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East Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report

April 27, 2019 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

East Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report

With the nice weather this week we got out several times and fished around. Thank you for reading this East Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report!

FANTASTIC OFFER
We are still running the book offer- three of my book titles are now available for five cents each, only from my website. Thanks to all of you who have already taken advantage!
-Flyrodding Florida Salt
-How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System
-Fishing Florida’s Space Coast
Shipping is still $5.95 each. The mailers cost money, the post office wants a cut, and the mail boy has to bring the package to the post office. But you can have each of these titles delivered to your door for six bucks until June 15. Act now!

My current reading material is Basin and Range, by John McPhee (If it’s by McPhee you know it will be good!), a book about the geology of the southern Rocky Mountains. For a while I’ve been upset about rampant development and the loss of fisheries habitats. This book put everything in its proper perspective though.

Geologically speaking, in less than the blink of an eye we and all our works will be a part of the fossil record. Plastic lasts 500 years in the environment. What’s that to the earth? A little lava here, and little magma there, some erosion, some deposition, and all that stuff will be gone. REALLY gone.

The ocean will clean up the Indian River Lagoon, and the Everglades, and everything else, and some new specie will be running things. So everything’s good, unless you are a Homo sapiens. Because of their behavior as a species, their outlook is pretty bleak. They are nowhere near as smart as they think they are.

FISHING!

Sunday-
Carey and Joey Cordell, father and son, joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was amazing. We tossed soft plastics all day. The fish came in fitfully, and they were all small- four reds and maybe a dozen trout. We had a few shots at sight-fished, uncooperative reds, getting only one in spite of some ace casting by Joey.

The reds were small, but not this small.

Thank you for fishing with me, gentlemen!

MONday
Launched the Mitzi at Port Canaveral- love the new construction there by the boat ramp!- and went up into the Bight. Again the weather was amazing. There were loads of fish along the beach- five-pound crevalle swimming near the surface in big schools, some bluefish, and quite a few Spanish mackerel. Got the fly rod and did some jack damage with a popper, great fun. Got some macs on streamers.

I love jacks! Jack damage via a Krebs popper.

After getting my fill of the smaller fish I went looking for cobia, tripletail, etc. Zero success with that, though.

Macs on streamers, too.

Tuesday
Beautiful weather again! Took Shawn Healy out after telling him how great it was Monday. Of course it was not at all great on Tuesday. We worked it hard for four hours with spin tackle, to the tune of three mackerel, two jacks, and one ladyfish. Slow fishing but better than no cheese.

Thursday
Took a kayak and a fly rod out on the Indian River with low expectations. They were met! Found a small clump of black drum. They would not play, even with a crab fly. Saw two redfish, did not get a shot. Got a skunk-busting ladyfish, blind-casting with a streamer. Was loaded up by noon.

That’s this week’s East Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

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 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: Indian River Lagoon, kayak fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral

Central Florida Fishing Report

February 10, 2019 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Central Florida Fishing Report

This is a central Florida fishing report covering the Indian River Lagoon, the Mosquito Lagoon, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Econlockhatchee River. Yeah, we got around this week.

Upcoming-
-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Seminar, March 23. An all-day fishing seminars that take place in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, with the express goal of helping you catch more fish in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons. For more information, http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

-On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar, March 24. Fun, educational four hour fishing seminar that takes place in my Mitzi on the waters of the Mosquito Lagoon, with the express goal of helping you catch more fish. For More information, http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

Monday found me paddling on the Indian River Lagoon. It was pretty windy. I found a few redfish tailing but could not get near them. The waves made the kayak slap, and the fish all disappeared before I could get into fly casting range. Three dink trout managed to get impaled on the point of the fly’s hook, though.

Tuesday I took the Mitzi out of River Breeze to see how far south the clean water went. And, as long as there was clean water, I could do a little sight fishing, too. Find some fish for the upcoming trips, maybe. Such an idea!

I looked in a half-dozen spots, working as far south as Tiger Shoal. The water was still clean there. Fish were scarce, though. While I did see a few black drum and redfish I didn’t get a shot at them. Blind casting with the shad imitation netted me a few dink trout.

Working my way back north I fished a flat which has been a fish producer in the past. There were some redfish and decent sized trout there. I got a nice slot red and a solid 20” trout, and pooched a couple of strikes. It was a nice way to end the day.

The best trout of the week, on a plastic shad.

Wednesday found me back at the lagoon, still scouting. At the first spot I released four slot reds. NICE! There were more there but not wanting to beat them up I left them and looked elsewhere.

A couple elsewhere spots had nothing. But then I found another batch of fish and got a half dozen or so reds and trout, all slots. Again, I left them so as not to beat them up.

Not the biggest redfish of the day, but the spots!

At the next spot an hour plus was invested. A few dink trout were caught, and four redfish were spotted too late. Then three more slot reds came in quick succession. Then it was time to quit. It had been a very solid day, even though the fly rod was not touched. And, clean water almost everywhere I went.

Thursday Mike Conneen joined me for some near-shore Atlantic exploration. Off Cape Canaveral we got a few dink bluefish and a couple of the smallest pompano I’ve ever caught. We spent hours looking for tripletail, ending up near the steeple in Cocoa Beach. We saw thousands and thousands of cannonball jellyfish, but only one tripletail. He did not eat our offering.

The cannonballs aren’t very sporty.

Saturday Marisol and Cheryl joined me for a shad outing on the Econlockhatchee River. Two awesome ladies who love to fish, it’s a wonderful thing! The shad were cooperative enough that we got two doubles and lots of singles, releasing a couple dozen, all on little crappie jigs.

Cheryl got the first fish, a tiny crappie.

Great day, and thank you for fishing with me, Cheryl and Marisol!

Marisol with one of many shad they got.

I have not heard from the publisher about my latest book. While the suspense is killing me, not hearing is usually a good thing. If you hear right away it’s because the work ain’t up to snuff. I will try to continue being patient.

That’s this week’s Central Florida Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

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 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Econlockhatchee River, florida fishing, Indian River Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, mosquito lagoon fishing seminar, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, redfish, seatrout fishing, shad fishing

A Good East Central FLorida Fishing Report

November 11, 2018 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

A Good East Central FLorida Fishing Report

No news or announcements, so let’s get right to the Good East Central Florida fishing report!

Monday Tammy, the new Katmai Lodge fishing guide, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fly fishing aboard Spotted Tail. The weather was spectacular and we spotted tails almost immediately. Tammy made the most of the opportunty. The fly was a grizzly seaducer.

Tailing redfish, Mosquito Lagoon

Subsequent shots did not go as well, and that was the only fish we got. We had quite a few more chances though.

Tammy’s fly-caught redfish.

Tuesday Scott Radloff joined me for a Port Canaveral excursion.We went through $25 worth of jigs, getting cut off by fat Spanish mackerel and bluefish.

These mackerel were going through #40 fluoro on the strike.

There were jacks and ladies, too. I pulled out a six-weight and did a litle damage with that, great fun. It was a pretty awesome day. So much so…

…that on Wednesday I returned with my two sons for a repeat performance. We found a school of eight pound jacks. Alex got one with the six-weight, using a gurgler. The whole day was pretty much a repeat of the previous one. LOTSA FISH!

Alex used an UL spin rod…

…to get this jack.

Then he used the six-weight…

…to get this one.

Maxx’s mackerel thrashed right onto my lens.

Thursday Shane Thomas joined me for an enhanced on-the-water Show-and-Tell seminar on Mosquito Lagoon. We enhanced it by taking an extra two hours and fishing. We did not see much other than manatees at the south end of the lagoon, but as we worked our way north tailing redfish started to show. He got one to bite a shad tail, but unfortunately missed it. We got a few short trout. Shane did claim to be on information overload by the end of the trip, something this instructor loves to hear.

That is A Good East Central FLorida Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

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 2018. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: central florida fishing report, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, redfish fishing, Spanish mackerel fishing

Dirty Water Central Florida Lagoons Fishing Report

October 13, 2018 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Dirty Water Central Florida Lagoons Fishing Report

The water was dirty in the lagoons this week, so we have a Dirty Water Central Florida Lagoons Fishing Report for you.

Upcoming Events-

-Last call for the Aloha Protect Our Waters Fundraiser! It should be called th FUN-raiser- Mai-tais, tropical cuisine, and live music highlight this event. There might be some well-known fishing personalities, too. All funds raised help support Anglers for Conservation’s youth fishing education programs. Oct 14, 3-6 PM. For more information visit www.anglersforconservation.org/pow . I hope to see you there!

-MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. Oct. 27, 830 AM. In this all-day seminar I SHOW you where to fish, and TELL you how to be successful. For more information visit http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

-Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar. Oct. 28. In this four hour seminar I take you out in my skiff and show you all my secrets. For more information visit http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

For Sale–

15 ft Sailboat for sale with trailer! Sails are 2 years old and always dried and rolled into their sailbags. Main and Jib. Great little boat for cruising or racing. Custom trailer.

Boat is ready to go right now!

Visit this link for more information! http://www.spottedtail.com/15-sailboat-for-sale/

Microadventures
Son Maxx showed me a wonderful website called The Art of Manliness. While learning how to get the savoir-faire of James Bond, I also learned of a concept called microadventures. Most folks work from 9-5. What do you do from 5-9? You could be outside, fishing, hiking, bicycling, or simply watching the sun set.

Most people’s lives could benefit from the 8 Week Microadventure Challenge. Read all about it here- https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/my-8-week-microadventure-challenge/. It could change your life for the better!

Fishing!
Monday the weatherman scared me into staying home. It was nice all day! I did learn about microadventures, though.

Tuesday, with microadventures fresh in my mind, I ignored the weatherman and went to the Econ. The gauge read just a bit under three feet, higher than I like it but lower than it’s been for the past month. With a hurricane about to blow by I figured it might go up again real fast, so I got out there.

Fly fishing with a popper netted me four species- bass, bluegill, stumpknocker, redbelly. A two-weight would have been more appropriate than the four-weight used, fish-size-wise. It was a beautiful day and the river looked great. Saw herons, ibis, kingfishers, hawks, vultures, painted turtles. Did not see snakes or alligators.

Thursday I took the Mitzi to Port Canaveral hoping to catch some mullet. The parking lot was nearly empty, never a good sign.

I could not get to the jetty because the seas were so rough.

A tour of the Port turned up zero mullet, or anything else. The Obsession and two other charter boats were trolling inside the port, though.

I pulled the boat and drove to Titusville Marina where I launched the boat among the floating dead fish. A look-see north of the railroad trestle turned up exactly four redfish. I caught a small one while blind-casting a soft plastic shad. You could hardly see the bottom because the water was so dirty. I netted a few mullet up, too.

Friday son Alex and I took the Mitzi to River Breeze to do some scouting. The water was dirtier than it was in the Indian River. You could not see the bottom at all. It’s high, too.

It took us a while (maybe the sun had to get high in the sky) to get down to the main basin of the lagoon. There we found a few fish. Alex got a decent red on a jerk bait, then got a nice trout, too. Dad got three dink trout.

So the water in the lagoons is high and dirty, and fishing could be better (and it could be worse too).

That is the Dirty Water Central Florida Lagoons Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

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 2018. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: Econlockhatchee River, Indian River Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, redfish fishing, seatrout fishing

Nearshore Port Canaveral Fishing Report

June 8, 2018 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Nearshore Port Canaveral Fishing Report

This is a nearshore Port Canaveral fishing report, my last Florida fishing report until September. I write this on an Alaska Air Big Bird, headed to Alaska’s Katmai Lodge on the Alagnak River.

Tunny will shake. Tunny will bleed.

Monday Mike Conneen joined me on Spotted Tail for some spin fishing. We headed out of the Port and went off down the beach. Near the fishing grounds I threw the net once, got all the bait we might need. It’s nice when that happens!

Tunny were breaking all over the place, as were Spanish mackerel. We got a few Spanish for my aunt, then went a-tunnying.

Mike got this kingfish without using wire.

It was borderline ridiculous, fish breaking everywhere. We used white CAL jigs and Sting Silvers. I broke out the seven-weight and got a couple on a Bouncer streamer.

This was as much jump as I got.

Mike wanted a tarpon, so once our appetite for tunny was sated we went searching. We found a place with scattered rollers, and so deployed the baits, what I believe were scaled sardines. Big tunny loved them. Crevalle jacks loved them. Blacktip sharks loved them. King mackerel really loved them, cutting us off repeatedly. Mike hooked a 20 pounder on the back of the head and so landed it. I put on a stinger rig and got one about half that size.

Mike has the beast near the boat.

We got a lot of bites. Finally I jumped a big tarpon. One jump and it was off. I was not sorry.

By this point I was ready to head back, but Mike really wanted that tarpon, so I made one more drift. A dinosaur-sized tarpon took his bait. Let the games begin!

It was a BIG fish.

I did not time the length of that fight, but it was a big fish and not jumpy at all. All thoughts of heading back were gone. I stood by with the cameras, waiting for jumps that never came.

Mike finally got the fish close to the boat. I leadered it six times, the last one getting the hook back. I could not hold onto that fish though, and the photo Mike wanted so badly did not get taken.

Breaking fish, fly rod. Life is good.

Tuesday Tammy joined me, same time, same station. Similar action, minus the tarpon. Tammy and I were both more interested in fly fishing, and whacked more than a few Spanish macks and tunny. When the surface action slowed we deployed scaled sardines. Tunny and jacks, with sharks and king macks taking turns cutting us off.

Lift that fish!

We would have liked a tarpon, but there were fewer rolling and we did not jump one. It was still another ridiculously good day though.

Tunny will shimmy. Tunny will vomit.

This one was better behaved.

This one was well behaved, too!

Wednesday Tom Finger joined me. We ran down the beach, got the bait, went looking for breaking fish. Nothing. I had called him telling him how great it was, and now had a major sinking feeling. The bazillions of fish that had been there the previous two days were all gone.

Tom’s tunny. All his buddies were gone 🙁

We went out to deeper water looking for jacks, tunny, and king macks. Not much there, either. Tom got a tunny on a sardine. We missed several strikes.

Heading back north we found a sizable area of breaking Spanish macks. We each got one before they disappeared. Then lightning started flashing and we headed back to the ramp at all possible speed.

Thanks to Mike, Tammy, and Tom for sharing these days with me!

And that is my Nearshore Port Canaveral Fishing Report! Next report will be from Alaska- trout and salmon!

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 2018. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Orlando Fishing Report, Photo Essays, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: adventure fishing, fly fishing, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, tarpon fishing

Early June East Central Florida Fishing Report

June 2, 2018 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Early June East Central Florida Fishing Report

June- tarpon time, and I go to Alaska soon, far from tarpon. This early June east central Florida fishing report covers the Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral.

It still rained a lot this week.

Tuesday Robert Ungvarsky and his two delightful daughters joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Our goal was simple- keep the girls catching fish. To that end we stopped at Anchor Hardware and bought 50 shrimp, small ones, to be tossed on ultralight spin tackle. Terminal tackle consisted of a #8 hook and a split shot. We broke each shrimp in half, effectively getting two baits out of each one. Even at that we used all but four.

As luck would have it one of the first fish we got was a 13 inch pompano. Lots of squealing from happy kids on that one! Trout, catfish (of course), pinfish, snapper, ladyfish, a couple of big whiting, a puffer, and a flounder rounded out the catch. The plan worked well, something that doesn’t always happen in fishing. Everyone was happy and we all had a great time. Robert, thank you and I hope you will join me again.

Fred with one of many trout they caught.

Friday found the Finger twins, Tom and Fred, on Spotted Tail, on Mosquito Lagoon, hunting for fish. The hunt took about 30 minutes. Then we hit trout steadily for a couple of hours. Although many were just under slot, we got some to about three pounds. CAL jigs were the weapon of choice. Once that bite dried up we did not find much else, and trailered the boat about 2 PM.

Saturday I joined Tom Van Horn and Rodney Smith on Tom’s Hewes out of Port Canaveral. Someone was holding a tournament and the ramps were chaos. We managed to get out of there and went for a ride.

Zzzz-ZZZzzzzz-ZZZZZZZZZ! Tunny are awesome!

I spotted some breaking fish and tossed a jig at them. BAM-ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! I love that sound! Little tunny, one of the ocean’s finer light tackle fish. They were good sized ones, 12 pounds or so. We got several, along with a single Spanish mackerel.

We knew we might hook some larger fish when a 100 pound tarpon jumped after eating Rodney’s jig. We’re lucky it jumped off. That little spin rod was not designed for that work. We went close to the beach and netted some pogies.

Two musketeers? Two stooges? Two hookups, definitely!

Moving back to deeper water we almost ran the tarpon over. Rodney and I both cast baits out, using actual tarpon gear. Getting his bite took about 20 seconds, mine about twice that long. So we had a tarpon double, both 100+ pound fish.

happy Rodney

Getting close!

A graceless ballet ensued aboard Tom’s vessel, punctuated by grunting and an occasional curse, and sounds of delight when the fish jumped. After about 40 minutes I had my fish near the boat when the hook pulled. Rodney’s took a little longer. He broke it off next to the boat. After that we messed around long enough for Tom to hook a five foot blacktip shark. After that it was all over except for the ride back to the boat ramp. We left early to beat the crowd!

And that is the early June east central Florida 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 2018. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: adventure fishing, DOA Lures, florida fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, seatrout fishing, tarpon fishing

Three Lagoons Fishing Report

September 23, 2017 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Three Lagoons Fishing Report

Finally, a more-or-less full week of fishing. Our travels this week brought us to the Mosquito Lagoon (twice), the Indian Rver Lagoon (twice), the Banana River Lagoon, the Econlockhatchee River (no fishing though) and a brief stop at Port Canaveral. So we have a three lagoons fishing report.

The boats wait for us to finish the shuttle.

Sunday I joined Tammy and Mike Conneen for a kayak trip down the still-flooded Econ. It had peaked earlier at 18 feet and on Sunday was at 12 feet (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/fl/nwis/uv/?site_no=02233500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060), still mostly over its banks. The weather was awesome and everything was going fine until I took a “shortcut”, followed by everyone else.

Mike Conneen, navigator extraordinaire.

Off we go into the woods.

Don’t trespass!

Before long there was no current to follow and we were darn confused, paddling around in the woods. Mike got the phone out (GPS app). We followed him back to the river, losing about an hour in the process.

We’re definitely in the woods.

Still in the woods.

Tammy doesn’t care. She always enjoys herself.

When we got to the St. Johns there was no river, only a very large lake. It’s still lapping the sides of SR 46 and the CS Lee boat ramp is still closed.

Cheryl on the lake that once was the St. Johns River, near SR 46.

Remember to run at idle speed!

Monday Tammy and I went scouting on the IRL, launching at Parrish Park. The water is high (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?02248380) and dirty in most places. We fished around some culverts and Tammy got snook, redfish, and ladyfish. She foul-hooked a trophy black mullet. She wanted a seatrout but we could not find one. The mullet may have weighed more than all the other fish combined.

We converted one redfish on a DOA CAL shad.

Tuesday Scott Radloff and I did a Mosquito Lagoon survey. This lagoon has by far the cleanest water of the three lagoons, and quite a few mullet too. We actually saw a handful of redfish, getting shots at two and converting one on a DOA CAL shad. I got six snooklets on a #6 Clouser minnow, beautiful little fish that would have looked great in an aquarium. We also got a half-dozen slot trout, one on a jig and the rest on a DOA Deadly Combo.

Scott got a trout on a jig.

Wednesday Miss Chellie Gentry joined me for a fly fishing charter on the IRL. In the morning we hit maybe ten culvert pipes. None of them had fish. She finally got her first saltwater fish, a tarpon, on a gurgler. It was a wonderful moment- I’m sorry I didn’t get a photo.

The magic pipe produced a couple dozen ladyfish…

Then we hit the pipe I had been looking for all day. The ladyfish were going crazy, and she got three redfish too. They were not very big but they were all on fly. We called the outing a success! Chellie, thanks for fishing with me!

…and several redfish!

Thursday Mike Conneen and I met to check out the Banana River Lagoon, the third lagoon in the three lagoons fishing report. The water was a soupy olive green. Nowhere could you see the bottom. There was a dearth of baitfish. Mike actually caught a slot trout by blind casting with a Vudu Shrimp. We had the kayaks back on our cars in a little less than three hours.

Mike battles a trout…

…which was actually a solid fish.

While in the neighborhood it seemed appropriate to check the ramp at Port Canaveral. They are operational, and in spite of the big seas there were several trailers in the lot. I didn’t see any mullet and asked a fisherman who had come in to the ramp if he had seen any. He said, “I fish here regularly. It was dead out there. I used mud minnows for bait all morning and did not get a bite. And no, there weren’t any mullet.”

The obvious question is, where are they? It’s certainly mullet time.

Friday found me back on Mosquito Lagoon with son Alex and his friend John. We fished a couple bars and caught a few trout on spin tackle, then went looking for redfish. We actually found a few (and a few black drum too) but did not convert, and did not get one. About noontime threatening weather caused us to race the storms back to River Breeze. We got the boat on the trailer just as the storms hit us, some darn close timing when lightning is involved.

That is this week’s three lagoons fishing report! Thanks for reading!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, Photo Essays · Tagged: adventure fishing, Banana River, DOA Lures, Econlockhatchee River, florida fishing, Indian River Lagoon, kayak fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, redfish, seatrout fishing, tarpon fishing

Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

May 27, 2017 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

Please take a moment right now for a small prayer for all the men and women whose sacrifices we should be remembering this weekend.

This Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report details trips to the Mosquito Lagoon, St. Johns River, and Atlantic Ocean.

Sunday

Nile with one of the redfish he caught.

Matt and Niles Smith, father and son, joined me on Spotted Tail for a Mosquito Lagoon outing. Three tarpon rolled next to the boat as we idled through Haulover Canal, the first tarpon I’ve seen this year.

Not to be outdone, Matt got one, too.

We were happily fishing for trout when I spotted redfish tails. We got on them without attracting the attention of the many other boats around, getting five nice reds before they vacated the area. DOA CAL shad were the bait of choice. Oh yes, the trout fishing was pretty good, too.

Monday

Tammy shows off a mini-bass. It’s as big as they get that size!

Channel cat on fly!

Tammy Wilson led me on a St. Johns River excursion. The river is ankle-deep in many places. We did not get any big fish but got five different species of fish on mostly surface flies. We also found three dead cows. They stink is a most foul manner.

Got me sum bass, two!

The river valley has some exquisite places…

Tuesday

This silly fish ate an Alaskan fly.

John went back to the St. Johns River by himself in an attempt to capitalize on what he learned the previous day. He stuck to subsurface flies (a black egg-sucking bunny leech worked quite well) and got largemouth bass, bluegill and red-breasted sunfish, three channel cats (!), four bowfin, one spotted gar, and one tilapia. Didn’t get the crappie or Plecostomas.

The bowfin, a fish in need of some love.

A large, aggressive alligator get much too close for comfort. Something about that gar splashing attracted it. I left the area post-haste.

Bull bluegill on a purple bunny leech. I lost all of the egg-sucking leeches I had.

Speaking of gar, what they need is some good PR. From now on I’m referring to them as garlin in what might be a misguided attempt to make them more popular among anglers.

Mudfish need PR too. Anyone have a good, appealing, alternate name for the mighty bowfin??

Wednesday
Ray Rowe was my guest on Spotted Tail. Although it was windy the fish were biting well. We got a lot of slot seatrout, although the big ones eluded us.

Thursday
Ray Rowe was again my guest on Spotted Tail. It wasn’t as windy as Wednesday but it was colder. Fishing was tougher, but we still got about 20 trout, mostly slot fish. The best of the day measured 22 inches. Thank you again, Mr. DOA CAL shad. And of course Mr. Rowe, too.

Friday
Found John at the helm of Spotted Tail, searching the mighty Atlantic for denizens of the deep. In an ideal world he would have found gobs of big tarpon. As it was, eight hours of diligently searching turned up some northern sennet, a few bluefish, a couple ladyfish, the smallest little tunny I have ever seen, and to top off the day a mighty mongo jack crevalle. I tried to get one on the twelve-weight but they were not having that nonsense.

The jack crevalle, different from channel cats.

As always, I would like to thank everyone who fished with me this week.

That is the Memorial Day 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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, Photo Essays, port canaveral fishing report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Bass fishing, DOA Lures, florida fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, port canaveral fishing report, seatrout fishing, St. Johns River

Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

December 17, 2016 by john kumiski · 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.

Rodney was very happy with this tripletail.

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.

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: adventure fishing, DOA Lures, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, seatrout fishing

Short Orlando Fishing Report

December 10, 2016 by john kumiski · 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.

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.

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.

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: Econlockhatchee River, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral

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