South Florida Fishing Road Trip Report
Capt. John Kumiski
October 29, 2011
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
The Report from Spotted Tail
Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.
October 17, 2011
Dear Diary-
My alarm clock was set for 4 o'clock. I woke up at ten to three and couldn't fall asleep again. L After having some cereal and a cup of tea I woke Alex. We left for Stuart at about 4:40.
I had to fight to stay awake the whole way. Must have been because I wasn't in bed. Alex was no help. He slept the entire distance.
We met Marcia Foosaner at the boat ramp a few minutes after seven. We left the boat and drove to Bathtub Beach. The surf was UP. There weren't a lot of mullet, or much obvious activity at the Bathtub. Still, we all managed a snook and several crevalle by tossing shallow running DOA Bait Busters.
We went to several other beach access points with no results. The wind was hard from the east, and it spit rain all morning. I've had great fishing along these beaches this time of year, but today was an off day.
We had lunch at the new bagel place. Mark Nichols joined us. He had Morris the Dog with him. Then we all went to DOA World Headquarters. Marcia and I both needed some Hot Heads for our new lines of flies.
Alex and I are at River Palms now. He mustn't have gotten enough sleep 'cause he crashed as soon as we finished supper. I'm hoping to watch some of the football game tonight, but I'm pretty sleepy myself.
Tomorrow we go fishing with both Mark and Marcia- a double feature!
October 18
Dear Diary-
We woke up to torrential rains, pushed by a strong southeast wind. In spite of this both Marcia and Mark were right on time. We launched the Mitzi at the Jensen Beach ramp and Mark navigated us to a flat on the south side of the Jensen Beach causeway.
We got out and waded in the pouring rain and chilling waters for three hours. Marcia threw a jerk bait, Alex a DOA Glow Shrimp, I a jig, and Mark a prototype of a new bait he's working on. Between us we got four small jacks in three hours.
By this time I was starting to shiver, soaked through in spite of the raincoat. We wisely decided to call it and went to have breakfast.
Alex and I then hit the turnpike and drove to Sugarloaf Key, where we met Mike Gorton. It rained most of the way, and started raining very heavily after we got here.
We are in a house, very nice. I hope the weather gets better.
October 19
Dear Diary-
The house was shaking all night from thunderclaps. It was fitful sleep, with lightning going off every 30 seconds and all the thunder. It's still raining as I write this but at least the sparks have subsided. We're going to Mike's now to see what he's up to.
October 20
Dear Diary-
Mike saw my boat and said it needed gel coat work. Next thing Alex and I had sanders in our hands. We sanded the interior deck for hours. It was not fun. We were not fishing. I'm still itchy. On the other hand my deck is newly gelcoated and looks nice, plus it's waterproof again.
Once the new gel dried we put the boat in the water. I netted a few pinfish and we went to a creek to go snapper fishing. It took me a while to find it. Then when we got there the water was milky. It was running at least eight knots. The wind was blowing right onto us at about 20. My anchor didn't hold the first time. We finally got set and tried to fish.
It was ridiculous. I was going to move the boat to a calmer spot but more rain was coming, and it was getting dark. I'd say we were there about 20 minutes, had one bite (missed), and then ran out of there with our tails between our legs.
Today we went out of Key West with Jack Walker. While it was good to see Jack, we shouldn't have bothered trying to catch fish. The water was milky dirty around Key West. We couldn't find any bait. We finally had to sabiki up a few blue runners.
We got out to 200 feet of water and the water was still all milky. In four hours of bouncing around we had one bite. Alex got an amberjack of about 20 pounds, his first ever. It beat a sharp stick in the eye but was pretty pathetic, not at all what you think of when planning your Keys trip.
Tonight we're going to try night fishing for tarpon and snook. I so hope we get a few fish!
October 21
Dear Diary-
We met Jack and Willie and went to the Key West pier, getting there about 10 pm. Three friends of Jack's were already there. The tide was low, the water was dirty, and not one bite was obtained between seven of us.
The reality of fishing is that sometimes it's not too good. We traveled down here during a massive storm, and it's boogered things up. But today is another day. We're going out with Mike. We'll see if that changes our luck.
Hope springs eternal in the heart of a fisherman.
October 22
Dear Diary-
We picked Mike up at his dock at about 10 AM to better catch the tide right. We went through a maze of creeks and ponds to oceanside. While the flat looked great, other than sharks it was devoid of life.
We fished for sharks for a while. I got a bonnethead on a bonefish fly and Alex got a small blacktip on a wiggle jig.
We kept hoping that the incoming tide would bring warmer water and some bonefish but no, that didn't happen.
We went to a back country spot and looked but there weren't even sharks there.
We went to a couple of different backcountry spots and fished for snappers for a little while. We missed a couple, got one little one, and gave up around 4 PM.
We're going out with Mike in his boat today. He says the fish will start showing as it warms up again.
October 24
Dear Diary-
Permit are hard to catch. I have heard people say that they've caught them on fly. I've never seen it done. I've certainly never done it. After the past two days I think they're all just making it up.
Mike showed us a lot of fish. We had shots at dozens of permit. Alex and I took turns with the fly rod and with a spin rod baited with a live crab. It didn't much matter what we threw at them. They ignored us or fled in terror. Either they're impossible to catch or we are really, really bad. Probably a little bit of both.
We spent two days searching for and casting to fish and didn't get a bite.
Today Alex and I are going out in the Mitzi. We intend to target everything we see- sharks, 'cudas, jacks, snapper, whatever. I want to hear the drag go out before I die.
Last night the Gortons had a barbeque at their house. It was Goodnews south- Mike, Kim, and Faith, Charlie Mudfoot and his girlfriend Lauren, Jack Walker, Willie, and Alex and me. It was good to see everyone together, not in Alaska. Hey, we exist elsewhere! What a discovery!
October 27
Dear Diary-
Mike led and Alex and I followed in the Mitzi. Charlie and Lauren rode with Mike. We had 25 knot winds out of the north and actually tried to find some bonefish. No success there!
Giving up on that idea we went to some creeks to fish for snappers. We got some pretty nice ones, a few crevalle, and at least everyone caught a few fish. Alex got to run the boat in some really crappy weather, too.
As the Keys portion of our trip wound down we realized we had hit some terrible conditions. Nine inches of rain changed the salinity and dropped the temperature of the water by 11 degrees, and it boogered up the fish. We didn't catch a lot, but Alex got a small tarpon, and an amberjack, and we got some snappers, and had shots at a bunch of permit. I've had worse trips.
October 27
Dear Diary-
On the 25th we got up early and drove off of Sugarloaf Key at 6 am. Our destination- Flamingo, Everglades National Park.
We got there a little after 10 am, and launched the boat in the Buttonwood Canal. We ran to the entrance to Mud Lake, dropped the canoe in the water, and paddled through the creek into the lake. We were hoping to find snook.
The water was high. It's always dirty in there. So sight fishing was again going to be difficult.
We saw a redfish right away as it blew out when we ran it over. A while later Alex spotted a red, close to the canoe. Using a four weight TFO he smartly dropped a small chartreuse Clouser Minnow right in front of it and BAM, he's on. Darn nice work by Alex.
A short time later a crash along the shore indicated the presence of another fish. As it turned out there were two. They were swimming away, but Alex threw the Clouser in front of them and one immediately jumped on it for redfish number two.
We didn't see anything else in Mud Lake.
We paddled through the creek into Bear Lake. Fish were crashing at the entrance. We got a couple ladyfish, again on the Clouser.
Paddling down the lake yielded no chances at snook or reds. Some baby tarpon were rolling. We changed to the baby tarpon gurglers. In spite of missing a bunch we got four between us, including a tarpon double, on fly. Nice! Yes, they were micro-tarpon, but they are still tarpon, my favorite fish. And we got them on surface flies. So we counted the trip as a success.
On the way back through Mud Lake Alex was blind casting along the mangroves and that chartreuse Clouser got him a little snook. So he got two reds, two tarpon, and a snook on fly in one day, certainly some kind of Everglades slam.
We camped in Flamingo that night. The mosquitoes were thick. But the stars were beautiful. We saw two satellites. Fireflies flashed intermittently. We were asleep by eight thirty. I slept like a log. Man, I miss camping.
On the 26th we fished some ponds behind Cape Sable. The water was really high and dirty. I spotted a redfish working some mangrove roots and Alex got it on that same Clouser. It was the only shot we would have.
We got back to Flamingo about four thirty, loaded the gear up, and headed to Fort Myers. The drive was fortunately uneventful.
Today we launched the boat at a public ramp near Wiggins Pass. Once on the Gulf we headed south. The hope was that diving birds would give away the location of feeding Spanish mackerel and little tunny.
The hope was not realized. Plenty of bait, plenty of birds, no fish.
Along the beach were loads of mullet, oddly enough swimming north. We hoped to find tarpon with them but what we found were blacktip sharks. Several bit the mullet we tossed at them, and Alex got one of 50 pounds or so to the boat. With the exception of a couple of ladyfish and a small jack it was all we would catch.
I'd never been to this section of the Florida coast. It was quite nice and I would like to visit again.
October 28
Dear Diary-
Last night Rick took us to Café Brazil. They have Brahma and Antarctica now! I had Alex try both. Alex and I had muqueca. It was so delicious. Sometimes I miss Bahia, I'll tell you.
The last day of our trip is here. Alex sleeps while I write this. Our intent is to head to Sarasota and see if the little tunny are along the beach there. It's on the way home.
The weather forecast today is iffy at best. A tropical storm churns in the Gulf, headed this way. So if it's pouring the deal is off. We can only go out there and see.
October 29
Dear Diary-
An anticlimax. We got to Sarasota and it was pouring water from the sky. I was all for going out anyway but Alex would hear none of that. So we drove home, cleaned up the car and boats, and put stuff away. The trip was over.
A day later it's still raining. Alex made the right call.
Next week- back to the lagoons!
Embrace simplicity.
Life is great and I love my work!
Life is short- go fishing!
John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/
All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.
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