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Indian River Lagoon & Banana River
Capt. John Kumiski
January 1, 2006
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
Spotted Tail Mosquito Lagoon report 1/1/06
Spotted Tail Mosquito Lagoon fishing report, 1/1/06
First off, I'd like to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year! May you all reach some kind of angling milestone this year!
It was mostly cold and windy again this week, with low, clear water in the lagoons. Such pictures as I have, as always, can be seen at http://www.spottedtail.com
On Monday I had a half day with Dave Bentley and his brother in law Lou, fishing the Mosquito Lagoon in a cold, 20+ mph NW wind. We got a couple of nice reds, missed a couple, broke one off, and got a few smallish trout too. The lures of choice were RipTide Weedless Jigs and DOA Shrimp. Dave emailed me, "Thanks for the trip. Conditions were not ideal, I would have called it a day a lot sooner than you did." Hey, we had a good time, what else do we need?
Tuesday fly caster Steve Hoffman joined me for what turned out to be one of the nicer days of the week, with winds less than 10 mph, also on the Mosquito Lagoon. We saw redfish and big trout almost all day long, very spooky fish. I don't like to write this, but we only had a single strike the entire day (on a Mosquito Lagoon Special), and that redfish broke off after a couple of minutes. We didn't catch a fish, but we had a good time!
On Wednesday Clark and Forrest Stillwell, a father-son team, joined me for another day on Mosquito Lagoon. Forrest used a fly rod, Clark a spinner. The wind was up again and it was colder. All those fish I had seen the day before? Gone. We went on a search mission. We found a few fish. Clark got a 22" red on a 4" DOA CAL jerkworm rigged on a Woodie's Rattle Hook. Then I spotted a redfish tailing, and Forrest got it, a handsome 27" red, on a black Redfish Worm, his largest red ever on fly. The fish went into his backing, and he was a happy and excited boy, as his photo suggests! We had a good time!
Thursday Jim and Nick Shira, another father-son combo, joined me, again for a Mosquito Lagoon trip. Wind? Check. Cold? Check. Another winter day on the lagoon. We got a few marginal trout, but then it was slim pickin's until about noon time. I found a bunch of reds, and they proceeded to catch them steadily, on DOA Shrimp, 4" DOA CAL jerk baits, and RipTide weedless shrimp, for the rest of the day. They ended up with 12 or 14 reds to 28" and six or eight trout to 24", not bad at all. Jim emailed me, "Just wanted to say thanks again for a great trip. Nick and I really enjoyed it, and appreciated your help." Oh yes, we had a good time!
Friday I had a bunch or menial office tasks to perform, but looking out the window at the sun shining and the trees not moving got to me. At 1130 AM I left with a kayak and a flyrod, a brand new 5 weight Heritage, heading to River Breeze. I launched at 1230 and had the yak back on the truck at 430, a short trip. In that time I found a nice pod of handsome trout, getting a 24" and a 23" fish on a Trout Bite, and two reds to 25" on a Sili Shrimp. The fishing wasn't great but I've certainly had worse. The rod was wonderful, the afternoon just lovely, and I really enjoyed myself.
Trout season opened this morning. Hopefully folks will be releasing most of the fish they catch, especially the big ones.
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.
-On January 16 I'll be speaking to the North Florida Fly Fishers in Gainesville.
-January 27-29 I'll be tying flies and making two presentations at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ.
-The MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar has been re-scheduled to 2/11.
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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