John Kumiski, Mosquito Lagoon

Mosquito Lagoon Seminar and Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Mosquito Lagoon seminar and fishing report.

I found this poster on motivation to contain some dark humor:

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Blog Posts This Week-
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/an-anglers-journal-a-review/

A Ponder on Trees

Live oak tree, Bronson State Forest

I’ve been having a ponder on trees. Do trees understand their own mortality? Trees don’t have a brain, a mind. Trees are not sentient. Right? What does science say?

Science doesn’t know everything. It’s particularly weak in areas of spirituality. Where do you keep your spirit? Can science tell you? Does your pet dog have a spirit? Does a gorilla? A whale? We can’t speak to any of these familiar creatures, so much like us in so many ways, much less to something as fundamentally different to us as a tree.

Trees have hundreds of years to ponder the universe. How aware are they of their surroundings? Plants in general, and trees in particular, respond to stimuli. They take their time to do so. Trees have lots of time to respond. The oldest known living thing is a tree, a bristlecone pine, which has over 5,000 years under its belt. This much time allows for a great deal of philosophizing. This much time allows for a great deal of communication with other organisms, if they can understand the “tree talk.”

Buttress roots on a cypress tree, Hillsborough River State Park

To read the rest of this post visit http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/a-ponder-on-trees-essay-photo-essay/
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Immediately after last week’s report went out by MailChimp I had a half-dozen unsubscribes. I suspect the reason was my climate protest reporting. To which I have to say

So there.

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Fishing!

Monday wind 20+
Tuesday wind 20+
Wednesday wind 20+
Didn’t get out!

Thursday two Mainiacs graced my boat. Steve and Gene both run fish hatcheries in Maine, raising trout and landlocked salmon. Steve spin fishes, Gene is a fly man. Steve had never caught a redfish before and wanted one badly. Of course Gene caught the first one. It was a little feller but it took a fly. Never a bad thing.

Steve, tossing the trademark soft plastic shad, caught trout sporadically through the day. Gene, tossing the fly, got the dink red and practiced his fly casting. Steve finally hit a redfish. It wasn’t a big one, but it was in the slot and it was his first ever. Mission accomplished!

On the last cast of the day Gene got a trout that maybe was 15” for his second fish of the day. Slow fishing it was.

Thank you for fishing with me, gentlemen!

Friday fly fisher Alan Dronko and his spin fishing friend Nils Johnson joined me. The day started very slowly but gradually improved, although like Gene the previous day Alan only convinced two fish to swipe at the fly. The second was classic fly fishing for redfish- I spotted the fish, Alan made a superior cast, twitched the fly, and in plain view the fish came up and inhaled it. The fly was a black and purple synthetic minnow, the fish was released.

Thank you for fishing with me, gentlemen!

Saturday six intrepid souls joined me for the Mosquito Lagoon show and tell seminar. Here’s what Robert had to say about it-
“I want to thank you for a great day on the Show and Tell Seminar. I can’t begin to tell you how much time and money you saved me with the information you provided. I plan on doing some kayak fishing and exploring, using this priceless information. Thank you.”

Thank you for coming to my seminar, everyone!

Sunday Matt joined me for the on-the-water version of the seminar. After coming out of Haulover Canal we ran south to Pelican Island, stopping at points of note. After briefly exploring the Whale Tail we ran up the east side all the way to Georges Bar, again stopping at all the important places. After crossing to the ICW we returned to Haulover, with stops at locations to know. Elapsed time, about four hours. And thanks to Matt for joining me.

That’s this week’s Mosquito Lagoon Seminar and Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com