Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1/11/09
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!
Fishing was outstanding this week. Catching was entirely a different matter.
On Monday son Maxx, his lovely young lady Sydney, and I went on a paddle fishing trip down the Econlockhatchee River. The water is pretty low, and wonderfully clear. Fishing for sunfish with a 1/32nd ounce crappie jig I got lots of fish of the usual species (redbellies, bluegills, and stumpknockers) but they were not running as large as they did last time.
As an aside, I've heard the shad are running in the St. Johns River. I intend to check that rumor out this coming week.
On Tuesday and Wednesday Mr. Gary Ingram, a fly fisher from Colorado, joined me for two days of redfish and trout fishing, his first saltwater fishing experience. We started off our trip by checking an Indian River Lagoon spot that a friend had told me was "full" of redfish. We saw exactly none, so we went back through the canal into the Mosquito Lagoon.
We went straight to the Pole/Troll area and after a bit of searching found a load of tailing reds. They were in small groups ranging from five or six to 25 or 30. The wind was out of the southwest at 10-15, but there were no clouds and we could see well. Evidently so could the fish.
We had at least two dozen good, quality shots. Gary missed a lot on his casts, but he did make a few. I saw the fish respond to the fly (which we changed at least a half dozen times) and thought I saw an eat, but he never felt a bite. I added three feet of 12 pound tippet to his leader to give him a 12 foot leader. I wouldn't have thought he'd need one that long with that much wind but I had the feeling that the fly line was spooking them. It didn't matter. In spite of getting shot after shot, we ended the day without a fish.
The weather changed overnight. We went back to the same area. Not only was the wind blowing harder, not only were there lots of clouds, all the fish were gone. It was search mission time. We started working our way north. We found reasonable numbers of tailers in a number of different spots, but still couldn't get a bite.
We were up near Eldora when I realized there was heavy rain headed our way. We cranked the motor and ran like mad, trying to beat it to River Breeze. We were tying the boat to the dock when the monsoon hit us.
It poured and blew for about 30 minutes, with the air temperature dropping about 20 degrees. We took the opportunity to take our lunch.
After the rain stopped we went back out and began working our way south again. The wind had switched to northwest and was only blowing about ten now. I didn't really expect to find any fish, but we did find quite a few tailers. We still couldn't get a bite.
It was pushing 4 PM when I pulled onto a small flat. I told Gary, "The fat lady is singing, ‘cause it's getting late." There were a few fish tailing, but he still couldn't get a bite. I told him to cast to the white holes, hoping he could at least get a trout.
He got a bite on a Redfish Worm and unceremoniously pulled the fish in. Although he wasn't impressed, it was almost trophy sized, one of the largest puffer fish I'd ever seen. Sadly we did not capture the moment on film. The fish deflated when he tossed it back into the water, then swam away. We cranked up and headed back to the ramp. That was one expensive puffer!
We'd had at least 50 shots at tailing redfish in two days and didn't get a bite. ;-(
Thursday was clear, cold, and windy. My charter for the day cancelled because of the weather. I worked on my next book and went for a bike ride.
Friday was again cool, clear, and somewhat breezy. I launched the kayak at River Breeze and went looking for fish. The water was quite low, and with the falling tide it just continued to drop.
Ordinarily I like low water when I fish from River Breeze. It keeps the skiffs from the places I like to fish, and makes it easier for me to see the fish from the low vantage point I get in the kayak. It didn't seem to work for me this day.
I found one tailing red at the first spot. I made a good cast and the fish followed, but didn't take, the fly. I didn't see another fish for about four hours, and paddled at least five miles in that time.
In the last spot I really hoped to find fish there were a few huge trout in some white holes. I threw a few casts but the fish fled. Then I found a few tailing reds. They were cruising fast and tailing only intermittently, making it difficult to get into a good position from which to cast. In spite of stalking a dozen or so, I had decent shots at only two. Both spooked off the fly.
The water had dropped so much by this time that I had to follow Slippery Creek back to Bissett Bay. All my usual shortcuts were dry. I got back to the dock at 4:30 without having gotten so much as a puffer bite.
A gentleman at the dock told me that the moon was full and the shrimp were running. Maybe that influenced the success I didn't have.
Yesterday I went out onto the Atlantic from Port Canaveral with Shawn and Daniel Healy. We went for a looooong boat ride. We cruised the beach down the south Cocoa Beach, seeing nothing but dirty water. There was a shrimp boat working out a couple miles, so we checked it out. Lots of dolphins, but nothing else, were there. The water was still dirty.
At this point Shawn decided he wanted to go to Pelican Flats, so off we went. When we got there we found clean water and a few other boats. Shawn had some rigged ballyhoo so we trolled them for a while without success. So we headed west, toward the beach.
There are two red can buoys several miles east of the port entrance. Between them were huge schools of menhaden. I thought we'd find some good fish there, but all we got there were small 12-14 inch bluefish, and those we had to work for. Still we fished the pogie schools for over an hour, using a Gotchya, a white CAL jig, and cut mullet. Bluefish were all we got.
Then we went to the beach at Canaveral Bight. Again, the tide was very low. We cast for a while without success. Then Shawn told us to cast the lines out and he'd troll along the beach, heading back to the port. Doing this we picked up several more bluefish and couple of crevalle on the same lures already mentioned. About 3 PM we bagged it. I got home just in time to watch the Titans-Ravens game, and enjoyed a couple of broiled bluefish fillets for dinner.
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