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Fishing Reports for Local Area - Location |
    
Captain Ed Lewis
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 1:06 pm: | |
Subject: Catchin' Report-Homosassa/Crystal River, Fl
With the recent northeast winds, the flats fishing has been very interesting in our area. The cooler weather has helped bring many of our targeted species closer to shore. The trout, which have been scattered, have moved closer in and are easier to find. Most are being caught over rocky bottom or grass flats in 2 to 6 feet of water. The best method is using a Cajun Thunder cork with a jig and grub or good 'ol live shrimp or pinfish fished the same way. You have to move around to find them. If you drift an area and don't locate any, try another spot until you do. Then, drift fish back and forth through the area. Captain Charlie Harris, seem to have a nose for or sixth sense for locating trout. He catches his limit almost every trip. When you ask him where he is catching them, he says….in the mouth….
Or, "out there" as he points to the Gulf. Yep, spoken like a true fisherman.
The redfish are plentiful. Most are being caught using live bait, gold spoons, or top water plugs early. The most popular method is using the Cajun Thunder cork with live shrimp or pinfish, fished just off the bottom.
Rocky points and grass shoreline are the areas you find them this time of year. As it gets colder, the reds will move back into the holes in the creeks and rivers. Once located, you can sit in one spot and catch 20 to 30 reds.
Spanish Mackerel, Cobia and King mackerel are showing up as the water cools north of us. They are migrating south and pass along our fishery this time of year. It's possible to fish this time of year and come back to the dock with a mixed bag of fish and fish tales.
The Grouper have been cooperating lately. If only the offshore winds would do the same. Those brave souls who do make it out to depths of 30 to 50 feet are catching their share of the tasty denizens of the deep. If you want to catch some closer to shore, this time of year the grouper move inshore onto the rocky ledges and rock piles found in 6 to 10 feet of water.
Trolling plugs or casting to structure works this time of year as well as, live pinfish, pigfish, and sardines. Be sure you have a stout rig with good line,
Because these rascals can test your tackle.
Yep, it's good catchin' along the Nature Coast of Crystal River and Homosassa, Fl. And like I say, "The best time to go fishin' ……..is
when you can" So, get out and experience the outdoors. It's the best medicine for what ails ya.
Until next time…….
Captain Ed Lewis
www.Redfishhunter.com
CaptEd@Redfishhunter.com
(352) 629-9684
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Capt. Jim Roberts
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 06, 2001 - 11:21 pm: | |
Subject: Sarasota ,Fl June 2001
Kingfish, kingfish, kingfish. All trips have been out to the reef. The seas have been calm and the bait it thick from the beaches on out. This is the time of year for big fish. Reeldreams anglers have been slamming the kingfish all month. It's a sure bet when live baiting with large baitfish such as sardines and cigar minnows.Nick Self hooked into a 200lb jewfish that he had on for a while before the hook straightened .Barracuda action has picked up along with little tunny. The tarpon are here although I haven't been working them.We've had some great fly trips at night for snook. Outgoing seems to be the best with shrimp still flowing out to the gulf. Look for increased action from blacktip sharks and permit out on the reef.
Capt. Jim |
Capt. John Sackett
Unregistered guest
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 08, 2000 - 9:44 am: | |
Subject: The latest from AnglingAdventure.com
Wow, it is getting cold down here or what?
The difference one year can make in terms of the weather here is just incredible! Last year we didn’t see water temps below 70 until December, and we never saw mid sixties until the second half of January. Well this year we were in the sixties by mid November, and the low sixties a couple of times before the first of December!
Needless to say, fish your favorite winter patterns and locations right now to insure any level of success. Whether it’s my neighbor Walter Powers fishing way up in some of our area rivers in his 18 foot Flats & Bay, or my partner Capt. Chris Seger sightcasting to Snook with live Shrimp, a successful outing can certainly still be had. Just bundle up in the warmest clothes you’ve got handy and get out there.
My trips…
Since my last report, the weather has limited my on-water time pretty significantly, but I’ve still managed a couple of memorable outings nonetheless. Let’s see, we had one flats trip with a dozen and half Snook in less than 2 hours of fishing time, one offshore 4 hour trip that resulted in Kingfish, Tripletail and a 20 pound Gag Grouper, and one nearshore outing that resulted in a whole bunch of memorable light-tackle battles with our jumbo Bonito.
The Bonito Blitz is still on (sometimes)…
These are awesome fish for light, or fly tackle anglers, but they can be hit and miss like any other fishery. Evidence of their mysterious ability to disappear had to be the day I went after them late last week. Sure I found a few of them busting here and there, but I couldn’t find a concentration of them that day to save my soul. Now not finding fish isn’t all that surprising, the fact that I couldn’t find them just two days after fishing with a pair of newly-weds from North Carolina was shocking. I worked the same phase of the tide as I had with Nash and Jessica, but I couldn’t get on a decent concentration of fish for anything. What a departure from two days before. I picked up Nash and Jessica on Anna Maria Island just down from the Bungalow Beach Resort where they were honeymooning, we ran through the pass at the north end of Longboat Key, and were immediately met by dozens of birds feverishly working over panic stricken baitfish. We pulled upwind of the melee and as soon as the fish were busting within range, we tossed ¼ once jigs to them. It didn’t take long for the slender little jigs to be mistaken for the glass minnows that the fish were pounding. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz went the drag on my 4000 size Shimano reels! As the first fish of the day was towing Nash’s line off toward the horizon, I could tell that he was somehow surprised by the fish’s strength. I reassured him that this fish was a little different than the ones I had read about in his home waters of North Carolina. These fish are bruisers. While flyfishing Bonito (false albacore, little tunny or anything else they are called) in the 4-8 pound range has gotten extremely popular in more northern climes, the fish we have here are steadily in the 7-15 pound bracket and are capable of dumping a spool of ten pound test, or cooking the drag on your favorite 8wt fly reel. These fish are a blast! Well after a dozen or so battles were fought, lots of laughs were shared and Nash had done the dance around my Hydra-Sport with the agility of a halfback, we headed in to see what was happening on the flats. As it turned out, in the chill of the evening before, most of the fish on one of my favorite flats had decided that feeding wasn’t a high priority. Trout were all we had to show after about a ¼ mile of my poling, but it was a beautiful way to spend an hour or so and I think Jessica really enjoyed seeing some of the sealife as it glided beneath us. Sadly, before I had the chance to get Nash on his first Snook, he and Jessica had to depart for home earlier than they had planned due to a death in their family. Nash and Jessica, I am very sorry about your loss. Don’t worry the Snook will be there waiting the next time you make it down!
Offshore action is waiting…
The only opportunity that I had last week to work in our offshore waters was a little tough in the sense that it was only to be a 4 hour outing. This would of course, limit us as to how far out we could work. Luckily, as you’ve read here before the Gag Grouper have been moving ever closer to our nearshore waters, and trolling large lipped plugs like the Mann’s Stretch 30’s can be a highly effective way of locating them. We started our troll over some hard bottom in about 45 feet of water on that trips and quickly hooked our first fish of the day. Surprisingly, this fish wasn’t fighting like the Grouper I was expecting, but instead turned out to be a nice Kingfish. A pleasant surprise considering that the waters are so darned cold right now. I thought for sure that Kingfish would have either moved off to the south, or were holding in a hundred feet of water where you can still find surface temperatures in the 70’s. Goes to show you, you just never know! Anyhow, the bite wasn’t a hot one and we covered water at trolling speed for a half hour or more before the next rod went off. This time though the fish on the end of the line was unmistakable as it pulled line off against the drag and the clicker on that Penn reel screamed, but only for a few seconds. Sure enough a big Grouper had come 15 or so feet straight up off the bottom, clocked that big plug, and proceeded to dive straight back down to the safety of his rocky lair! Once there, the odds of us pulling him out were slim at best. I brought the boat back around, we maneuvered uptide from the rock he was under and we waited patiently enough for him to start swimming clear of the rock, as soon as he did, the reel was cranked, the rod was bent and the fight was on. We got him headed toward the surface, but he turned back down and managed to rock us again! We followed the same pattern once again, but the time with different results! Finally, on that third try we got him far enough up away from the safety of that rock, and he was ours. A 20 plus pound Gag on a 25 pound trolling outfit was quite an accomplishment. Thank God for a few feet of hundred pound test leader just above that plug. Without it, that rock would have done us in on the very first pass! From there back to the dock, we did some more trolling (although no more 20 pounders came over the rail), and we did some sightcasting with light spinning tackle to the Tripletail that are so numerous right now beneath the thousands of crabtrap floats out there. In the end we added two of those tasty armor plated fish to our totals of the day by utilizing D.O.A.’s imitation Shrimp.
Capt. Chris Seger…
Down at Tightlines Charters in Sarasota, Capt. Chris Seger has been limited of late to working inshore trips almost exclusively, but he has been an extremely busy guy doing so. Highlights from the last week or so aboard Chris’ Evinrude powered Talon F-16 have included everything from some jumbo sized Snook, to some of the aforementioned Bonito on fly tackle. Despite the extremely cold weather we’ve had, it’s been a great week to be fishing inshore with Capt. Chris.
More Bonito…
The Bonito blitz I mentioned earlier has been a tremendous asset to Chris’ clients seeking one of the ultimate battles on light and fly tackle equipment. Highlights of his trips though had to be the fish that were taken of fly tackle. What can I tell you? When the fish are blitzing through Glass Minnows like mad, there is nothing you can cast that will imitate them better than a fly will. Well, in the last week Chris had among others, Graphic Artist (he does awesome marine and fish related art) Stacy Capps, and Kevin, a flyfishing enthusiast that traveled all the way from Scotland out after the big Bonito. I guess Kevin was best at describing the battles offered by these fish. All he had to say was, “smashing”. Needless to say Kevin, we were glad to get you on them. Now let’s make plans for Tarpon on fly tackle this spring! At the risk of being repetitious, if you want a drag screaming kind of experience, call us and set up a trip to target these incredible fish!
Dozens of Snook too?
Yeah, I’ve been telling you for weeks now that the winter is still a great time to be on the water since the clarity allows us better sightcasting than it does at other times of the year. I’ve also said, that you just can’t expect catch totals in the dozens due to the dramatic cold we’ve experienced. Well, in conversation with Capt. Chris, I kept hearing all week about his anglers doing a dozen or more Snook in their half-day outings, or a dozen or more Snook before they went out to hunt those Bonito, needless to say I was a little skeptical. Well, I learned a long time ago that Chris tells it like it is, and I never should have had any doubt. Just yesterday, his calendar and mine combined to allow for a busman’s holiday of sorts. Neither of us was booked, so Chris invited me to do a little Snookin’ with him. His plan as he laid it out, was to fish from 8:30 to 10:30 (catching at least a dozen Snook!) and then have a little breakfast at one of the local Sarasota diners. Well, we varied from the plans just a bit. We didn’t start to fish ‘til 9:00. What we did do though was quit fishing by 10:30 after having caught 17 Snook of up to 28 inches! Unbelievable. This was sightcasting, this was flipping our bait right up into the mangrove roots, this was like Bass fishing on steroids, this was absolutely awesome!! Before I moved here, I was like so many others that vacationed here. I always seemed to travel down in the dead of winter while the weather up north was at it’s worst, and the fishing here was at it’s toughest. Or so I thought. According to Chris, this is his wintertime pattern now, and action like we had should be available with alarming regularity. Needless to say, if your Bonito date ends up be too windy to work off the beaches, just ask Chris if you can do a little sightcasting for Snook. He’ll be happy to get you on them.
Even though this winter has been exceptionally cold, I guess there’s really never a bad time to plan a trip down our way. If you are looking for more information on all the opportunities we’ve got going on, or are interested in booking a trip with one of the finest guides in the area, be sure and visit their individual webpages within our website www.AnglingAdventure.com , or give me a call at (941) 920-4891. Either way, we’ll be out there to let you now what’s going on.
Like our friend Capt. Mark Rankin always said,
“Catch ‘em up”
Capt. John Sackett
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