This page is what has worked for me, when where and how, as I am a rebel of sorts and not willing to go with the flow all the time, but,  willing to try different approach's to catching fish here on the nature coast, as I like the fight at the end of the line, no matter what it is. It is all about catching in my book.

The old, retired farmer, living in Florida

 

 

March, April, May-08

Hate the Wind

From the second week in March up to and including the week of May19th, 08, the wind here on the nature coast has been a nasty major factor, with some benefits. In March we did not fish as we had 15 to 20 knot winds on a regular bases, either the wind was blowing or I could not fish due to prior plans.

April, prime time mackerel time, turned in some nice catch's in approx. 6 to 10 ft. of water by putting out a chum bag and fishing directly in the chum line. We all so caught reds and trout in the backwaters fishing the rocks, creeks and deep holes. The secret here was to keep moving until you found aggressive fish and when the bite stopped move on. We had some extreme high tide in April all so, due to 20 to 25 knot west winds which pushed the water way up in the backwaters, allowing us to get into areas we had never been to before. It was beautiful and peaceful back there, not another sole around. A warning to all, if you ever get to do this, do it, but only in a kayak or a very shallow water boat, and always beware of the tide change and the wind dying all at once, for the water will run out of these areas in a heart beat and leave you trapped. It is a long muddy walk with the gators to navible water pulling your boat behind you.

 First of May end of April the waters started to warm up and the trout started to move into the 3 to 6ft depth just outside of the keys, with some of the larger trout being caught. By the 15th of May, if you could put up with the wind, the water temperature had come up to 76 to 78 degrees and fishing began to pick up.

Went out of Crystal River, 5/15/08, S West of Marker 1, 6 to 8 ft of water. Small short trout, short grouper, 4 ft shark. Moved out to the 8 to 10 ft depth, towards the scallop platform, blue fish, trout, lots of lady fish, short sea bass, & flounder. Moved out to 10 to 12 ft depth in the early afternoon, 10 miles off shore.  Large trout, 7-to 8 lb Jack Crevael, lot of lost fish due to pulled hooks or break off. I pulled a gulp away from a large Cobia, it hit the gulp on a jig and missed and then it hit the gulp again and I set the hook, but it did not have a good bite on it, and the cobia just swam away to never be seen again. All this happened with in 10 ft of the boat, could see the Da#* thing all along. Such is life. In the morning the fish were deep in the grass, 3/8 oz jig head & gulp, slowly worked staying at the bottom. In the afternoon in the deeper water they were in the top 4 to 5 ft of water and worked a 3/8 oz jig with a 4” gulp with a slashing, short slash motion, left to right or visa versa, no pop up and down. Wind was at least 15 knot in morning out of SE, after noon slowed down to a 10 knot wind with the wind changing and coming out of the S to SW. Water temp around 76 degrees. Take home fish: 1- 22½ “ trout, 1- 18” trout, 1- 18 ½” trout, 1-3 lb blue fish and 1- lady fish for cut bait next time .

 

January - February

Catch What You Can

These are the months with cold air  temperatures, coldwater, high winds, lots of fog, extreme low and high tides, but fish can be caught if you know where to go. And the place the place to fish is in the backwaters, water three to a foot deep, it can be very productive. We have caught larger then normal trout, redfish, sheepshead, and etc, so get your shallow water boat out and give it a try.

I need to mention here that February is prime time for sheepshead, on any rock pile from fifteen feet to two foot deep water using pieces of shrimp or very small shrimp, and they do not have to be live shrimp, frozen or brined will do. Below is a fishing trip report from members of Pine Ridge Fishing Club, and although they did not catch a lot of fish, they did catch fish, which is why they call it fishing, not catching.

We had 4 boats & 9 members fish last Thursday. While the fishing wasn't great, all had a good time. I think Bob Livings got the big Trout & I think I got the big Red buy default. The big Ladyfish award went to Mickey  Brophy or Bill Haderer. ( Hard to say.. they each claimed the other one caught it! )George Finster got a short Red.
As for the Brockschmidt boat with fred, Tom Barnum & Frank Wormwood, They said they caught some nice trout but didn't have a measuring board, so they couldn't confirm any measurements! ...... Really they said ! I don't know, I never saw any fish! Frank did say he caught a Redfish but couldn't get it's diaper off to get a good measurement. Now Ron Pfau fished with me & I can tell you he is a catch & release fisherman. He didn't keep any fish... yeah, that was it!
We really did have a good time & thanks to all that enjoyed the day on the water. Attached are some pics from the trip.
Mike ( President of Pine Ridge Fishing Club )

 

 

Grouper Fishing

Nov. - Dec.

Flat seas, 5 knots or less; Air temperature around 55 degrees morning, to low 70’s afternoon; Water temperature approximately 64 degrees; Depth 35 to 60 feet deep; Fishing out of Homosassa on a bright and sunny day prior to a cold front moving in the next day with high winds on that day.

We left the dock around 6:30 AM and picked up pinfish for bait at the shrimp lady, and then headed out to the deeper water in our quest for grouper. Our first stop in 40 feet of water produced some short gag grouper, so we decided to head out even deeper, stopping at around 60 feet. All most immediately we got into the red grouper, with an occasional gag mixed in, with a lot of shorts coming to the boat. Being a non conformist, I decided I was going to use squid for my bait, a whole squid at first, but the grunts were cleaning me out before it even got to the bottom. I then cut up the squid into 3 pieces and started fishing with a smaller piece, up the grunts started to come, and they were not small. Catching a few of them at first, then the grouper started coming in to me, but mostly shorts. In the luck of the angler (it’s called fishing not catching), I continued to catch fish, grunts and short grouper but the tide would turn and I would catch my share of legal grouper. On this trip I would only keep 2 grouper and the grunts, for in my book the grunts are better eating.

As the bite slowed we would move to a new area, and what I saw was, if the grunts were not there, the grouper were not there, so it was move and find the fish, as this is how you fish grouper on the bottom. We continued this process, moving back to shallower water, as the day wore on, with all catching a lot of grouper, both reds and gags, mostly shorts, but it was the fight on the rod which kept us fishing, and it was constant. We returned to the dock late in the day, tired, happy, and with 11 keeper grouper plus 21 very large grunts, as we only kept the large ones.

A lesson learned this day was, don’t forget the squid, and if you can get thread fin herring take them along with pinfish for bait, as these are the best fall grouper baits, say I. These baits have all ways worked for me, even though others will say, OH, you don’t need them.

The old man loves to prove them wrong.

Rich 

 

 

September – October

Albi's

We started fishing for Albi’s ( False Albacore, Bonita ) the first week of September out of Crystal River, FL and the action was sort of slow. The bait was there, but the Albi’s did not want to stay up long enough for us to get into them good, and the school’s of fish were small, plus we had a lot of heavy wind in the month of Sept. which limited the days we could get out.

Albi’s are a migratory fish which start showing up here off of Crystal River, around the first week of Sept., and it is a run and gun type of fishing, a very different way of fishing, but a very hard fighting type of fish worth the effort. Let me explain the particulars.

First and foremost is run and gun. What I mean here, it is a two person type of fishing, one to run the boat, and one to cast to the school. You need to see birds diving on the water feeding, in 15 to 25 feet of water. You then run over to the feeding birds looking for footballs coming to the surface chasing bait, if you see fish jumping clear of the water, they are more then likely bait fish or Spanish Mackerel, and the mackerel will cut you off. If it’s bait or mackerel you need to look for more birds feeding. You spot another school and run over there and see from a distance these are albi’s, you then cut your speed back drastically and idle up towards the school, with the person who is going to cast to the fish up and ready to do so, as sometimes you only get one shot at the school. You get with in 50 to 60 feet of the school and the caster needs to cast directly into the school, as you bring the boat to a stop, never shutting the motor off, because if you shut the motor off, the alb’s will more then likely disappear. If they stay up, it is time for the boat operator to get with it and try for one all so, but I give you warning here, they are a very strong fighting and fast swimming fish, and they will try and stay with the school, ripping off a lot of line in record time. Many a time when I have fished for them, one of us had to work the boat to gain line back or keep the fish from going under the boat or running the line into the motor, plus when the fish is finally beat, some one has to net the fish, as the person who caught it will have their hands full right to the very end.

The equipment you will need is a little heavier then you would normally use on trout or reds, as these are a very hard fighting fish for their size. I prefer a 7 to 8 foot rod in medium heavy to heavy with a #40 or #30 spinning reel loaded with atleast 20 lb. braid. Cheap reels with out a very good drag system will not work on this fish as they will burn the drag up in a heartbeat.

I tie on a 25 to 30 lb. fluorocarbon leader, about 3 ft. long and then add a 1/4 or 3/8 oz white jig with a good stout hook. A thin wire hook will bend out or break, or will pull out of the fish.

Albi’s are particular in their bait choices and we have found that white or glow curly tails, 3 inch, or Bass Assassin’s Baby Shad, 3 inch, in alewife, glow or black shad work the best. If you do not have these, try using the above colors in a flip tail or something similar, but remember to keep it 4 inch’s or less.

Albi’s are not table fare in my book. The meat is blood red, and has a very strong smell to it, but they are excellent bait for grouper, sharks, and king mackerel when cut into bait strips. They also make very good chum for the above mentioned fish as, they are very oily, and will give you a good chum slick.

Rich