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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
September 10, 2002
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Homosassa Redfishing Heats Up
Homosassa fishing has just begun to really heat up with nice catches of redfish. For sure there have been a couple of schools of redfish here all summer long. Some of the reds have weighed up 12 pounds. Most days have been spent casting spoons in out of the way fishing spots in the darker water close into the woods.
Bill Woodard and his two guest hammered out 25 reds between them all in an hour and half of fishing. It was great fun. The two largest reds were twins at 9 pounds and 30 inches. We had a couple of 8 pounders and several sevens. The rest all were between 4-5 pounds. I feel that these fish may have just come in to the area due to their eagerness to bite.
Norm Felts of Winter Haven brought his neighbor with him to introduce him to west coast fishing. Redfish are always the order of the day in August-September. An incoming tide almost always insures success. Norm caught the first redfish which was 26 inches. He was using a Cotee jig with a rootbeer tail.
Later we snuck into “My Key” and Norm caught one of the residential occupants that weighed 12 pounds. Norm’s neighbor, Ron Bray landed his first Homosassa redfish which was 27 ˝ inches. Norm landed another trophy of 11 pounds. We ended the trip with Ron catching a 26 incher while casting a pinfish and reeling it in like a lure.
Ben Baumgardner and the Vulcan Materials group of North Carolina were here for some tough fishing conditions. It was hot and too calm the first morning. Homosassa Bay was slick as glass. We left early before the tide turned in, so we had a long wait in the heat. However, our efforts did not go unnoticed as Ben hooked up with a 27 inch redfish. It was a special fish since we actually saw it tailing and Ben laid a free-lined shrimp in front of his nose. We barely managed our limit that day and took top honors among the cadre of guides.
The next day was “Pick on Steve day”. He bought one of the new hats from Pro-Trim. It cost about $60. He was spitting mad before the guys stopped ragging him about it. Anyway, we did manage to find enough reds to keep our limit while releasing some that were too small too keep. Steve finally caught a redfish towards the end of the day.
Last month, I spent some quality time with Ben Baumgarner at St. George Sound. The new moon was perfect to ambush some cruising tarpon on the fly. Ben did hook up the first day by jumping a tarpon. Ben made a mistake that day by bragging that he was batting a thousand with his hook-up ratio and guided days.
The next day the tarpon were not hungry for our offerings, however, the last day is one Ben will remember forever. I knocked on his door at 4:30 in the morning with a cup of coffee in hand. By 5:30, we were at the ramp. Scattered thunderstorms surrounded the area as we arrived to wait for daylight.
The weather conditions were calm and you could see tarpon waking towards us in the 3 foot depths for several hundreds yards out. With the tide low and dropping, the tarpon seemed like they were looking for an exit off the shallow flat and were not too interested in our offerings of the fly. What was so memorable was the number of tarpon that came into range but were not impressed with our offerings. Ben had lots of shots and some were right in front of the fish. We changed flies and reduced the diameter of the leaders. Nothing worked. I guess that is why they call it fishing.
About two weeks later during the third week of August, I returned to the Big Bend to give tarpon one last shot. My clients for this trip was Mark Lawson and Andy Smith. Andy had fished with me in Homosassa and we met again in Atlanta at the shallow water expo last February and arranged this trip in conjunction with their annual vacation to St. George Sound.
As soon as we arrived to our destination, we noticed that the water was very clear and the sun was straight up. Blue skies with a few puffy clouds in the distance made for optimum conditions. The very first tarpon that came by, Mark spotted him and I hollered at Andy to cast to him. Andy was not ready and was changing his fly while I was getting the anchor out.
The next fish that came by Andy was ready and put the fly directly in front of the black and silver torpedo as it was swimming to us. The tarpon elevated and its head came out and it gulped the fly down, probably past the shock leader. Within seconds, the fish broke the line as it turned away. Not discouraged, Mark wanted a high five from Andy and received it.
It was now Andy’s turn and about an hour went by before we had another shot. By this time the wind picked up to about 15 mph. While anchored from the bow, Andy stood ready near the stern armed with a spin rod/reel. A Catch 2000 Mirrolure was tied on the end.
After watching a few sting rays swim by, I noticed a tarpon heading our way. Andy and I discussed his casting placement as the fish swam closer. I told him to cast well in front of the path that the tarpon would swim. At the last moment, I instructed him to compensate for the wind. It was a beautifully accurate cast.
The lure landed well beyond the path and in front of the fish. I told him to reel it fast and he did. When the lure was lined up with the tarpon’s path, I instructed him to twitch the lure. The tarpon passed right under the lure and we thought he was not going to eat it when all of a sudden he circled back and inhaled that Mirrolure.
Andy was hooked up with a 85 pound silver beauty that was jumping around like it was being shocked. After a half of dozen quick jumps, the tarpon began to swim off and we had to crank up the big motor and follow it around for about 30 minutes.
Finally, with fish at the side of the boat and lip gaffed it decided to jump in and join us. The big tarpon just laid there exhausted and glad to be in a place of rest. We were very lucky that every fly rod in my new Hells Bay was not broken. I picked the tarpon up while Mark took some quick photographs of Andy’s first tarpon and then quickly released it.
This past weekend was excellent for John Maddox and his son, John, Jr. The pair have fished with me each year for several years now for big Homosassa redfish. They were not disappointed as our best day resulted in over 20 big bull redfish between 8-11 pounds. It was a banner day with twice as many strikes on the surface. John, Jr. caught several redfish up to 10 pounds on the fly rod as well.
They ended their weekend trip with a delicious shore dinner consisting of fresh fish, hushpuppies, beans and cole slaw. The morning was spent catching a nice mess of spotted seatrout up to 20 inches in size.
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