Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/4/09
Upcoming Events
On October 17 I'll be holding a kayak fishing seminar at Lake Mills Park in Chuluota, limited to eight people. Cost is $100. http://www.spottedtail.com/KayakFishingSeminar.htm
On November 7 I'll be holding a Show and Tell seminar in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, limited to 20 people. Cost is $50. http://www.spottedtail.com/show&tell.htm
The beach has been a-happenin!
On Monday Scott Radloff and I went out of Port Canaveral. There were a few mullet along the beach, big ones. I netted some. We didn't see much activity so continued looking, in a search mode. We ended up where I had been the previous day with my cousin. Tarpon were rolling everywhere.
We anchored the boat and tossed mullet out, using 20 pound spin gear. We had lots of strikes, jumping 10 tarpon and hooking numerous sharks. Tarpon jumped off, broke off. Sharks bit off. Scott finally got one to the boat and we got a couple of photos.
The bite slowed and we got back to the beach. Wow! Where did all the fish come from? Jacks, bluefish, and ladyfish blasted continuously through showering finger mullet. I netted some mullet. I got tired of replacing soft plastic tails on the jigheads after every fish, so started using mullet instead. A 32 inch snook ate my jig headed mullet and I invited him home for dinner. He was dee-licious. It was a heck of a day.
Tuesday and Wednesday I had boring errands and actually needed to generate some income. I also had to teach Tuesday night. So I didn't fish.
Thursday Dr. Bob Levine and his friend Mel joined me for a day's fly fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. We worked hard, touring and searching from Tiger Shaol to Max Hoeck Creek. We saw maybe two dozen fish. Bob did get one on a streamer, a slot red about 24 inches long. It was the only bite we got.
On Friday Chris Myers joined me for a day along the beach. The bluefish were stupid thick. We amused ourselves with surface plugs for a bit, then went searching for tarpon. They were not thick. We searched for miles and finally found a few rolling. I had one eat my mullet and fought it for 20 minutes or so. It wore through the leader while under the boat. Chris got some great jump shots, though.
Today Kenney Hanks brought his two teenaged sons, Hunter and Jordan, out with me off the beach. The bluefish again were thick. There were lots of Spanish mackerel, too, as well as some jacks and ladyfish. We messed around with all of them for about three hours, and spent the final hour tarpon fishing. We jumped one and had a few cutoffs by sharks. It was a very solid morning's fishing.
The mullet will only be around for another week or two. Get out there and take advantage of it while you can!
Life is short- GO FISHING!
And life is great and I really love my work!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
member Florida Outdoor Writers Association (www.fowa.org), Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (www.seopa.org), Indian River Guides association (www.irga.org)
