Central Florida Kayak Fishing Report- The Week of the Super Gra
Capt. John Kumiski
August 1, 2020
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
Central Florida Kayak Fishing Report- The Week of the Super Grand Sam!
Thank you for reading this Central Florida Kayak Fishing Report. This was the week of the super grand slam! Took me all week to get it, but ya take what ya get these days.
Blog Posts This Week- Leave It As It Is- A Book Review http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/leave-it-as-it-is-a-review/
Other Bits of Life- Peter Green, one of the founding members of Fleetwood Mac and a hero of my youth, passed away this week. I had the pleasure of seeing him, and them, in concert back in 1970 at the Boston Tea Party. I've been to a lot of concerts and that one remains one of the most memorable.
Monday- launched the kayak on Spruce Creek, illegally, since it was before sunrise and I had no light*. Got a ticket from the marine patrol there, a long time ago, for the same reason. But, I digress.
Before the sun hit the horizon, I found a redfish cruising the bank. Dropped the bunny leech in front of him. He acted the way they are supposed to, and I had a redfish release before sunrise.
Back in the day at that time in the morning you'd see jacks crushing mullet, hear snook popping, etc. None of that this morning, very placid. Sad.
Found some baby tarpon rolling a while later. Jumped two, one on the leech and one on a small gray shrimp pattern. Them little boogers is hard to hook!
Found another shoreline red. Thought I had it, but the fish spooked off the fly. It didn't have a weedguard (it was the one I had tossed it at the tarpon) and it hooked on a shell. That was my morning, and a lovely one it was.
Didn't fish Tuesday or Wednesday, but I did watch The Kids Are Alright, a documentary about The Who. When they played Young Man Blues it gave me shivers, just freaking awesome.
Thursday- Got up too early (really- the days are getting shorter and I'm still on the June program) but got to see Orion above the eastern horizon as I drove to the Indian River. Dropped the kayak in illegally again (no light) and paddled to where I hoped the fish would be.
In a clear example of "that's fishing," I did not get a bite for an hour and a half, then I hooked four snook on four casts, catching three of them. The fourth sawed through my leader (#25 fluoro). The bait was a RipTide Sardine. One of the caught ones was a real one, five or six pounds, my nicest one this year. The one that got away was WAY bigger, of course. :-)
A while later I got another snook, a dinker. Then I found some dinker tarpon rolling. One took a black and white streamer and I actually used a dehooker to release it. I did not photograph it, but it was important to the slam. Then I paddled back to the car.
Friday- Got up at 6 am, was on the road to Mosquito Lagoon at 0645. Got caught in some wreck traffic, so I didn't launch the kayak until 0800.
The water is so green. The first redfish I saw was not social distance away. I did not get a shot. And something I was reminded of this day was it's hard to drop a fly exactly where you want it to land when the fish is eight or ten feet away. The next several fish I saw, I could have speared more easily than tossed a fly to them. They were that hard to see.
In spite of the murk I had three great shots- did not get a bite. Then I had an impossible one, leader in the rod, and hooked and caught the fish, a really nice red, eight pounds or so.
I ended up hooking four redfish and catching two, two black drum and catching one, and the last fish, just to put the exclamation point on the slam, was my best trout this year. I think the fish knew there's a storm coming. They were just stupid, and more active than I've seen them in a long time. GLAD I WENT!!!
*If memory serves, the regulation is, any vessel less than seven meters doing less than seven knots needs a single white light, visible from 360 degrees, at the distance of a mile, when operating between sunset and sunrise.
And that's my central Florida kayak fishing report for this week. Thanks for reading it!
I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an institution. - John Gierach
Life is great and I love my work!
Every day is a blessing. Don't waste it- Go Fishing!
John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler's Guide
Purchase Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler's Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/
All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2020. All rights are reserved.
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