Indian River Lagoon & Banana River
Capt. John Kumiski
April 16, 2005
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
This week’s fishing report from Spotted Tail, updated 4/16/05
Now booking tarpon dates for May and June along the Lee Island Beaches!
What a week.
On Monday local residents Tom and Jim Tomasetti, a father and son team, spin fished from the Spotted Tail in the Indian River Lagoon. Tom caught his first ever redfish, and I must admit to spoiling him somewhat as the fish weighed 16 pounds. A Bass Assassin was the magic bait. They hooked four and put three in the boat, all fish well into the teens weight-wise. A much larger fish broke off. It was an extremely entertaining day.
Tuesday I was part of a 30 boat more or less charter. Everyone else caught fish. We did not catch a fish. I was on the same school as the previous day but we couldn't get a bite. Another boat poled in, got four bites in a row. He even gave us some of his shrimp and we STILL couldn't get a bite. We left them and found a school of black drum. Couldn't get a bite. We left them and found some slot reds and trout. We got three bites and missed all three. Some days it just ain't there.
Wednesday morning I met Rob Emery and his mother Carol at Parrish Park at 7 AM. It was raining and the wind was howling, but they wanted to go out, so we did. We saw exactly six redfish in a Mosquito Lagoon half day and didn't come close to catching one, although Rob did get a trout on a 5" DOA CAL jerk bait with a Woodie's Rattle Hook. I really don't like fishing after fronts.
Thursday Spotted Tail stayed home, as I joined John Small and his friend Bob for some Banana River Lagoon fishing from John's Action Craft. We wanted big reds but they simply were not there. However we combined for at least a dozen trout, most of which were between three and five pounds. We used Bass Assassins and 3" DOA Shrimp for this work. We also found a load of snook, but we could not convince even the smallest, dumbest fish in the bunch to eat our offerings. Nonetheless it was a fairly successful day.
Yesterday Chris and Kathy Carapella, St. Louis natives, wanted to try their luck in spite of the 20-25 mph winds. Hey, we tried, for a half day at least. Kathy did have two strikes on a DOA Shrimp, missed one and lost a decent trout at the side of the boat. That was it.
Today I gave a class on kayak fish at Andy Thornall Outfitters in Winter Haven. We'll be trying our luck from River Breeze for the next couple of days. I hope the wind lies down!
Remember- life is short. GO FISHING!
Life is also great and I love my work!!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
member IRGA, FOWA
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