Equinox Orlando Fishing Report Wednesday was the first day of autumn, an important day for pagans. So we have the Equinox Orlando Fishing Report. Articles posted this week- – Keys to Winter Fishing Success – Wire Flies Wire flies. Monday morning found the Old Town on the roof of the Sienna. They were heading to the Banana River Lagoon. Their owner wanted to do a feasibility study, paddling the 16′ canoe in the wind with a kayak paddle. The trip was too to the fifth power. It was too hot. The water was too high, too dirty. It was too windy. There were too many clouds. In spite of all that I caught too redfish, er, make that two, one on a Clouser minnow and the other on a black bunny leech, both on 15 foot casts. Fishing was tough. To no one’s surprise, the canoe is hard to paddle by myself in the wind. Fishing from it is like fishing from a Rolls Royce compared to my kayaks, though. I’m looking for a pre-owned canoe in the 12-14 foot range, if anyone knows the whereabouts of one. Would prefer Mohawk, Mad River, or Old Town. Wednesday was the first day of autumn. I try to always fish on astronomical holidays, so picked up George Allen at 7 AM and drove to Haulover Canal. The ramp had literally tons of seagrass against it, so we went to Beacon 42. We waited for the rain to stop before launching the Mitzi. We fished for maybe 40 minutes before another deluge came. The wind was blowing, it was pouring, and George did not bring a raincoat. The boat was back on the trailer before 10 AM, with one small trout to show for our efforts. Seven AM Friday morning I joined Chris Rosoff in his Mitzi for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The water at the south end is horribly dirty, although I did get an undersized snook down there on a DOA CAL Shad Tail. The lagoon should be full of finger mullet right now. Where are they? Because the water was so high and so dirty we spent a lot of time prospecting with DOA Deadly Combos in a lot of different spots. Our catch included a pinfish and a gafftopsail catfish, and at least 20 undersized seatrout. Chris got a nice trout, about 22 inches long. Chris got the best fish of the day. He’s smiling about it under the Buff. Really. Due to some mechanical problems we left earlier than we had intended to. We were still out about six hours. We never saw a redfish, not surprising considering the condition of the water. And that is this week’s Equinox Orlando Fishing Report. Life is great and I love my work! Life is short- Go Fishing! John Kumiski www.spottedtail.com http://www.spottedtail.com/blog www.johnkumiski.com www.rentafishingbuddy.com https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved. ...read more

Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report We had several days of nasty weather this week, thus the nasty weather Orlando fishing report. People tell me, “I miss the change of seasons.” Geez, folks! Open your eyes! The beauty berries are ripe now, gorgeous purple clusters of berries surrounding the stalk. Beauty berries are edible, but certainly not delicious. Goldenrods are blooming all over the place. I haven’t seen any purple asters yet but they ought to be around. Orion is high in the sky before first light. He’ll be in the eastern sky right after dark in a few months. And the autumnal equinox is this coming week- the quality of the light will be noticeably different from that of say, July. Finally, there are some serious mullet running along the beach, always a harbinger of autumn. The beauty berries are ripe now, a sign of approaching fall weather. Monday found me in the canoe on my favorite bass pond. Fishing was real slow. In five hours three small bass, one bluegill, and one spotted gar came to hand. For a change of pace, most fish took a bassquid streamer. That’s two slow trips in a row there. I guess I’ll give it a few weeks before returning. This was the fish of the day…   …and the fly that did the job. Tuesday found Alexandre Pinto, a fly fisher from Sao Paulo, in the Spotted Tail. He wanted to add redfish to his life list. Based on the forecast I thought it would be a tough day. On the Indian River Lagoon, we had clouds and wind, and high, dirty water, not a good combination for finding redfish you can see and cast to. First spot- nothing. Second spot- nothing. Next spot- a few spooky fish and zero shots. Next spot, a few spooky fish and zero shots. Now desperate, I just picked a piece of shoreline at random and started poling along, watching the clouds get ever higher, wondering when the lightning would start… Senhor Pinto got his first-ever redfish with lightning flashing in the background. There were a few fish there. Alex had a few shots and got an eat. Oh, no, he missed it! He had a few more shots and got another eat. He stuck this one, and good thing, too- the storm was about a mile off and coming our way. The fly was the redfish worm, the fish was about two feet long, and after releasing it we raced the storm back to the ramp, barely staying ahead of it. Once the boat was on the trailer all hell broke loose. Made it! Release technique, all important! Wednesday saw atrocious weather. Several honey-dos got done. Thursday saw more atrocious weather. Since unlike most of you I am aging, and because my wife asked me to, I read Social Security for Dummies. Not exactly compelling reading, but it did tell me several things I certainly need to know. If you’ve hit the magic six-oh, you should probably get a copy and spend an afternoon perusing it. So after that chore, some fishing needed to get done. I grabbed a four-weight and a couple flies and went to a retention pond not too far from Mud Hole tackle. In forty minutes I got exactly one chunky little bass on a popping bug, a very satisfying fish from a spot I had never fished before. Friday the weather was supposed to be bad again. I couldn’t stand being home again so tossed the kayak on the roof of the van and drove to KARS park. The park is closed for repairs.  I went to Banana River Drive, launched the kayak, and started looking for fish. To my pleasant surprise the water, although high, was fairly clear in most places. The grass looked great, both the manatee and widgeon grass. And I found a spot that had a few fish. To my surprise, a redfish took my Gurgler, the first red I’ve gotten on a surface fly in years. To show it wasn’t a fluke I would get another later. In between a little snooklet and a baby tarpon took a popper as well. This fish took a popper, surprisingly delicately. Then it jumped six times! To finish the day a school of reds came by and one took a bucktail streamer. So I got a hat trick on the reds with a snook and a tarpon thrown in. How do you spell S-L-A-M? The last red of the day was fooled by a simple bucktail streamer. Not only that, but I got to watch an alligator eat a horseshoe crab. It seems like an odd thing for a gator to eat, but they can eat whatever they want I guess. Tammy battles a lady On a rare Saturday fishing trip, Tammy met me at the Port just before seven am. We went into the bight, hoping to fly fish for breaking fish. There were a load there, all ladyfish, nice big ones. We got six or eight each on streamers, then went looking for other types of fish. That was not happening. We found acres of menhaden and absolutely nothing was feeding on them that we could see, other than pelicans. The wire leader and the wire bodied fly meant we got every fish on the same fly. What a time-saver! And that is this week’s Nasty Weather Orlando Fishing Report. Life is great and I love my work! Life is short- Go Fishing! John Kumiski www.spottedtail.com http://www.spottedtail.com/blog www.johnkumiski.com www.rentafishingbuddy.comhttps://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved. ...read more

Port Canaveral Nearshore Fishing Report Did not take a photo this week. These are photos from the files. Sunday- Went canoeing with sister Cheryl, Tammy, Mike C., Jeff the crematory builder, and several others on the Econ. The water was high enough that Cheryl and I were able to paddle the canoe up on to the foot bridge that spans the river in the state forest. Because of the high water I didn’t bring a rod, but Mike C. got one small bass in two days of casting. Tuesday- Steve and Janice Murphy of Calgary joined me for some fishing on the Indian River Lagoon, he with a fly, she with a spin. The water is still kind of dirty, and kind of high, so spotting fish is hard. They were there, though. Janice, blind-casting with a DOA CAL shadtail, got a slot redfish and several trout. Steve only had one decent shot. Unfortunately it did not work. We all wilted shortly after noontime. The boat was on the trailer about one PM. Thursday- Anton Faith joined me for some fishing along the beach out of Port Canaveral. The weather was hot but otherwise awesome. Early there were large numbers of fish near Cape Canaveral- bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, and crevalle jacks. They were feeding on glass minnows. We did some damage with the 3/8 ounce Sting Silver from Haw River Tackle. I pulled out a seven-weight with a sinking line and a simple bucktail streamer and did some more damage. We found some tarpon, feeding on glass minnows. They did not want anything we offered. Friday- Scott Radloff joined me for some fishing along the beach out of Port Canaveral. The weather was hot but otherwise awesome. Early there were large numbers of fish near Cape Canaveral- bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, and crevalle jacks. They were feeding on glass minnows. We did some damage with the 3/8 ounce Sting Silver from Haw River Tackle. I pulled out a seven-weight with a sinking line and a simple bucktail streamer and did some more damage. We found some tarpon, feeding on mullet, just spectacular. They did not want anything we offered. Using a mullet, Scott jumped one that tossed the hook on that first jump, a battle that lasted about one second. It was the only one that bit. We did hook a couple of sharks. That was it. Saturday- the Brinkman is running, smoking some Spanish mackerel and bluefish. I love to smoke those fish, and love the beach fishing this time of year. It should remain good through October. And that is this week’s Port Canaveral Nearshore Fishing Report Life is great and I love my work! Life is short- Go Fishing! John Kumiski www.spottedtail.com http://www.spottedtail.com/blog www.johnkumiski.com www.rentafishingbuddy.com https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved. ...read more