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Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report

April 2, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report

My aluminum trailer crapped out on me this week, thus the Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report.

News of the Week
My friend Rodney Smith attended the Brevard County Commission meeting this past week. My understanding of our telephone conversation is that almost four hours of citizen comments and discussion were spent as Brevard County citizens requested the Commission declare a state of emergency due to the condition of the Banana River Lagoon. One of the Commissioners made a motion to make such a declaration. That motion did not receive a second. The matter did not come to a vote.

One of the Commissioners was heard to say, “They’re still catching fish at Sebastian Inlet and in the Mosquito Lagoon.” Apparently all life in the lagoon system will have to die before the weasels will take action. No, they probably will not take action even then.

These were Mitchell Roffer’s comments to the Brevard County Commission, reprinted with his permission:

“I am Mitchell Roffer, President of Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc. of West Melbourne and I live on Melbourne Beach. I have my Ph.D from University of Miami ‘s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in Biological Oceanography. Property owner [in Brevard County] for more than twenty years.

“We have a three billion dollar ($3.7B) ecosystem economic machine called the Indian River Lagoon. We have not done enough to maintain its upkeep and health. Its like your valuable car that you don’t do enough servicing on until a hose breaks and then you realize that the engine and transmission are blown too. It hurts to pay the bill, but you have to.

“Yes we have not been paying to maintain and protect the IRL. This is not a new problem. This has been going on for at least 15 years.

“So now prepare yourself to pay. Yes be prepared to pay on the order of 500 million dollars.

“The press releases I’ve read from certain government offices are a sad joke that insults my intelligence. If water quality was such a top priority in the state of Florida, then we would not be in this situation. The IRL has been under managed and understudied. Protection has been negligently weak.

“Yes the problem is obvious: Too much nitrogen and phosphorus.

“We must act. We must declare a state of emergency so that we can:

1. Get rid of the muck within five years.
2. End residential fertilizer use.
3. End septic tanks.
4. Remediate water entering the IRL.
5. Mandate the reduction of nutrients coming from agriculture including farms, citrus and cattle.
6. Improve water treatment infrastructure to modern tertiary and quartinary treatment, as well as, stopping sewage spillage.
7. Restore the ecosystem through sea grass planting, oyster and other bivalve culture and fish restocking.
8. Improve the monitoring and science.

“Yes we need state, federal and regional money. I think we need a large bond issue. Interest rates are low.

“Asking you to act. The Tampa Bay leaders acted and succeeded to repair and restore the Tampa Bay estuary. Be the leaders you were elected to be.”

They’re weasels, Mitchell, not leaders. It takes fortitude to act for the greater good, and those weasels don’t have it.

I expect there will be more major IRL fish kills in 2016 as the weather heats up. The problem has not gone away.

Fishing!
Oi, what a week.

Monday was cleanup day from the Everglades trip. I checked the Econ gauge online. Wednesday night before the trip to south Florida it read two feet. Monday morning it read eight feet. What?!!! It must be broken.

I hopped in the car and went down the street to check. The gauge is working properly. Weekend rains blew out the river, just when it was hitting the right level, too.

orlando fishing report

Quite a jump in just a few days, isn’t it?

Tuesday son Alex and his Lady Allison joined me for a day on the mighty Atlantic. As I was backing the trailer down the boat ramp I heard a disturbing grinding noise. The trailer had broken and was dragging on the ramp. We got the Mitzi into the water and went fishing. We got several bluefish and Spanish mackerel, most on jigs but a few on fly too.

orlando fishing report

It was really broken, snapped right off. I’ve done a little work disassembling here, but the corrosion is obvious.

After several telephone conversations (during our fishing) I determined my course of action. I would tie the boat to the dock at Blue Points Marina ($2/foot/night), effect such repairs on the old trailer that I could get it home, go buy a new trailer, and come back and get the boat the next day. That way I maybe could get my Wednesday charter in as well.

I would like to thank Allen McMillan at Central Florida Marine for making the purchase of that new trailer (a Continental) as painless and expedient as possible. Great work, sir!

How fortunate am I that after taking a 500+ mile trip with that trailer it breaks on the boat ramp at Port Canaveral, THE most convenient place it could ever have broken??

I am in the process of rebuilding the old trailer, an EZ Loader, and will be selling it. If you’re looking for a trailer please consider it. I will have an “official” for sale notice when I finish the job.

Wednesday Mark and Janet Soley met me at Blue Points for our rendezvous. The wind was out of the east at 15. We got to the jetty and turned around. That was that. I put the Mitzi on her new wheels and drove her home.

Thursday I may have been dreaming, or maybe I entered another form of alternate reality. In that dream reality I went paddling with Tim McFall. We found some clean water in the Indian River Lagoon system. In that clean water we actually found a few redfish we could see, and I actually convinced one to take a fly I had tied from rooster feathers, a Homer Rhodes Shrimp Fly.

orlando fishing report

An alternate reality redfish.

It was a fantastic experience. Sadly, I don’t expect it to ever happen again, at least in my lifetime. I so hope I’m light years off base with that prediction.

Friday I returned to normal reality. I took the Bang-O-Craft scouting out of River Breeze. The water looks awful. In spite of that I actually saw in the murky stuff that now passes for water four redfish, alive and swimming, a group of three and a single. I cast a DOA CAL jig at the group and one of them slammed it with zero hesitation. The single spooked off the same lure.

orlando fishing report

A redfish from the current reality of the Mosquito Lagoon.

Three dink trout were taken by using the DOA Deadly Combo. That was the total catch in about five hours of hunting.

And that is this week’s broken trailer Orlando fishing report from the Spotted Tail.

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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Vernal Equinox Orlando Fishing Report

March 20, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Vernal Equinox Orlando Fishing Report

Sunday March 20 is/was the equinox, thus the equinox Orlando fishing report. Check out this cool video!

Remember, the equinox is a great reason to have pagan celebrations!

News of the Week
I wish I’d found this earlier, but still lots of great festivals- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/birding-festivals/

To those readers who go through Titusville, Bagel World has “rebranded”. I think this is a ten cent marketing term that means they are changing things. Why would you change Bagel World? It was awesome! They have changed their name (to what I don’t know) and moved down the street. Maybe the new place will be better. Somehow I doubt it.

Fishing!
What a busy week!

Sunday fly fishing engineer Bill Ruland joined me for some St. Johns River fishing. We looked unsuccessfully for schooling bass, then tried shad fishing. The shad are almost done. We fished for them almost all morning. Bill hooked and lost a couple, but it was s-l-o-w. After lunch we went up the Econ hoping for bass and sunfish. Although we got a few of each, that was slow too.

orlando fishing report

What the fish lacked in numbers they also lacked in size. At least this one was aggressive.

We ended up shad fishing again, and Bill got his first ever, finally, and then one more on his last cast.

orlando fishing report

Mr. Bill battles the mighty shad.

 

orlando fishing report

The mighty shad is vanquished.

 

orlando fishing report

The victor exhibits his trophy before release.

Monday fly fishing doctor Mike Sweeney joined me for some St. Johns River fishing. We looked unsuccessfully for schooling bass, then tried shad fishing. The shad are almost done. We fished for them almost all morning. Mike hooked and broke one off almost immediately, but it was s-l-o-w. After lunch we went up the Econ hoping for bass and sunfish. That was even slower than the previous day, with no sunnies at all and only two bass being fooled in over an hour.

orlando fishing report

Who is this guy with the bass?

We ended up shad fishing again. Mike hooked one and had it on for a spirited battle, but the fish jumped off before we could corral it. So ended our fishing.

Tuesday George Allen joined me for a trip out of Port Canaveral. I was finally able to get out there after weeks of hard east winds. We had visions of cobia and tripletail dancing in our heads. We headed south down the beach, finding a mass of menhaden before reaching the Cocoa Beach pier. Livewell stocked, we headed out to sea.

It was a virtual biological desert.

Finally I saw a large black spot in the water. A ray! I idled close enough to cast, and the ray started to sound. A cast over the spot with a menhaden yielded nothing.

A while later I saw a large brown spot in the water and went to investigate. It was close to an acre of mongo crevalle jacks. They have a hard time saying no to a live pogie and somewhat foolishly we cast two out. Bam! Bam! double hookup!

orlando fishing report

George battles the truly mighty crevalle.

A 30 pound crevalle is as manly a fish as you could ask for. They don’t know the word quit and it was a long tough fight for both of us. While the battle raged I spotted another ray, but there was nothing we could do about that. Both fish were eventually boated and released.

orlando fishing report

Said battle was long and tough, and quite exhausting.

We saw quite a few small pods of big jacks after that but used discretion. In other words, we wanted no further part of the big jack action. We saw little else.

orlando fishing report

The victor and the vanquished.

Late in the day we found an area with spinner sharks free-jumping. George hooked what I think was a lemon shark, about six feet long. I leadered the beast, which used the opportunity to cut the leader. And so ended our adventure.

Wednesday morning Shane Thomas and his friend (Sir?) Rob of York met me at Port Canaveral. I was cautiously optimistic I could find the jacks and sharks again, and knew there were bluefish around. I had seen the rays the previous day and thought we still had a shot at a cobia.

We couldn’t even find the bait. All the pogies that had been along the beach were gone.

Running back north up the beach we saw good numbers of pelicans diving on menhaden and one throw of the net there did the trick. Now, let’s go find those jacks!

They were all gone. We looked for hours and did not see a jack, a shark, a guppy. It truly was a biological desert.

Just so we would not get bored, though, the bow of the Mitzi decided to plow into a wave and do an imitation of a diving submarine. We were a couple miles off the beach, no one else was around, and the boat was literally half full of water, as close as it could get to sinking without actually sinking. We would have been in seriously deep doo-doo had the boat gone down. But it didn’t. We got the water out with the help of the bilge pump, a bucket, and a distinct lack of panic, then continued searching.

I think it was about 230 PM when Shane finally spotted a fish. It was a small hammerhead shark, four or five feet long. We tossed a pair of pogies out and waited.

That shark took his sweet time zeroing in on one of the baits. He’d swim up next to the boat, then swim away. We would think we lost him and then he’d come back. This happened several times. And then while we watched he finally took Rob’s bait.

We weren’t rigged with wire and I knew we might not leader the shark. As it turned out we didn’t. But Rob had it on for about ten minutes, fighting a noble battle. Finally, after eight hours of looking, a fish!

We found a school of pogies in Canaveral Bight. There were a load of bluefish with them. Rob broke out his fly rod and managed a couple blues on a Clouser Minnow. Shane got a few with the spin rod.

That was pretty much our fishing for the day. Just so we wouldn’t get bored, the Mitzi ran out of gas near the jetty. No problem, I said, I have more gas. After pouring it into the tank we could not get the motor going. I put the trolling motor in the water and started to the dock.

At five PM every boat in the ocean was coming back to port. The chop and the wakes were rocking and rolling us, and it was slow going. A kind soul came over and offered to tow us back, an offer we gratefully accepted. And so ended our day, one of my more unusual charters.

The boat started right up without a problem while sitting on the trailer in my yard Thursday morning.

It also started Friday morning, at the Haulover Canal. My childhood friend Kevin Linehan was with me for a boat ride on the Mosquito Lagoon and forsooth a fish. We did not see much, a couple tailing redfish. The water is so dirty it’s REAL hard to see them if you don’t get some surface indicator.

In spite of that I saw a redfish, in the dirty water, when it swam right up to the boat. I don’t think they can see us either, since I made about a six foot cast with a mullet chunk. The fish took it. I handed the rod to Kevin and he skillfully duked it out with the beast, a 27 inch beauty.

Orlando fishing report

They don’t grow these in Phoenix.

On Saturday Paul Dachoff and his friend Alex the Vet joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Paul has lived in central Florida for 30 years and said he’d never seen the lagoon look so bad. We worked it hard with cut mullet and Deadly Combos for almost eight hours. One redfish and several seatrout fell for our offerings.

Orlando fishing report

The hand just appeared to help Alex hold his fish! AMAZING!

Paul spotted the reds tailing despite the rain. There were three or four of them, pretty darned relaxed, I thought. They gave us multiple shots and finally one ate.

Orlando fishing report

Our redfish of the day, about 25 inches long.

Paul and Alex were great on the boat and it was a good way to wrap up a busy week. Thanks to everyone who fished with me this week.

And that is the vernal equinox Orlando 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 2016. All rights are reserved.

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An Undistinguished Orlando Fishing Report

November 15, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

An Undistinguished Orlando Fishing Report

Upcoming Events

Ocean Reef Beach Festival- December 5. The ORB returns to Pelican Beach Park, Satellite Beach. Celebrate the ocean lifestyle with exciting conservation and recreation displays, activities and hands on learning!  Food trucks, local ocean artists, live music and more! The event is free and will be held from 10am-5pm. Proceeds to benefit Surfrider Foundation and Anglers For Conservation.

Fishing!

This is a very Undistinguished Orlando Fishing Report. I fished three days this week. I’m in the middle of a writing project that’s taking some time.

Some friends went fishing on the Econ Saturday last week and did well, so I tried it on Monday. It was a beautiful day on the river. My friends were throwing plastic worms. I was using a fly rod. A popper garnered two strikes in two hours, so I switched to a matuka streamer. The sunfish loved it, but it kept hanging up and ended up losing it. I tried another, larger streamer and it also kept hanging up. Frustrated, I went back to the popper and got three bass (small ones) in 20 minutes, then nothing else.

orlando fishing report

The first redfish we got.

Tuesday Tom Van Horn and I went out of Port Canaveral in the Mitzi. We fished in the Bight for a while without success, then found a school of pogies and fished under them with live mullet on a slip-sinker rig. We killed six bluefish and released at least that many redfish. Fishing was pretty hot there for a few hours.

orlando fishing report

The first redfish Tom got. There were enough around that we had a couple doubles. Show that fish some love!

Wednesday I smoked the bluefish. Smoked fish dip, coming right up!

Friday’s plan was to take son Alex fishing. Alex would not and did not get out of bed. I wrote for a while, then drove to Orlando. A friend had a canoe at his condo, against the HOA rules, and wanted it out of there. I got it, an OT Sport 14. We went to the Econ for a test drive. The boat is fat, heavy, slow, and stable (a good thing), although apparently it has an attractive price point. Two bass and a stumpknocker fell for my fly rod popper in about two hours.

And that is this week’s Undistinguished 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Happy Halloween Orlando Fishing Report

October 31, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Happy Halloween Orlando Fishing Report

Upcoming Events

Show and Tell Fishing Seminars
Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar November 7 on the MINWR. http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar November 8, in my Mitzi. Please see this link for more information- http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

IRL Paddle Adventure 2015 – Paddle A Portion, November 14. Paddle a portion of the Indian River Lagoon! http://www.irl-paddle-adventure.com

Ocean Reef Beach Festival– December 5. The ORB returns to Pelican Beach Park, Satellite Beach. Celebrate the ocean lifestyle with exciting conservation and recreation displays, activities and hands on learning!  Food trucks, local ocean artists, live music and more! The event is free and will be held from 10am-5pm. Proceeds to benefit Surfrider Foundation and Anglers For Conservation.

Fishing!
Monday morning I launched the Bang-O-Craft at CS Lee Park and headed up the Econlockhatchee.

Keith Jones states in his excellent book Knowing Bass, “…fall bass can treat anglers to some of the most spectacular fishing of the year. …days of 50-plus bass per peron fishing crankbaits or soft plastics are not uncommon. …fall bass tend to congregate…in large packs as they prepare for migration.”

Dr. Jones was not with me on the Econ. I did not find any large packs of bass or anything else, coming up with one redbelly on a fly rod popper, one gar on a DOA CAL Shad, and hooking and losing one small bass on the same CAL Shad, in about five hours.

orlando fishing report

A large flock, nowadays.

I did find a large (for nowadays) flock of spoonbills and shot a few photos, and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Fishing wasn’t very good though.

orlando fishing report

They take flight.

Thursday found me launching the Mitzi at Port Canaveral. The wind was from the west- how did that happen? I went out to sea looking for weeds and hopefully tripletail. There were very scattered weeds, and I saw about 20 tripletail, the largest of which was about seven inches long.

orlando fishing report

I was surrounded by this action.

Heading back in to the beach there were lots of diving birds. Breaking fish! I love those! Crevalle jacks in the three to four pound range were going crazy. Mixed in with them were a few bluefish and Spanish mackerel. Big sharks were ripping through the chaos.

orlando fishing report

The wire fly accounted for quite a few fish. Then I tried a Chug Bug, which was a no-brainer. Jacks are so aggressive on the popper. Then I tried a Floozy popper, good for only one fish. Then a Sting Silver got into the act.

orlando fishing report

File photo of jack crevalle.

By this point the novelty was wearing off, so I started heading back. Almost immediately the wind shifted and came out of the southeast, which would have shut everything down anyway.

Friday son Alex and his friend John Napolitano wanted to go jack fishing, so we went back to the Port. The wind was out of the north at about 15. We could not get near the jack spot, and by default ended up in Canaveral Bight. It was fairly slow but steady for jacks, bluefish, and ladyfish. Alex hooked a large blacktip shark, which lasted about two minutes before the shark bit off.

Then Alex got a pompano on a bucktail jig, which we will be eating tonight. Not much catch-and-release for pompano! The boat was back on the trailer at about 1:30, after a beautiful if breezy morning.

And that is this week’s Happy Halloween 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Mullet Run Winding Down Orlando Fishing Report

October 16, 2015 by · 1 Comment

Mullet Run Winding Down Orlando Fishing Report

This is the Mullet Run Winding Down Orlando Fishing Report. It will have several parts!

Contest of the Week-

To the first person who can tell me 1) what this is…

orlando fishing report

What is it and what is it doing??

and 2) what it’s doing, goes a free copy of Flyrodding Florida Salt! Judges decision final. Hint- I encountered this while out fishing this past week. Please use the Comments Form below.

How Will Global Warming Affect You???

orlando fishing report

The water level may well be different in 2100.

While web surfing I came across a website that predicts the water levels on planet earth in the year 2100. You type in your zip code, and you get two maps- one in 2100 with pollution drastically curbed, and one in 2100 with things continuing the way they’re going now. It ain’t pretty. It will take an extraordinary run of luck for me to make it to 2100, and even if I make it and I’m in the same house I will still not have beach front property.

According to this prediction, the Indian River Lagoon will not exist anymore, the barrier islands all being submerged. It’s an interesting and sobering exercise. Check it out at http://choices.climatecentral.org/#12/28.7254/-81.0920?compare=scenarios&carbon-end-yr=2100&scenario-a=unchecked&scenario-b=extreme-cuts

Tips for Surf Fishermen

Rodney Smith has posted some great tips for surf fishermen. Read them here… http://rodneysmithmedia.com/ten-surf-fishing-fun-facts-2/

Show and Tell Seminars

For those who have enquired about the seminars, first, thank you! I have been working on it. The MINWR requires more paperwork than ever before, can you believe it? Hopefully they won’t make me raise the price to out of reality.

I wanted to run the seminars this month. At this point it looks like November at the earliest.

Orlando Fishing Report!

Sunday I layed around and watched the NFL all day. A complete waste of time, and yet glorious.

Monday– Boat Day! Minor repairs, cleaning, organizing, etc.

Tuesday– Scott Radloff and I ran out of the Port. The redfish were gone! 🙁  We found a few tarpon rolling, and Scott had a nice one on for 10 minutes or so, four or five jumps, the highlight of the day.

orlando fishing report

Can’t argue about its highlightness!

We did a lot of running and didn’t find too much. We did find a big ball of jacks near the beach. Evidently the jacks were being herded by numerous large sharks, because as soon as I hooked one all kinds of hell broke loose. The sharks appeared out of nowhere, all lit up. My jack ran right at the boat and six feet of determined shark ate it right along the gunwale, nearly smacking into the boat, and tossing water all over us.

Scott had one eat his mullet and fought it up to the boat The beast was easily six feet long. I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

For the day we ended up hooking a nice tarpon, eight or nine sharks, one juvenile snook, a dozen jacks, a couple Spanish mackerel, and a couple bluefish. The weather was spectacular. It certainly beat a sharp stick in the eye.

Wednesday– Looking at the weather forecast, Wednesday was supposed to be the last day with west winds, with them shifting to the northeast and increasing in velocity as the weekend approached. So if I wanted to fish along the beach, this might be the last chance this week. I took it, launching at Port Canaveral.

The redfish are definitely gone. There was not much else there either. I ran north up the beach, hoping to find breaking fish, or a school of fish, or predators pounding mullet, or rolling tarpon. Something! I had two fly rods and wanted to use them.

It was a good thing I had a cast net and caught some mullet, or I would not have gotten a fish. As it was all I got were six bluefish, decent ones for east coast Florida, but nothing else. The fly rods were both exercised, but only by casting. Nary a bite came to my flies.

The numbers of mullet appear to be thinning somewhat compared to last week. It’s mid-October, and the numbers of mullet last week were the best in years, so that’s not surprising. I hope I can get out there a few more times before it ends entirely.

Thursday– searched for the mythical source of the Econlockhatchee. Private land surrounds Lake Conlin in Osceola County, not accessible. There’s a bridge crossing at Wewahootie Road in Orange County, also on private property. Went to Hal Scott Park, pulled the bike out of the van, and went looking for the river.

 

orlando fishing report

Tools of exploration.

I found it, not the source but as close to it as I’m likely to get. I should have brought a fishing rod because there were a few fish popping. I’ll bet they don’t see many anglers up there either.The bike ride was a good thing- it had been too long.

orlando fishing report

Econlockhatchee Bridge in Hal Scott Park.

 

orlando fishing report

Friday– wasn’t going to go out but Alex asked me to take him and his babe. Forecast NE at 15, we went to the Indian River Lagoon. Not much has changed there since last week. The alligator that follows you is still there.

orlando fishing report

The alligator that follows you.

There were ladyfish at the power station. Alex hooked a nice trout on a jerkbait but it came unglued. There were not a lot of mullet, not like it should be now.

orlando fishing report

The Babes fishing.

And that is this week’s Mullet Run Winding Down 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing News, Fishing Reports, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

High, Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

October 11, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

High, Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

This is the High, Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report. I’ve been writing for weeks now that the water is high. It’s always high this time of year, for complex reasons that I do not completely understand.

One of the components of this high water is water temperature. Warm water uses more volume than cold water. When you’re talking the Atlantic Ocean, that’s a lot of water to expand. Right now the southeast US coast has the highest ocean water level of the year.

orlando fishing report

The government says the water is higher now, too.

Just so no one thinks I am just making this up, here’s a goverment website with the data: http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/seasonal.htm?stnid=8721120  This graph spotlights Daytona Beach, but the high water goes up at least as far north as North Carolina. You didn’t really think sea level was level, did you?

The elevation at the power plant in Port St. John is only about two feet higher than at Ponce Inlet. When the water along the beach rises, that water backs into the lagoons too. So the water is high.

Sunday- Makoto Enomoto, a fly fisher from Tokyo, was my angler. We went to the Indian River Lagoon. The water was the highest yet, and so dirty we could hardly see the bottom anywhere we looked, from the power plant to north of the railroad trestle.

I saw something floating in the water. I went to it to satisfy curiosity. It was a baby dolphin, dead and bloated. The sadder thing was, it’s mother was still by it, nosing it, trying to get it to respond. It must have been dead at least two or three days.

In the afternoon, poling down the shoreline, we found a baby manatee, dead and bloated along the shoreline, bobbing in the waves. At least its mother wasn’t there.

We found a few small ladyfish breaking under birds, and a few small ladyfish at the power plant. I saw a single baby tarpon roll. That was it for the day, a very tough outing indeed.

Sunday evening an anonymous but usually very reliable source told me there was clean water at the Thousand Islands in Cocoa Beach. I was there the next morning, and checked along the Pineda Flat too. There was zero clean water anywhere. I did not see a fish, or much of the bottom for that matter.

orlando fishing report

The ramp at Kelly Park. How did they manage to build the dock under water???

There was a small craft advisory, but since I was there it made sense to check the Port. The seas weren’t bad. The mullet run has to be peaking this week. Astronomical numbers of mullet fill the surf.

orlando fishing report

This vessel is not concerned about the small craft advisory.

Tuesday- Scott Radloff and I went to the Port. I brought my castnet. One throw was all it took for a day’s supply of mullet, and a few freezer bags for future reference.

The surf was still up! We saw a vintage Hewes Bonefish go surfing a good 20 feet, close to the north jetty. It looked like a real exciting ride. I would have needed a wardrobe change.

orlando fishing report

The surf was still up.

We got 10 or 12 redfish. Scott simply pinched a couple big split shots near his hook. I used a 3/8 ounce jighead with a finger mullet for a tail. Both ways worked. Scott got a flounder, too.

orlando fishing report

Scott pulls Mr. Redfish aboard.

 

orlando fishing report

Mr. Redfish, before release.

Near the Cape we got Spanish mackerel and bluefish. Scott hooked a couple sharks. The roar of the waves coming across the shoal was impressive. The shape of the shoal changes all the time, but right now it’s running out close to a couple miles.

There are not as many fish out there as I would expect, but there are certainly fish- redfish, some snook, ladyfish, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, and sharks. I got a report of tarpon in the surf. I have not checked it out. Any fish in the surf is pretty safe from fishermen in boats for at least a few more days.

orlando fishing report

Mr. Catfish, caught by me.

Wednesday- smoked the fish I took on Tuesday. Spooled a couple reels and other administrative tasks.

Thursday- wished I hadn’t spooled the reels. In spite of weather and sea conditions that were marginal at best, Dr. Lou Payor and I went out onto the Atlantic. Almost immediately a storm chased us back into the port. We fished on the inside of the jetty for a while, getting a red here, a jack there, as the weather and seas gradually and slightly improved. We were finally able to go on the outside of the jetty.

orlando fishing report

Believe it or not, this storm chased me back to port.

It was on fire.

In spite of the waves that kept coming over the bow, we stayed there three hours or so. Using live mullet we got a lot of redfish (multiple double hook-ups), and hooked two freight trains that spooled two reels. While I’d like to think they were bluefin tuna, sharks or big jacks are actually a more likely explanation. We never saw either one. Bluefish and jacks finished out our catch.

Friday- Went to the airport and picked up Makoto again. We tried to go out of the Port but the seas were rougher than Thursday. We didn’t even clear the jetty before I turned around and put the boat back on the trailer. We drove to the Indian River Lagoon to try our luck there.

A rain squall hit us. I pointed out a rainbow and Makoto said, “There are diving birds at the end of the rainbow!” We rode over and sure enough there were fish breaking. We got several ladyfish on the wire fly before the action stopped. Who knew that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was actually ladyfish??

We went against the shoreline. As one might guess, because of the high, dirty water, the east wind, and the clouds it was very hard to see. In spite of that Makoto spotted several redfish. One of the nailed his crab pattern and he got it.

orlando fishing report

Makoto casually fighting his fish.

 

orlando fishing report

He was happy to get it!

 

orlando fishing report

The fly in question, NOT tied by me.

Although we would see fish intermittently all day, it was the only one he would get. Most of the fish we saw required a 10 foot cast, tough to do with a fly rod.

On the way back to the dock we found more diving birds. Using the wire fly Makoto got a nice bluefish. And that was it for the day.

Saturday- 7:30 AM found me at Hidden River RV Park. Tammy and Mike were already there. We put the kayaks by the Econ, then Mike and I did the shuttle to 419. The gauge read 5.5 feet.

We started paddling and quickly learned that 5.5 feet was not enough water to clear many of the blowdowns. There were a lot! It was an obstacle course for paddlers. But it turned out 5.5 feet was too much water for good fishing.

orlando fishing report

It was an obstacle course for paddlers.

We came to a log jam. There was a fat 15 foot log there Mike wanted to paddle down the river. He and Tammy tried to free it up, which they eventually did. Tammy, very not gracefully, fell in over her head during the free-up job, which was hilarious.

orlando fishing report

This little feller was the fish of the day, one of four we caught.

A redbelly (the only one I would catch) hit my Road Runner. As it came close to my boat a LARGE gar came up and ate it. My little five foot fishing rod eventually coaxed the beast to let my fishy go. The poor sunfish was definitely the worse for wear.

At 5:30 PM we finally reached 419, soaking wet, covered with leaves and tree bits, kind of tired, and definitely exhiliarated. In spite of the effort needed to negotiate all the obstructions it had been a wonderful day on the water with good friends. You can see the photo essay of the trip here…

And that is this week’s High, Dirty Water 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

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High Water Orlando Fishing Report

October 2, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

High Water Everywhere Orlando Fishing Report

There’s high water everywhere, so we have a High Water Orlando Fishing Report.

Our soldiers get wounded while protecting our freedom. View a short, touching, and thought-provoking film on the healing power of fly fishing at this link- http://mentalhealthchannel.tv/episode/healing-waters

I had a Sunday charter with Keith O’Donnell on the Indian River Lagoon. As many readers know the water is quite high right now and rather dirty in places. So I wasn’t sure what to expect.

We found some sporadic surface activity while heading to my first spot. I cast a Chug Bug and was rewarded with a smashing strike- by a gafftopsail catfish. Not expected, nor desired.

I was not expecting an alligator to make a beeline for my boat and follow us for a half mile while we looked for fish along the shoreline. But, one did. Extraordinary behavior. We finally noticed it had a piece of fishing line trailing from its mouth, so probably had one or more hooks in its gut. Sad. We did not feed it anything, though. I didn’t feel bad enough for it to do something that stupid!

orlando fishing report

An alligator like this one followed us around for an hour.

Still poling while looking for his first fish, I told Keith to sit down. We were almost on top of a manatee and I was expecting an explosion. Although we did not touch the beast, we were not disappointed. All this excitement and it was only 9 AM!

Keith sent me an email- “Thanks for a memorable day. There have not been many fishing trips where I have been pursued by an alligator, nearly rammed by a manatee, caught some good fish, lost some great fish, chased tarpon around a bay…”

The tarpon did not bite. We did not catch a lot of fish but the day was anything but boring.

Tuesday morning I launched the canoe on Lake Mills. I’d never fished there before and wanted to be able to say I’d caught a bass on a fly there. The water is high. It was oppressively hot and humid. There were very few signs of life. I did not get a bite. In an hour I was done. I’ve still never caught a bass in Lake Mills.

Wednesday Scott Radloff and I went out of Port Canaveral. Our fantasy, as always this time of year, was to find some tarpon. It did not include waves crashing over the tops of the jetties. The surfers must have been having a blast, though!

Other than the four to five foot swells the sea was pretty calm. We ran south down the beach, in the rain, as far as the steeple without seeing anything.

We ran back up to the jetties. There were a lot of mullet in Canaveral Bight and we looked for feeding fish. We did not find a goldmine, but by diligently casting live finger mullet we got a mixed bag of bluefish, ladyfish, crevalle jacks, and Spanish mackerel. We also got very wet, since it rained most of the day.

Last week I put in my report that I was looking for a canoe in the 12 to 14 foot range. A gentleman by the name of Tim Martino emailed me and told me he had a 12 foot canoe that he had built. He was moving. So if I came over and picked it up it was mine.

I went over Thursday night. Obviously a perfectionist, Tim was not happy with the way it turned out due to some minor cosmetic blemishes. I thought it a gorgeous little boat. And it only weighed 30 pounds! I couldn’t wait to try it!

orlando fishing report

It’s a beautiful little boat. But this was far as I got.

Friday I went to Peacock’s Pocket to take it on a test drive. Tim had told me it was tippy but I wasn’t expecting it to be completely unstable. I literally could not pick up the paddle. Even though I sat on the bottom of the boat I almost rolled it twice in four inches of water. Very disappointed, I just put it back on the roof of my van and drove home.

On the way I called Jay Herrington. Jay owns Fish on Fire in Orlando, and I thought a beautiful little boat would be an awesome piece of decor in his dining room. He agreed, so expect the little canoe to show up there soon.

And that is this week’s High Water 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report

September 20, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report

We had several days of nasty weather this week, thus the nasty weather Orlando fishing report.

People tell me, “I miss the change of seasons.” Geez, folks! Open your eyes!

The beauty berries are ripe now, gorgeous purple clusters of berries surrounding the stalk. Beauty berries are edible, but certainly not delicious. Goldenrods are blooming all over the place. I haven’t seen any purple asters yet but they ought to be around. Orion is high in the sky before first light. He’ll be in the eastern sky right after dark in a few months. And the autumnal equinox is this coming week- the quality of the light will be noticeably different from that of say, July. Finally, there are some serious mullet running along the beach, always a harbinger of autumn.

Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report

The beauty berries are ripe now, a sign of approaching fall weather.

Monday found me in the canoe on my favorite bass pond. Fishing was real slow. In five hours three small bass, one bluegill, and one spotted gar came to hand. For a change of pace, most fish took a bassquid streamer. That’s two slow trips in a row there. I guess I’ll give it a few weeks before returning.

Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report

This was the fish of the day…

 

Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report

…and the fly that did the job.

Tuesday found Alexandre Pinto, a fly fisher from Sao Paulo, in the Spotted Tail. He wanted to add redfish to his life list. Based on the forecast I thought it would be a tough day. On the Indian River Lagoon, we had clouds and wind, and high, dirty water, not a good combination for finding redfish you can see and cast to. First spot- nothing. Second spot- nothing. Next spot- a few spooky fish and zero shots. Next spot, a few spooky fish and zero shots. Now desperate, I just picked a piece of shoreline at random and started poling along, watching the clouds get ever higher, wondering when the lightning would start…

Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report

Senhor Pinto got his first-ever redfish with lightning flashing in the background.

There were a few fish there. Alex had a few shots and got an eat. Oh, no, he missed it! He had a few more shots and got another eat. He stuck this one, and good thing, too- the storm was about a mile off and coming our way. The fly was the redfish worm, the fish was about two feet long, and after releasing it we raced the storm back to the ramp, barely staying ahead of it. Once the boat was on the trailer all hell broke loose. Made it!

Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report

Release technique, all important!

Wednesday saw atrocious weather. Several honey-dos got done.

Thursday saw more atrocious weather. Since unlike most of you I am aging, and because my wife asked me to, I read Social Security for Dummies. Not exactly compelling reading, but it did tell me several things I certainly need to know. If you’ve hit the magic six-oh, you should probably get a copy and spend an afternoon perusing it.

So after that chore, some fishing needed to get done. I grabbed a four-weight and a couple flies and went to a retention pond not too far from Mud Hole tackle. In forty minutes I got exactly one chunky little bass on a popping bug, a very satisfying fish from a spot I had never fished before.

Friday the weather was supposed to be bad again. I couldn’t stand being home again so tossed the kayak on the roof of the van and drove to KARS park. The park is closed for repairs. 🙁

I went to Banana River Drive, launched the kayak, and started looking for fish. To my pleasant surprise the water, although high, was fairly clear in most places. The grass looked great, both the manatee and widgeon grass. And I found a spot that had a few fish. To my surprise, a redfish took my Gurgler, the first red I’ve gotten on a surface fly in years. To show it wasn’t a fluke I would get another later. In between a little snooklet and a baby tarpon took a popper as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Social-Security-Dummies-Jonathan-Peterson/dp/1118205731

This fish took a popper, surprisingly delicately. Then it jumped six times!

To finish the day a school of reds came by and one took a bucktail streamer. So I got a hat trick on the reds with a snook and a tarpon thrown in. How do you spell S-L-A-M?

orlando fishing report

The last red of the day was fooled by a simple bucktail streamer.

Not only that, but I got to watch an alligator eat a horseshoe crab. It seems like an odd thing for a gator to eat, but they can eat whatever they want I guess.

orlando fishing report

Tammy battles a lady

On a rare Saturday fishing trip, Tammy met me at the Port just before seven am. We went into the bight, hoping to fly fish for breaking fish. There were a load there, all ladyfish, nice big ones. We got six or eight each on streamers, then went looking for other types of fish. That was not happening. We found acres of menhaden and absolutely nothing was feeding on them that we could see, other than pelicans.

orlando fishing report

The wire leader and the wire bodied fly meant we got every fish on the same fly. What a time-saver!

And that is this week’s Nasty Weather 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.comhttps://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Port Canaveral Nearshore Fishing Report

September 12, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Port Canaveral Nearshore Fishing Report

Did not take a photo this week. These are photos from the files.

Sunday- Went canoeing with sister Cheryl, Tammy, Mike C., Jeff the crematory builder, and several others on the Econ. The water was high enough that Cheryl and I were able to paddle the canoe up on to the foot bridge that spans the river in the state forest. Because of the high water I didn’t bring a rod, but Mike C. got one small bass in two days of casting.

Tuesday- Steve and Janice Murphy of Calgary joined me for some fishing on the Indian River Lagoon, he with a fly, she with a spin. The water is still kind of dirty, and kind of high, so spotting fish is hard. They were there, though. Janice, blind-casting with a DOA CAL shadtail, got a slot redfish and several trout. Steve only had one decent shot. Unfortunately it did not work. We all wilted shortly after noontime. The boat was on the trailer about one PM.

Port canaveral fishing report

Thursday- Anton Faith joined me for some fishing along the beach out of Port Canaveral. The weather was hot but otherwise awesome. Early there were large numbers of fish near Cape Canaveral- bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, and crevalle jacks. They were feeding on glass minnows. We did some damage with the 3/8 ounce Sting Silver from Haw River Tackle. I pulled out a seven-weight with a sinking line and a simple bucktail streamer and did some more damage.

port canaveral fishing report

We found some tarpon, feeding on glass minnows. They did not want anything we offered.

Friday- Scott Radloff joined me for some fishing along the beach out of Port Canaveral. The weather was hot but otherwise awesome. Early there were large numbers of fish near Cape Canaveral- bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, and crevalle jacks. They were feeding on glass minnows. We did some damage with the 3/8 ounce Sting Silver from Haw River Tackle. I pulled out a seven-weight with a sinking line and a simple bucktail streamer and did some more damage.IMG_8119

We found some tarpon, feeding on mullet, just spectacular. They did not want anything we offered. Using a mullet, Scott jumped one that tossed the hook on that first jump, a battle that lasted about one second. It was the only one that bit. We did hook a couple of sharks. That was it.

IMG_0022

Saturday- the Brinkman is running, smoking some Spanish mackerel and bluefish. I love to smoke those fish, and love the beach fishing this time of year. It should remain good through October.

And that is this week’s Port Canaveral Nearshore 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

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Back in Central Florida Fishing Report

September 4, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Back in Central Florida Fishing Report

Two weeks ago in my last fishing report I wrote, “I am taking a bye week next week. No fishing will happen because of travel, unpacking, reunion with family and friends, and sorting through all the business that I’ve ignored for the past three months. See you in two weeks!”

central Florida fishing report

On the ferryboat to Ketchkan: Jess, Jonathan, Nuttapong, and yours truly.

 

central Florida fishing report

Sunset at the Seattle airport.

Those two weeks are up and here we are again! And it is good to be home!

After returning home, some time was spent unpacking. One of the things that had to be unpacked was a cooler full of frozen fish, both salmon and halibut. I smoked some salmon, and made a side of gravlax.   Both turned out deliciously!

The boats had to be cleaned up and re-stocked, made ready to fish. That job was finished on Monday for the Mitzi.

Tuesday morning found me launching the boat on the Indian River Lagoon. The first order of business was to see if any big tarpon were around. There were none that I could find. I did find some little ones and got a bite on a DOA CAL shad tail, which was missed. I don’t know if he missed or I did, but at any rate there was no hookup.

That same shad tail also accounted for four redfish (all low-end slot fish) and one seatrout. There were reasonable numbers of fish, although they were very spooky. It was nice to pick right up again after being gone for three months, though.

Wednesday morning found the Mitzi being launched at Port Canaveral. If the parking lot was any indication there was not much going on. I ran south down the beach. The weather was awesome but the water was very dirty. Some mullet were in the surf south of the pier. There were a few big tarpon busting them at one place but it was scattered and quickly ended.

I went out to sea a bit and headed north. One quick school of tunny busted about a mile of the beach, a flurry that only lasted two or three seconds. All the way to Cape Canaveral that was all I saw.

Along the beach at the Cape the mullet were quite thick, enough so that I got the net out and caught some bait for future reference. There was nothing eating them other than pelicans that I could see.

The boat was back on the trailer at about 2 PM. I hadn’t seen many fish and certainly didn’t touch one.

Thursday was errand day.

Friday the Old Town went bass fishing on the St. Johns. It was slow, but I did get this fish on a popper:

central Florida fishing report

If this fish was all I caught it would have been worth the trip.

 

central Florida fishing report

These big mayflies must have hatched yesterday. The nymphal shucks were everywhere.

 

central Florida fishing report

Dragonflies have been hatching too, apparently.

Otherwise a half dozen yearlings was all I had to show for about five hours of searching and casting.

I try never to go off my property on Labor Day weekend, but I certainly hope you enjoy the time off, no matter what you choose to do.

And that is the Back in Central Florida Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

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 2015. All rights are reserved.

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