John Kumiski, Mosquito Lagoon

Not Much Fishing Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Not Much Fishing Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report. Only fished a single day this week.

Request for Photos– I’m considering putting a book together on the history of fishing in central Florida. For this project I need at least 200 B&W images, scanned to at least 300 dpi. If you have some you’d like to share, or know where I can get some, I would love to hear from you! Thank you for your consideration.

Monday– launched the kayak in Mosquito Lagoon, armed with a six-weight. An unweighted black bunny leech festooned my leader. Water was high and green, very hard to see the bottom.

Didn’t see much for a while. Heard the ballsy splash that you know was not a mullet and went to investigate. Saw the tiniest wake and dropped the fly in front of it. BAM! The violence of the strike surprised me. The fish went into the backing but I was able to subdue it and get a (crappy) photo before releasing it. NICE!!!

the black bunny leech

A while later saw what I at first thought was the back of a fish sticking out of the water. As I approached, doubt commenced. Fish don’t usually lie still that long, especially in such shallow water. It still looked like a fish back…

I made the cast, almost hit the thing. It exploded on the fly, so surprising me I failed to get a good hookset. The fly came free a moment later. Laughed at myself for that.

Had one more shot at a tailer that never saw the fly. That was it for five hours work. Would do it again!

Tuesday– not having forgotten the tarpon along the beach last week, I went to Playalinda armed with a heavy spin rod and some soft plastic baits. When I got to the top of the boardwalk and saw the water I turned around and put the tackle away. The wind was out of the southeast (it stayed that way all week), the water was very choppy and dirty. I had a nice long walk on the beach, though.

Wednesday- Susan and I went to Bethune Beach. The tackle was still in the car. It stayed there. Saw two guys trying to fish. Both quit quickly. The current along the beach was probably five or six knots, running north, tough conditions for bait guys. When we left we went to Goodrich Seafood. Oyster po’boy, yum-mee!

Wife at the beach…

Friday– repaired three fishing rods including an old favorite fly rod. Talked to the editor about the above-mentioned book. Then launched the kayak on the Econ at SR 419 at noon. No fishing tackle was harmed in the making of this kayak trip.

The river is running a little over 5.5 feet- great for paddling, terrible for fishing. I did see gar and Plecostamus. And some dinosaur sized alligators. You know they’re big when you paddle by and they don’t even flinch. The smaller ones always jump off the bank.

Birds were not much in evidence, but the cicadas were. Other than that I had the river to myself, reaching Snow Hill Road by 4 PM. Enjoyed the trip immensely.

And that was my week mostly not fishing.

The footbridge over the River Econ.

It is good even to be a fisherman in summer and in winter. – Henry David Thoreau

Life is great and I love my apparent retirement!

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/