IRL Capt John Kumiski 5/22/2016

Jackzilla Port Canaveral Fishing Report

Four days fishing out of Port Canaveral this week led to some outstanding catches, particularly if you consider a 30 pound plus crevalle jack an outstanding catch. The fishing out there was fairly sizzling. So we have the Jackzilla Port Canaveral fishing report this week.

Still trying to sell that EZ Loader- Details at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/sale-rebuilt-aluminum-ez-loader-trailer/

The Indian River Lagoon is not the only great Florida waterway suffering from gross mismanagement. See this link about Lake Okeechobee- https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2016/05/15/sucking-in-the-algae-bloom-lake-okeechobees-s-308-slrirl/. We desperately need a new governor and an almost entirely new legislature. Not that I have strong feelings about it!

Monday was not about the Port, though. Monday morning found two gentlemen from Jacksonville in the Mitzi, Mr, Jeff Weir and his friend Marinis. We were out on Mosquito Lagoon, looking for redfish. We found decent numbers of fish, although they were uncooperative enough that they only got one each. We had a good time!

Tuesday Scott Radloff and I went out of the Port. It was snotty at first and I almost turned around. Jim Ross gave me a bunch of menhaden and invited us to follow him, which was really nice of him. We did.

It took a while to get a bite, but when we did it was a double of mongo jacks. Quite a way to kick off the action. Jackzilla!

Soon there were jacks swimming all around us. One day several years ago Scott and I hooked 14 of the beasts, but we’re older (and maybe wiser) now, besides the been there done that aspect. So after he got his second one it was time to look for some other action.

The wind layed down, and the sun came out. The weather just continued improving all day.

We found some tarpon rolling. They were scattered and I didn’t think we’d hook one, but a fatty came up and ate my pogy. It proceeded to jump all over the Atlantic trying unsuccessfully to dislodge the hook. What it did succeed in doing was to saw through the #80 fluorocarbon leader. So it got away. And the rest of the fish disappeared.

While we soaked baits hoping a stray was still around the biggest, baddest, meanest jackzilla of all bit my bait and proceeded to cause me some serious pain. No kidding, that fish kicked my alpha, you know what I mean?

Now I was really done with the jacks. We were still seeing them all around, but neither of us wanted anything else to do with them.

I saw some activity and went to check. Breaking tunny! I love tunny! We fired jigs out. Bam! I was on. Still trying to recover from the jack, now I had the tunny. Tunny are awesome but compared to a crevalle pushing 40 pounds it was pretty easy. We got a couple more before we were done.

We saw another bunch of activity and went to check. It was a school of sharks, sharpnose and blacktips, up on the surface, on a ball of anchovies, with Spanish mackerel and tunny blasting through them to get at the anchovies. Neither of us wanted anything to do with the sharks as far as a fishing rod was concerned, but I wanted photos. I got the camera out and started firing, resulting in a couple good shots.

So the day started slowly, and ended up being my best day out of the Port this year. Lots of big fish, hungry, and awesome weather. Yeah, it was good.

Thursday found me back on the Atlantic, this time with Tom Finger in the Mitzi. Tom’s biggest crevalle to date was about eight pounds- I’m not sure he believed me when I told him there were 30 pounders out there. Again, it started slow and just kept getting better.      His first fish was a small shark, which did nothing to prepare him for the second fish- a 30 pound crevalle. Jackzilla! He fought it hard, and in only 25 minutes or so had it boatside. I pulled it in and photographed him with it, and off it went.

The sharks were almost a nuisance. The tunny never showed up. We hooked several more jacks, and then found some tarpon. Tom jumped a smallish one, and then another fatty ate my bait. This fish, well over 100 pounds, jumped only once and proceeded to kick my alpha. Twice in two days! He got down on the bottom, and despite using every trick I know I could not lift him. After 20 minutes I broke him off.

Tom got one more shark and we called it a (great) day.

Friday Mike Conneen and son Alex joined me, hoping for some big fish, especially tarpon. Alex started off the festivities with a big tunny that smoked some line off the reel before succumbing rather easily, at least compared to some of the other fish we would hook. Then Mike hooked and got butt kicked by a big shark that in 30 minutes we only got a couple glimpses of. Finally the fish, tired of toying with Mike, bit through the leader and made his getaway.

Mike then hooked a massive crevalle. Jackzilla! When he finally got the fish released he said, “I do not want another jack today.” OK!

We found some breaking tunny. Alex got one on a jig. I love tunny but it was as a minnow compared to everything else we got.

We went looking for tarpon. We saw a handful but nothing that was really targetable (is that a word?) But we did find another school of jacks. Alex cast a menhaden in front of them and they raced each other to get there first. Alex hooked and caught the winner. Unless you compared it to the one Mike had caught it was a giant.

We spent the rest of our day searching without success for tarpon. We got in just before the sky cut loose with torrential rains and winds.

Saturday Dr. Jacob Garrett of Fort Worth joined me on the Atlantic, hoping to meet some sharks, some big jacks, some tarpon. He fought the first creature he hooked for 30 minutes. It broke off without us ever seeing what it was, not even a flash of color.

Without going into the sordid details, he got a small hammerhead, a large jack, hooked and lost two tarpon and got broken off a few times, just an outstanding day. Thank you for fishing with me, sir, and I hope to see you again!

Still have open days this month. Give me a call if you want to go fishing!

And that is the Jackzilla Port Canaveral fishing report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com