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orlando fishing report- 2/26/11 Redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon

February 26, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 2/26/11

Upcoming Events

March 5- MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details. Last call for the Show and Tell Seminar! Prime slots still available!

March 6- Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details. Last call!

Fishing success (as frequently happens) was up and down this week.

On Tuesday John Anders and Heather, visitors from Ontario, joined me for a half day on the Mosquito Lagoon. Although it was a beautiful day we didn’t see many fish and the ones we did see were not very cooperative. Heather finally broke the ice with a nice trout that whacked a jerk bait. John got two rat reds on a RipTide Weedless Jig. Sometimes guides will complain that the fish were there and the fishermen couldn’t catch them but Mr. Anders is a tournament fisherman and was very competent. It just wasn’t happnin, mon!

Tuesday night I had a nice visit with the Florida Fly Fishing Association. The program went well. Thanks for having me, gentlemen!

Thursday fly fisher Five O’Clock Bob from Vermont shared the Spotted Tail with me. The weather was crapalacious- cold windy, foggy, overcast. How windy you ask? It hit 25 mph, measured with an anemometer- not exactly prime flycasting weather. Bob had a fine red nail his black bunny booger on the third cast of the day. The fish broke off. It would turn out to be the only bite we got. Amazingly we saw quite a few other fish but it was borderline unfishable. Any fish seen under those conditions, much less caught, was a major victory. The water was real low- I had to get out and push a couple times.

Thursday I had a split half day. In the morning Dan LaRosa and Ron Ten Berge joined me. The weather was awesome. There should have been fish everywhere. There wasn’t, although we certainly saw enough that we should have caught some. The gentlemen had some fine casts, lures right in the fish, both trout and reds. We found them both tailing and laid up on the flats. We had one strike all morning, and did not hook the fish. Yes- the dreaded skunk visited.

The afternoon trip was with old friend Susan Cocking, up from Miami to write a piece about redfishing with the space shuttle going up. We got the skunk off pretty early with a nice trout that fell for a DOA Shrimp.

This trout de-skunked Spotted Tail.

Then we found a school of redfish and got them on the DOA, the RipTide Weedless Jig, some real (dead) shrimp, and on fly with the redfish worm. I wasn’t keeping tally but we probably got eight or nine.

The fish didn't say anything about the launch. Unimpressed?

Then we raced down to watch the shuttle blast off. It went! It was spectacular! Take that you dirty Klingons!

The launch was flawless. Take that, Klingons!

Friday Rod Miller made love to my Yamaha for me while I got new tires for my van and trailer. New tires on the van- it’s almost as good as…, well, no, not that good. But pretty darned good, none the less. And the Yamaha is good for another year now. So let’s go fishing!

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando area fishing report 2/13/11

February 13, 2011 by · 2 Comments

The Report from Spotted Tail 2/13/11

Upcoming Events

On February 22 I’ll be speaking to the Florida Fly Fishing Association in Cocoa.

February 19-  Hook Kids on Fishing program at Kiwanis Island Park from 9-11am. Kiwanis Island Park is located directly on Sykes Creek immediately north of State Road 520 (951 Kiwanis Island Park Road Merritt Island). Volunteers should show up no later than 8:00 am.

February 26- Beachside Hook Kids on Fishing program in Satellite Beach from 9-11am. The program will be held at the pond located directly west of the Satellite Beach library and east of the skate park. Volunteers should show up no later than 8:00 am.

March 5- MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details.

March 6- Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details.

*******************************************

Only two days saw me out this week just past.

On Wednesday the Ocean Kayak and I visited my favorite pond. It was a beautiful day! Regular readers may recall the fine day I had there a few weeks back blind casting with a rattle rouser. I certainly remembered, and hoped for a repeat.

I tied on the rattle rouser and tossed it for a couple hours. I had only one bite, hooked the fish, then lost it. No problem with the hook this time, either.

Even though the solitude was enjoyable, after a couple hours I decided to try a different spot.

I went to another pond. It had been quite a while since my last visit. It wasn’t quite dry, but the seagulls were walking across it. It was about an inch and a half deep. There were dead catfish around the shoreline, badly decomposed, almost mummified.

I went out into the main part of the Indian River Lagoon. In about three hours one shot at a trout presented itself. The cast was good, I thought. The fish did not agree.

I saw three reds but did not get a shot at any of them. And then the sun was low and it was time to go home.

Friday Dr. George Yarko and I launched the Mitzi at River Breeze. The thought crossed my mind, “If we find any fish it will be by the grace of God.” It was maybe 50 degrees, overcast, misty, and windy, horrible winter redfish weather here. I forgot my sunglasses and didn’t even miss them.

My intuition proved correct. Actually we did run over about a half dozen fish but didn’t have a crack at any of them. We couldn’t see anything.

I did get one short trout on a jig. As far as catching fish goes that was it for the day.

We talked about music, concerts and such, and money, and women, and a variety of other things, and had as good a time fishing as you can when the fishing’s not so hot. The boat was back on the trailer at about 2:30 pm.

I’ll be out a bunch this week coming. And I am looking forward to it a LOT!

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Shad Fishing- Orlando area fishing report 2/5/11

February 5, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 2/5/11

Upcoming Events

February 22- I’ll be speaking to the Florida Fly Fishing Association in Cocoa.

March 5- MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details.

March 6- Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. See this link for details.

*******************************************

Every day this week saw me on or in the water. Fishing wasn’t very good.

Monday I went scouting on the Mosquito Lagoon in the Mitzi. It was mostly sunny and at first there was no wind. I saw that and headed straight to a big fish spot.

They were there, finning out and tailing sporadically. I donned waders and stalked them on foot. I had two superb casts with a crab fly, casts I was sure would work. Neither did. The fish moved off and rather than use a lot of time on them on a scouting day I went scouting.

I did not see much else.

There were five boats at the south end of Tiger Shoal. I could see one chasing some fish around, but didn’t see anyone hook up. I poled the entire way across the flat. All I saw were tailing mergansers, nothing with fins.

I ended up with a small black drum taken on a Son of Clouser and several marginal sized seatrout on a chartreuse DOA Shrimp.

Tuesday afternoon I went to the St. Johns River to try for shad. I walked up to the Econ and started fishing. My six-weight had a floating line. I got one crappie and hooked and lost one other fish.

I hitched a ride back down the river with Bill Mieli. Bill, using a #3 sinktip line and a pair of flies, had gotten nine shad. Ah-HA!

Wednesday David Cushman, a fly caster from Virginia, and his brother-in-law Clark, joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. It was cloudy and breezy. I was hoping for better luck than on Monday, but no such luck. We scoured the south end of the lagoon and most fish that we saw we saw as they fled. We just couldn’t see them. Not that there were many around. It was very thin, numbers-wise.

Clark tossed various spinning lures all day without a strike, and David did no better. He really had only one legitimate shot all day. We were victims of a good, old-fashioned skunking.

Thursday afternoon found me back at the St. Johns, this time with a sink-tip. When I got there Tom Van Horn was there already. We fished together for about three hours. Total tally- two bluegills, one shad. We talked to a guy who had been fly fishing up by the Econ. It was slow up there too.

Friday I went back to the St. Johns. The fish come up the river in waves. If you hit the wave you do very well. Between waves there’s not much going on. Some years the waves come one after another and other years there are days between waves. I figured if I kept trying it I was bound to hit one of those waves.

When I got there Ron Presley and Paul McGinnis were staging Ron’s boat for launch. I hitched a ride with them up the Econ a ways, then hopped out and fished my way back to the SR 46 bridge.

Ron and Paul tossed tandem rigs with Tiny TerrorEyz from DOA. They got seven shad between them. I was throwing a chartreuse shad fly. I got one bluegill, one redbelly, one crappie, and one shad. I passed several other fly casters along the way and none of them was doing much.

I like the stretch of river between SR 46 and the Econ because you don’t need a boat to fish it. But Thursday and Friday at least there were no waves of fish there. You could get one or two but you’d better be prepared to work for them.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Kayak Fishing- Orlando area fishing report 1/30/11

January 30, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 1/30/11

Upcoming Events

On February 22 I’ll be speaking to the Florida Fly Fishing Association in Cocoa.

*******************************************

Sadly, the Mitzi sat in the yard all week. The Ocean Kayak lived on the roof of the van all week, though!

Monday we went to the Banana River Lagoon, launching at about 9 am. The water surface was like a sheet of glass, reflecting the low overcast in the sky. I paddled to the first spot, where not a sign of life showed itself.

The second spot was a large flat that had a few, widely scattered large redfish tailing on it. I got a decent shot at exactly one and he fled in terror when the fly (a black and green clouser minnow) moved.

The third spot beckoned.

Upon arriving there I again found widely scattered tailing reds. The first one I threw to spooked off the fly. The second was cruising in water so thin its back was showing. Even with the overcast I could see it plainly and managed to get the fly right in his face. He ate it.

He couldn’t get good purchase in the thin water so he didn’t fight very well. But he was fat, around the 20 pound mark. It was around noon and certainly nice to finally deskunkify, especially with a fish like that.

In the next hour a couple more shots followed. I convinced another tailer to eat. He was smaller, around 14 pounds, but fought harder in slightly deeper water.

By now the sun had come out and it was easy to see it was well into the afternoon. There was a long way to go so I turned the bow of the kayak south and started the return trip. I only had three unsuccessful shots the entire way and with some sore buns put the ‘yak on the roof of the van at about 430. No black drum and only a handful of trout were observed the entire day.

Friday again saw ‘yak and I at the Banana River Lagoon, launching at about 10 am. The sun was out, gloriously so. Not a single cloud marred the sky. The breeze was chilly and at the edge of practical kayak fly fishing, speed wise.

Found a tailing red within sight of the van, wasn’t ready. By the time I got so the fish had disappeared.

Shortly afterwards I found a big slob red tailing in about a foot of water. I waded to it and cast a bunny booger about a half a dozen times. Missed every one, and finally spooked the fish. It turned out to be by far the best shot of the day, and set the tone for the day too.

Hours later I found some black drum in dirty water, hard to see because they weren’t tailing. I finally got a bite from one and missed it. It was the only bite of the now rapidly aging day.

I saw a few tailing reds on the way back but did not get a shot. No trout were found. No humans were found, either. Altogether a glorious, if not fish-filled, day.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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bad weather; redfish and seatrout- Orlando area fishing report 1/23/11

January 23, 2011 by · 5 Comments

The Report from Spotted Tail 1/23/11

Upcoming Events

On February 3 I start teaching the course, “Fundamentals of Flats Fishing” at Brevard Community College. Read more here…

On February 22 I’ll be speaking to the Florida Fly Fishing Association in Cocoa.

*******************************************
Between King Day, computer work, a speaking engagement, and some nasty, rainy weather, I only got out one afternoon all this week.

Signs of spring- red maples are not only flowering, I found some seeds yesterday. At Lake Mills Park I noticed a bush starting to leaf out.

The Tri-County Fly Fishers meeting went well. There were a lot of people there. They asked lots of questions, keeping me on for a couple of hours. I’d like to thank Ed Rapisardi and the rest of the club for having me up to the Villages. I had a good time, guys, thanks!

The Report-

John left the house at 11 AM, kayak strapped to the roof. His destination was the Indian River Lagoon. A three-weight fly rod was in the back of the van.

When he got to where he was going something was wrong. The weather was beautiful, warm, sunny, no wind. But the place just didn’t look right, feel right. After considering for a moment, he went elsewhere to try a spot he hadn’t fished in a couple of years.

The water was dark, dirty. John paddled the kayak halfway around the pond. No fish were showing. He decided to try wading, blind casting.

He perused the contents of his fly box, then chose a chartreuse rattle rouser. He carefully tied it onto his leader. He cast it several minutes without success, remembering good days there, wondering if any fish were in the pond now.

Suddenly a fish crashed against the shore, 150 feet away. John started working his way towards it. A fish spooked off from John only a few feet away from him. At least he knew there was still one fish left in the pond.

A few more minutes of uneventful casting went by. Suddenly John’s line came tight. It was a redfish, a nice one. John wondered if he should have brought something beefier than a three-weight. But before long he was releasing a 28 inch fish.

Several more bites came in rapid succession. It was as if a school of fish had swum up to John. He released three more fish in the next ten minutes. Then the bite slowed.

He could hear another fish crashing periodically at the far end of the pond. He got back in the kayak and paddled over, then got out and started wading and blind casting again. He was looking for that fish.

He noticed a couple of tiny ripples working along the shoreline. John made a cast out in front of them. When the ripples got near the fly John twitched it. The ripples turned into a boil and the line came tight. Minutes later he released a 26 inch redfish.

He kept blind casting. Bites came steadily, from both redfish and seatrout. The best fish of the day then struck.

It was a trout, a gator. The rattle rouser was hooked in the bottom jaw. The fish fought strongly, splashing, diving, running, but the little rod soon wore it out. John admired the 28 inch fish briefly. Enormously satisfied, he turned it loose.

Smiling, John got back in the kayak. The day, the place, felt like a Louisiana bayou. He partly paddled, partly floated back to the car.

John will be tying more rattle rousers today.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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the most public organ; i mean who is posting*

December 5, 2010 by · 1 Comment
The Report from Spotted Tail 12/5/10

in this issue
i mean who is posting*
lives of a cell
fishing conference
fly rod leaders
fishing report
Monthly Contest
i mean who is posting*
Last week I made an assertion that present day fish populations are two percent of what they were when Columbus arrived. I read this someplace years ago and couldn’t remember where. But I got a response that said this: “come on dude, these facts* and proof* i mean who is posting*”
Having been called out I went looking for the documentation.
My first thought was that it was in Salmon Without Rivers, by Jim Lichatowich. The book is beautifully indexed and referenced (and highly recommended), but I couldn’t find it in there.
My next thought was to look in The Founding Fish, by John McPhee. It may be in there. The book, while wonderfully written and also highly recommended, is neither indexed nor referenced, and I couldn’t find it in the time available to me.
So I went looking on the internet. I found a blog about fish populations by Dave Mosher. I sent him an email. This is his response: “Not aware of any fish population estimates for the 15th century in North America, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. The point of the story I wrote is pretty much that — we don’t have a great baseline idea of what pristine ocean ecosystems were like prior to significant, industry driven human interaction with them.
“This is a really interesting resource you may want to dig through for an answer: http://www.hull.ac.uk/hmap/hmapcoml.org/History%20of%20Marine%20Animal%20Populations.swf
“Also, ‘2% of what they were’ sounds fairly hand-grenade. Specificity is key to being accurate with population estimates of this sort. For example, Caribbean coral reefs took a beating around Columbus’ time: http://www.springerlink.com/content/pntp5dtb1gc0l8tw/”
I just started writing this blog and frankly was wondering if anyone was reading, which somewhat stimulated my use of the two percent comment. I knew while writing it that if I were called out I would have to go on a treasure hunt. I was, and I did, and couldn’t find the treasure.
Before I make any more assertions like that I’ll be sure I can back them up. I apologize for not making sure in this instance. And to Mr. Silk Floral Arrangement, the person who called me out, thank you for keeping me honest.
When you look at Atlantic salmon, Pacific salmon, cod, bluefin tuna, red snapper, and various grouper species, just to mention a few species that come to mind, it’s hard not to believe that two percent figure. But the fact is I can’t find the place I originally read it.
And lastly, for the fisherman/reader on your Christmas list, those two books listed above would make great presents.
Lives of a Cell
Former student and current mentor Matt Van Pelt suggested that I read Lives of a Cell by the late Lewis Thomas. I am fortunate to have taken his advice. A short excerpt:
“The human brain is the most public organ on the face of the earth, open to everything, sending out messages to everything. To be sure, it is hidden away in bone and conducts internal affairs in secrecy, but virtually all business is the direct result of thinking that has already occurred in other minds. We pass thoughts around, from mind to mind, so compulsively and with such speed that the brains of mankind often appear, functionally, to be undergoing fusion.”
It’s good stuff, not fishing, so much more important than fishing. If you have the slightest interest in biology and enjoy superior writing I recommend it without reservation. Another Christmas gift possibility for you!
Fly Rod Leaders
A question that often comes up at fishing seminars concerns fly rod leader construction. I use big game style leaders for about 95 percent of my fly fishing because the only place the leader ever breaks is where the fly is tied on. Further, you can pre-make tippets and carry them in a labeled ziplock bag, very convenient. For six- through eight-weights proceed as follows:
1) Take a wingspan of 30 pound monofilament. A wingspan is your stretched fingertip to fingertip distance. Tie a loop knot at both ends. I use a double surgeon’s loop but use whatever knot you like. Loop one end to the end of the fly line.
2) Take another wingspan of your tippet material. For my lagoon fishing that’s usually 12 to 15 pound fluorocarbon. Tie a short Bimini twist in one end. Tie a double surgeon’s loop (or whatever loop knot you like) in the double line. Cut off all the tags.
3) Loop the tippet to the butt. Tie the fly on. Go fish.
I’ve had people tell me this system won’t work, energy transfer down the line, etc. Bull. When you get a weighted fly moving 40 or 50 miles an hour it’s going to straighten out any leader. The leader straightening is never a problem.
For bigger or smaller tackle just adjust the diameter of the butt section up or down. If you need a longer leader lengthen the butt. It’s simple. It works well. Try it.
Upcoming Fisheries Conference
Fish don’t vote. Fish don’t contribute to political campaigns. Those are two of the reasons that fish stocks are in such trouble.
Another reason is that recreational fishermen, the voting bloc that might actually make a difference when it comes to fisheries politicking, are a disorganized rabble. We have numbers but we’re not organized. So there is no single, strong voice out there calling for fishery conservation.
On December 13-16 the Sportfishing Conservation Alliance is holding a conference in Melbourne, Florida in an attempt to rectify this problem. We should all be supporting this idea, whose time came a while back. We all missed the bus then, but it’s coming around again. Hop on!
For more information contact The Sportfishing Conservancy, (714) 686-6548, info@sportcon.org, or visit their website at http://sportcon.org/
Orlando Fishing Report
Monday- rainy and windy, had a class
Tuesday- decent weather, but I had a class
Wednesday- cold, rainy, and high winds
Thursday- cold and windy
Friday- cold and windy. BUT, by Friday I was sick to death of sitting inside of four walls looking at a computer. So I opted to sit in a kayak and paddle, looking for fish.
It was a great call.
When I got to River Breeze I thought maybe I was being stupid. It was definitely chilly and the air was definitely flowing good from the northwest.  But I needed to get out, so off I went. It was about noon when I paddled away from the dock.
It was a stunning day weather-wise, especially where the wind was blocked. The birds were working it hard. I saw at least a dozen species and I was looking for fish, not birds (as an aside the loons are in the Mosquito Lagoon now).
I got to the fishing area. It was wind swept and again, why am I doing this came to mind. I got back in the canal and kept going.
Got to another fishing area. Muddy water, no fish. Kept looking. Big splash! Check it out!
It was a redfish. Didn’t get a shot, didn’t see it until it was about eight feet away. Felt good about seeing one.
Went around the corner. Big splash. There, a tail. Another big splash, different fish. There’s one coming right at me. Didn’t see the fly. The leader’s in the rod. The fly’s right in front of the fish, oh my God he’s on!
While I fought him two others blew out. I released him and continued the hunt. Had four more eats, hooked and lost one, missed the other three. Didn’t see another fisherman. Boat was on the roof at 5 PM and John was one contented boy.
Saturday fly fisher Scott Crouse joined me. He’d never gotten a redfish on fly before and was hoping this would be the day.
Weather-wise he could not have hit it any better. Sunny but cool, no clouds, light breeze, spectacular day. The fish liked it, even with the 60 degree water temperature.
Scott ended up boating three reds, broke off another. He missed at least that many bites. There were blown shots and fish we should have seen but didn’t. We were in fish most of the day and had a blast.
The fly of record was a black, #4 Redfish Worm.
Thank you Sgt. Crouse for a great day.
Monthly Fly Contest
No entries this week! ;-(
Send a photo and instructions to john@spottedtail.com, and get in the contest! Prize is a beautifully autographed copy of a fly fishing book by John Kumiski.
See last week’s entry at this link: http://www.spottedtail.com/FlyOfTheWeek.htm
Embrace simplicity.
Life is short- GO FISHING!
Life is great and I love my work!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
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