Mosquito Lagoon, John Kumiski

Hail Yes Florida Fishing Report
Because of our hailstorm on Tuesday, and because we are in Florida, this is the hail yes Florida fishing report. We only got out twice this week, not hitting it hard either time. Weather was definitely at play here!

What A Guest Should Not Do
While sleeping one night this week I had a dream about fishing (not unusual). In the dream I’m in a boat with a guide(?) and my sister (?). The fish are not biting. The guide takes us to his favorite fishing spot. There are fish there feeding on fry minnows. We use fry minnows for bait but still don’t get a bite.

The guide takes us to his house, on the water nearby. In the house is a large, elaborate saltwater aquarium. I use my fry minnow (on a #8 Daichii X510 hook, amazing how detailed some things in dreams are) in the aquarium to try to catch a crab when the guide’s favorite pet fish, a two foot long translucent sort of cross between a tarpon and a snook but not really either zooms up and takes the minnow.

When I set the hook the fish jumps out of the aquarium up towards the ceiling, falling to the floor and its death. I try to revive the fish but we can see the insides just look like Jello now, having exploded when the creature hit the floor.

I woke up at this point, furious and upset with myself for being so stupid. How could I have done such a thing??

Finally I told myself, “Let it go John, it was a dream.” Still not comfortable with the entire tableau I fell back to sleep to have other bizarre dreams which won’t be detailed here.

Monday
I saw Tammy’s FB post about how low the Econ was. The gauge read 1.0. In the afternoon, in spitting rain, I launched the kayak to see how fishing was.

That’s an aggressive little fish.

It was not great. My gurglers accounted for a stumpknocker, a couple redbellies, and one 12″ bass. I switched to a purple Bouncer eelworm, which accounted for a couple more redbellies (how do the get the hook in their mouth?) and two more bass.

Bass on the gurgler.

Great and little blue herons, kingfishers, sandhill cranes, vultures, and a bald eagle were observed, as was a couple painted turtles. The river was full of fry minnows. Didn’t see an alligator.

Bass on the eelworm, front…

…and side views.

Another redbelly for good measure.

I was home in time for supper.

Tuesday was exciting weather-wise- wind, rain, lightning, thunder, hail. I watched most of it from my desk.

Wednesday and Thursday’s weather was not as exciting, but the wind just did not let up. I again stayed home for the most part.

Friday I got to take a drug test. Afterwards I drove to Satellite Beach, picked up Rodney, and drove to Donald McDonald Park in Sebastian, where we camped for two nights at the Indian River Paddle Adventure reunion campout. Nick Colantonio, Bones Benton, and Mike Conneen were there, and we had a visit from Mim Duncan too. It was great to see all of them, and I probably gained five pounds from Nick’s cooking. Thanks, Nick!

The original IRLPA crew.

I fished for five hours or so on the Sebastian River on Saturday, watching people who may have been crazy jumping out of perfectly good airplanes the entire time. The water was reasonably clear, and there was a lot of bait, but I did not see a tarpon or a snook, only getting two modest crevalle and a surprising bluefish.

Thought I had a snook at first, but this bluefish was the fish of the day for me.

We did see three alligators, an unidentified shark-like creature, several dolphins and manatees, a bald eagle and lots of other birds, and enjoyed by far the week’s best weather.

Great weather for searching for fish, but I didn’t see much.

And that is the hail yes Florida fishing report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com