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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
April 10, 2000
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Are Cold Fronts Good For Fishing
In the last week or two the fishing has been very good. Grouper catches have been
phenomenal. Although, I do not regularly fish for grouper I have had several nice catches.
Lately, several clients caught a Hammer Slam or a Homosassa Slam which consist of a
keeper grouper, a keeper redfish and a keeper trout. The best day I had recently was 13
keeper grouper between 5-8 pounds and with twice as many throwbacks.
One of my most fun trips recently were with Sam and Dave Guzauskas both 9 years
young and twins. They flew in with their Dad, Dan from Anchorage, Alaska to visit
family. Dan invited his brother Tom to come along and the five of us headed out into
winds from the southwest at 15-20 MPH.
The trip was designed for the twins to catch fish. Finding rocks with the GPS aboard the
Pro-Line was easy except for the one rock I wanted to go to was very small and the wind
had the waters churned up and muddy looking. The half day excursion meant finding
rocks quickly and getting some action for the boys, so I had to move on to find a larger
rock.
There was plenty of action as both Dan and Sam caught plenty of grouper, some sea bass
and one Spanish Mackerel. One of the twins counted his catch and landed 16 fish in two
hours of fishing. Cotee Jigs was the choice bait along with some shrimp.
Back to the fishing in general. Some days are really good to fish and others are best
described as better than working in the office. The last two weeks two cold front moved
through and set back the water temperature and stunned the fish. Days right after the
front are slower in production. Seems like we have had a lot of wind to contend with.
The only time I really don’t notice it is when we are catching fish. Mostly I am
concerned with the direction in which the wind is coming from. For instance, I really
like a south or southwest wind. It can blow between 15-20 MPH from that direction and
not bother me because I know that I will catch fish. The reason is that wind will blow in
large amounts of gulf waters over our shallow water flats and give me a flood tide.
The incoming tide will also bring in baitfish close to our mangrove islands thus nice reds
and trout will follow. Since our mangroves are growing larger by the day, the trees make
a good wind break and an easy place to fish from.
A west wind is not always the best because it is either getting ready to change to
northwest or is being controlled by a high pressure system in which more times than not
the fish are not as hungry, particularly for artificials. Hence, switch to natural baits.
The old saying is when the wind is out of the north say in port or take a snort means that
artic air is upon us. I have been fishing in quite a bit of these northers lately and fish will
bite although sometimes it requires using live baits to get an eater.
On the west coast of Florida, when the wind is from the east the fishing is the least, I
must agree. This is when we get lowest tides, particularly from the northeast. During
these times it is when we learn where all the rock and oyster bars are. Try to remember
where these spots are for later reference to prevent ripping your lower unit a new one and
to fish these bars when the water returns to normal. It might take days for the wind to
change from the northeast to the south.
Because in the winter and early Spring we sometimes get a northeaster that will last for a
week, the fish will have small windows of time when they will feed. This is where the
solar tables come in. You want to be in your best spot when the major feed times are
predicted. The tables are published in popular web sites, newspapers and magazines. It is
a good rule of thumb to know when these major and minor feeding periods are occurring.
Besides wind being a factor in the success of catching fish, the water temperature plays a
key role. The gulf water temperature is around the 70 degree mark MOL and will
continue to climb as the days get longer and less fronts come through. The warmer it gets
the more bait fish that move inshore and the fish follow them.
Remember if you are too busy to go fishing, well you are just too darn busy!
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