Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/30/08
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Sunday morning, 11/23, I took the kayak up to River Breeze. The boat hit the water at about 8 AM, and off I went to some of my favorite areas. There were no fish at the first, or second. But the water was reasonably low, although not as much as I would like, and it was very clean. It looked good!
By 9:30 I was starting to wonder if I would see any fish, when I saw a large swirl only about 30 feet in front of me. Then I spotted the redfish, now only about 20 feet in front of me. By the time I got the boat stopped, the paddle down, and the rod up the fish was already passing me, but it didn't realize I was there. I made a brilliant 14 foot cast and twitched the brown bendback once, twice. The fish simply inhaled the fly. I struck, and released the fish ten minutes later.
I ended up seeing six fish, having three shots, and hooking two reds. The one I released was the only one that came to hand, though. The kayak was back on the van at 11:30 and I was home before kickoff.
Monday sons Maxx and Alex and Scott Radloff joined me for a different kind of trip. We drove down to the Okeechobee area, to a "target-rich environment," to hunt hogs with Cliff Kunde. Scott brought his grandfather's old Winchester 30-30. The Kumiskis were gun-less. While Scott grew up on a farm hunting hogs, deer, etc, my boys and I had never been hunting before. You can see the photos at http://www.spottedtail.com/ThisWeeksFishingReport.htm .
We met Cliff at about 1 PM and went to the hunting area, where we set up camp. We then had a firearms safety discussion with Cliff, who had suitable hog hunting firearms, and did a little target practice. Then off we went, looking for hogs.
We hadn't gone very far when four of them poked their heads up. Alex and Cliff went off stalking. A shot rang out, and Alex had bagged his first hunting trophy, a boar of about 100 pounds. Congratulations, my son!
Next up was Maxx. During his first opportunity the pigs got the better of him, and he didn't get a shot. The same thing happened with the second group we saw. Then we spotted three hogs feeding together. Maxx and Cliff stalked quite close to them. Maxx zeroed in and squeezed the trigger, and a hog dropped like a stone. Maxx had his first hunting trophy, a sow of about 70 pounds. Congratulations, my son!
Hogs don't seem too bright. After Maxx felled his hog, the other two ran about 10 feet, then continued going about their business. Cliff asked me if I wanted to shoot one. "Sure," I said. He handed me the Remington, and we stalked a little closer. I flinched while firing, and missed an easy shot.
Scott was up next. He looked like Hiawatha stalking those pigs in his bare feet. Again, a single shot rang out and a few minutes later Scott dragged a little 50 pound boar out of the woods.
By now it was almost dark. We cooked and ate our dinner, and then strung the hogs up and gutted them. This would certainly be a nasty job in the daytime. At night, using Cliff's truck headlights as our light source, it was particularly grim. But we did get the job done.
The next morning we were eating breakfast when Cliff said, "Don't make any noise!" I turned around and there was a hog about 75 feet away, working his way towards us. Cliff handed me the Remington. I waited until I was sure I couldn't miss, then fired. I missed. I had some unkind things to say about myself.
We finished breakfast, then went out looking for hogs again. Cliff spotted one grubbing, only about 30 feet away. I took aim, and actually dropped this one, a boar of about 60 pounds.
We took him back to camp, dressed out the three that were hanging up, then hung and dressed mine. We packed the hams, shoulders, and backstraps into my coolers, broke camp, thanked Cliff profusely (we couldn't possibly thank him enough), and hit the road about 1 PM.
We barbequed all the meat on Thanksgiving Day, and had it along with the more "traditional" roast turkey, to feed the 35 or so guests we had here. It was crazy, but great fun! And it was very, very delicious!
Thank you, Cliff, for an exciting, educational, productive, and safe first hunt for my sons and me. I have a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.
On Friday Dr. Mark Blimline and his two 20-something year old sons Mark and Mike joined me for a day's fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was delightful, just perfect. And, lots of people had the day off, so you know it was fairly crowded. On the bright side, the fish were everywhere.
We only fished in four spots, and there were lots of fish in three of them. They were uniformly spooky, and not eating very aggressively. The lure hitting the water would move entire schools of fish long distances. Mike got the first redfish, a tailing single, on a mullet chunk. He got the second fish from a white hole on the same bait. His last two were on a smoke colored DOA Shrimp (3") with a Woodie's Rattle inserted into it. All fish were in the slot.
Mark and Mark did not get a redfish, although Mark did get a fine catfish! We had a good time, and saw hundreds of fish.
Saturday I went to sign books at Mosquito Creek Outdoors (http://www.mosquitocreekoutdoors.com/). You need to check this store out, it is amazing, selling all kinds of hunting, fishing, camping, and paddling gear. They even have a pool so you can test drive your kayak before purchasing it, something I have never seen anywhere else. Mark Castlow and Chris Myers were there, too. I can't claim to have sold a lot of books, but some folks did come out to chat. I appreciate it, fellas! And I did get quite a few flies tied up. I'd like to thank Paul Faircloth for inviting me out, and look forward to doing it again sometime.
Life is short- 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