 |
Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
April 22, 2007
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Trout and Reds Headline Homosassa Action
April 15
With sunny skies and 20 knots winds sustained I chose to fish the Homosassa River and tributaries starting at the entrance of Grand Canal adjacent to the narrows of Price Creek.
Two of my favorite long time clients Dr. Carter Smith and wife Laura were on board. The air had a chill to it and I planned on finding some cover with some trees to keep us protected from the blade cutting edge of the wind.
Not to worry with a heavy anchor, with a key fob located around my neck, I engaged the 8’ hydraulic Power Pole anchor and we began casting Cajun Thunders with shrimp. I bought the last 50 shrimp that existed on the Homosassa River. As I watched their colored floats drift along the opposite shore I went back in time and told them both about the stories of the huge 42-inch snook my Dad landed and all the gator trout caught there over the years.
Several guides associated with the Smith party included Mark Zorn, Ray Wallace, Jr. and Gary Cox went out to the bay to test the waters. It was not too long before they came back in to either the creeks or the river itself. Nothin’ was bitin’. Lockjaw is the name that comes to mind.
Still going for comfort as the sun was out and the sky was blue, I moved to Petty creek and got behind a little island. The water’s surface was slick and the green branches of the cedar trees were mirrored in the reflection. The spot was nice and warm and out of the white caps of the river. But was there fish there and would they bite? Well, sort of, Laura reeled in a blue crab all the way up to the boat. We joked about having it for a shore lunch as it fluttered off the hook clumsily back in the creek.
A few minutes later Carter played around with a ladyfish that we boated and released. Well on our way to a Homosassa River Trash Grand Slam I decided to move. With tides so low in the creek that a raccoon could cross, I moved back in the main river.
On the north shore of Hells Gate we tried catching a fish where thousands of trout, reds and sheepshead have been landed back in the nineteenth century. Does that say something significant? You bet it does.
Later I thought I was having a flashback of the 70’s when Laura’s rod bent like a horseshoe and a jukin’ like it was a big ole redfish. I was thinking dinner. Laura did a great job fighting that big slimy Gaffs Top Sail catfish. A big disappointment to the fish box but none the less a hard pulling fish and a contributor to trash slam.
Thanks to Carter’s intuition and the fish freezer back at the Club, we brought along enough fish to cover the shore lunch for this fishless day.
April 16
Tuesday morning was much the same and the shore lunch was again a great break in the fruitless action the northwester caused. After lunch God flipped the switch back on and fish were starting to eat a little.
With new moon tides and a shift in winds to the west our afternoon was fruitful. Laura and Carter both landed several nice redfish between 23-26 inches using both live shrimp and pinfish under Cajun Thunders. We were out around the mangrove islands of the Chassowitzka National Wildlife Refuge. That is a big place and if I told where in the park, I would not be a very discreet guide now would I?
April 17
I always check for updated weather reports and the forecast was downgraded to winds 10 knots or less out of the west. My web site’s weather links also have the latest satellite map and radar.
Woody Marr of Remax Advantage Realty treated Karl Diebold and Wayne Roggenkamp from Spring Hill to what was suppose to be an offshore grouper trip to inside Federal waters. What does that mean? Well, we call it shallow water grouper inside of nine miles.
I’ll tell you as far as I am concerned after fishing the foul area with Karl and Wayne the keeper grouper were not biting. We had a falling barometer and the fish should have been turned on. They managed a few undersized ones and some sea bass that were too little to keep. I offered them a chance to reschedule the trip at the start of the day because I knew the gulf waters will still a little too stirred up. The waters were milky white and the rocks in 8 feet of the water were barely visible. Let’s move on-- with where are they now? Try 12 feet or deeper. I hear they are biting better further out for those of you are in the know.
Karl and Wayne was a pleasure to fish with. About 1:00 he suggested that we try redfish. Then he was talking about my game. We did very good around St. Martin’s river mouth and got our limit of slot reds to 25 inches. We also released a couple of nice ones, too.
The big redfish of the day was peeling line off Wayne’s Shimano Spheros reel so fast that I had to go after it. Thanks to star wars technology I was on top of it in just a few seconds. It was our bad luck that the red made his way into the mangrove and wrapped itself up and broke the line. Looks like I should have spooled up with Triple Fish Bully line. Karl tried netting the big fish but it dodged his attempt.
April 19
On Thursday, Harry and Jimmy was guest of Carter Smith of the Atlanta Fishing Club. Man did I get a history lesson from Harry on Coca-Cola and such. I wish I could share his stories word for word with you he told me spanning a period of almost a hundred years.
The first little spot I stopped at was just outside the mouth of the Homosassa River and within minutes we boated 3 trout between 17-19 inches. The catching was all downhill after that for us. The day was pleasant although a little chilly for shorts at departure time.
We all went back out after lunch and we got into several small redfish but no keepers. The really big one got away again.
Fly Fishing Homosassa Tarpon Times Near
Although I have a couple of weeks of trout and redfish parties I will be getting ready for the tarpon run. For three months I will enjoy the challenging sport of fly-fishing for silver king tarpon. Tarpon are already showing up in the rivers and in a few weeks the annual run of big spawners will arrive from the Loop Current 300 miles west of here.
Come July 1st I will move to north Florida waters for two months where the abundance of silver kings and their willingness to bite is the best anywhere in the world.
If you are interested in trying this sport I still have some great days open with good tides available. Also, if you get a chance to pick up the April issue of 2007 go to page 72 to see a feature story about Homosassa's tarpon fishery in Florida Sportsman Magazine.
Capt. Mike
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
