Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5.26.12

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

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

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

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

 

mosquito lagoon redfish on fly

Bill's first Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

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

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

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

Mosquito Lagoon seatrout on fly

Bill got a couple of trout like this one.

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

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

Mosquito Lagoon redfish on a crab fly

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

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

 

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

Sunfishing was slow- only got a few modest redbellies.

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

spotted seatrout, indian river lagoon

One of many trout caught by John Riggle on Friday.

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

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

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

 

That is this week’s Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

 

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

 

Two Days Fishing, Two BIG Lagoon Redfish

The Report from Spotted Tail 4/22/11

Upcoming Events-

-Space Shuttle Endeavour is targeted to launch 3:47 p.m. EDT, April 29. I am actively soliciting a charter for this date. Rumor has it that this will be the final Space Shuttle flight EVER. Watch the launch and fish, simultaneously!

-On May 7 I’ll be giving free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. We’ll be tying Clouser Minnows. Come out and see us, and walk out with some new flies!

-On May 21 I’ll be giving a seminar called Fly Fishing for West Coast Tarpon at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at 10 AM. Tom Van Horn will also be giving a tarpon seminar aimed at east coast fish.

Tuesday night at 9 PM I made a last check of the answering machine. There was a message on it that I immediately responded to. Because I did I had a charter on Wednesday with two delightful young men. Austin Warmus and his buddy Jonathan, both 17 years old, both from Raleigh NC, joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. Austin had been on several fishing charters prior to this one and had never really caught anything. Nothing like a little pressure on the guide.

For most of the day we did not have great success. Redfish were fairly scarce and those we did find were uncooperative. We got several trout (mostly small) on DOA Shrimp, a couple ladyfish, and a bluefish. I stashed the ladies for future reference.

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Austin Warmus, Jonathan, and a Mosquito Lagoon Trout. Don’t mess with these guys.

With 30 minutes left I went to a chunking spot, staked out, and chunked some ladyfish pieces. Pinfish ate us up. On the last piece, almost out of time, the rod went off. Austin grabbed it and the battle was on.

Austin won. Here he is with the conquered. The fish was released. Austin kicked his bad luck in the teeth.

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Austin was a little more animated after catching this specimen.

Friday morning I dragged my butt out of bed at 115 AM and drove over to Tom Van Horn’s house. On the way to the Indian River Lagoon we picked up Scott Radloff. We launched the boat before three and went plugging. I had several bites that I missed before we got a decent trout. Tom decided that since the surface plug bite was slow we should chunk. Good call.

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An intense looking Mr. Radloff with an Indian River Lagoon seatrout.

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Same fish, close-up of plug.

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Capt. Tom Van Horn shows off a handsome redfish from the Indian River Lagoon.

We got five reds, one in the slot, the rest well over, and one Buulll that I subdued with a new Stradic and an old Cape Fear rod.

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A big ugly Indian River Lagoon redfish and that fisherman ain’t so pretty either.

So I was only out two days and didn’t touch a fly rod this week. Still haven’t caught a fish on any of the new rods I bought a couple weeks ago. Have tied a lot of flies though!

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Shuttle Launch Scrubbed; Why Not Election?

Shuttle Launch Scrubbed; Why Not Election?

The Report from Spotted Tail 11/7/10

in this issue

space shuttle
new kayak book
the election
chiggers
cold weather
the fishing
smoking cobia again

Space Shuttle
Sunday’s charter was changed to Monday and then Tuesday because of the shuttle launch. Today is Friday and it’s still on the ground! Better scrubbed than exploded, I say. Supposedly November 30 it goes up, for now. I want to be over there, it could be the last shuttle to launch. It is an incredible thing to experience.

Tuesday morning David Gustafson and his friend Kim met me at Parrish Park. We already knew the shuttle wasn’t going. Then as I headed down the Haulover Canal the Yamaha softly quit. I couldn’t get it going again.
I freely admit that mechanically I am an idiot. I checked the fuel tank, the fuel line connection to the gas tank, the water separator, even took the cowling off and gazed with a mixture of admiration and frustration at all that mysterious mechanical stuff on which I so depend.
Couldn’t get it to start. Electric motored back, trailered the boat, and brought it to Rod Miller. Charter over. Zero fishing.
Rod puzzled over it for a couple minutes and found the fuel line connector at the motor had come off. Of course. I hadn’t checked that.
Some simple things can make you feel so stupid, duh. Again, David and Kim, I’m sorry.

New Paddling Guidebook
Susan Young and Roger Fulton have published a nice little paddling guide to east central Florida, called, oddly enough, 25 Kayak & Canoe Trips in East-Central Florida (129 pp., spiral bound, 4 x 8 inches, www.CommonManBooks.com, $19.95). It’s written for the common man! Unlike our legal and tax systems. However, I digress.
I checked out descriptions of two trips with which I’m familiar. They were good, giving any paddler all the information they would need to take any of the not rigorous paddle trips described in the book. It’s sized so you can carry it in a back pocket, or a day pack side pocket, or maybe on your lap as you paddle.
While it’s not written with fishermen in mind, any paddling fisherman in the area covered would get some good ideas for places to explore here. Get more information at this link: http://rogerfulton.com/ecotours/FLBooks/CFL-Kayak.htm

The Election
The election was Tuesday and mercifully the ads are done until next time. I hope everyone voted. That’s what gives you the right to complain!
Some people won. Some people lost. There were big parties. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth. Things may change. That’s all I’m going to say about it.

The World Series (a bonus)
Some people won. Some people lost. There were big parties. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth. Things may change. That’s all I’m going to say about it.

Yucky Chiggers
About a month ago I went running in the woods and got torn up by chiggers, nasty little things I knew nothing about. Before I dared go running in the woods again (the other day, the first time I’ve gotten my courage back up), a little research preceded the run.
Except for that biting thing, they’re fascinating little critters. If you like going into the woods to fish, hunt, run, bicycle, or what-have-you, you might read the article at this link: http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/avoid-outdoor-pests/chiggers

Cold Weather Fishing, Florida Style
We had a cold front come through yesterday, the first of this season. The acorn fall this year has been tremendous, goldenrods are blooming, the sweet gum and red maple leaves are falling, autumn is almost over and winter is almost here.

That means it’s time to break out the waders!

The cooler months are my favorite time to paddle fish. If you use a sit-on-top kayak you need waders to not get wet. The water temperatures get down into the 50’s here during the winter, so you definitely don’t want to be wet all day.
Waders also let you wade with impunity, even on chilly days.
Fortunately in Florida rudimentary waders will work as well (almost) as extreme $700 ones.
Paddle fishing when the water is winter low allows you to get into seriously shallow water where skiffs can’t go. It’s hunting for shallow water fishies at its best!
Break out the light-weight fly rods for some serious fun with reds and trout. I’ll be writing about this more in upcoming reports.
I will say this, though, the Redfish Worm fly at this link (http://www.spottedtail.com/FlyOfTheWeek.htm ) is one of my favorite winter patterns.

The Fishing
Tuesday’s trip has already been described.

The first day or two after a cold front is not usually a good time to flats fish. It all comes down to how hard and how cold the wind is. If a good, strong front comes through, the first day of calm weather afterwards is frequently the best fishing of the season. It could be the best day of the year. So getting ready for Saturday’s trip I had my fingers crossed the wind would lay down.
The forecast was for 15-20 out of the northwest and a high of 66. When I got to Parrish Park it was about NW at 20 and darned cold. My fisherman, a fly guy, didn’t want to go out. I don’t blame him. So I drove home again.

After the shuttle didn’t launch Tuesday, Maxx, Scott Radloff, Cindy Kimber, and I made plans every other day last week to go watch the launch. Since it didn’t go up we never got out. I didn’t wet a line this week.

The launch is now scheduled for November 30. I have the day open if any readers want to charter me to watch and fish.

Smoking Cobia, Again
Last week I wrote that I used oak to make smoke in the fish smoker. Reader Ray Kotke wrote, “up here in Michigan we smoke fish all the time, and you REALLY want to try using most any fruitwood chips for smoking fish. Even hickory chips is better than oak! Try some cherry or apple wood chips.”
It sounds like a great idea and thanks for the suggestion! Oaks grow in my yard, so that’s probably what I’ll continue using unless I get a dead orange tree someplace.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com