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Indian River Lagoon & Banana River
Capt. John Kumiski
October 24, 2006
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
Space Coast report 10/24/06
Space Coast fishing report from Spotted Tail, 10/24/06
I have some great pictures from the past couple of weeks, see them at http://www.spottedtail.com
The last three weeks have been very hectic and I apologize for not keeping my report current. Let us go back to October 8th. On that day Tom Mitzlaff came up from Jacksonville and fished with me and Capt. Greg Hildreth, http://www.georgiacharterfishing.com 912-261-1763. On a morning with brilliant sunshine we fished tailing fish in the grass, awesome if somewhat tough fishing. What made it tough was a solid 15 mph wind, and fairly dirty water. Extreme accuracy was required on the cast, but the wind would blow the fly off target. We had numerous shots and finally landed one really fat, 10 pound or so red. Then the tide was too high, and we broke for lunch. We tried some low water fishing that afternoon but the fish were not on it, and although we saw quite a few we didn't get a bite.
The next morning Greg and I went out again, and again it was windy but this day was overcast. There were still plenty of fish around. We saw some fish and I hopped off the boat and waded over to one, which sucked the fly off a grass stem in an awesome surface strike. It too weighed about ten pounds, another great fish for the marsh.
I met up with Steve Baker again, up in beautiful Beaufort, SC. We fished tailing fish in the grass on the morning of Tuesday the 10th, do-it-yourself fishing. Tony Royal at Bay Street Outfitters (http://www.baystreetoutfitters.com/) had arranged for Beaufort Kayak Tours to loan us a couple of Perception Kayaks, and he drew us a little map telling us where to go. We followed his directions and had an awesome morning, getting six fish to 12 pounds between us, all on black Bunny Boogers, which seemed to be the fly du jour on this part of the trip. By about 1 PM the water was too deep to see the fish any more, so we called it a day and had a relaxing afternoon.
On Wednesday Capt. Tuck Scott picked us up at the boat landing and took us to look for tailing reds in the grass. I blew three straight shots, and handed the rod to Steve in disgust. He nailed his shot, and then it was Tuck's turn while I poled. Tuck had only one shot, which he likewise got. Both fish were again fooled by a black Bunny Booger. By then the water was dropping and the fish quickly get out of the grass when that happens, so we were done for the day.
Tuck picked me up again early the next morning. We were going to try low tide fishing, but it turned out to be a wash. I hooked a couple of small trout, and that was it. When the water got high enough we went looking for tailers in the grass. I don't know if it was the almost 20 mph winds or what, but not a single fish did we see, so my last day of the redfish trip turned out to be fishless. In spite of that the entire trip was a resounding success, with lots of great pictures obtained, new friends made, and oh yes, quite a few fish caught, too.
On Monday the 16th Dan and Mike Shane joined me for a morning's redfishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. We launched at River Breeze and went on a search mission. Mike tossed a Chug Bug and had quite a few strikes, many of which were missed, but he did get a couple of nice trout. Dan fly fished and got nothing. It was cloudy and breezy, tough fly fishing conditions. We saw maybe two dozen reds altogether. The water is still kind of high and was dirty in some places, clear in others.
On Friday the 20th Byron Evetts and his friend Rogest joined me for some ocean fishing out of Port Canaveral. We caught some mullet for bait, and then the search mission began. We eventually found a school of mullet in the surf that had fish working them, and we caught several ladyfish and bluefish. After an hour we had had enough of that and continued looking for real fish. We eventually found a heavy concentration of black mullet with big tarpon working them. I netted some baits, and we proceeded to try to hook a tarpon. A two pound mullet is hard to cast, even with a stout tarpon sized spinning rod. It doesn't hit the water very subtly, either. But those tarpon loved them anyway. We jumped about a dozen fish, hooked up only two solidly, and caught one. A 4/0 hook was the largest I had, and although that's more than sufficient for a finger mullet or a menhaden it was much too small for a 16 inch long mullet. I've already ordered some 12/0 Daiichis for next time…
Yesterday in the clouds and wind Dave Rodefeld and his friend Craig joined me for a day's fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. They tossed Chug Bugs for much of the morning, and got five slot reds and one short snook. Naturally several strikes were missed. The bite slowed down and we went to the power plant and caught some ladyfish. By now the wind was really honking so we found a nice lee shoreline and proceeded to fish chunk ladyfish, not my favorite thing to do, but when it's blowing 20 plus you do what you can. Actually it worked quite well, since we got two reds in the 32 inch range as well as one very handsome 40 inch fish. A great time was had by all, and now I am caught up on my fishing report!
Remember- life is short. GO FISHING!
Life is great and I love my work!!
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at [email protected], or call at 407 977 5207.
John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com
member, Indian River Guides Association,
Florida Outdoor Writers Association
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