies-choosing/ ”

I like their keep it simple approach.

And that is the 2016 Christmas Orlando Fishing Report! Have a great holiday!!

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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

December 17, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

This is a Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report, December 17, 2016. Best wishes to all for a holiday season full of joy, and a happy and healthy new year full of fishing adventures!

On a glorious Tuesday morning I met Tom Finger and we went searching the Atlantic out of Port Canaveral for some denizens of the deep. The water along the beach was very dirty. Places that were full of fish last week had none. We turned the bow of the boat east and headed out to sea.

We found a few scattered weeds out about three miles, and slowly searched them for a while. We saw exactly one very short tripletail. Speeding up the process, we went looking for thicker weeds, breaking fish, other signs of life. We found none.

By this time we were south of the Cocoa Beach pier. We again came in close to the beach. We found an area with scattered menhaden splatting, but did not get a bite there.

Finally, late in the afternoon, we anchored by the north jetty where we got a couple bluefish and a couple small sharks. Although it was a beautiful day, fishing was tough. I ran into Scott Lum at the dock. He had gotten a single tripletail. It wasn’t just me.

Wednesday morning Rodney Smith met me at the Port. Again, the weather was amazing. We ran straight down to the end of the buoy line, then kept going another mile or two. You know, the Mitzi starts looking real small out there. We found some weeds and started hunting. Lots of shorty tripletail. Then we found a small clump of weed with a decent fish under it. We had to invest some time, but Rodney finally got it to take a jig.

orlando fishing report

Rodney was very happy with this tripletail.

 

orlando fishing report

However, the fish beat him so badly he had to rest :-).

We kept looking and found another, slightly larger. Rodney got it to bite but missed it, and we never saw it again. Or any others, other than dinks.

A moderate wind started out of the southeast and not trusting it to stay moderate I headed in towards the beach. There was still nothing there, until I fired a DOA Deadly Combo out. It must have landed right on top of the beast because immediately a hefty shark came up and ate the jig. It was the only bite we got there, and after the inevitable cut-off we headed back to the dock.

On another nearly perfect day (I love Florida’s winter weather!) on Friday Tom Van Horn joined me for a scout trip on Mosquito Lagoon, the first time I’d been there in weeks. The water still looks like crap. The grass is still dying back.

We Deadly Combo’d up a bunch of trout, although all but two were short. Then we went looking for redfish. I checked four or five spots before even seeing one, but we ended up seeing a few and Tom even managed to get one.

orlando fishing report

Capt. Tom with a redfish.

Friend and paddle fanatic Mike Conneen made a 5 minute video on our Big Bend trip, worth the time to check-

And that is the Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report for this week!

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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Short Orlando Fishing Report

December 10, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Short Orlando Fishing Report

Regular readers know I was on a trip last week, which ended Sunday night. Monday and Tuesday were spent unpacking and cleaning. Only two days of fishing happened after that, so we have a short Orlando fishing report.

Innova Swing EX review

The Innova Swing EX

Innova sent me an inflatable kayak to test. Part of that test happened on the Econlockhatchee on Wednesday (read the boat review here- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/innova-swing-ex-inflatable-kayak-review/). The gauge was at 2.0- YES! On a beautiful sunny day I got two bass on a purple Culprit worm in about two hours.

Innova Swing EX review

I caught this bass from the Swing EX.

Thursday the forecast looked good, but Friday a front was coming. If I was going to fish it better be quick! I drove to the port to look around, hoping to find some Sargassum.

There was no weed, but plenty of the smaller fishies were along the beach- ladies, blues, jacks, even a few trout. I did not get any Spanish mackerel but met someone who did. I hooked three big sharks on jigs?!?!? Lost them all on cutoffs. Went through a lot of jigheads/tails. It was nice out there- glad I went.

orlando fishing report

There were eight or nine shrimp boats off the port, killing bycatch. No fish were working them as far as I could tell.

Friday the front blew through with rain and wind. Air temperature dropped about 15 degrees. No fishing this weekend for me!

For Sale
Would like to sell my old trailer, still on Craiglist at a lowered price. https://post.craigslist.org/manage/5912258792/5sdpd

And that is the Short 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Port Canaveral Fishing Report

November 19, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Port Canaveral Fishing Report

This is a Port Canaveral Fishing Report, 11/19/16.

Two days of fishing this week, one of which was in a retention pond. The other, on Monday, was out of Port Canaveral.

Scott Radloff and I went. At the ramp Fred Cisneros told us there were Sargassum weeds with tripletail on them. We found some weeds pretty quick, but did not see any fish. We later realized we were not out far enough, but it would be hours before that realization occurred. We ended up not getting a shot at the ‘tails.

port canaveral fishing report

Searching the weeds.

What we did do was go off of the Cape. Fish were busting, one here, one there. At first I was tossing a DOA CAL jig. A couple decent seatrout and a couple of nice Spanish mackerel came aboard. I wanted the macs with an eye to smoked fish dip. So into the cooler they went.

A toothy fish relieved me of the jig. My other rod was rigged with a Deadly Combo. I’d never used it for Spanish, but it seemed like a good idea. Oh Yes, it certainly was. We caught mackerel and bluefish steadily until we had enough, then went back toward the weeds.

Fish were blowing up in the weeds. Perhaps foolishly I grabbed a six-weight and tossed a bouncer bucktail out there. WHAM.

port canaveral fishing report

The fish is trying to teach me a lesson.

The tunny were solid, over ten pounds. It took me 15 or 20 minutes to get that beast in. In the meantime Scott had hooked, boated and released one on a Sting Silver.

port canaveral fishing report

A fat tunny on fly!

By this time it was well into the afternoon. We were discussing whan we should leave when we spotted an incoming submarine. Immediately the motor got cranked and we headed back to the dock. Don’t want to deal with the security for one of those!

port canaveral fishing report

The fly was nothing special, but the fish certainly was!

All in all fishing was pretty darn good. If I hadn’t been so busy I would have called Aubrey.

The fish got smoked the next day, two batches, an all afternoon undertaking. They came out quite deliciously. I hope my Thanksgiving guests enjoy them!

Wednesday afternoon after finishing errands the chariot took me to a pond in Oviedo. A couple hours yielded seven bass, mostly small ones. The best is shown below.

port canaveral fishing report

A lovely little bass, perfect for an autumn afternoon.

—————————————————-
FOR SALE
Still trying to find a good home for my old EZ Loader Trailer- http://orlando.craigslist.org/bpo/5764303987.html
—————————————————-

And that is the Port Canaveral 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: , , , ,
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