Indian River Lagoon & Banana River
Capt. John Kumiski
December 11, 2005
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
John Kumiski's Spotted Tail report, 12.11.05
Spotted Tail Space Coast report, 12/11/05
All my trips this week were by kayak (no work L). The bird life has been spectacular! To see the photos, hit this link: http://www.spottedtail.com Except for Monday's trip all were spur of the moment, damn-it's-nice-out-I'm-going-fishing kind of trips. Also, it's been a good month for new fly rods. I got a couple of new Temple Fork 7-weights, and tested the Lefty Kreh Professional model out Sunday and Monday. It performed beautifully, thanks! I also got a WF&F Redfish line from Scientific Anglers. Frankly, I was surprised at how well this line performed. I always overline my rods by a line size but with this line I didn't feel like I needed to. It loaded all three rods I tried it with very easily and cast like a dream.
Last Sunday (12/4) it was nice out- sunshine, fairly warm, few clouds, light wind. I posted my fishing reports and then decided to go fishing, not getting out of the house until 10:30. I drove to River Breeze and dropped the kayak into the water, and paddled to my first spot. As soon as I got there I spotted a fish. Blew the shot. I immediately spotted a second fish. Blew that shot. Yet again, another fish. Got him, on a Mosquito Lagoon Special, a decent redfish of five pounds or so. Now I was thinking it could be one of those incredible days. It wasn't. I ended up hooking four and releasing three, all about the same size, and was home in time to see the end of the Bucs-Saints game.
Sunday night I called friend and neighbor Shawn Healy and asked him to join me the next morning. We left my house about 730 AM and drove to River Breeze. It was cloudy, with a south wind of about 12 mph. We got to the same spot I was at the previous day and the tide was several inches lower. It was hard to see, but at first we saw nothing. While searching I ran over a few, so I decided to get out and wade, blindcasting. I tied on a Dupre Spoonfly. It was like magic. I immediately began to catch fish, and seldom made five casts without hooking up. Both trout (to about three pounds) and reds (mostly rats but I did get several five pounders) were in the mix. Shawn, using spinning tackle, could not get a bite, and ended up not getting a bite. I released at least two dozen fish, a heck of a morning by any standard. I have never seen such a disparity in catch rates based on tackle type.
One of the noteworthy observations on this day- anyone who fishes much has thrilled to the osprey in stoop, crashing into the water and frequently catching a fish. Usually it's a mullet, but sometimes I've seen them get trout, or crevalle, or even blowfish. This particular osprey I watched hit the water about 100 yards away, and had the most difficult time taking off again. For a moment I thought the fish might drown him. The bird finally got airborne, and flew by me within casting range, as if to show off its prize. It had a redfish as large as any I caught that day. Does any reader know what the maximum carrying capacity of an osprey is in pounds? If so email me here: mailto:[email protected], and I will post the answer next week.
I did not fish Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, taking care of administrative tasks while grumbling about the weather.
Friday morning it was over cast but the trees weren't moving, and the temperatures were in the 60's. I had to go, so tossed the kayak on the racks and off I went. I had a new rod, a 9.5' Heritage 7-weight, I wanted to try. I went to the Indian River and dropped the boat in. Immediately I spotted this fish tailing. It turned out to be a fussy fish, because I made what I thought was a good cast with the Mosquito Lagoon Special, and the fish wanted no part of it. This scene was repeated for the next five shots I had. Every fish spooked off the fly, which of course had changed several times by now.
I ended up tying on a Rattle Rouser and blind casting, taking perhaps a dozen trout to about three pounds and a single 18" red. On the way back to the truck a cold front came in, changing wind speed and direction, dropping the temperature about 10 degrees, and bringing sheets of rain. I was very thankful to be wearing chest waders and for bringing a rain jacket! Oh yes, the Heritage performed beautifully, thanks.
Yesterday I didn't leave here until 12:30 PM, going to River Breeze. It seemed I got there just as everyone else who had been out was loading up. Undeterred, I launched the kayak and paddled into the backcountry. I didn't see anything for quite a while, but finally spotted a redfish. Unfortunately I could have touched him with my paddle, so no shot resulted there. The next one was spotted a few minutes later. I had all the fly line in the rod when the fish took the Spoonfly, he was close enough that I could see the scales on his back. I stuck him but after a minute the hook pulled out. The hook pulled on the next fish too, to my chagrin. I found a small hole with current flowing through it that was stacked up with trout and caught a dozen or so to three pounds, first on the Spoonfly, and then when the bite slowed, on the Rattle Rouser. By this time the sun was getting close to the horizon so I started heading back to the truck. I had several shots at tailers on the way and managed to catch and release three beautiful fish between five and seven pounds, all on the Rattle Rouser, a fitting ending to a very lovely week.
-Upcoming Events-
-January-
-I will be giving a talk about fishing the Indian River Lagoon system and signing books at the Orange County Public Library in Orlando on January 8 at 2 PM.
-On January 14 I will be speaking at the Daytona Boat Show.
-A MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar is scheduled for 1/28. Hit this link http://www.spottedtail.com for more information!
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 mailto:[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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