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!