Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 12/14/08
Upcoming Events:
January 23, 24, 25, Fly Fishing Show, Somerset, NJ. I'll be tying flies, signing books, and giving a program or two. If you plan on attending the show, please stop by and say hello!
Steve Silverio, I can't find your email address. Please drop me a line!
Monday Mr. and Mrs. Mike Jasiewicz joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. Mike is a fly caster from Colorado and had never fished for redfish before. We found quite a few tailers (it was another beautiful day) and Mike convinced three of them to take a slider. There were the usual missed shots, unexplainable refusals, etc., but in all it was a great day!
Mike sent me an email: "I just wanted to say Thank you again for putting me on some Redfish. I had a great time."
Tuesday Susan Cocking and I launched kayaks out of River Breeze. She wanted to go to the Banana River but with a forecast of 20 out of the southeast I nixed that idea. In the first 30 minutes or so I had shots at three redfish. All three ate. I missed all three. God must have said, "Three strikes and you're out, buddy," because neither of us had another shot all day. Heck, we hardly saw any more fish. It certainly wasn't for lack of looking. It did get windy (the forecast was actually spot on) but the water was low and clear, just how I like it. The fish just weren't there. Skunkification ensued.
On Wednesday Gabe Nyblad, a buddy from the Goodnews River Lodge, came by for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. It was just stupid windy, with lots of clouds, not exactly my favorite redfishing weather.
There were lots of fish out and about, and Gabe had some good shots. The fish didn't cooperate. He also had lots of shots where the fly line traveled 15 feet laterally while settling to the water at the end of the cast. Needless to say the fly didn't land in the right place a lot of the time. And of course we just blew out scores of fish that we couldn't see because the light was bad. So once again, skunkification!
Thursday it rained hard much of the day as a cold front came through. I ran errands.
Bang-O-Craft Update- A few weeks back I asked for advice about my Johnson 15 cutting out on me while running. I got a gratifying number of responses. I want to thank everyone who made suggestions.
Some of those suggestions would have required more mechanical skill than I possess. Others required professional services. After reading all of them I decided that I would start with the simplest, least expensive one first and work my way up. That suggestion, and I can't tell you who sent it even though I'd like to but I deleted the email, was to put a new pump ball in the fuel line. Sometimes the valve in the ball fails.
Since my fuel line came with the boat when I got it over 20 years ago, I went to Walmart and bought a new one. Friday son Alex and I took the Bang-O-Craft out on the St. Johns River and ran it for about 30-40 minutes without a hitch. Apparently the problem is solved! Thank you for the brilliant suggestion, Mystery Man!
Yesterday I drove to Jacksonville to the Salty Feather for a book signing. I would like to thank John Bottko for having me in for the day. Several people came out and bought books, and I would like to thank every one of them. I'm sure John Bottko would too. It is not a good time for retail fly shops right now, and from what I can tell times are tough (economically) for most of us.
Take the time to count your blessings though, because things could always be worse. Let's hope the economy starts to roll again soon. We all have bills to pay.
But if you're not working, you have time to GO FISHING!!!
Life is great and I love my work!
If you have any questions or comments, or if you'd like to go fishing, please feel free to email me at spottedtail@spottedtail.com, or call at 407 977 5207.
John Kumiski
member, Indian River Guides Association,
Florida Outdoor Writers Association
