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Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 25, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

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.

 

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 18, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5.19.12

Upcoming Event- Inaugural Space Coast International Surf Fishing Tournament, Memorial Day weekend, May 25-27. For more information click here http://internationalsurffishingtournament.com/

Sad News- Vic Dunaway passed away on Thursday. Vic was the original editor at Florida Sportsman magazine and guided that publication to a pre-eminent position among American fishing magazines. Vic bought the first article I ever wrote, a piece about fishing at Lostman’s Key in Everglades National park, for which I will ever be grateful to him.

His daughter Mari writes, “His wishes were that there be no funeral. He just wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the Gulf of Mexico. If you wish to honor his memory, please send a contribution to the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida, P. O. Box 568886, Orlando, FL 32856. As I’m sure you know, the preservation of Florida’s coastal waters was important to him.”

I’m sure the next issue of Florida Sportsman will run a glowing tribute to him, which will be well deserved. Florida sportsmen will miss him, and should honor his legacy.

To all you discoers, Donna Summers also passed on Thursday. She worked hard for the money!

Fish of the Week- still the Spotted Seatrout!

My boat trailer is an aluminum frame EZ Loader. Aluminum or not, it had some galvanized parts and leaf springs, all of which were getting very rusty. Whoever said, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” obviously never had a boat trailer.

Tuesday I brought the trailer to EZ Loader in Port St. Lucie for some refurbishing action. After I dropped it off, I drove to Jensen Beach and met Mark Nichols for some fishing action down the south end of the IRL.

We went wade fishing. Fishing was good. Steady action from slot trout with the occasional crevalle and bluefish thrown in kept us entertained. The lure of choice, as might be expected, was a three inch DOA Shrimp.
Seatrout caught on a DOA Shrimp
It was great to see Mark and spend some time with him. The fish were a gift from God.

DOA Lures' Mark Nichols

Wednesday I went to the Mosquito Lagoon to do some scouting. I had a fly charter on Thursday and wanted to show the guy some fish.

I started at the south end of Tiger Shoal, using the trolling motor to save some time. I went almost all the way to the north entrance with a couple of small trout to show for it. All the reds and big trout that had been up there were gone. So sad.

I looked in quite a few other places. The best I found was moderate numbers of single reds in shallow water, which I did not fish. There was a lot of barren territory.

When I get a new fly rod I do not take the plastic off the handle until that rod catches a “real” fish. I have had a new Temple Fork rod for at least a month that still had the plastic on the handle, which was beginning to irk me. I stopped at a bar on the way back to the boat ramp and got three trout there on a black and purple streamer, the first of which was 24 inches long.

The plastic is finally off the handle.

Thursday Shaun Waterman, a fly fisher from Ontario, joined me for a day’s fishing. He’d never fished in saltwater before. It wasn’t windy at all, but it was very gray. As I headed to the spot I found the fish on Wednesday I was praying they would be tailing.

Of course they weren’t. We did see the occasional tail, but it would be up, down, and no more. In addition to the clouds, the water where we were fishing was kind of dirty.
We ran over quite a few but never got any kind of real shot. We just couldn’t see. I had him try blind casting with a spoon fly for a while but that didn’t work either.

After a couple frustrating hours I decided to see if we could find anything better. We didn’t.

After a while I brought Shaun to the bar where I had caught the trout the day before. There were two people wading there. I gave them wide berth and we started fishing the bar about halfway up, blind casting the streamer to the edge of the dropoff.

We ran over a couple nice fish but no bites.

In a brief interlude with sunlight I thought I saw a fish on the inside of the bar. I wasn’t sure what it was because it was motionless, and facing right at us, but I pointed it out to Shaun. He dropped the fly about a foot in front of it and what turned out to actually be a fish zoomed up and immediately ate.

It was a redfish about 20 inches long. Not huge to be sure but Shaun’s first saltwater fish on fly. Congratulations, sir!

It was the only bite we got. We went back to near where we started. The fish had started tailing, not hard, but enough to keep us busy. Shaun had one great cast I thought sure would work but the fish never responded to it. Then the east wind came up and we never saw another fish.

It rained hard Thursday night and my roof started leaking. No more fishing until that problem is fixed.

That is this week’s Mosquito 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.

 

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Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

April 21, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 4.21.12

Cheryl, the official sister of Spotted Tail, was visiting from New Hampshire until Thursday of the week just past. While it was great seeing her, she cut into my fishing time.

On Monday she and I floated the Econ (read the blog post here). The redbellies are bedding. Although I didn’t hit it hard I had a ball catching them, using a three weight and a foam spider.

Got a late start Thursday, wanted to scout the Indian River. Went to the dredge hole on the northeast side of NASA Causeway and worked the flat to Morse Creek. Saw some nice trout and a few redfish, but not nearly enough to make me want to go back.

Friday’s scouting was out of River Breeze. Searched shorelines for nearly four hours. Got two reds and two trout on a jerk worm, all slot fish. Did not find any concentrations of fish, strictly one here, one way over there. Saw some slot reds and some serious trout. My best fish was a 25 inch red, although I was more concerned with finding some than catching them.

seatrout on jerkbait

Back to business next week.

And that is this week’s Indian River 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 and Port Canaveral Offshore Fishing Report

April 1, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.31.12

Upcoming Events/Volunteers Needed
In celebration of Earth Day 2012, Anglers for Conservation are coordinating a series of Hook Kids on Fishing programs throughout the week of April 14-22. Volunteers are needed. This is the perfect opportunity to work within the fishing community while having a very rewarding experience. All volunteers’ will received a free Anglers for Conservation fishing hat! Contact Rodney Smith at 321-750-3374 or rodney@anglersforconservation.org.

Fishing this week- lots of fish, not many big ones.

On Monday, Matt Williams of Winter Park joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We did some searching for redfish and did not find very many. Matt caught three on a Johnson Minnow, all out of the slot- on the low end. He got a lot of trout on the DOA Shrimp, but again many were short, with only a few in the slot. The weather was pretty nice too, a little breezy but otherwise a beautiful day.

There are manatees swimming all through the lagoon systems now. They tend to hang out in the deeper water just off the edge of the flat. Please avoid running your boat in these places, unless you like colliding with 2000 pounds of ugly-cute critter.

On Thursday Sam Sharata, his son Alex, and his nephew Luis joined me for some fishing, again on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was beautiful, a bit breezy. We started off fishing for trout, always a good strategy when youngsters are in the boat. They were biting the DOA Shrimp pretty well, although again, lots of shorts.

The dehooker is such a great device for removing these fish from the hook. It’s better for the fish, too- you don’t even need to touch them. There are several commercially made versions of this tool in the market, the best known of which is the ARC Dehooker.

Anyway, after a while we went searching for redfish. It took a while but we found a school of about 50 and managed to get two in the 24 inch range before they vacated the area. Then we fished trout again until our day was done. A fine day it was!

redfish from the mosquito lagoon

Alex (L) and Luis with Luis's first redfish ever.

redfish from the mosquito lagoon

Alex got his first redfish, too.

On Friday I was the guest of Dr. George Yarko for an offshore charter on Capt. Jeff Brown’s 29 foot Copout. There were lots of menhaden off Cocoa Beach, where we filled up the livewell. Then we went looking for king mackerel.

using a cast net to catch bait

Jeff Brown tosses a net to catch bait.

Apparently we missed them by one day, and did not raise one. So we went further out looking for dolphin. George got a small one that hit a trolled rigged ballyhoo. Another hour of trolling went by and not another bite was had, so we went bottom fishing.

The red snapper bite was hot, and Dr. Yarko had their number. There’s currently a moratorium in place on red snapper so we had to release all of the tasty critters, even the one that I caught. More for the next trip.

red snapper

George got bigger ones, but this was the best photo.

Working our way back in, we came across a lovely line of weeds. Jeff shut off the engines and let us drift along. Some flying fish erupted from the water and I spotted a dolphin swimming along. A cast with a pogie brought an immediate hookup. A second cast got another. Sadly the second fish broke off but the first one was gaffed and brought aboard. We saw a couple dozen more of the mahis, but could not convince them to take either a live or a cut bait, very strange.

A small mahi-mahi caught off Port Canaveral.

It wasn't real big but it was very tasty!

We were back in the Port at about 4:30 after a grueling ride back.

On Saturday Steve Kruska, has son Karstin, and his friend Adam Rosati joined me to do some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Karstin was nine years old so you know we went straight to the trout. And they were pretty cooperative, although again the average fish was about 14 inches, with maybe a half dozen fish in the slot being caught.

Small Spotted Seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

Karstin got a bunch of fish like this, which kept him busy.

We also got a ladyfish and a small red. Everything was taken on a DOA Shrimp.

Small Spotted Seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

Word on the street is these fish are more entertaining than walleyes.

I only poled one flat looking for reds and we did not see one. But we caught trout until the final bell.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and 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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Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

March 25, 2012 by · 4 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.25.12

Dad-Was-A-Bad-Influence Dept: son Alex passed his US Coast Guard Merchant Mariner’s exam today. He will soon be able to carry passengers for hire, just like the old man! Congratulations, son!

Tuesday the Brothers Klepacki joined me for some paddling and fly fishing in the no motor zone. I had been on such a good run. Tuesday crushed it. All the redfish that have been in the same spot for months left- zilch, zero, nada. We found some nice seatrout but I don’t do all that paddling for trout. On the other hand, a bunch of nice trout are way better than no redfish, which is how many reds we got.

Got a last minute cancellation on Wednesday. Stayed home.

Thursday Tim and Lynn Dennin joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Tim did something you shouldn’t do if you want to sightfish for redfish. He forgot his sunglasses. We got quite a few seatrout on the DOA Shrimp. Our redfishing went for naught though. Tim just couldn’t see them without the glasses.

spotted seatrout from mosquito lagoon

The Dennins with one of their many seatrout.

The weather was awesome. We had a real nice day.

Saturday David Garcia travelled all the way from Fairbanks Alaska to fish for redfish. We had quite a few clouds and it was pretty windy. David learned fast though, and when he saw a fish the Johnson Minnow landed there, pronto. Three nice reds were boated along with a missed strike. We also got a couple dozen trout to about 20 inches on DOA Shrimp. It was a pretty good day considering the weather.

redfish, mosquito lagoon

Mr. Garcia came a long way to catch his first redfish.

mosquito lagoon redfish

David also got this one and another as well.

mosquito lagoon seatrout

The trout were pretty cooperative. This was one of many trout we released.

Sydney Katz, official girlfriend of son Maxx, is taking a course in Marine Biology and needed photos of various estuarine life forms- flora and fauna both. Today we went out on the Indian River Lagoon to get them. Maxx and I each caught a redfish and several seatrout. We also caught mullet, minnows, shrimp, crabs, horseshoe crabs, comb jellies, various types of alga, and generally made a mess of my boat. It was fun and a relaxing way to spend most of a Sunday.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and 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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Weather or Not: the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

March 10, 2012 by · 10 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.10.12

First off I want to thank everyone who responded with kind words during my nightmare with the mailing list. There were way too many to respond to individually. I appreciate your patience and cooperation!

Next, last Saturday 10 brave souls attended my Show and Tell Seminar on the Merritt Island NWR. Here’s what a couple of them had to say:

-“Thank you for a great outing Saturday. Super informative and I feel much better prepared to do exploring on my own. You held nothing back and I look forward to putting your advice and counsel into action.” Doug Whitmer

-“Hope I thanked you for a very nice day last Saturday. Got a lot from it and you use your teaching background VERY well.” Dalen Mills

We had a good time and all of us learned something.

And now we get to the fishing. I was supposed to run an on-the-water seminar on Sunday. However, the lightning, rain, and 30 mph winds accompanying a cold front convinced me that would not be a good idea.

The water temperature, as measured by the gauge at Haulover Canal, dropped seven degrees Sunday due to that front.

Monday morning Sam and Dave (not the soul men), son and father, joined me for what turned out to mostly be a brisk morning boat ride. The air was chilly when we came out of Haulover in a largely fruitless search for fish. We did see a couple of redfish and Sam got a dink on the DOA Shrimp. That was it.

Since it was a half day I used the afternoon to go scouting. I found a few reds and managed to get two bites (both of which I missed) but the fish were widely scattered and hard to find.

Wednesday it was overcast and blowing 20 out of the southeast. Eric Hustedt, a fly fisher and Ph.D. from Nashville, wanted to go out anyway. We came out of Haulover and a wave came over the bow of the boat. The water was filthy, roiled up by the wind and waves.

Eric managed to get a trout on a rattle fly. It was a dink, to be sure, but he got it on a fly in those horrible conditions. He had the sense to switch to blind casting with a spin rod.

spotted seatrout from the mosquito lagoon

This was Eric's best trout of the day. Heck, it was the best trout of the week!

Using a DOA Shrimp he managed two redfish and several more trout, much to my surprise. We were out until 330.

Thursday Jim McDonall, a fly fisher and Ph.D. from New York, joined me for a half day. Given my success in the Mosquito Lagoon the previous two trips I did some gambling and launched at Parrish Park. The gamble did not pay off very well.

We did not see a fish in the first spot. Only found a few trout and exactly three black drum in the second. Nothing in the third. We flushed a small and spooky school of reds in the fourth, at which we did not get a shot. And in the fifth there were quite a few trout. They did not bite. There were also a few large redfish. They did not allow us into casting range before disappearing.

Then it was time to go. So Thursday was a big fat bagel.

Wind and developing lung crud prevented me from searching more in the afternoon. I slept much of the day Friday, coughing and sneezing while awake.

And that, folks, is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report. We’ve had better weeks!

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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An Awesome Week- Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral Fishing Report

March 4, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.4.12

Spring is breaking out in central Florida! Azaleas are blooming, trees are leafing out, oranges perfume the air with their blossoms.

Fishing has been fantastic.

Monday’s trip was a family affair. Pastor Louis Schulz, his son Chris, and the pastor’s brother Chris, joined me for a day’s fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. It was overcast almost all day, and a soaking rain lasted for at least an hour. Fortunately there was very little wind.

We wanted redfish. With the exception of a school of maybe two dozen fish that did not hang around very long, we did not see any. But the trout were really on.

I don’t know how many they caught. It was a lot. Most were caught on DOA Shrimp, but at the end of the day we found a hole full of trout and short reds and they used live shrimp there. All of the reds and many of the trout were short, but eight trout were in the slot and two were over 20 inches. It was a wonderful day.

 

On Tuesday Mike Webber, his girlfriend Judy Votta, and his friend Mike from New Orleans joined me for a day’s fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. It was cloudy and windy, not nice at all, although in the afternoon the sun finally broke through.

It was almost a repeat of the previous day. The DOA Shrimp produced a lot of trout, some short, some in the slot. Live shrimp produced a few more, and some short reds. The one slot red they got came on a mullet chunk.

seatrout Mosquito lagoon

Judy had the hot rod all day long.

The sun finally came out. It turned out to be a lovely day.

 

Wednesday Father Rick Voor and his long-time friend Steve joined me for some kayak fishing, launching at River Breeze. It was a search mission, as I hadn’t been there in weeks.

The weather was awesome, the water was low, and conditions were great. We did not see any fish for about an hour. Then we found a school of reds in a large white hole.

Father Rick had never caught a red on a lure before. Steve had never caught a red at all. They got quite a few- most on the DOA Shrimp, one on a Johnson Minnow. With the exception of a couple shorts, all were in the slot. It was a blessed day.

steve's first redfish

steve's first redfish

father ricks's doa redfish

redfish doa

This redfish wanted the DOA Shrimp.

 

Thursday son Maxx and I launched the Mitzi at Port Canaveral. Winds were SW at close to 15, almost at the limits of the Mitzi’s ability to handle on the open ocean. But there were no clouds at first.

We ran down to Satellite Beach, then went out a couple miles and started to idle back. Close to two uneventful hours passed before Maxx said, “There’s a fish!” He fired a jig out towards it and the fish was all over it. It was close to 20 pounds.

cobia

Maxx's first cobia in quite a while...

That gave us more confidence, although another long lull followed. Then I spotted a tripletail. I fired a live shrimp out in front of it. How could it say no? It was around five or six pounds.

tripletail

The tripletail- lover of shrimp.

A while later I spotted a cobia, coming in fast. He ate the jig but in spite of my striking him three times he came right off.

A while later Maxx spotted another cobia. He followed, but did not eat, the jig. I tossed a live shrimp and he was all over it. We released that one.

We bagged it shortly after that, but ran another cobia over on the way back. The boat was back on the trailer before 2 PM.

Saturday 10 fine folks attended the Show and Tell seminar. We drove all  around the Merritt Island NWR and talked fishing at every stop. We didn’t finish until almost 6PM. Great group of guys, great day.

The weather blew out Sunday’s on the water show and tell. We will hold it next week instead.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral 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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Windy Weather Hampers Fishing- Orlando Area Fishing Report

February 25, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 2.26.12

Upcoming Events Dept-
-Merritt Island NWR Show and Tell Seminars- March 3 and 4. Time is short, it’s this coming Saturday! Read More Here…

Monday’s trip was postponed due to high winds.

Tuesday afternoon I took the Mitzi out on the St. Johns River. Thought I might fly up a few shad. Strangely, there was only one boat at the mouth of the Econ, a kayaker. He said he’d only gotten one shad all day (he got there at 8 AM) and his friends in a motor boat had only gotten a couple of small crappie.

There was certainly not much surface activity. I fished for three hours with both fly and spin, got one small largemouth bass on a Muddler Minnow, the only bite I got. No shad were seen.
It was a lovely afternoon. I was glad I went.

Wednesday Scott Radloff and I went canoeing on the Banana River Lagoon. There was some wind and a lot of clouds, plus the water was up a few inches. All this conspired to make spotting fish difficult.

I found a tailer and managed to drop a black bunny leech in front of him. He took the fly and Scott got this picture of us:

redfish banana river lagoon

One of two reds I got, both on a black bunny leech.

I got another almost as big about an hour later, also on the leech, then hooked and lost one on a crab pattern.

Meanwhile Scott was wading around with a spin rod. He got three reds that were in the slot. He wanted a bigger one. We got in the canoe and went looking for one.

When we found one Scott cast a faux shrimp at it. The fish responded like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. Unfortunately during the battle the hook pulled out.

We stopped and fished for trout as we headed back to the launch. I got a few on the Gurgler, and Scott made me look silly with the spin rod, catching fish after fish. Considering the weather we had quite a good day.

seatrout- headshot

spotted seatrout, caught with a Gurgler

I wanted to go scouting on Friday but the winds caused me to alter my plan.

Saturday’s trip was cancelled due to high winds. 🙁

And that, friends, is this week’s Orlando area fishing report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing! when it’s not blowing 25…

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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Effective Fishing Flies- Gartside’s Gurgler

February 16, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

In my last fishing report I mentioned using the late Jack Gartside’s Gurgler for seatrout with great success. I went to Jack’s website (yes, it’s still up and running, you can see it here) to see if I tied it anything remotely like Jack did. It’s modified quite a bit. I suppose that’s to be expected. Fly tyers always modify stuff to fit their own needs.

You tie these in the sizes and colors you need to match what your intended target is. For the seatrout I tie it as below, in white. I tie it on a #4 Gamakatsu SC-15 for baby tarpon. I use it in Alaska as tied below, but in pink, for silver salmon and on a #6 long shank hook in orange for Dolly varden. I tie little ones for bluegills. It’s a wonderfully versatile pattern.

Here’s how I tie it. Fishing instructions are below.

Gartside gurgler fly

What a finished gurgler looks like. Note the double layer of foam at the front.

Hook- Mustad 34011, size 2

Thread- flat waxed nylon

Tail- short piece of calftail, marabou, or Arctic fox

Body- Estaz or similar material

“Shell”- craft foam cut to about a 1/4-3/8th inch width.

1) Start the thread and wind back to hook bend. Tie in the tail. I find a short tail fouls much less frequently than a long one.

2) Tie in the Estaz, same spot.

3) Take the strip of craft foam and your scissors and taper the end to a “V.” Tie in the point of the V such that the strip extends out over the tail.

4) Wrap the thread up to a point about 1/4 inch behind the eye of the hook. Wrap the Estaz to that point. Tie it off and cut it.

5) Fold the foam over and tie it off at the same point.

6) Fold the foam back on itself and tie it off again, at the same point. The foam is now two layers thick. Drop the bobbin and use the scissors to cut the foam off 1/4 inch behind where you tied it off. The doubled foam increases the fly’s buoyancy, and makes it somewhat more durable.

7) Whip the head, then cement it.

When fishing for seatrout I try to make the fly pop and spit water. It does not make the commotion a popper will but it seems to make quite enough for the trout.

spotted seatrout caught on a gurgler.

Spotted seatrout caught on a gurgler. They seem to like it quite a bit, and it’s easy to make.

In Alaska when fishing silvers I fish it the same way.

For dollies cast it quartering downstream and give it little pops as it swings. There is no more enjoyable way of catching them.

Please let me know how it works for you.

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 Tips, Flies and Fly Tying · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Big Reds, Plentiful Trout- Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

February 11, 2012 by · 3 Comments

The Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 2.12.12

Upcoming Events Dept-

-Merritt Island NWR Show and Tell Seminars- March 3 and 4. Read More Here…

I’d like to thank those of you who came by to talk to me at the Old Florida Fishing Show- TC Howard, TJ Bettis, Gary Kokaisel, Greg from Kel’s, Mark and Ginny Nichols, Shane, and a bunch more whose names have already slipped (sorry! Names have never been a strong suit). It was good to see you! The show went pretty well and I certainly got some flies tied up.

Fishing only took up two of my days this week.

On Monday I launched the kayak at the Banana River Lagoon no motor zone at almost 1 PM, hardly an early start. I did not follow my own advice- the wind was SSE. It was overcast. And I thought I might sightfish for redfish.

I hooked the first one I saw on an experimental fly. I lost it. I did not get another bite, although I did have two or three more shots.

On the way back I remembered why I never go there on a SE wind.

On Friday I returned with son Alex and outdoor writer Vic Attardo. We got a much earlier start. It was still overcast but the wind was out of the east, much easier to deal with.

We found some seatrout right away and got several on Gartside Gurglers. When the bite slowed we continued on our way, until we found some more trout. We got some more trout, same flies.

The spotted seatrout bite was going on.

The trend continued until we reached the redfish spot. Holy cow, there’s a tailer. I had done something I never do, which was to bring bait into the nmz. Hey, you got a writer, you need to produce. Vic had the wrong fly on and with the wind I couldn’t hold the canoe in position all that well so I flung a mullet head to it. He ate it. He weighed around 16 pounds.

Alex got another, bigger fish shortly after.

Bull Redfish

Alex was REAL happy with this big redfish.

I left the two of them and took off for a walk armed with a six-weight and a crab fly. I threw to six or eight fish and finally got an eater. It was a handsome fish although a third of his tail was missing and he had a large scar on his starboard side near the dorsal fin.

bull redfish on fly

Alex agreed to model with my fish.

We got more trout on the way back, and loaded up the boats around 430 pm. It had been a solid day fly fishing, even without the two cut mullet fish.

And that, friends, is this week’s Banana River Lagoon fishing report! Thank you for reading!

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: , , , , , , , , ,
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