The Report from Spotted Tail 12/31/11
Happy New Year to everyone! This is the last post of 2011. I hope everyone has their resolutions, and maybe their hangover cures, ready. Thank goodness I won’t need that last thing.
Seatrout season opens tomorrow. R U ready?
Are you ready for some seatrout?
If you read the blog post Frontal Assault, you know my feelings about fishing after cold fronts. The best days of the winter to fish are as soon as the weather stabilizes after a front.
Tuesday night a nasty front came through. The air temperature dropped over 20 degrees and the water temperature and level likewise dropped.
I met David Juth, a fly fisherman from Virginia, at Parrish Park at noon on Wednesday for a late half day. We were both wondering how the drop in water temperature would affect the fish. Frankly I wasn’t expecting much.
We got out on the Mosquito Lagoon. It was a little chilly, in the low 60s. The day was spectacular- clear blue sky, bright, warm sunshine, no clouds at all, and best of all, no wind. We found several redfish at the first place we looked, although the water was still dirty so they were hard to see. We even found a tailing fish.
After working that shoreline, we tried another. We saw fish here and there, and then found tailer’s heaven. Redfish were tailing all around us. David couldn’t believe it. He’d never fished in saltwater before and he almost thought he was dreaming.
Using my favorite little black fly, the redfish worm, he managed to get four bites, hooking three fish and boating one. Had the water been cleaner I’m sure he would have done much better.
I still have concerns that the algae will take the winter’s worst cold and still not clear up. Perhaps that’s just pessimism on my part.
Anyway, we both counted the afternoon as a rousing success and you couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.
I was back in the same area the following day with son Alex. He got a new Ross CLA #4 (a really nice reel) for Christmas and we wanted to give it some exercise. The weather again was outstanding, although there were a few scattered clouds. The water had dropped two or three inches overnight and I almost had to get out and push a couple of times when the boat got stuck on shallow spots.
The fish had changed locations, and were certainly not tailing like the previous day.
In spite of that Alex had several shots at fish and caught one slot redfish that took an olive-colored slider.
The company and the day were both outstanding. The fish was just a bonus.
The blog will soon get a new look. I’m installing a new theme. Expect some changes, hopefully for the better.
Life is great, and I love my work!
Life is short- go fishing!
Best wishes for a fantastibulistical new year!
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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John — thanks! Just a half day and I think I’m addicted to that kind of fishing! Really cool.