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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
June 27, 2003
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Tarpon Return After Rains
Today, Mike Coe and I saw quite a few strings of tarpon heading north. That usually means that we will be getting fresh tarpon schools every day coming up the coast for a couple more weeks.
It is the expert’s opinion that July could be the best month yet for hungry tarpon. Water temperature staying below 84-86 degrees is key. Higher temperatures will send them north quickly.
After 5 days of rain last week, I got plenty of rest and time off. Early this week, Dinger brought in his buddy Pat Camp who is a new inductee into the fraternity of fly fishers for tarpon.
Pat’s first cast to a tarpon was the only fish we saw all day. But it more than made the trip as the 5 foot black-backed and wide silver side showed itself as the one gallon black bucket mouth opened its mouth and swallowed a black and purple Ballard tied fly. The hook of choice is an Owner SSW 4/0. A 3M Scientific Angler 12-weight floating line was used to deploy the fly.
The tarpon just sat there after it ate the fly for 10 seconds. I forgot to splash the pole into the water to scare it off. Pat raised his rod tip a bit and the tarpon felt that and quickly spit the fly. That is so exasperating to me, but is actually a reward for Pat getting an eater on his first rip to Homosassa.
The next day Grant Smith and his friend, John jumped on board for a half day of learning the waters as they have a house on Battle Creek. These guys are great fishermen and catch a lot of snook at night on their own. We never saw an eye-ball of a tarpon. We did happen onto a large school of jack crevalle in which a 10 pounder was landed in short order.
Today, Mike laid his fly perfectly to the spot I instructed him to cast to and got eaten big time by a 30-inch redfish. It was a sight to see the redfish eat. Somehow the fish got off instantly after Mike raised his rod. He later said, “I wished I would have hit that fish harder.” “Hind sight is always 20/20”, I replied.
We have four more days to land a tarpon and a redfish on the fly for a successful trip. While we had a redfish on today, the tarpon were on top of us by the time we saw them, due to high white clouds putting a lot of glare onto the water throughout the day.
If you would like to give tarpon a try either on the fly rod or with spinning gear, I have a couple of days open on July 3 or 4. Also, keep in mind that scallop season opens on July 1 and I am available along with my children to help you find, catch and clean your bounty.
Have A Great Weekend!
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