John Kumiski, Black Drum Report 1/20/2017

Elusive Black Drum Fishing Report

This is the Elusive Black Drum Fishing Report!

Upcoming Events
-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 25-30, Titusville, FL. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

Sunday found me in a canoe with Mr. Roger Cook, gentleman and fly fisher from North Carolina. On a spectacular day we were looking for tailing black drum, a fish and behavior that had been plentiful the previous week.

They let us down.

We ran into another fly fisher, a young man named Nick Swain, who was out on a paddle board. He found some drum, not tailing, and caught one while we watched. I photographed him. He invited us to cast to the fish he was working, but we could not get a bite.

Nick Swain releases a drum.

We found a few black drum in another spot, and got one on a wool crab. Even though we were out until sunset, that was it for the day. Tough day…

Monday Tammy and I Bang-O-Crafted our way up to Puzzle Lake, searching for American shad. We caught some crappie. We caught some sunfish. But we did not get any shad.

We ran into a couple other folks who had caught a few. One fly fisher called them “the fish of a thousand casts.” Shad should not take 1000 casts. When they’re around you often catch two at a time if you use a tandem rig. There just aren’t many in the stretch between SR 46 and Puzzle Lake. Will they show? That’s the question.

Wednesday I took the Mitzi across Lake Harney and fished the outlet, again for shad. Using crappie jigs I got three, nice ones all. It was still pretty slow.

Going upriver I tried again at the mouth of the Econ. I got two warmouth, nothing else. That was really slow!

I talked to a couple guys who told me their friend had been “killing” the shad near Mullet Lake, with 20 fish days. Perhaps I will check that out…

Thursday Roger Cook and I went looking for tailing black drum again. Although we saw a half-dozen or so, most of the fish were still schooled up in deeper water. Roger managed to get one of those fish to eat a fat brown sparkle crab. I could not get a bite, and ended up fishless at the end of another long, tough day.

Roger really had to work. This was his reward…

Roger and I went out on Mosquito Lagoon on Friday. We used fly tackle, and got spanked. We saw some fish, but it was windy, and the water is getting dirty again. DANG!

The mighty (and elusive) black drum, about to be released.

We got exactly one decent shot, which we did not convert.

Did the wind stir goo off the bottom into suspension, or are the algae already growing again? Hopefully it’s only the former. Time will tell.

So even though almost all the fish were elusive this week, that is the elusive black drum fishing report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com