# Elusive Black Drum Fishing Report



## Capt. John Kumiski (Sep 5, 2015)

Elusive Black Drum Fishing Report

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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.










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 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!

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
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski 

*All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.*


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

That's a toad!


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Roger is a friend of mine and I talked to him today. He was proud of his toad


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## bananabob (Jun 3, 2015)

Nice fish indeed! I have caught just one on fly, about 10 pounds.
A few weeks back we had a bunch in the Banana south of Tropical Trail of the similar size. Then they disappeared for a bit. A friend of mine who lives right on the water told me that more recently a couple guys right near his dock were getting them and he got the chance to talk to one of them for a few.
Using dead shrimp they caught 8 or more big ones ( well over 24" ) and kept them all telling my friend that they intended to take over to Cocoa to sell. He also said those jerks seemed a bit antsy to get out of there with their catch. My buddy wasn't aware of the regs. until I told him. Now he'll be ready to call FWC if he sees anything like that again.

PLEASE everyone if you see people breaking the game and fish laws call the FWC. Everyone has a cell phone and you should have their number saved. Yes I know they tend to be slow reacting but I refuse to just sit quiet and not try.


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## Capt. John Kumiski (Sep 5, 2015)

"they tend to be slow reacting"
once FWC knows someone is breaking the law in an area they stake out the area. If the perpetrators perpetuate their evil deeds they will get caught


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