Today I picked up Andrea Baird and her two friends Kate and Dennis at Pete’s Pier Marina at 8am and we headed out for a full day of fishing for Trout and Redfish. Although we are fishing during a nearly full moon I had high hopes for the day as we pushed off the dock. We headed towards a set of oyster bars where we drifted live shrimp under corks through the cuts in the bars with the falling tide.  We caught a good mix of trout, ladyfish, seabass and even a small shark before we headed west to the deeper flats to jig for trout. After a quick 6 mile ride to the southwest we arrived at an area of mixed sand and grass bottom and began to cast 1/8 ounce jigs for speckled trout and seabass. The bite was pretty good as we quickly iced down a few solid trout and a couple nice seabass. After catching some good fish on the deeper flats we headed back to the islands to work the shallow flats on the incoming tide for larger trout and we were not disappointed. Fishing with cork rigs in about 4ft of water we quickly iced down some more keeper trout before heading in to finish our day searching for redfish. Unfortunately we were not able to find any cooperative redfish due to the full moon but we did finish our day with 13 nice trout and 2 seabass. A special thanks to Andrea, Kate, and Dennis for making this a great day on the water and I look forward to fishing with them again.

Today the winds were calm and expectations high as I tied up at Pete’s Pier Marina to pick up Jason, John and Luke for a full day inshore trip. I loaded up the essentials (bait and ice) and we headed down the river to see what inshore gamefish were chewing. We started near some oyster bars at the mouth of saltriver with no success so we headed west. We made our way our out to 8ft of water to jig for Speckled Trout and a mixed bag of other tasty species and the bite was on. I had the guys rigged up with 1/8 ounce jig heads and DOA jig tails and Mirrolure jig bodies, they worked these lures near the bottom with a reel and jerk retrieve. We started our drift with the incoming tide and pulled in 8 nice keeper trout on the first drift over a mix of sand and grass. We continued to work the deep water with jigs and the trout and sea bass coming over the side on nearly every other cast. At noon we took a quick lunch break as we headed inshore to the mangrove islands to search for redfish. The bite was a little slow but we managed to land 2 beautiful redfish with one of them being a solid 22 incher. We finished up our day catching the last few trout we needed for a limit and headed back to the marina with a great variety in the box and a day full of memories. The final fish tally for the day was 20 nice trout up to 4.5 pounds, 1 nice redfish, 15 big seabass and bluefish. Jason, John, and Luke had a great time today and lm glad these guys got to take home a pile of fillets and I look forward to taking these guys out again soon.

With reports of Cobia moving north and the hot tripletail bite that has being going on out of Crystal River me and my brother headed out in search of some near shore pelagics. We started our search at the scallop rack where we promptly caught a well full of live pinfish and a few small Spanish mackerel. After loading up on live bait we headed west under cloudy skies in search of brown bombers on a series of small limestone ledges in 12 ft of water and we were not disappointed. As we pulled up on the first spot my younger brother threw a 2 ounce Spro jig towards the spot and his jigged was immediately crushed by a spunky 25 pound Cobia. As he landed his fish I pinned a live bait on a 5/0 circle hook and dropped it over the side and before I could put the rod in the holder my pinfish was eaten. I reeled down tight and the fish took off like a rocket towards the south and the fight was on. As 30lb mono peeled off my reel I knew I was hooked into a bruiser but I had no idea how much of a beast this fish was. After a 30 minute fight the fish came boat side and Blake expertly gaffed my Cobia. At nearly 60 pounds this proved to be one of my biggest Cobia to date, after a few good pictures we iced that fish down and headed to the next spot. As I anchored the boat over the next spot Blake again began to cast his Spro jig and on his second cast at this new spot he got nailed again. Line poured off of his Spheros 10,000 and his 35 pound cobia took to the air with an impressive display of aerobatics. I quickly gaffed his second fish and we headed to the next spot. The rest of the day was peppered with short Cobia and Gag Grouper but we had a great time. The two of us finished the day with 3 solid Cobia in the box and memories that will last forever.

Early on Sunday morning I loaded the boat and headed over to Pete's Pier marina to pick Odie and his 5 buddies and head offshore for some grunt and seabass fishing with a by catch of red grouper. Rarely do I get calls for people wanting to catch smaller grunts and seabass but this trip would be an exception. We loaded up and pulled off the dock at 7 am bound for 40-60 ft of water, as we left marker 1-A in the prop wash it was clear that we were going to have a good day. The first spot that I stopped at in 33 Ft of water produced 30 nice black seabass, 25 big grunts, and a few short grouper. Our live shrimp and mullet strips didn't last long as the fish kept coming up left and right. After 30 minutes of fishing I pulled the anchor and we continued heading west out to about 50 ft of water and the good fishing continued. At each patch of live bottom we would catch roughly 40 big grunts and 10+ big seabass. We made our way out to 65ft and then turned and started working our way southeast back to 55 ft of water and that is where we found the grouper. We managed to catch 3 nice red grouper in 55 ft of water due west of Crystal River and we also landed a kingfish in the 10 pound range. At 3pm we turned east and headed back to Crystal River with 200+ big grunts in the box, 60+ nice seabass, 3 keeper red grouper and a 10 pound kingfish. We had a great day and after 2 hours of filleting fish the guys walked away with a pile of tasty fish for the dinner table.

This fantastic weekend started with my client and I meeting up Friday night at the captains meeting for the Mel Tillis fishing tournament held out of Riverside Resort on the Homosassa river. We got registered and headed home to get some sleep and prepare for the big day of fishing that was to follow. We met up at 6:30 am at the marina and eagerly loaded bait and ice; we left the dock and checked in on our way to the first spot. The first live shrimp of the day produced a gorgeous 25 inch redfish but I knew that this fish would not put Mike Hoogsteden on the podium at days end. We continued to fish hard, catching several short redfish and about a dozen trout in 16-19inch range on jerkbaits and Catch 2000 Mirrolures. As the tide continued to fall we began to work our way out to the foul are in search of Spanish Mackerel to help complete our slam but it was not to be. In two hours of jigging the deep flats we only managed to catch a few short sea bass. As the tide turned and began to roar in we headed back to the mangrove creeks to try and track down a big redfish and that we did. Mike and I set up on a school of fish and began to cast live shrimp and DOA jigs to the hungry fish. The first live shrimp sank about 6inches below the surface before a bronze bruiser inhaled it. After a solid battle I lipped the 26 11/12inch redfish, I measured the fish nearly a dozen times before I decided that it was in fact a legal fish. I iced the beauty and we quickly hooked another fish that came in at 26 inches. We landed 4 redfish between 24-27 inches and we then headed for the weigh in. We knew we had a good fish but with 80 boats fishing including many of the best fishermen in county I was sure it would be a close competition. Our fish was deemed a legal redfish at just under 27 inches in length and weight of 8.10 pounds and after all the fish were weighed in we had the only redfish over 8 pounds. This tournament was a great experience for both me and my client, Mike Hoogsteden, and we were very blessed with a great day on the water and big tournament victory.

Today I met Doug, Layton and Nathan at the dock a bit earlier than usual. With a looming weather front scheduled to hammer the Crystal River area in the afternoon this seemed like the best plan of attack for our half day, inshore trip. With the winds already blowing 15mph by 7:30 a.m. I knew this morning of fishing would be tough, but we had a good incoming tide so redfish was on my mind. We started out looking for trout and redfish on the north side of St. Martins keys with no luck, the change in barometric pressure had the fish shut down in this area so we decided to head north. We worked around Tin Pan Gap area and caught a few more short trout and that was all I needed to see. I decided to switch up our strategy and head for some narrow creeks that provided shelter from the wind and lots of mullet and pinfish for the redfish to eat. As we power poled down at the first point we could immediately see that the bite was on as every cast yielded a redfish. Nate and Layton had the hot hand today; they both landed beautiful keeper redfish with the big fish being a solid 27 incher. Everyone enjoyed their morning on the water that is water really matters at the end of the day. I look forward to having these guys back on the water in the future.

Today was a great day to be on the water. Nearly every boat I talked to echoed that the bite was on! I started in Salt River with my clients and we fished our way out to St. Martin’s keys as the tide gradually went out and we found good numbers of average size trout but average size trout was not going to be the highlight of our day. Around 10 am I spotted a small school of jumbo redfish working across a shallow flat, we eased into range and it only took one well aimed cast. The beast engulfed the D.O.A jig and that was the beginning of a 35 minute battle, when the 40 plus inch monster came boat side I couldn’t believe how big it really was. We snapped a few pictures and released it to fight another day. We managed to track down the school of bruisers again and this time we scored a double hookup. After a lot of dancing to keep the lines from getting crossed we landed the pair of beasts, a few more pictures and we revived those two reds in great condition. We continued to work our way into deeper water and I spotted a nice tripletail but he would not be fooled by our jigs. At the next grass flat the bites kept on coming, Rich hooked into a fish that hit like a trout but did not fight like one. After a spirited battle I slid the net under a beautiful 19 inch permit, this rare but awesome catch caught me off guard. We finished our day with 8 nice trout, a pompano, and a nice mackerel. This weekend will be a great time to get out on the water and score big on an explosive springtime bite.

The conditions over the past 3 days have been less than desirable for catching shallow water trout and redfish but the bite didn’t seem to slow down as the weather picked up. Friday saw the beginning of the cold and the north wind, the hard wind out of the north has also been the cause of severe low tides which only makes the fishing harder. Although the conditions have not been in our favor we have still managed to have some great catches with some quality fish out of Crystal River. Friday morning started with low water so I decided that we would try and sight fish a school of redfish that I have been tracking for several weeks. The water was cool but we still managed to catch several sluggish reds on top water plugs and weedless jerkbaits. As the tide turned we headed south into some creeks to continue our hunt for more big redfish and maybe find a few flounder on the dark bottom of the ozello creeks. The flounder proved to be elusive but the redfish were chewing well in the windy conditions and we tallied up an awesome catch in the last 3 hours of daylight with several fish over the 27inch slot limit. The fishing Saturday was even better but the weather was so much worse, we started the day in the predawn hours chasing monster snook near the mouth of the river where the warm river water dumps into the cold gulf. This temperature change creates a prime feeding area for large snook and redfish and the fish were biting well as we landed two monster snook over 40inches and jumped a tarpon in the 100 pound range in the hour before the sun came up. After the sun came up we headed to some nearby oyster bars and started looking for redfish. With temperatures in the high 30's at daybreak we knew the redfish would be moving very slow in the shallows so we switched from the topwater plugs and began throwing gulp shrimp on 1/16 ounce jig heads and for the second morning in a row the redfish were cooperative as we landed several nice fish between 23 and 26 inches. The cold weather did slow down the bite a little bit, we still had two successful days of fishing in the outer creeks of ozello and the flats around Crystal River. The past few days did not give us ideal fishing conditions but patience paid off with a quality catch of trout, redfish, and a couple big snook.

With unseasonal winds out of the south today the conditions were perfect for sighfishing Redfish in some creeks north of Crystal River and thats exactly what I decided we would do. At 8am we headed down the river to target big redfish and hopefully catch some good trout. With calm winds and crystal clear water conditions, a natural lure presentation would be vital to our success today. I rigged the rods with light flourocarbon leaders, 1/16 ounce jig heads, and natural colored DOA shrimp and we strated our search around some oyster bars and rocky areas. We immediatly we caught a few nice trout and our day started off well but trout were not our intended species today. We moved back into the creeks and started to find what we were looking for, Redfish. The further we went into the creek the more fish we found, the reds seemed to be schooled up in groups of 8-12 fish and we caught an average of 2 fish per school. We fished for several hours until the tide got too low to fish the area so we headed to some to flats to finish our half day catching trout. We had a great day and finished with 7 redfish and a good catch  of trout.

The weather conditions today called for building winds and falling tides as I pulled in to Pete's Pier Marina to pick up Dick Reddick and his good friend Case, we laoded up some live shrimp and headed down the foggy river to chase trout and redfish in Salt River. We started our search fishing DOA jigs in the back country of Ozello and we were not dissapointed. The bite started off a little bit slow but as we worked the deeper holes in the area we began to develope a pattern as the trout started coming over the side of the boat. As the wind began to blow increasingly hader and the tide raced out even more we stuck to the plan and worked the pot holes and oyster bars and continued to have success with the trout but today the redfish eluded us. Although the conditions were terrible by the end of the day we still managed to have a great time on the water. Mr. Dick and Mr. Case where both great guys and I look forward to having them on the boat again in the near future.

With all the warm weather we have been having in the sunshine state, it made sense that today we would try and target trout that are in transition between the springfed river and the summertime grass flats. Although the calendar says that it is still winter, with temperature in the 80's the fish are already very active in their spring patterns. Today Daniel, Brittany, and I headed to a series of small flats near the mouth of Crystal River where I decided that we would fish cork rigs with DOA shrimp and jerkbaits for trout. As we started fishing it was apperant that their was no shortage of speckled trout in the area with trout of all sizes coming to the boat on nearly every cast. We quickly wrapped up a nice limit of 15 trout with our average keeper being about 17inches long and our big fish being a 3lb beauty, we headed for the dock as the sun began to set with smiles on our faces and fish in the box. We had a great afternoon and caught some nice fish, special thanks to Daniel and Brittany.

Today I had the pleasure of fishing in the 1st Annual Relay For Life Fishing Tournament out of Riverside Resort in Homossassa Fl. My charter for the day was Benjamin Shaffer and Mike Keane and these guys were very excited to go target a variety of inshore game fish that we needed to be a contender for the tournament. This tournament was structured on a points system so it made sense to target multiple species and not spend too much time on one species, time management was key to success today. The day started out with unfavorable conditions, the tide was very low and the wind was already starting to blow out of the east with forecasts for 15-20 knot winds in the afternoon. We headed north from crystal river to start our search for redfish, flounder, sheephead, and snapper. We were fishing with shrimp on jigheads at our first spot and it really paid off early, on Ben's second cast he hooked into a good fish that seemed to be a large black drum. As the fish neared the boat and I could see that it was not a black drum but a monster redfish. After several great pictures we released the 21 pound beast of a redfish and caught several more short redfish. Then we moved on in search of sheephead and snapper and we were able to catch several keepers of each species and then we moved a short distance and caught several nice trout. The final piece of our puzzle was to catch a black seabass on our way to the wiegh in at Riverside Resort. We stopped at several shallow water rocks and Mike was able to catch a great seabass to help us in the standings. We headed for the wiegh in and after a short wait we finished in 4th place with a 12 point stringer. We had a fantastic day on the water with a great box of fish and Ben's trophy redfish was just the icing on the cake. Great job guys!

This evening we headed out for some late evening trout fishing in the shallow grass flats down south of Homossassa. The trout have began to leave the deeper flats where they spent the summer and  move into the shallow creeks and flats of Ozello and Homossassa. We fished primarily with DOA shrimp and CAL jigs on 1/8 ounce jig heads and this proved to be more then the schooling trout could handle. The action was fast and furious with a healthy mix of smaller and larger fish. We landed nearly 50 trout in about an hour of fishing with 16 nice keeper fish and two trout over 20 inches. Our fishing window was short this evening but we deffinantly made the best of our time on the water.

On todays trip we decided to get out early and go search for some fall run cobia that are still hanging around the Crystal River area. This past spring we had a fantastic run of small to medium sized cobia and as fall is approaching the cobia are migrating south along our coast. As Kyle and I headed north from Crystal River we soon found several cobia in the 20-30 inch range cruising on the surface and we sight fished these great fighters on light tackle. As we approached a small oyster bar bordered by a deep hole we looked for cobia but we stumbled upon another species of hard fighting gamefish, large schooling redfish. Kyle and I both hooked up on large reds with both fish pushing the 35inch mark. We continued to work the school of bruisers with DOA shrimp on jig heads and the double hookups just kept on coming, in about an hours time we caught and released over 30 large redfish. We experienced some amazing action with some gorgeous fish and look forward to continued action with these fun fighters.

Today started out as every charter does for me; fuel the boat, rig the rods, and load all the other essential items for a successful fishing trip. But this trip would prove to be anything but another ordinary half day charter. I picked up 8 year old Belle, 9 year old Kaitlyn, 12 year old James and there father at Petes Pier Marina and we headed out to target snapper and black drum in an area a little bit north of Crystal River. We started catching lots of smaller snapper and drum and the kids were having a great time with the fast action even though the fish werent huge. After about an hour of fishing Belle, the youngest of the kids, hooked into what i thought was a nice redfish and the fish immediatly took 60 yards of 8lb test braid but it never surfaced and shook its head like most redfish do. Belle did a fantastic job fighting this mystery fish and as it neared the boat it dove deep and made a second long run. Belle was getting tired but she fought the fish back to the boat I could not believe my eyes when it materialized out of the murky water, it was a beautiful 7lb bonefish! I carefully pulled it out of the water and snapped some quick pictures of Belle holding her once in a lifetime catch. Today will be a day that I will never forget.

Today it was apperant that spring is coming fast. I decided that we would head offshore in search of trout, spanish mackerel, and cobia that should be pushing out on to the deeper flats about 6 miles west of Crystal River. We fished with DOA C.A.L series jigs on jig heads in about 7ft of water in an area of mixed seagrass and limestone bottom. We found a good sized group of trout and the guys caught several nice trout and a few early season makerel. We finished the day with 15 keeper trout and 6 makerel in the box. We had a very successful day and we had a nice box of tasty fish to take back to the dock.

Today we had cool weather and low water to deal with but we headed north in search of redfish along the famed spoil banks. We really wanted to focus on catching redfish and flounder among the rocks. DOA jigs were the bait of choice and we spent 3 hours catching redfish on the incoming tide. the bite was on and we easily landed 16 nice redfish in 4 hours of fishing.

Today I had the Mr. Rairick, Micheal, and Dave on the boat with me and we decided to fish a half day inshore in the afternoon. The guys wanted me to help them work off some of that thanksgiving dinner and we sure did that. I decided that we would start off fishing a small rockpile in the main river where we encountered several short redfish and trout and Mr. Rairick hooked a beast that managed to break off in the rocks. The guys had decide that they would have their own fishing tournament on the boat so everyfish that came over the gunnel was counted and thier was no shortage of taunting and teasing between the three guys as they all fished as hard as they could to try and take the top prize. After fishing the river we moved out to some shallow kelp flats to fish popping corks and DOA shrimp for speckled trout on the incoming tide. the action was fast and furious and I could hardly keep up with unhooking and measuring the trout that the guys were catching. We fished a steady trout bite for about two and a half hours and the guys landed several fine trout, then I decide that we would go back in a small creek and try for a nice redfish. We caught 7 beautiful reds but the keepers eluded us and we headed back to the dock with the sun setting at our backs. Everyone had a great time on the water and Dave pulled off the victory with a beautiful 21 inch, 3lb trout at the last minute. Great fishing guys.

Today we decided to go offshore in the big boat to target gag grouper. Me, Jamel, Chris, Ron, Jack, Ryan, and Scott left my house at 7 am with a mariginal weather forecast ahead of us. The ride out wasnt bad at all as my 34' Yellowfin center console cut through the crisp 4 foot chop that we encoutered on the 32 mile ride to the first spot. The first spot was a bust but we quickly changed course and began to work our way south.. At the next rock we all hooked up on our first drop to the bottom with an assortment of sort red grouper and gag grouper. Very soon the big fish started to bite and we quickly iced down several nice gag and red grouper. The next 3 spots produced more keepers and we kept fishing rocks in the 40 to 48 ft water depths. The baits of choice today were live pinfish and the larger fish ate ladyfish chunks and frozen threadfin herring. I saved the best rock for the last stop of the day and with 9 nice gags in the box we needed 5 more fish to finish out our limit and call it a day. I had the rest of the crew stay with natural bait and i decided to try some light tackle action and dropped down a DOA swimming mullet and was immediatly hooked up with a keeper gag the action was hot and heavy and several fish over ten pounds were landed as we wrapped up our fishing day. The day went great and we finished with 14 keeper gags with big fish at just over 15 pounds and two nice red grouper.

With cold fronts on there way the fish are now in a transistion period between there summer huants and the deep holes and springs of the Crystal River. This time of year offers some of the best fishing because most species of gamefish are eating alot and fattening up for the winter We had a great time today catching both trout and redfish around oyster bars and creek mouths in and around saltriver and ozello. The fish were very eager to eat our DOA jigs and jerk baits as well as topwater plugs and mirrolures. We caught nearly 30 keeper trout and kept 10 nice fish for the fryer. It was a spectacular day on the on the water and we ended the day with a nice box of fish and many more healthy trout and redfish released.

 Today I had Russ Jones and Victoria on the boat. Unfortunately we had marginal weather but we decided to give it a shot anyway and I’m sure glad that we did. The wind was blowing a solid 20 knots out of  the east but that didn’t seem to bother the trout and redfish one bit. We left Pete’s pier at 12:30 with a good incoming tide and we decided that we would fish saltriver and Ozello. We found the trout very eager to eat both top water plugs and jigs. We fished some shallow flats in saltriver and landed several nice tout and missed a few monsters so after catching a few trout we fished pinfish around some rock piles and landed a nice redfish. The fishing wasn’t easy at all but we managed to land six nice tout including an awesome 22 inch beauty and a fine redfish to cap the afternoon off. Everyone had a great time and I look forward to fishing with fine folks again. Thanks guys!