I posted a new blog and this week’s report has quite a few photos. Click this link http://www.spottedtail.com/TodaysBlogandThisWeeksFishingReport.htm to see the version with the graphics.
Hey, those bass fishermen sure use some funny looking lures. Some of them are obviously going to work in the salty stuff, too. Sunday I drove to the Lake Cypress Fishing Resort in Kenansville. What a beautiful lake! I fished with bass guide Chris Lane. After the austerity of the Maverick Mirage his Ranger was like a Rolls Royce, padded bucket seats and all. Chris tossed a variety of lures on several different plugging rods. I fished a Floozy popper on a fly rod. Of course Chris outfished me, but I did get two bass on fly, always a fun thing to do.
Monday Chris Dutton and I fished with John Leach, again on Lake Cypress. As we motored across the lake six bald eagles were wheeling and diving over it, quite a sight.. John likes a plug called a Wiggy. He gave us a clinic on how to use it, catching fish after fish. In the afternoon we tossed a soft plastic from Gambler called a Cane Toad, and all of us caught fish on this bait. Although it looks nothing like one, it sounds like a Jitterbug as it goes across the water.
Tuesday found me back on the Mosquito Lagoon with Harry Anderson and his son Kemp, who is a part owner of Keller’s Barbeque at the corner of University and Goldenrod in Orlando. There were decent numbers of fish around, but since they were spooky fishing wasn’t fabulous. They did manage to get four reds to 28 inches on 4″ DOA CAL’s, and three trout to 18 inches of DOA Shrimp.
Wednesday Mike Jenkins, a fly fisher from Colorado, joined me on the Spotted Tail for a day’s fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. This poor guy was so snake bit. We were in fish almost all day. While visibility was frequently a problem, he had some perfect shots and managed to get three bites. He missed the first, then hooked and lost the other two. Net score, zero. It was a long and somewhat frustrating day. At least there were a lot of fish around!
Thursday Larry McGlashan of Woodie’s Rattlers and I joined Shawn Healy for a day on the ocean out of Port Canaveral. We found a bunch of nice Spanish mackerel working behind a shrimp boat. Although we had several fish cut us off we managed to boat five. The two I brought home were quite delicious after being broiled. We then went looking for tripletail and cobia. We didn’t find any cobia, and the tripletail weren’t easy. Even after we found some they didn’t eat very well. Shawn boated one using a DOA Shrimp. I had one break off while using a live shrimp. Larry missed a strike on a live shrimp. That was it. None of the fish we found were very big anyway.
Yesterday was a delightful day, with 11 year old Walker Stipes of Atlanta using my Stradic 1000 and his dad Greg casting a fly rod. Greg hadn’t ever caught a redfish on fly, so we went to the Mosquito Lagoon to try to do the deed. It took 30 minutes, the slot sized fish coming on a SexyFly bendback. Greg said, “OK, let’s go to the power plant.” So we pulled the boat out and went to the power plant. It was good, non-stop. Walker tossed jigs, Greg various flies. Their tally included one crevalle, four tarpon jumped and one boated (by Greg, his first ever on fly), three snook (by Walker, his first ever on any tackle), and at least 100 ladyfish, ranging in size from 8 inch cigars to 30 inch, hard charging fish. It was a very fun day.
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**Upcoming Events
I will be tying flies at the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ on November 19 and 20.
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December
- I will be appearing on Mel Berman’s radio show WFLA AM 970 Tampa from 6-9 AM on December 3.
January
I will be giving a talk about fishing the Indian River Lagoon system and signing books at the Orange County Public Library in Orlando on January 8 at 2 PM.
A MINWR Show and Tell Fishing Seminar is scheduled for 1/28.
Remember- life is short. GO FISHING!
Life is great and I love my work!!
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at spottedtail@spottedtail.com, or call at 407 977 5207. www.spottedtail.com
member IRGA, FOWA
