Indian River Lagoon & Banana River
Capt. John Kumiski
October 23, 2005
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. John Kumiski's Space Coast report 10/23/05
This week’s fishing report from Spotted Tail, updated 10/23/05
Once again I am shown what a difference a day makes.
Monday! Shawn Healy and I went to Ponce Inlet in his 21' Sea Pro. The tide was the highest I'd ever seen it and catching mullet was a problem, even at this time of year. We managed to get some, but I told Shawn, "If fishing is good this won't be enough." We first went to the north jetty. Shawn got bitten off right away, then I had and missed a strike, then I got a crevalle. In the meantime I was watching pelicans diving about a mile off. We went to investigate.
It was a huge school of menhaden in 40+ feet of water. The tarpon were there, but so were a lot of blacktip sharks and thousands of ravenous three pound bluefish. I tried several times to net some pogies but the water was too deep for my net. We clearly didn't have enough mullet so we began cutting them into thirds. If anything it made the fish bite faster. I tried several different lures and was completely ignored.
For three hours we got a bite on almost every cast, with Shawn jumping one tarpon and the balance being sharks and blues. The boat was fairly evenly sprayed with blood when we decided that maybe we should go farther out, looking for Spanish or kings, maybe bonito, weed lines, or whatever.
We found a pile of Sargassum in 60' of water. Three tripletail were found hanging underneath them, and we each caught one on chartreuse DOA Shrimp. Mine was about 6 pounds, Shawn's about eight. We ran out of weeds and headed back towards the beach.
Although about 10 miles south of where we had been, pelicans were diving everywhere on enormous menhaden schools. Tarpon were everywhere, and again hordes of blacktips and blues were there. We jumped three more tarpon by using mullet chunks. Our lines were so damaged by the spinner sharks that they all broke off. We caught dozens more sharks and bluefish. By 3 PM we'd had enough and headed in after a simply wonderful day. We had eight mullet left.
Tuesday I fished Dave Carbone in the Indian River. Dave had never caught a fish on fly in Florida, so we first went to the power plant where the ladyfish quickly solved that problem. After that we found an area loaded with mullet schools. Fish were busting into them, and by tossing Chug Bugs we bagged several. Dave tried a streamer on the fly rod and got a nice one of about three pounds. He wanted to try sight fishing with the fly so we found some clean water where we had numerous but sadly unsuccessful shots at both reds and trout. Finally, we went and tossed RipTide weedless jigs blindly on another flat, where Dave picked up four of five slot sized reds. Altogether another good day was had.
Wednesday Jim and Jake Hammock, a father and son team, joined me on the Spotted Tail for a half day on the Indian River. At first Jim used a DOA Glow Shrimp and Jake used a Chug Bug. Fish were busting all around us and the trout action was steady for a couple of hours. When it slowed down we went to Rip Tide weedless jigs. Between them they got seven or eight reds, ranging from little shorties of 14 inches or so to about 25". They also got a beautiful trout of about 6 pounds, which was released. Again, it was a very fine morning.
Thursday my neighbor Karl Dienst and I went out of Ponce Inlet again. It's hard to let go of a day like Monday, and I wanted to share it with my friend. The fish had other ideas, though. The menhaden, and everything else, were gone. We made an attempt to get out and look for weeds but we were in my Mirage instead of Shawn's Sea Pro and the choppy four foot seas made it more than a little uncomfortable. We pulled the boat, drove to Titusville, and went to the same spot where I had fished with the Hammocks the previous day. You know that it was completely dead. Very few mullet, and very few fish. We got a dink snook, two dink trout, and did manage to slightly salvage the day with two slot reds caught with RipTide weedless jigs. What difference a day makes!
Friday was spent scouting for the Show and Tell, and Saturday was the Show and Tell. Seventeen people attended, the weather was great, and we all learned a lot from each other and had a great time. I'll be scheduling another one after New Year's.
Upcoming Events-
-October-
-I am scheduled to teach a Flats Fishing class at Brevard Community College, Cocoa, from 10/25 to 11/22. Call the school at 321.433.7530 to register.
-November- I am scheduled to teach a Saltwater Fly Fishing class on November 5th and 12th class at Brevard Community College, Cocoa. Call the school at 321.433.7530 to register.
-I will be tying flies at the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ on November 19 and 20.
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 IRGA, FOWA
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