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Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

December 24, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Merry Christmas to All, and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year to Everyone!

Upcoming Events-

–Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013

– Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Clean-Up, February 9, 2013. Contact Nancy Corona, 321-861-0668 or nancy_corona@fws.gov

My bride had knee surgery. I spent most of this week taking care of her, as she can’t get around very well. She’s doing fine, thanks, and we expect a complete recovery.

Only three days were spent on the water this week but many other things got done.
-My website got hacked and crashed. It needed a complete re-build. That took some time.
-As long as I was at it I built a new website for my sister, the glass artist. See it at http://www.cherylkumiski.com

Blog Posts this week:

-A Christmas Gift to You

On Wednesday Tammy Wilson met me at Parrish Park. We spent four hours looking around the Mosquito Lagoon for fish. We did not see many, perhaps because we started late.

Tammy got a trout and a redfish, both out of the slot, while blind-casting with an olive colored bunny leech.

I got two smallish trout blind-casting with a DOA Shrimp.

 

A cold front came through Thursday night. The water level dropped six or seven inches, and the water temperature dropped by 10 degrees, between sunset Thursday and sunrise on Saturday. At that point I met Jason and Jonathan Brege, my fishermen for the next two days.

It was 38 degrees at the boat ramp and the flag was almost straight out. The Indian River Lagoon was covered with whitecaps. They wanted to go anyway so we launched the boat at Titusville Marina. That first boat ride was almost like the brain freeze you get when you eat ice cream too fast.

We fished in every dredge hole and canal I know. We came up with a grand total of three trout to 23 inches, all caught on jigs. Late in the day we found a bunch of fish, mostly trout but a few reds too, up on a flat. We could not get them to eat anything and didn’t get a bite there.

 

Sunday dawned much more placidly. With the winds forecast to be light and variable we went to Mosquito Lagoon with the intent of fly fishing. The first spot, which had been holding fish, was nearly barren. Playing a hunch I went to the spoil islands. Good call.

Both Jason and Jonathan got their first ever seatrout and redfish on fly. An imitation crab and a minnow pattern did the damage. They took turns fly fishing, so the “off” guy tossed a jerkbait, which also accounted for several trout.

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The trout were running large…
Jonathan with a fine trout.

The trout were running large, between 20 and 25 inches. The best redfish was 26. We got enough of each that I lost track (three or four is enough for that to happen, though).

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Brother Jason with trout on fly.

The weather was spectacular, the fish were cooperative, my fishermen were great guys, it was a fantastic weekend. Happy Christmas to me!

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The brothers with a fat Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area 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.

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

December 16, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

 

A moment of silence please for yet another senseless tragedy.

 

Upcoming Events–

–Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013

An Osprey preparing to dive at Kennedy Space C...

– Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Clean-Up, February 9, 2013. Contact Nancy Corona, 321-861-0668 or nancy_corona@fws.gov

Only two days were spent on the water this week but many other things got done.

Blog Posts this week:

–Wire Leaders for Toothy Fish

–Mushrooming with Confidence- A Review

–Birds of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

–Extraordinary Projects for Ordinary People- A Review

We’ve launched a new fishing escort service for folks who need or want a fishing partner. Please visit our new website at http://rentafishingbuddy.com . Any feedback you can send me would be appreciated.

 

Now, on to the fishing! It waren’t real good.

Monday Stan Major, his brother Tom, and his friend Emily joined me on Mosquito Lagoon for a full day. Tom wanted a redfish on fly.

It was breezy, overcast, and the water is still high . There weren’t many fish around (I don’t know where all those I found on Friday went). Tom blind cast all day and got the only two bites we had. He boated one seatrout, a decent one of 18 inches or so that took a slider. That was it for the day.

Near the end of the day we found a single tailing redfish, the first we’d seen all day. Tom made one cast and the fish disappeared. That’s how our day ended.

Saturday Richard Sykes, from the low country of South Carolina, joined me for a day’s fly fishing. We kicked off the day by chasing about a half dozen schools of spooky reds around a big flat. As quiet as the Mitzi is we could not get close to those fish. In more than two hours he never got a decent shot. Time to change gears.

We went looking for big seatrout. Apparently in South Carolina a 20 inch fish is a giant. I showed Richard some trout that were between 25 and 30 inches. If they weren’t fleeing when he threw to them, they were as soon as the fly landed. We managed to spook every redfish we saw too. In spite of some seriously nice weather he never got a bite and we were skunked in a most serious fashion.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area 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.

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Orlando Area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

December 8, 2012 by · 1 Comment

Orlando Area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events– Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013

Monday, quite a beautiful day, found me paddling the Ocean Kayak on the Banana River Lagoon in the no motor zone, hoping to find big redfish and black drum. Six hours of paddling later I had found none. There was no seagrass at all. It was hard finding the spots- without the grass there was no frame of reference.

I saw three or four redfish and maybe thirty trout in two schools. Tossing a gurgler around where the trout were seen netted two strikes, both of which were missed.

There is no reason for me to go back there for a while.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The launch at the nmz. The “dock” is real wobbly. If you fall into that muck they’ll never find you. That’s where all the grass is- dead and stinky along the shoreline!

Thursday Tammy Wilson and I went out on the Mosquito Lagoon in the Mitzi. The weather was really nice, very little wind. Lots of clouds at first gave way to mostly sunny skies.
At the first spot there were quite a few redfish. They were quite nervous and didn’t want us near them. Tammy cast a streamer fly at some of them and got two nice fish, both seatrout. They apparently were swimming with the reds.

The fish did not hang around very long, so we went looking in some other places. As could be expected, some were barren and some were fairly fishy. We did not get another fish, though.

We were off the water by 3:00 PM.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We started off boating by Braille, using the compass to find the spot in the fog, glasses all wet, unable to see. We did find it. There were fish there. We could only see them when they moved, pushing up a wake. They would not let us into casting range.

While poling out of there a redfish tailed in front of the boat. It was one of many fish that were there. Dr. George got one on a DOA CAL jerkbait, nice work on his part.

We couldn’t find any more fish at that spot so went to one other. It was good. George got four out-of-slot redfish and a 26 inch seatrout using cut bait, a solid hour of catching there.

When I went to load the pictures of the previous two days fishing into my computer I opened the camera to remove the memory card and it wasn’t in there. It was still in the card reader from the previous use. Well DUH! No photos.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

A file photo of Dr. Yarko with a nice red.

And that is this week’s exciting version of the Orlando Area 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.

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Spotted Seatrout- A Pictorial

November 30, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Spotted Seatrout

My favorite time for Spotted Seatrout fishing happens when the water gets cold and the big trout sun themselves over white potholes in the grassy bottom. Wait, that’s right now, man!

You can sight fish spotted seatrout now. The flies that work best are unweighted streamers. My favorite flies though, are surface flies- gurglers and poppers.

You will have by far the best results if you get in the water and wade. You will need waders- the water is cold, remember?

Although a big one will pull line off the reel, generally Seatrout do not pull very hard. They jump only rarely. Frankly, they’re not terribly exciting to catch, unless you get a real big one or you get them on a top-water lure. That visual strike is usually the best part of the fight.

Below are some of my favorite images of spotted seatrout. I hope you all get a chance to catch some nice ones of your own this winter. Please carefully release those big ones, too!

spotted seatrout

Son Maxx with a trout he caught many years ago in Everglades National Park. The fish took a DOA Bait Buster.

 

spotted seatrout

A few years later Maxx and Mike Brown got this seatrout double in the Indian River Lagoon. DOA Shrimp did the trick this time.

 

spotted seatrout

Mr. DOA himself, Mark Nichols, with a handsome Indian River Lagoon seatrout.

 

spotted seatrout

An unweighted streamer fooled this big Mosquito Lagoon seatrout.

 

spotted seatrout

Vic Attardo and son Alex with a Banana River Lagoon seatrout double.

 

spotted seatrout

Capt. Chris Myers with a handsome seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

 

spotted seatrout

This seatrout nailed a gurgler.

 

spotted seatrout

This trout nailed a foam popper, and chewed it to pieces.

 

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 25, 2012 by · 2 Comments

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events- Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013

In this version of the Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, the water level in the lagoons is still unseasonably high. That, combined with the low angle of sun in the wintering sky, is making sight fishing in the lagoons difficult.

That having been said, on Tuesday Cheryl, the official sister of the Spotted Tail and famous stained glass artist, joined me for a redfish-for-Thanksgiving-dinner mission. The wind was screaming out of the north. The first spot we went I was tossing a Johnson Minnow. I didn’t get a bite but I did poke a redfish with my fishing rod. He bolted, as could be expected.

We anchored up on the lee side of an island and put two mullet chunk lines out. In 20 minutes I had gotten three reds to 32 inches, with one being a fine 25 inch dinner fish. Mission accomplished, we put the boat on the trailer.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Cheryl with the best fish of the day.

The fish, stuffed with a crabmeat and rice stuffing and grilled over an oak fire, was delicious.

On Wednesday fly fishers Andrew Peterson and his friend Terry joined me for a day’s fly fishing. Since the wind was again screaming out of the north my guess was any fish we got would be by the grace of God. He didn’t smile on us. In spite of working our butts off all day we got exactly one bite which was not converted. It was a beautiful day if you weren’t trying to fly fish, but next to impossible for a fly caster.

Thursday was a lovely day and the Kumiskis had 30-odd guests for a wonderful celebration. I hope all of you had a blessed day.

Friday long-time client Todd Preuss Ph.D. came down from Atlanta for some fly fishing. The wind was out of the north but uncharacteristically was only blowing about 10-12 mph. Using a slider Todd got two nice reds in the slot and a fat little killifish, more commonly called a mud minnow here in Florida. Never saw one taken with a fly before.

Late in the afternoon we found a bunch of seatrout on a sheltered shoreline and Todd got two on a Hot Head fly. All in all it was a real nice day.

Saturday Rob Ghini and Tammy Wilson joined me for another Mosquito Lagoon trip. The wind was still there, 10-12 out of the northwest. The slight direction change moved the fish.

We went to where the fish were on Thursday, first the redfish, then the seatrout. Neither were still there. So it was search mission time.

Rob got the first red on a Johnson Minnow while blind casting. Then I got one on a chartreuse DOA Shrimp. A while later Tammy got a trout on the DOA Shrimp.

While sight fishing across a large flat tammy spotted a small group of reds and Rob got the best fish of the day on a piece of mullet.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tammy spotted it, Rob caught it, a true team effort. It was released.

We got a few more trout on jigs and DOA Shrimp.

It was a beautiful day but the fish were scarce. We had to work hard but we did get a few, and enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

Thanks to all my fishermen this week- you were all awesome.

I sure hope the water level drops soon.

And that is this week’s 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.

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Flies for the Mosquito Lagoon and Adjacent Waters

October 10, 2012 by · 2 Comments

Flies for the Mosquito Lagoon and Adjacent Waters 

Redfish Flies

A selection of effective flies for fishing the east central Florida lagoons.

It occurred to me while working on my Goodnews River fly series that one needed to be done for the local Florida waters. This is it!

Which flies work best when fishing the Mosquito Lagoon? What day are we talking about? Accept the fact that the fish have moods. Some days they’ll eat anything. Other days they’ll eat nothing. You need to cover the water column, and you need to think about what your target species eats. For fishing in this lagoon, flies need to have weedguards or they will not work.

Redfish eat crabs, small fish (generally two inches or less) and shrimp. They have an inferior mouth, and prefer to feed down. Seatrout eat small fish, shrimp, and occasionally crabs. They have a superior mouth and prefer to feed up. They will take a much larger baitfish than reds typically do.

Mosquito Lagoon Redfish

A small Merkin will take reds when nothing else will work. Black drum like it, too.

For reds I like flies on #4 and #2 hooks, lightly weighted, and equipped with weedguards. Patterns include Clouser Minnows, my version of Borski’s sliders, Merkins, bunny leeches, and similar types of flies. I always have some unweighted bendbacks (same sizes) for when the plop of a weighted fly landing spooks them.

Indian River Seatrout

Sliders work on many different species. This one uses synthetic “hackle”, but an actual hackle feather works well, too. Note the obvious two-pronged weed guard.

For seatrout I like minnow-type flies, similar to the popular Puglisi patterns, in sizes 2, 1, and 1/0. Small gurglers, poppers, or sliders are also good to carry. There’s quite a bit of crossover between the two species in terms of what flies they’ll take.

Mosquito Lagoon Seatrout

Big trout eat smaller fish. This one took a bendback. A minnow pattern is a necessity.

Colors are more important to fishermen that fish most of the time. That having been said, my redfish flies are typically black, brown, tan, gray, green, or purple. My trout flies imitate the natural coloration of small fish, or are hot pink and chartreuse.

Lastly, for days when blind casting is needed, I like the Dupre Spoonfly and the Rattle Rouser in addition to a few popping bugs.

If you carry a selection of the types of flies mentioned you’ll be ready for almost any situation you’re likely to encounter here.

Please feel free to comment and let all of us know what your favorites are. You might even consider writing a guest blog about it!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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

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Orlando Area Saltwater Fishing Report

October 6, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Upcoming Events

Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 27. Click here for more information/registration.

Mosquito Lagoon On-The-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 28. Click here for more information/registration.

While on YouTube looking at music I typed my name in out of curiosity. To my surprise a 37 second piece featuring my photos popped up. You can see the piece here…

 

Fishing-

-Monday found Jim Manual and his friend Zack out in the Mitzi with me, on the Mosquito Lagoon for a morning’s fishing. Fishing was not great, but we did manage a couple redfish and a few trout. The water has so much loose grass in it that about the only lures you can use effectively are jerk baits. DOA’s Deadly Combo works well for trout in the deeper areas.

I ran down to the south end of the lagoon after I dropped them off. It was very nasty on the east side, a dirty, brown mess. No need to go down there for a while.

-Wednesday Howard and Hodges Haycock (some good alliteration there!) joined me for a six-hour trip on the Mosquito Lagoon. Fishing was good, with a solid bite from both seatrout and redfish. Although all the reds were in the slot, they were all at the lower end. The trout ranged from 10 inches to over 24. All but two fish were caught on either jerk baits or a DOA Shrimp. We got about 20 or so fish altogether, a solid outing.

-Thursday Tammy and I launched at Port Canaveral. First thing that happened was a rocket went up! It was mostly downhill after that.

Rocket Launch, Port Canaveral

The rocket launch was the highlight of the day.

We couldn’t get past the jetties because the ocean was too rough. I spent some time catching mullet. Our next idea was to go through the locks and fish the Banana River Lagoon.
Wrong.
The locks are under repair and only open every two hours. We had just missed the last opening, so a two hour wait was needed. We pulled the boat and went to the Indian River Lagoon.
We looked in several places in the IRL. The fish were fairly scarce. Tammy had one good hit from what I think was a redfish that nailed a DOA Shrimp. The fish came off and that was it for the day as far as catching fish went.

-Friday Dave Carlson and his son-in-law Marshall joined me for a morning’s fishing. Dave wanted to fly fish for redfish. I went to where we had gotten all the fish on Wednesday. Most of them had gone. We had a couple shots in a couple hours and no conversions.
We went into the Indian River Lagoon to a spot I had been finding fish. There were many fewer there than last time. Again, only a few shots resulted and again, there were no conversions.
Marshall got a couple dink trout on a jerkbait and that was it. The boat was on the trailer at about 1 PM. It was a pretty tough day.

And that is this week’s Orlando area saltwater fishing report. I hope it’s better next week!

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.

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

Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

June 15, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Jensen Beach Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6.16.12

On Sunday, friend and neighbor Tom Van Horn and I made a trek to Jensen Beach to stay at River Palms, to do some fishing on Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday Doug Pike and I went out with Capt. Squeeky Kelly. Fishing with Doug was awesome. He was once editor of Tide magazine. He was one of my favorite magazine editors when I was writing a lot, so it was a pleasure getting to spend the day with him. And Squeeky is quite the character. We spent a lot of time laughing at stupid stuff.

We got about 20 trout to about 22 inches or so, not particularly hot fishing. Most of the damage was done with a DOA Bait Buster, shallow running version.

seatrout on DOA

Capt. Squeeky holds the best fish of the day, caught on a DOA Bait Buster.

Several of the other boats had a similar problem as far as getting fish. Although tough fishing-wise, it was still a great day, wonderful weather, fantastic company.

On Tuesday Willy Le and I went out with Capt. Marcia Foosaner, one of my oldest friends from that part of the world. Usually when I fish with Marcia I watch her catch fish. She typically schools me pretty well.

It was another fairly tough morning. We went wading, all three of us tossing the three inch DOA Shrimp in various hues. I hooked a nice snook, which cut me off. A smallish crevalle and small flounder followed. Marcia hooked, then lost, a redfish. Willy and I each got a mangrove snpper. Then I hooked another snook, a five pound fish that I caught. We photographed and released it.

Snook taken on a DOA Shrimp

WIlly Le holds a snook fooled by a DOA Shrimp.

I hooked another snook and got cut off again. Then Willy hooked and lost the fish of the day, a solid snook which tossed the hook during a head shake.

All too soon it was time to head back to River Palms, to head home. Tom dropped me off at about 4 PM. The two days had flown by.

Wednesday morning found me at the chiropractor. My back has been a mess.

Thursday’s trip fell through. Quality time was spent with my bride.

Friday Susan and I celebrated out 32nd wedding anniversary. I got to do some honey-dos.

And that, short though it may be, is this week’s Indian River 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.

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Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

June 9, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6.9.12

On Sunday, friend and neighbor Karl Dienst joined me for a quick strike. We launched at Kennedy Point at 6 AM. We got to the fishing spot and no one else was there! Amazing.

The fish were not as thick as they were. We did not see a redfish. Karl got several nice trout on a white plastic worm, the kind you use for largemouth bass. I got a few on the Bait Buster. We also got a few nice ladyfish. Still looking for tarpon, still haven’t seen any.

Seatrout on DOA Bait Buster

The Bait Buster is a great lure for any mullet-eating fish.

The boat was on the trailer at 10AM.

Monday I went solo, launching at Marina Park. Got a couple trout and ladyfish on a Chug Bug, but it was slow. Saw one pod of redfish that would not let me near them. Switched to a Bait Buster and got a couple more trout.

I ran around much of Turnbull Basin and didn’t see much. On an ominous note, the nasty water we had last summer is showing itself again- found one large spot of dirty water on the west side south of the safety zone, and a big chunk of filthy water around Duckroost Cove.

After going to another spot I went wading, got four slot redfish on a black Clouser Minnow, quite satisfying.

Monday afternoon Sue and I brought son Alex to the airport, sending him off to Goodnews. It’s that time of year.

Tuesday morning Scott Radloff and I launched the Mitzi at Lee Wenner Park. It was overcast and windy, coming out of the west.

Scott got a small red on a Gulp on this third cast.

We got a nice trout on a DOA Shrimp in the next hour. It was too slow and visibility was not that great, so we put the boat on the trailer and went to Kelly Park, launching into the Banana River Lagoon.

I had gotten good reports about the BRL but we fished until 2 PM and got one trout that Scott convinced to take a Chug Bug. Not a lot of seagrass there any more.

Wednesday fly caster Darrin Prestangen met me at Marina Park. It was overcast and windy, terrible fly fishing conditions. Darrin, used to blind-casting in the streams of Colorado, blind-cast all morning. We did not get a fish. We did get rained on. We did see another boat pull in a 30 pound class redfish on the northwest side of the railroad trestle.

In the afternoon we went to where I had gotten the four reds a few days earlier. It was still very hard to see, but Darrin managed to sight-fish his first ever redfish (a small one) and a 20 inch seatrout, both on sliders.
The boat was on the trailer at 3 PM.

seatrout, indian river lagoon

Darrin's first saltwater fish was this nice trout.

Thursday I did honey-dos. The weather was awful. It was a good day to stay home.

Friday Darrin joined me again, his last hurrah for this trip. We launched at Parrish Park. It was overcast but the wind was light.

We saw one tailing fish at the first spot, at which we did not get a shot. It did not tail very long.

We found a small school of fish at the second spot. We found them by running them over. There was a stampede.

We ran over several singles too. There were fish there but between the clouds and the dark bottom we could not see them at all.

We went back to the place where Darrin had caught his two fish the previous trip.

In a stunning turn of events there were more fish there than the previous day. Darrin got two reds and a fine black mullet on the estaz crabby thing fly. The fly goes into commercial production tomorrow! The reds at this spot run small, but at least we could sight fish.

mullet on fly

Mullet, on fly!

 

mullet on fly close up

The fly goes on sale tomorrow!

 

We went to another, similar spot and there were even more reds. Again, they were small, about 20 inch fish, but he got four more on a Son of Clouser. There were many refusals and blown shots. In spite of the clouds fishing was actually quite good. If the fish had been bigger I would have said it was excellent. At any rate we had a great time.

redfish, son of clouser

This red (and several others) fell for the Son of Clouser.

redfish, indian river lagoon

Although the fish ran small, at least we could sight fish.

redfish tail featuring spots

The double spotted tail...

The boat was on the trailer at 3 PM.

And that is this week’s Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

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

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

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

June 2, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6.2.12

You may have heard about the proposed Pebble Mine. If not, the idea is to have a huge open pit mine, the world’s biggest, in southwest Alaska. Great idea, unless you care about trout and salmon.
This link-  http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/262141/1a1f348b3c/1774503119/dd14000b65/
-contains other links and a call for action. With a pre-written letter you can express your opinion about the mine idea to the president, the head of the EPA, your Congressman and senators, etc.

south fork Goodnews River

Imagine this as a big open pit mine. Not much fishing would be going on any more.

Salmon used to be a common fish along both coasts of North America. Now all that’s left is a tiny remnant. Please help preserve that for posterity.

Fishing this week, ah yes. A lady named Beryl came to town early in the week and dumped on us for a couple of days. I was going to go fishing on Wednesday but a minor domestic problem prevented anything more than a trip to the Econ.

In last week’s report I asked about bass flies. While no responses came in, I have been doing some research and tied up a few flies based on that. I went to the Econ hoping to test them.

Beryl came to town. The Econ was up considerably, almost not fishable for a wading angler, especially one with a fly rod. But I found a couple of places where it was feasible.

I actually got two bites. On the second I watched the bass take the fly. I missed them both.

Two bites may not sound like much, but I’ve never gotten a bass to hit a fly there. So progress is being made. I know I’ll never figure it out, because it is fishing. But when I get a handle on it a full report will be filed. It may take a while- it’s rained some more.

Tom Van Horn picked me up at 5 AM Thursday morning. We loaded two kayaks into the bed of his truck and headed to the Banana River Lagoon. He had gotten some glowing reports and we were optimistic about our chances.

A light breeze from the southwest greeted us at the launch. The sun was just clearing the trees as we paddled to the first spot. I had tied on a Floozy popper, since the water there was up, and not terribly clean at that first place.

Second cast- Wham! Twenty-four inch trout. Good way to start the day. Fourth cast- Wham! Twenty-three inch trout. It tore the Floozy apart. Another was tied on, but it was the last one in the box.

I quickly lost track of how many casts were made or bites were had, but it was smoking hot for a while. Then it cooled down. It always does. Not to worry, we went somewhere else.

Seatrout-on-fly, banana river lagoon

The trout tore the Floozy apart.

Tom was tossing a surface plug and had three nice trout before I could get organized. The Floozy soon started popping though and the fish were all over it. They soon tore it apart.

seatrout, banana river lagoon

After Tom lost this plug he used a Bait Buster. The fish didn't care.

I switched to a Hot Head. The trout like it just fine.

Hot Head flies

The Hot Heads worked well, too.

The strikes were jolting. The tippet was too light. Only two Hot Heads were in the fly bag and I lost both of them. I had one Electric Sushi and lost that too.

In the meantime Tom had lost his plug and had switched to a DOA Bait Buster. The fish didn’t seem to mind.

I stopped fishing and made up a 15 pound tippet. That stopped the bleeding.

The bite slowed as the sun climbed. Since the wind was light and visibility was excellent we went looking for big redfish. Sadly, we did not find any at all.

We did find some slot reds. Using a black Clouser Minnow I got five or six, as well as some more trout.

The boats were back in the truck at 2:30. It was a hell of a day.

In general, the trout bite in the lagoons right now is as good as I have ever seen it for a sustained period. It’s been smoking hot for several months and shows no sign of slowing. And the fish are running a large average size, 20 inches or so. Get out and enjoy it- it’s sure to slow down!

That is this week’s Banana River 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.

 

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