Florida Fishing Report: Capt. John Kumiski

Author and noted fly fishing guide, Capt. John Kumiski has posted a new fishing report. In between redfish trips he took some time to target sunfish.

My truck was in the shop for four days last week. After one day I was sick of being home (the weather was perfect) so I returned to the days of my youth, taped a fly rod to the bicycle crossbar, and peddled to the Econlockhatchee River to fish for sunfish.

There weren’t a lot of sunfish there. Usually as you walk the banks you can see a lot of them. I got six or eight, all redbreasts. One was the biggest redbreast I’ve ever caught, with vivid, almost surreal colors. But I didn’t get a stumpknocker, nor a bluegill. Kinda weird.

Read the entire report that includes information on a recent redfish trip via his website.

Photo: Capt. John Kumiski

Capt. John Kumiski: Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3/3/08

Upcoming Events:

-On March 30 I’ll be giving a program on Fishing Opportunities on Florida’s Space Coast at the FFF Flyfishing Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

Dumb Ideas Dept : NASA is considering putting a commercial launch pad on the west shoreline of the Mosquito Lagoon, in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, about in the middle of what is now the Bio Lab Road. See the official information at this link: http://environmental.ksc.nasa.gov/projects/ksc-cvlc.htm

Locally, the idea hasn’t gone over too well with fishermen and birders. It would result in the closing of the southern half of the Mosquito Lagoon to all entry, from the Haulover Canal south. If this were the only site available that would be one thing, but the Canaveral Air Force Station is littered with old, no longer used launch pads, many of which could be adapted for the use of the commercial launch area. NASA evidently is unwilling to ask the Air Force for permission to do this.

I adapted a letter I got from Doug Olander and forwarded it on to Mario Busacca at this email address: KSC-CVLC@nasa.gov See my letter here: http://www.spottedtail.com/NASALetter.htm Please feel free to copy/adapt it as you need. Please send it along to Mr. Busacca and let him know what you think of NASA’s idea.


A Plausible Explanation for River Rage

Due to a major honey-do that took me four days to complete, the only day I fished this week was Friday. I was supposed to fish with TC Howard but he had to cancel at the last minute. I ended up taking a kayak, alone, out of River Breeze on Friday morning.

It was about 60 degrees, the sun was out, and there was a breeze of about 12 mph out of the east, just a beautiful Florida winter morning.

The water was REAL low. I literally had to drag the kayak much of the way into the pond that I ended up in, wrapping the painter around my waist to better pull the boat over the mud. I didn’t know what to expect, and was surprised and delighted to find a pair of fish tailing less than five minutes after getting there.

My first cast (with a squirrel tail slider) landed about three feet away from them. One of the fish bolted and I thought he had spooked. What actually happened was that he heard the fly hit the water and rushed over and ate it. Releasing a twenty five inch red hooked in four inches of water was a great start to the day.

The amazing thing was that the second fish never spooked. For a good part of the fight with the first fish I really thought I’d get a crack at the second. Didn’t happen of course, but you get the idea that the fish were very relaxed.

Within a couple minutes I found another tailer. I followed this fish around with a camera for at least ten minutes trying to get tailing photos. I got a few, although they’re not great. That fish finally swam almost in to me and spooked.

I’d just put the camera away and there was another fish tailing close by. I pooched the first few casts. By now the fish was real close. The next cast was good and I watched him take the fly. Another release soon followed.

Clouds started to show and made visibility harder. But there were fish cruising and tailing all over the pond and I missed a few more strikes, broke off two fish (no excuse for that except for angler error) and released another. I went to the far end of the pond and determined that it was so shallow (grass tips sticking out of the water) that it would be too hard for me to get out that way. Since there were plenty of fish where I was it was easy to stay there. I stopped for lunch, and then went back to fishing.

By now there were lots of clouds. It was hard to see. I was working harder, and fishing blind. Deciding wading might work better, I tied the painter around my waist and with kayak in tow started stalking the fishies on foot.

It often happens when you kayak fish in the River Breeze area that you frequently hear, but seldom see, motor skiffs. When the water is low, especially when you’ve dragged the boat over extensive damp mudflats to get to your spot, skiffs just can’t get to where you are. So when I heard the outboard getting louder I didn’t think that much of it.

Imagine my surprise and dismay when this yahoo comes roaring around the corner of the pond, heading right for me. He runs right through where I’m fishing. Since the pond is a dead end at the other end, after he passes me he turns around and comes right past me again. In the meantime you can see the wakes of the terrified fish going every which way.

I tell you, I’m not a violent person, but had a had a piece I’d have put a couple of caps through his hull. First off, he ran the skiff through the water I’d already determined was too shallow to paddle through. I wonder why all those prop dredge marks are in all those shallow ponds back there?? Secondly, he boogered up every bird and fish in that pond.

I stayed almost three more hours and only saw one fish tail in that time. I didn’t get another bite, and thought what a jerk that guy was all afternoon. Maybe I’m being selfish, (after all, I don’t own that spot) but he really ruined my afternoon.

Why would anyone do that to another angler? You might think it was ignorance, but this was a new, high-tech skiff- tunnel hull, jackplate, the whole nine yards. Anyone with a skiff like that ought to have some familiarity with the concepts of etiquette and consideration. It seemed like he deliberately went out of his way to burn the pond while I was standing in it.

Incidents like this give a plausible explanation for river rage.

In spite of the occasional jerk encounter, it’s March, one of the best months of the year to fish the Space Coast . So-

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com

Capt. John Kumiski News and Fl Fishing Report

Space Coast Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 2/3/08

Upcoming Events:

-On February 12 I'll be speaking to the Backcountry Flyfishing Association in Orlando. Contact Bill Norton at 407.620.7639 for more information.

-On March 30 I'll be giving a program at the FFF Flyfishing Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Is this a great country, or what!?!?

Before the actual fishing report, a few words about the Somerset Fly Fishing Show-

While I'm at the show, most of my time is spent at my fly tying desk. That's why they invite me. Since I try to be responsible, that's pretty much where I stay. There's a lot of the show I never see. However, I did find a GREAT new product for fishermen, one that almost everyone who uses fishing line and who has the slightest amount of environmental consciousness, needs. Called the Monomaster, it is a waste line holder. All those little pieces of line that you generate every time you change flies or lures are just fed into the device, which is small, easily carried, easily used, and easily emptied. See a picture of it here, or visit their website at www.grasshopperproducts.com.

I also saw two of my favorite artists there. Alan James Robinson uses nautical charts as the canvas for his paintings of fish and other wildlife. Mark Sussino specializes in underwater scenes, usually involving gamefish. Both are excellent artists. While I've never had the pleasure of fishing with Alan, I’ve fished with Mark a couple of times and he's an excellent fly angler, too. Visit their websites and check out their work. I think you'll like it, too.

Monday afternoon Tom Van Horn called and invited me to join he and Chris Myers on a no motor zone expedition on Tuesday. I jumped at the chance, since Tom has access to areas I do not. Tuesday morning found us launching from the NASA Causeway.
I’m not going to say we tore them up. The weather was beautiful in the morning. I found a large school of surprising small (10 pounds or so) black drum. I called Tom and he said he and Chris had found a school of large drum that I'd paddled past without seeing! I got two of the smaller fish, and Chris got one of the behemoths that was about 40 inches long. I went over to see if I could get one but by the time I got there the school was spooked and steaming off, pushing up a large wake. Good stuff.

I kept searching and found a large school of big reds. They were far from suicidal. After working it for about 30 minutes I got one to take a black redfish worm. There was only about two feet of fly line out of the rod when he took. I was all crouched down hoping they wouldn’t see me! The fish was a big one, 25 pounds anyway. I fought it for ten or twelve minutes and was gaining ground when the hook pulled out. I pulled the fly in to check it and the hook was bent out to a 90 degree angle.

I had several shots at tailing drum. A big gator chased me off one pod by giving me a threat display and growling at me. I hooked one more redfish before we left, and lost him too when the hook, not bent out, pulled. I ended up with two drum and a barely legal trout. Had two reds on but couldn't get the slam.

Wednesday Shawn Healy and I launched the Mitzi at River Breeze. While we found some fish, they were by no means thick. We couldn't get any to eat and only got a single strike, which I didn't connect on, all day.

Thursday Scott Radloff and I launched at Parrish Park, and hunted for fish all the way up past Scottsmoor. While we found a few fish we couldn't get them to eat and did not even get a bite.

Friday Dr. George Yarko and I launched at River Breeze. It was cloudy and windy. We found a few fish and while we certainly did not have a career day, he did get a single redfish and a beautiful trout of about 25 inches. It was good to handle a fish again!

Yesterday I ran the Show and Tell at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I had six people come, a small turnout, but we had beautiful weather and everyone learned a lot.

Today I watch the Super Bowl, and take care of this fishing report and other administrative business. Since I grew up in suburban Boston you know I will root for the Patriots. I will also understand that there are way more important things than football, though.

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
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)

Capt. John Kumiski: Florida Fishing Report

Capt. John Kumiski is a Florida fishing guide and the author of several books on fly fishing in Salt Water. He sends us regular fishing reports from his home waters on Florida's Space Coast.

Space Coast Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1/20/08

Upcoming Events:

-On January 22nd I’ll be giving a presentation to the Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers in Sarasota, Florida. Contact John Freeman at 941.228.5938 for information.

-From January 25 through 27 I’ll be a featured fly tyer at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, New Jersey. I always enjoy that freezing weather they have there.

-On February 2 I will be holding a Show and Tell Seminar at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Visit http://www.spottedtail.com/show&tell.htm for more information.

-On February 12 I’ll be speaking to the Backcountry Flyfishing Association in Orlando. Contact Paul Norton at 407.620.7639 for more information.

-On March 30 I’ll be giving a program at the FFF Flyfishing Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

Well! It has been quite the miserable week weather-wise. As a result I got out only two days. Sunday last (1/13) Chris Pederson and his six year old grandson Sebastian joined me in Karl Dienst’s Hewes (Many thanks to Karl for letting me borrow his skiff!). We fished the Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was overcast and threatening rain all day, wind about 12 out of the west. We found pretty much the same thing wherever we looked, which is to say very little. When you have a youngster in the boat you especially want some action, but it just wasn’t happening. We got two slot trout all day. We did find a few tailers late in the day but couldn’t buy a strike. On top of that we got caught in a thunderstorm at the end of the day and got very wet, and of course scared to death by the frequent and nearby lightning bolts. At least that part of the day was eventful! And, we didn’t get fried, always a good thing. Hey, I had fun!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I watched the trees rock back and forth while I worked on putting up the stock photo images into www.johnkumiski.com. That process is not completed, but many of the pages are up and working. I am very excited by this site! Cheryl Kumiski, official sister of John Kumiski and therefore not necessarily an unbiased observer, wrote, “nicely impressive. i am in love with the skyscape page. you need more animals. good job and well done. i enjoyed a few hours there.” I am proud to say that Cheryl is an artist working in glass. Her website can be visited at http://www.cherylkumiski.com/index.html

Thursday evening, the weather forecast for Friday was for overcast skies and northwest winds at 5-10, with a high of 70 degrees. Sick to death of looking at a computer screen I loaded a kayak on the roof. Friday morning found me paddling in the no motor zone.

It never got close to 70 degrees, and it was overcast with occasional drizzle. The wind was as predicted. Not ideal conditions, but I had to look. I started just after 7 and was out for almost two hours when I spotted my first fish, a single tail sticking out of the water. It was weird because it wasn’t moving, it was just sticking up out of the water. However, nearby another tail would appear sporadically. I staked out the yak and waded over.

I tossed the redfish worm a dozen times, didn’t get a sniff, and the tail disappeared. While I waited, hoping it would reappear, I changed flies to a Merkin. The tail reappeared a few yards away, and I tossed the fly several more times. I couldn’t see the fish because of the clouds, but you just know when you’re dragging it right by their nose. No response, and the tail disappeared again.

By this time there had been enough water movement that I figured there were a few other fish around. I took a blind cast away from my target fish and started crawling the Merkin along the bottom. Suddenly, “thump.” Real solid. I set the hook, and the tractor pull was joined.

I battled that fish hard for about fifteen minutes. I tried to keep him from taking any line, and although he got close, he never reached the backing. On the other hand, he wouldn’t let me move him either, and I never did get a look at him. Then the hook disengaged. I pulled in the fly, expecting to see a bent hook. It was, but only a little bit. It just came unbuttoned. Based on the time I spent connected via the five weight I would guess that it was the biggest fish I’d hooked in a year or more (yes I had a crappy tarpon season least year, one that lasted less than a week and that was plagued by terrible weather). Anyway I can safely guess that because I lost the fish!

I was out until after 1 PM and never got another shot. I hardly saw anything else, just a couple mud puffs and wakes as I ran over an unseen inhabitant of Neptune’s kingdom. Yesterday I picked up the now-rigged Mitzi. Today the forecast high is 57 degrees with 20 mph winds. And, there are two championship football games starting in less than an hour! The Mitzi’s maiden voyage will have to wait until tomorrow.

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiskiwww.spottedtail.commember Florida Outdoor Writers Association (www.fowa.org), Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (www.seopa.org), Indian River Guides association (www.irga.org)

John Kumiski: Florida Space Coast Fishing Report

FlyfishMagazine's newest associate, Capt. John Kumiski, sends news from Florida's sunny space coast.

Upcoming Events:
-On January 22nd I'll be giving a presentation to the Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers in Sarasota, Florida. Contact John Freeman at 941.228.5938 for information.

-From January 25 through 27 I'll be a featured fly tyer at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, New Jersey. I always enjoy that freezing weather they have there.

-On February 2 I will be holding a Show and Tell Seminar at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Visit http://www.spottedtail.com/show&tell.htm for more information.

-On February 12 I'll be speaking to the Backcountry Flyfishing Association in Orlando. Contact Paul Norton at 407.620.7639 for more information.

-On March 30 I'll be giving a program at the FFF Flyfishing Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

-News Flash! I have a new skiff! A brand new Mitzi 17 is at Central Florida Marine getting rigged as I write this. It is not the boat I've been waiting for. That one is still under construction. When it is ready I will be selling this one and buying that one. If you have any interest in a slightly used Mitzi 17 let me know. More information will be forthcoming when I'm ready to sell.

Another news flash! I have a new website up, http://www.johnkumiski.com. The site is still under construction and is still in a testing phase, but it is useable. My goal is to put all my writing and much of my photography on this site, to make it a resource for anglers and outdoor adventure travelers, both individuals and magazine/newspaper/website editors. If you visit the site and find any mistakes, please let me know at john@spottedtail.com . The first ten people to do this will receive a mini prize pack!

On to the fishing!

Monday Capt. Chris Myers had me get up ridiculously early to join him in a Mosquito Lagoon escapade. The sun was just rising as we left the ramp. He said the fish would be tailing. We got to the spot, and they were, not hard, not lots of them, but tailing fish are tailing fish and you’re not going to sneer at that any time.
Chris poled first and I got a slot red, a tailer, on a black redfish worm. We switched ends and Chris got a slot sized tailer on a small Merkin crab. Between us we blew at least a dozen shots. By this time the sun was getting up into the firmament. The fish had stopped tailing and we decided to look for laid up trout.
We found quite a few. Were they spooky! Mr. Myers finally hooked one on a bend back, only to have it shake off at boatside. I couldn't get a sniff. Chris thought he knew where some drum were, so we went looking for them.
I was on the bow when suddenly there were at least a hundred fish in front of me. I tossed the redfish worm out there a number of times. It was obvious it wasn't sinking fast enough. Part of what made it so was the fact not a fish touched it. I tied a Merkin on, and got an upper slot red on the first cast. His thrashing scared all the other fish away.
We looked for them for a while without success, although Chris picked up another red on a Merkin.
Rain clouds were moving in from the south, so we bailed early. It was about 1 PM as he put the boat on the trailer, just as the first drops started to fall. Good timing!

Tuesday I drove to Titusville to deliver the kayak I had sold. I took the opportunity to take another kayak out on the Indian River. The water was kind of dirty and it was windy. I blindly cast a Dupre Spoonfly for an hour or so and caught two slot sized trout.

All this week I couldn't get last week's no motor zone trip out of my head. Thursday I went over there for a solo trip. I was out seven hours, looking hard. I probably paddled 12 miles or more. I had seven shots in that time, all at slot reds. I didn't see a big red or black drum, although I did see four big seatrout. The fish were very scarce. I had three bites and released two fish. I will say that I don't think I've ever seen so many hardhead cats up working in shallow water and tailing. I saw a fish in a white sand hole at the limit of my vision. I couldn't tell what it was and threw the redfish worm over to it. It jumped all over it and to my surprise and dismay, it was a catfish. There were quite a few sheepshead, too, but none of them were fooled by my offerings.

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I 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)

Capt. John Kumiski: Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1/4/08

Photos this week worth seeing! Visit this link: http://www.spottedtail.com/ThisWeeksFishingReport.htm

This is my first fishing report of 2008. The weather so far this year has been wintery, can you imagine? We actually had temperatures dip to the freezing mark, and I’ve heard some reports of fish kills from around the state. Being a totally acclimatized Floridian, I don’t like to go fishing when the high temperature for the day is in the 40’s or 50’s, especially with 20 knot plus winds. So, I only ventured out one day this week.

My friend Rick DePaiva has been threatening to come fish with me for black drum for years now. Since he has never actually done it I figured he was just talking. Yesterday, however, he actually showed up. His friend David McCleaf was with him. So around 830 AM we launched an Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 containing David and his stuff and an Old Town Camper containing Ricky and me and our stuff. Since the Camper’s crew was focused on getting Rick a black drum, I handled the push pole and Rick manned the fly rod.

We only saw one fish until about 1030. At that time we found a small pod of slot reds tailing. Ricky made several good casts that I thought should have worked, and one finally did. Good thing, skunk off boat. Not what we were looking for but no one complained. The fly was a black Redfish Worm.

I suppose I should have a digression here about the weather. When we started the wind was blowing about 12 out of the east and it was about 65 degrees. The sun shone when we cast off, but a bank of clouds quickly rolled in and we could see several showers off in the distance. So when Ricky got that first red it was windy and cloudy, which it mostly stayed all day. We also got rained on several times, and saw a few patches of sun, too. Not an ideal day, perhaps, but you make the best of what you get, especially when you’re paddling.

We went at least an hour before we got another bite, although we saw David get a slot red on a DOA Shrimp. He removes the supplied hook and rigs the shrimp “backwards,” using a plastic worm hook like you’d use in a jerk bait. Good idea, young man!

Rick and I finally found a single black drum tailing. When the tail wasn’t up we couldn’t see it at all (no sun) and after a few casts the fish disappeared, never to show itself again. As it turned out this was a recurring theme.

We found a small pod of slot reds working in shallow water and Rick got one the Redfish Worm. We saw David get another one not too far off from us. So fishing was slow but there were a few around and we were getting one once in a while. We’ve all had worse days, and no one was complaining.

David decided to do some solo exploration. We could see him, looking for fish about a half mile off. I kept waiting for my phone to ring so we could go and join him on the huge school of fish he found. The phone finally did ring, but it was Rodney, not David.

Rick and I were taking a break, snacking, when I saw a single tail come up and drop again. A minute or so went by and it came up again, closer this time. Then the sun broke through the clouds. We took advantage of the light and went looking for the fish. He helped us by tailing on a reasonably regular basis. Ricky got several good casts to the beast, and he finally took the fly. Black drum on! I called David, who immediately headed back over to our location.

It took Rick several minutes to subdue what turned out to be a drum of over 25 pounds. Mission accomplished! We spent some time taking pictures, then kissed the fish and released it.

We split up again, David working up in front of us a half mile or so. He went around a point and we couldn’t see him any more. We were seeing slot sized fish with reasonable frequency, and hooking one now and then. We finally got to the point and there was David, casting at fish.

We spotted a tailer and went after it. We could only see it when the tail was up, since it had clouded over again. We worked that fish for 10 or 15 minutes and never got a tap. But David finally ended it when he paddled over to us, telling us he needed a photographer. He had a 26 pound red in the water, tethered by a Boga Grip. The photos were made, the fish released. Both gentlemen now had a big fish under their belts. Life was good.

Our rough total for the day was eight reds between us, all in the slot except for David’s bull, and one black drum. The fish were equally split between the two of them. We capped off our most excellent day by having dinner at El Leoncito.

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiski

http://www.spottedtail.com/

member Florida Outdoor Writers Association (http://www.fowa.org/), Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (www.Seopa.org), Indian River Guides association (www.irga.org).

Editor's Note: Capt. Kumiski is the author of several excellent books about fly fishing Florida's salt water including "Redfish On The Fly" to which we gave a thumbs up in the review section of FlyFishMagazine.com.