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Frontal Assault- How to Deal with Winter Cold Fronts

December 4, 2011 by ·
spotted seatrout, speckled trout, seatrout

When you get a winter day with weather like this, fishing should be speck-tacular.

The wind blows from the south under a gray sky. A squall line approaches from the north. That south wind dies. It’s eerily calm. Suddenly a frigid blast comes from the north. Rain lashes, whitecaps crash, the temperature drops 20 degrees in seconds. A common winter phenomenon, a cold front has just passed through.

How does the passing of a cold front affect the flats fisherman?

Unlike you, fish are cold blooded. A fish’s body temperature hovers within a degree or two of their surroundings. Redfish prefer 70 degree water. Spotted seatrout like it between 70 and 75 degrees.

As temperatures get below that their metabolic processes slow. They need less food. Get near the extremes of their tolerance and they become lethargic. Another degree or two colder and they die. We saw this demonstrated two winters ago during that extended cold snap. Dead fish were everyplace.

During the winter months, water temperatures in our local lagoons rarely get as warm as the fish prefer. Our finned friends seek water temperatures as close to their preferred range as they can find. Since shallow water warms (and cools) more quickly than does deep water, when conditions are right the shallows will be full of fish.

Right after a cold front passes the conditions are not right.

The passage of the front causes the air temperature to drop, which in turn lowers the water temperature. This drop in water temperature is exacerbated by a strong northwest wind, often at 20 to 25 miles per hour with higher gusts. An interested observer can stand on the bank at the north end of the lagoon system and over the course of several hours literally watch the water level drop as the wind blows the water to the south.

Fishing the flats during these conditions is a complete waste of time. The fish have moved to thermal refuges where their bodies can better adjust to the falling water temperatures. In the deeper water the temperature will still drop, but it occurs more gradually. This causes less shock to the fish.

These thermal refuges include canals, dredge holes, power plant outflows, and perhaps the Intracoastal Waterway channel. Just the mass of water in these types of places supplies some insulation and moderates the temperatures. If you find a concentration of fish in this situation fishing can be ridiculously easy.

The fish don’t find much in the way of groceries in these types of places, though. The groceries are up on the flats. This brings us back to a statement made above: when conditions are right the shallows will be full of fish…

To read the rest of this article, please visit this link.

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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Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing Consistent This Week- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 25, 2011 by ·

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/26/11

The week was solid, if unspectacular.

Monday morning found me launching my kayak at River Breeze, none too early I might add. At the boat ramp the water looked too deep for successful kayak fishing as practiced by me.

At a spot where I seldom see fish I heard one crash along the bank. I had shots at three of the six redfish I saw there, getting the third on a #4 Estaz Crab. Getting out of the boat so I could see exactly what was going on was the key here.

I paddled quite a few miles, searching shorelines. The water was too deep and there were intermittent clouds all day. It was hard to see. I ran over a few, and found a few working the shoreline. Of these shoreline fish I had a shot at one, and again the Estaz Crab turned the trick. I like that fly.

Tuesday sons Maxx and Alex joined me, again launching at River Breeze, although we used the Mitzi this time. We were on a simultaneous scouting and meat fishing mission. We needed a fish for Thanksgiving dinner. The first place we looked, which had been full of fish just a few days earlier, had none. We moved.

The second place we looked, which had been full of fish a week earlier, had only one as far as we could tell. Maxx spotted it and dropped a DOA Shrimp (clear with gold glitter) right in its face. The fish obliged, unfortunately for him. One mission accomplished.

The DOA Shrimp works wonderfully well for sight fishing for redfish.

We checked another spot. The fish were lying in white holes, and in spite of casting over the holes with the DOA and a Johnson Minnow we kept running them over and blowing them out. They were there but we didn’t get one.

At another spot we found six separate, single redfish cruising along the bank. Alex got fish number four to take the spoon.

At this point, well into the afternoon and with both missions accomplished, we headed back to the boat ramp.

The redfish had the well digested remains of a crab in its stomach, nothing else.

Wednesday Dennis and Charlie Knight, father and son, and Seth Spielman, in-law, joined me for a day’s redfishing on Mosquito Lagoon. All three of these fine gentlemen were Ph.D.s, something I had never had happen on my boat before. We had an interesting day conversationally!

There was some wind but it was manageable. We had solid clouds all day long. Sight fishing was impossible except for the solitary tailing fish we found late in the afternoon, a fish we did not catch.

They rotated among two spin rods, tossing Johnson Minnows (one gold, one silver) all day long. In doing so they managed to get one dink trout, the ice breaker, and six fat slot reds. They released all but number six.

Seth convinced this redfish to strike a Johnson Minnow.

They took it home entire, so I do not know what it had been eating.

Thursday close to forty guests visited Casa Kumiski. All of us ate too much. It was delicious, and wonderful. One of the things I’m thankful for is Thanksgiving!

On a windy Friday morning Bob from St. Louis and his two sons Ben and Erin joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishin’. Kids on board, any fish will do!

The first chunking spot quickly produced a small flounder and a slot red. The kids were excited! It was the biggest fish they had ever seen!

These boys had never seen a fish this big before. It's as big as they get that size!

The bite stopped so we went and tossed the DOA Deadly combo for trout for a while. We only got one bite, but it was a solid fish, about 20 inches. Trout season is closed, so fishie was released.

Ben used a DOA Deadly Combo to fool this nice trout.

Further mullet chunking didn’t produce a lot. We got another small red, a hardhead catfish, and missed a couple of bites. We were having fun though. Before you knew it we were out of time. On the way in we watched some dolphins and manatees.

When I cleaned the redfish its stomach held six small mud minnows.

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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Kayak Redfishing This Week- Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 15, 2011 by ·

The Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/15/11

The gauge was at 1.5 all last week. I like it at 0.5 or lower, especially for paddle fishing. It has dropped the past couple days, though- good news!

Why paddle all week? I had a kayak charter on Friday. Scouting was needed. Besides, I really like paddling.

Wednesday found me at one of my favorite paddle spots on the Indian River Lagoon. Of course the water was too high. That’s been a recurring theme. The water was also very dark. I lost sight of the paddle blade about halfway down. And it was windy, out of the north. Then just to complete the picture, it got overcast.

In spite of all that there were fish blowing up along the shoreline.

I couldn’t see them, even when I tried wading. They kept spooking off of me. After changing flies five times I finally had one eat on a Mosquito Lagoon Special. I was so surprised I pooched it. That was the extent of my catching.

Thursday found me at a different spot on the IRL. The water was still high and dirty but the wind was less, and it was gloriously sunny. The bird life was rich and varied, and there were loads of mullet around. But in three hours of paddling I saw zero fish, although I ran over two. Didn’t even make a cast.

My trip Friday was an afternoon half day. A front came through Thursday night, dropping the water temperature to 67 from 71, not a good thing. The wind was blowing 20 out of the north. The water level dropped to 1.3, a little lower but still too high. At least the sun was out!

When I left the house I still didn’t know where we were going to fish. We (Patrick Gallagher, a fine Irish-American lad) ended up launching at Eddy Creek, fishing the north side. The water was very green and ridiculously high. I wondered after we got there if the wind hadn’t piled up the water at the south end of the lagoon. If so I certainly erred going there.

We rounded the point and fought the wind up into Galinipper Basin. We had a nice lee shoreline at the north end. Patrick was tossing a Johnson Minnow, mostly catching grass. We saw a minnow skip and he dropped the spoon there, I mean right now. A fish bit and he pulled in a nice flounder. It was the only fish (other than mullet) that we saw, and we were out until sunset.

Saturday I was part of a two boat trip with Capt. John Turcot. We picked up our anglers at 9AM at JB’s Fish Camp, giving the air a chance to warm first.

My anglers were Nadim and Terry. As their daughter says, “My dad is from Iraq and my mom’s from Arkansas!” Needless to say it was an interesting and entertaining day. They were a wonderful couple.

The weather was outstanding. We began searching shorelines and lo and behold- there were redfish working them. Our first was a little 12 inch rat, caught on a piece of mullet, as were all of our fish.

Shortly, Nadim hooked an in-the-slot red. Unfortunately for the fish, it never made it out of my boat alive.

Nadim the engineer with his redfish dinner on the fin.

Terry’s red came into the boat a while later. It joined Nadim’s fish in my cooler.

The second half of the redfish dinner, this one served up by Terry.

Once Terry realized that she couldn’t keep any more fish, she didn’t want to fish any more. I was able to use almost an hour of our time to scout for the next day’s trip.

When I cleaned the fish one of them had an empty stomach. The other had a fairly large (for the size of the fish that is) blue crab in it.

When I washed the boat I also washed the cooler. I forgot to put it back in the van and left it at the car wash. Dang!

John Turcot and his family could use some prayers for those of you who have some to spare.

Sunday morning I met Joseph Modrano, an angler from Seattle, at River Breeze. We mounted up on the Mitzi and went forth seeking the elusive red drum. Again, the weather was outstanding.

We fished about a half dozen spots over the course of the day. The water at the north end of the lagoon is way cleaner than at the south end, and actually looks just like it’s supposed to in many places. We found fish everywhere we looked except for one spot.

Joseph battles and photographs at the same time. And people say men can't multitask.

Again, all the fish we caught were in the slot, actually, towards the lower end. We’re not seeing six and eight pound fish. I don’t mind the smaller fish, heck, it’s way better than it had been! But I want to find some bigger fish too.

Joseph Modrano. Redfish. A good combination.

I was also encouraged to see quite a few seatrout. They took a severe beating in that winter freeze a couple years ago. It’s good to see some decent ones up on the flats.

Modrano used a Johnson Silver Minnow all day. He was pretty darn good with it, and he had never been sight fishing before. We pretty much had shots all day long, putting four or five fish in the boat. All managed to make it out alive.

Monday I had the pleasure of fishing Capt. Chris Myers, one of my favorite people to fish with. We launched at River Breeze and fished north of Georges Bar. Again the weather was superb. The water had dropped a few more inches, we found lots of clean water, and saw good numbers of fish all day long. We actually caught several redfish while using those dangfangled fly poles, Myers with a black Redfish Worm and me with a small (#4) tan crabby, shrimpy looking thing.

In the afternoon after the breeze kicked in Myers switched to a spin pole and proceeded to get a few more using a three inch DOA Shrimp. It was an outstanding day.

The week started kind of slow but picked up a good head of steam. The water is slowly dropping, clean water is available, and there are fish around. They are eating. It’s an encouraging trend. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Proposed FWC Seatrout Rule Changes a Terrible Idea

November 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wants to change the seatrout rules, making trout more available to commercial fishermen and increasing the bag limit for recreational anglers. Are they kidding?

An excerpt from an email sent to Stuart Patterson from the Commission:
“The Commission considers the spotted seatrout population in Florida a success story. Over the past twenty years, the regulations in place helped spotted seatrout rebuild from low population levels to abundant and healthy levels. The most recent spotted seatrout stock assessment showed that the stocks are exceeding the Commission’s seatrout management goal. Because of this, the Commission is looking into relaxing both commercial and recreational regulations in order to increase fishing opportunities for fishers in Florida.”

A few comments on this-
-could they please define “abundant and healthy”?
-the Commission’s management goal must be really low.
-how does fewer fish in the water equate to increased fishing opportunities?

I’d like to know where the commission is doing these studies. I certainly don’t see abundant, and I’m out all the time. If you want to see abundant, try visiting Louisiana or Texas. Here in Florida they’re abundant all right- abundant eight inch fish.

Another excerpt-
“One aspect considered is that commercial landings of spotted seatrout in Florida are very small relative to the recreational landings. For example, in 2009, the commercial harvest made up only 2% of the entire spotted seatrout harvest in Florida.”

I would also like to know how the Commission makes this determination. Just who is counting the catch of the fishermen? What makes the Commission think their numbers are accurate?

Even if we grant that the data is accurate, what difference does it make if the commercial catch is only 2 percent of the total landings? If there aren’t enough fish in the water now, taking more out can hardly be expected to improve the fishing.

The proposed regulations will be discussed in a final public hearing at the November Commission meeting. You can see more details about the spotted seatrout recommendations that will be discussed as they are added to the meeting website: http://www.myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/2011/november/16/november-16-17,-2011/.
I hope to see you there.

I think the bag limit ought to be reduced to three and the size limit increased to an 18″ to 22″ slot.

Let the commissioners know what you think of their idea as soon as you can- the meeting is next week!

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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On-Location Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Seminar Upcoming

October 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

My next Mosquito Lagoon/Indian River Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar is on November 5.

Show and Tell Seminars are all-day fishing seminars that take place in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, with the express goal of helping you catch more and bigger fish in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons.

Learn how to catch reds like this bruiser in the Mosquito lagoon and Indian River Lagoon.

We traverse (in vehicles) the dike roads along the margins of the lagoon system. We stop repeatedly to discuss locations, tactics, and techniques for fishing for redfish, seatrout, and other species found in the lagoon system. We cover knots, rods, reels, lines, lures, and baits, as well as how to fish those lures and baits. We visit all the open boat ramps, canoe/kayak launches, and wading access points in the wildlife refuge. I show you where to fish, and tell you how to fish it!

Seatrout like this one are common catches in the Mosquito Lagoon if you know how.

You will learn more in one day during this popular seminar than you could in a year on your own!

Here’s what attendees at past seminars had to say:

“I just wanted to write and thank you again for the seminar on Saturday. It would have taken me at least a year of scouting to learn what we did in nine hours from you, and that’s just the information on when and where to catch fish. The instruction on techniques and tackle would take years of experimentation to learn on my own!” -Steve Crowder

“I want to thank you for a very interesting seminar! I learned a great deal about our resident redfish, and can’t wait to apply what you’ve taught me.” -Jeff Graybeal

” I really enjoyed your seminar yesterday. I am a fly fisherman from the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, so I learned a ton about shallow salt water fishing. It will be invaluable to me as I begin to explore the Space Coast.” – Mark Mielbrecht

“A couple of friends attended your Show and Tell yesterday. Rave reviews. Mark was effusive in his email about the whole experience. He can’t wait to get back out. Every time I send someone your way they come back a satisfied customer. Nice job!” -Mike Adamson

“I really enjoyed Saturday. You made it really hard to go back to work instead of fish!” -Greg Rhodes

The next Show and Tell is scheduled for November 5, 2011. Visit this link for more information or to sign up!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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High, Green Water- Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

September 25, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 9/25/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup will be posted 30 days prior.

Monday I decided it was high time to check out the lagoons. I got a late start, launching the boat after 10 AM. The water was high, and green. Although there were a couple of fishing rods aboard, the plan was just to ride around and look for fish.

The water in the lagoons looks like the water in this ancient bath.

And I did find some. There weren’t any schools, but rather some areas where there were decent numbers of singles. Most of the time you could only see their wakes, but in some places you could actually see their bodies. Approaching thunderheads convinced me to load the boat at about 130.

Tuesday Mr. Erik Penfield joined me for a half day fishing. I was confident we’d get into a few even though we didn’t start until 930. Unfortunately that confidence was misplaced. We went to the places where I had seen the fish the previous day, but due to the clouds and ripple we couldn’t see anything. Blind casting with a variety of lures produced only one small ladyfish and a pinfish. We tried chunking mullet for a while, but got only a single spider crab. I was disappointed we didn’t do better. The boat hit the trailer at 130.

Wednesday at 7 AM I launched the boat at Port Canaveral. Rodney Smith was my guest. He was looking for a flounder for supper. By the cruise ship basin we found some jacks busting on mullet and got three or four on Chug Bugs. Then we netted some finger mullet and headed to the jetty.

The rollers were 3-4 feet with some chop. There was a lot of sargassum weed. We anchored the boat and started fishing, trying to ignore the waves coming over the bow periodically. In over four hours of fishing we got a couple more jacks, a ladyfish or two, and a bluefish. And Rodney did get his flounder, not a real big one, maybe a couple pounds though. We used egg sinker rigs with the mullet, strictly bait fishing. It was surprisingly relaxing and fun.

Thursday I got up too early and drove to Stuart for a fishing date with Mark Nichols. We went wading, tossing a variety of DOA products. Although it was fairly slow, the glow shrimp worked best, accounting for four or five seatrout in the 18-20 inch range. The fish were fat and healthy. It was great seeing and fishing with Mark, it had been way too long since I did that. The water in Stuart looks better than the water around Titusville. I can’t say that very often.

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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Big Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

June 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6/4/11

Upcoming Events-
-June 11, free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at noon. The Clouser Minnow is the fly of choice this time.

Bumper Sticker of the week department:

On Memorial Day my family drove to the Villages to spend the day with more family. It was Uncle Don’s 75th birthday! My two boys were the only adult males there who weren’t veterans. A moment of silence please, for all those who did not come home.

Party Day at Uncle Donald's. It didn't get real crazy.

Tuesday I went walking/running on the Florida Trail. Couldn’t help but notice numerous redbellies spawning in the Econ River.

Thursday Rick Roberts and I went out on the Mosquito Lagoon. He got a red on a Johnson Minnow. We got numerous trout on DOA Shrimp. All were small. I got a nice flounder on a DOA Shrimp and lost another one right at the boat.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. We hooked three redfish by using mullet chunks. Only one was boated, but it was a pig, about 30 pounds.

Dr. George battles a big redfish on Mosquito Lagoon

Mission accomplished!

The water in the Mosquito Lagoon is still very low and it’s getting kind of dirty- not as bad as the Indian River but not like winter time. Between the clouds and the murky water it’s getting hard to sight fish.

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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Orlando Area Fishing Report- One Fish, Two Fish, RedFish, BlueFish

May 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5/29/11

Upcoming Events-
-June 11, free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at noon. The Clouser Minnow is the fly of choice this time.

Last Sunday wife Susan and I went to Playalinda Beach, sans fishing tackle. I’m always looking, though. There was no bait along the beach, an observation reinforced by the fact we saw exactly one pelican there in almost four hours. Conversation with fishermen along the beach revealed that a few had caught a smattering of pompano and whiting.

Monday Rodney Smith and Rick Roberts joined me for a day’s search along the beach north of Port Canaveral. Based on my observations on the previous day I wasn’t expecting anything.

I got a flounder by the north jetty on a DOA CAL jig. Working our way north we didn’t see anything, but Rick got a nice whiting, also on a jig. A couple small jacks and a bluefish also fell prey to our approximately 10,000 casts.

North of Cape Canaveral there were quite a few menhaden but no fish eating them.
Back at the jetty Rodney got another flounder, again on a jig. The day was enjoyable but fishing wasn’t very exciting.

Tuesday I went kayak fishing, launching at River Breeze about 9 AM. I paddled along shorelines for miles. I found a few redfish off the shorelines in white holes. Blindcasting into a hole with a redfish worm I got a low end slot red.

I found one shoreline fish, a crawler, that gave me an excellent shot. It took the redfish worm and was released a few minutes later. It was about five pounds.
I had one other decent shot but the cast was less than perfect and did not work. It was a lot of paddling for only two shots but it was a gorgeous day and I had the whole place to myself. And I did get two reds on fly.

Cody Zimmer got this Mosquito lagoon redfish a few weeks back. I just recently got the image.

Wednesday afternoon I hiked up the Econlockhatchee and fished my way back, using a green foam spider. Because I switched to a six pound tippet I kept the same fly the entire way- amazing! Many redbellies popped that spider and at least a dozen were released but they were running small. One small bluegill was fooled too.

The river is very low right now, awesome for wading and fly casting. Maybe if I went at either end of the day rather than during the hottest part of it I would do better.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some flats fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. We launched at Kennedy Point Park. Using DOA Shrimp we caught trout after trout. None would hold batter, as they were all short. We tried sight fishing for a bit but the water is real dirty and the clouds made it impossible to see. So we went back to trout fishing.
We also got a ladyfish and a bluefish. Although nothing of consequence was caught I’d guess we released two dozen fish. Thank goodness for the dehooker!

Cody got this trout the same day, same place, as the redfish above. George and I didn't get any like this on Friday.

Yesterday I helped Rick Roberts put together a powerpoint presentation for Angler Action (www.angleraction.org). This worthwhile endeavor is putting together an angler-owned database of fish population data so anglers will have their own data to use in shaping regulatory policy. Check out their website and consider submitting your catch data. It’s for the best of causes- fishing in our future.

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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Hot Mosquito Lagoon Trout Bite This Week- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5/14/11

Upcoming Events-

-Space shuttle Endeavour’s launch, Monday, May 16, 8:56 a.m.

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

Bumper Sticker of the Week Dept:

On Monday I finally got onto the Atlantic, accompanied by Scott Radloff. Our goal was to find some bait, then search for tarpon first and giant crevalle second.

We found bait, both mullet and menhaden, near and past Cape Canaveral. While we were fishing around the mullet we noticed a very dark spot moving north off the beach. It turned out to be a school of crevalle, not giants but rather fish of about five pounds. There were thousands of them.

We chased them up the beach for several miles. We didn’t count but we caught a lot on DOA CAL jigs.

When we finally gave up on them we fished around the menhaden schools they had led us to. The bluefish were thick, but there was not much else. We saw one shark and three or four barracuda, nothing more. All we caught were blues.

It turned out to be a 50 or 60 fish day, but nothing spectacular in the way of size. Still, it was beautiful out and even the smaller fish were quite entertaining.

On Tuesday I was back in Mosquito Lagoon, joined by fly fishing Canadians Mark and Cody Zimmer. We found loads of big redfish tailing. They would not take any of the flies we tried. We had a bright moment when Mark cast a crab fly into a small school of big tailers and his line came tight. The fish he caught was a red of maybe 16 inches. In the middle of all those big ones, too!

Cody wanted a fish bad so the last 30 minutes we chunked with mullet. He got a four pound and a six pound trout, then a red of about 15 pounds. I forgot my camera, so there are no photos of these fish. 🙁

Again, it was a beautiful day and tons of big fish were spotted, but it was frustrating not being able to convince them to eat anything.

Wednesday Steve Kas and Jim Trub came up from Boca Raton, bringing Steve’s Archer Craft. I joined them and we went looking for all the fish I’d seen the previous day. They flat out disappeared. We looked from Pelican Island to Georges Bar and saw one redfish all day.

On the bright side the trout bite was pretty strong. We got a couple dozen to about 20 inches by casting jigs around the outside of several different bars.

Jim Trub with one of the many trout we got.

Steve Kas with another Mosquito Lagoon trout

Still, they wanted redfish. It was maddening not being able to find any after seeing so many the previous day. Ya shoulda been here yesterday!

Spotted Tail was on the Mosquito Lagoon again on Thursday, joined by Karl Dienst and his friend Brad. Tossing DOA Shrimp and CAL jigs we got a lot of trout, ranging from eight inches to almost 20. There were a lot of ladyfish around, too. We concentrated on trout fishing most of the day. With about an hour to go we went looking for reds. We found a few slot fish and Brad got two on ladyfish chunks.

Brad got a bunch of these seatrout on the DOA Shrimp.

Every fishing guide loves scenes like this- ready to boat a Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

A cheesy grin for the best fish of the day.

On Friday Jim Shwartzentruber and his friend George, fly casters from Utah, joined me hoping to bag a big red or two. It was not to be. We searched all day, me poling and them blind casting with a black bunny fly, and saw maybe a dozen reds. Once the wind started cranking the fishing got very tough too. They did get three of four decent seatrout, but again, those were not the target.

I hope the reds start cranking again like they did on Tuesday. I have every day this coming week booked up.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Clouds and Wind Make for Tough Week on Mosquito Lagoon

May 1, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Report from Spotted Tail 5/1/11

Upcoming Events-
-Space Shuttle Endeavour is now targeted to launch around 2:30 p.m. EDT, May 2.
-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.

Bad News Dept.- the love bugs are back in all their I-can’t-see-out-my-windshield glory.

It’s Monday afternoon. It’s cloudy and windy. I’m sick of looking at the computer.

I grabbed a three weight and six foam spider flies and drove to the Econ River. In two hours I lost all six flies, caught some handsome panfish, fished around a large alligator, had a good time, and learned, or I should say re-learned, a few lessons.
-Use at least 8 lb. test for tippets. The five pound test I used just breaks too easily when you hang up. In the Econ, hang-ups are expected. Sunfish aren’t very leader shy.
-Don’t tie your spiders in black. You can’t see them! When you can’t see where your fly is you hang up more often.

Redbelly Sunfish

This green bug is much easier for the fisherman to see than a black one.

The water in both the Econ and the St. Johns is low, at a perfect fly fishing level. Sunfish ought to be bedding soon if they’re not already. So tie up some spiders and go try it.

Tuesday Scott Radloff and I went looking for fish in the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon. We got quite a few trout on DOA Shrimp, but didn’t see very many redfish anyplace and only got one junior leaguer on a wiggle jig. There was a fair wind blowing out of the south and it didn’t help us at all. The only school of reds I know of right now is down the south end of the Mosquito Lagoon, which is closed to entry until that shuttle blasts off.

Seatrout Head w/ DOA SHrimp

A DOA Glow Shrimp has been a hot lure this week.

Wednesday Dr. Lou Payor and his son Steven joined me for some fishing. We started in the Mosquito Lagoon. We fished around, using DOA Shrimp and Johnson Minnows, getting a few trout and ladyfish and seeing very little else. We went through the canal into the Indian River Lagoon and looked in a lot of places, none of which had any fish at all. Again, a fairly hard south wind didn’t help us. While we didn’t get skunked, it was hardly scintillating fishing.

On Friday afternoon Paul and Janet Moase joined me for some fishing and a space shuttle launch. We launched at Scottsmoor. My, what a crappy place to launch! The wind was howling (20-25) out of the north and it had blown all the water out of the north end of the lagoon. We barely made it out to Turnbull Basin. My outboard overheated on the way, all gunked up with mud and decaying vegetation.

Once we got out into the basin we started by casting DOA Shrimp. We got some trout and ladyfish, all fairly small. We looked along the edge of the flat for redfish but only saw one. Between the clouds and the wind though Moby Dick could have been there and we would have missed him.

Then Tom Van Horn called to tell me the launch was scrubbed.

We fished for almost four hours. Our best fish was a 19 inch trout we got on a DOA Shrimp. Tired of battling the wind we quit a few minutes early.

The shuttle is supposed to go up on Monday. It’s going to mess up my Monday charter, but a launch will make it all good.

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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