Homosassa to Steinhatchee
Includes Homosassa, Crystal River, Yankeetown, Waccasassa Bay, Cedar Key, Suwannee, Horseshoe Beach, Steinhatchee and Keaton Beach
April 11-13
Don’t Miss The Point(s)
Some of the most interesting features along our Big Bend coastline are the points of land that frame bays and creek mouths. Some are sandy, others are rocky and some are covered with oysters. But all affect the flow of water and the movement of bait. And each one has its own particular characteristics. Learning to fish points can take time, but especially this time of year, it’s worth the effort.
In recent weeks, casual anglers have become excited to see the flats “greening up” as the water warms, and the emergence of this year’s pinfish crop attracting hordes of seatrout. But while these folks are keeping busy drifting the 3 to 4-foot flats hoping to catch a limit of trout, I’m staying close to shore, watching the flow at points, and catching lots of big redfish and even a few “gator” trout.
Learning the points in your “neighborhood” isn’t a quick process. It may take several visits. I find that you need to set your boat off a point and watch how the water flows on both the rising and the falling tide. You also need to watch for mullet, and if they’re there, that’s good. And when you find the mullet, pay special attention to which way they swim at a particular tide. Chances are big predators will wait on one side of point at a particular tide, just hoping for a tasty treat to wash by. That’s when you need to be casting something like a D.O.A. Airhead, rigged weedless, and to sink slowly. Points are usually shallow, and hanging up a plug isn’t good for the bite, so take special care to not go get a snagged plug. Just chalk its loss up to experience. Also, long casts are critical when fishing points. Shallow water and boats are mutually bad for each other, and any bit of noise (slamming or hatch tops, stomping around, yelling, high-fiving) will spook fish over 50 feet away. Be calm…and catch fish.
This weekend’s 80-degree plus air temperature should drive water over the 72-degree mark, making bait active and getting the springtime bite into full gear. I even expect there to be some good mackerel fishing in the usual spots, like Suwannee’s Hedemon Reef and the “Hook” near the Steel Tower at the end of Cedar Key’s Seahorse Reef. There are lots of ways to catch these fun (and tasty if you eat them right away!) speedsters, including #00 Clarkspoons, Flowering Floreos or Gotcha! Plugs. Any of these baits can be trolled, but if the mackerel are scattered, try anchoring, chumming them up with a block of Baitmasters chum and then casting into the melee. Just be sure to use a trace of wire leader to prevent cutoffs!
Offshore, the gag grouper bite has been good in State waters, if you can find some rocks. Otherwise, there are still some sheepshead at the artificial reefs, especially from Steinhatchee north to St. Marks. Right now, it looks like winds will be fairly light this weekend, but you need to be careful, now that “thunderstorm season” is here. Remember, they can pop up just about anywhere.
Good luck—and good fishing!
News From Around The Bend
I’ve been working on a photo project for our local tourism group, Visit Natural North Florida, and it recently took me to Wakulla County and the upper end of what I consider to be Florida’s Big Bend. Yes, I know that for some reason Florida Sportsman thinks the Big Bend ends at Keaton Beach, but just ask anyone up there what part of the state they live and fish in! It’s the “Big Bend”.
No matter what you call it, the area gets little attention and should be given lots of credit for having some of the most unspoiled coastline in the state—and some of the best fishing. And to go along with the aforementioned fishing, there are several place that need a mention in my weekly roundup of local marinas and bait and tackle shops.
This week, I’ll start with Shields’ Marina in St. Marks and review a few smaller outfits later in the month. First, Shields’ is big. And while I really want to talk about bait and tackle, it’s hard to mention this place without discussing the fact that they offer boat sales, boat rentals, launching ramps, dockage, fuel, as well as marine service and repairs. They’re familiar with Evinrude, Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and Mercury products at Shields’. But in the category of supplies, look no further than their unique ships’ store for full lines of tackle, bait, drinks, ice, clothing and marine (and trailer) parts and accessories. And there’s probably the largest selection of MirrOlure, D.O.A., Hi-Roller and Gulp! products south of Tallahassee. Simply put, if you’re heading to St. Marks, don’t miss a chance to visit Shields’ Marina. They’re just upriver on the St. Marks River from its confluence with the Wakulla River and the public boat ramp.
Recent Fishing Reports
Homosassa: Capt. William Toney
Good fishing is right on a great springtime schedule. For a excellent sea trout bite it’s almost a dealers choice on where you would like to catch them. For a deep water bite the rocks in the Bombing range are producing some nice trout, blue fish, Spanish mackerel, sea bass and an assortment of other fun to catch species. As long as there is moving water the bite is good although I personally like the incoming tide best. This is mostly a jig fishing thing out there and I use a D.O.A. 1/8th oz. short shank red or chartreuse colored jig head. The mackerel will cut you off and so will the blue fish but that is the price of playing the game. A way to avoid this is to use a 40lb. leader. Some people like to use wire but I find that you will get less strikes. The best soft plastics have been MirrOlure LiL’ Johns in bourbon or watermelon gold flake and D.O.A. CAL Shads in glow gold rush belly and new penny. Further inshore on the incoming tide the Chassahowitzka Point area and Pea Pass area have been very good for big gator trout. Best baits are D.O.A. 5.5 glow jerk bait and the MirrOlure MirrOdine .
As the tide makes high, the Ozello Keys have had some decent redfish. I had a client land a 30” redfish with his fly rod on a crab pattern when the tide was low and we were sight fishing. This is the hardest way to catch a redfish ( besides with your bare hands) but he was a great caster and made it look very easy. We also had a snook on for a very short amount of time and with the trout he caught it would have been a West Coast Slam but almost. . Look for incoming tide this weekend around midday.
Crystal River: Capt. Marrio Castello
Warmer temperatures and light winds made this past weekend’s fishing enjoyable and productive. The water temps stayed around 72 to 74 degrees. Spring is finally here in the Big Bend.
We have been catching trout along the bigger sand bars and spoil islands in Yankeetown. These trout have been the typical sized trout that you would find in the spring. Many fish are over the slot limit so please take care in releasing these breeders. We have been catching them on the DOA Cal shad tail on a 1/8 oz. jig head. Bouncing them slowly across the bottom has worked well. Spanish Mackerel can also be caught in the same locations with the same baits. Speeding up your retrieve will put the “spannys” in the boat.
We have also been catching the Tripletail consistently while running the crab trap buoys. Spotting them takes a little practice. These fish are masters of camouflage. They will be hiding behind the buoys turned on their side and look like weeds that are stuck on the rope. When we spot them, we pitch out a live free lined shrimp about 3 feet up tide from the buoy and let it drift naturally past the fish. If they see it, they will come off the buoy and eat.
Homosassa: Capt. Rick Burns
The Nature Coast of Citrus County has plenty of available opportunities for the no-motor angler to have fun, get some R & R, and catch some fish.
Here again, these are certainly not all the areas, but surely enough to keep any individual busy fishing for a while.
Starting from the south, there is Hernando ramp and beach area. Jenkins Creek area is good (some nice Snook came off there). There’s Weeki Wachee River, and Pine island beach area, also Bayport pier for fishing off of. All of these are no cost by the way. Just be sure to get some bait before you go, if you don’t plan on using artificials.
Little further north we have a few places along the Homosassa River.
If not prohibited, fish under and around bridge pilings. Fish love structure and ambush points.
Out on Ozello trail, off John Brown road, there is a good pier to fish from. Further out on the end, where we call, Pirates Cove, there is some nice wade and bank fishing available.
Crystal River has some excellent spots. One is a pier at Fort Island Trail Park, about 4 miles off Hwy. 19, off of what else, Fort Island Trail road, that puts you right in the river.
Another is the fairly new pier at the end of Fort Island road, near the beach. It puts you in the gulf and near the oyster bars.
Up a little further north is the infamous Cross Florida Waterway or as the locals call it, the “barge canal.” It has giving up everything from nice reds, black drum, grouper, and mullet, right off the banks.
A skip on up Hwy.19 is the Withlacoochee River, Yankeetown, and Inglis areas. Here you have you have ample opportunity for wading, bank, and some dock fishing for fresh and salt species.
I didn’t even mention the many fresh water lakes and areas of the Tsala Apopka chain of lakes to our immediate East.
As one can see, don’t let the no motor, no boat, excuses hold you back. There are too many places for opportunity. With a little determination, enthusiasm, and maybe a few culprits in your pockets, one can come home with that stringer to show the whippersnappers.
The trout bite continues to get real good! What I’ve found recently, is get into some real shallow water, like 2 feet or less and cast your favorite topwater plugs. We’ve taken some nice quality bigger fish doing this.
Crystal River: Capt. Kyle Messier
Life is good here along the Nature Coast of Florida as the windy days of March are long gone and the sunny beautiful days of April are on the horizon. Over the last couple of weeks the Gulf Coast waters have been mired with windy yet gorgeous weather. Although this may sound like an interesting weather combination the southerly breezes actually have helped jump-start the push of many migratory species swimming northward. Each week our local area flats are starting to see new visitors. From bluefish to king mackerel, to cobia and sharks each week is bringing in new species and new adventures.
With all of this new action coming in to the area Anglers should continue to be ready for all fishing situations. Now is the time that all Nature Coast Anglers should be homing in on diving birds, dolphins and huge bait balls. We typically find large swimming pool sized bait balls around deep areas with lots of current. Bait balls mostly made up of threadfin herring and glass minnows are staging in areas that have lots of current where they can feed. As these huge schools of baitfish congregate so do many of the predatory fish that feed on these baitfish. Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, bluefish, bonito, and even kingfish have been seen and hooked fishing these bait balls. I for one love to target these massive feeding schools of fish using light tackle and fly gear. For newbie’s interested in learning how to fly fish, now is the time to dive right in. Multiple species, drag screaming action, and tons of shots at fish will surely jump-start your fly fishing addiction.
For those anglers that still have the itch to get in on some of the best skinny water sight fishing action found anywhere in the state of Florida, the Nature Coast is still boasting fantastic shallow water action for Redfish and black drum. Although both of these fish are in the same family and can be targeted in similar areas, successful strategies for targeting both can be a little complex at times. Redfish (Red Drum) tend to be more aggressive as they mature in size. Successful techniques include throwing a variety of retrieved lures, live baits and flies. In most cases when a Redfish homes in on a bait or lure it will aggressively strike at its prey. Black drum; on the other hand, tend to be slow methodical feeders. Typically these fish do not want to have to stray to far away from their feeding zone to track down bait. Because successful techniques for black drum often involve a “bait and wait” approach, many anglers often tend to catch these fish on accident.
Successful game plans for targeting both redfish and black drum in similar areas should involve three main strategies: Target areas with structure, moving water, and prevalent sources of food. Most often the most successful structures are oyster bars, rocky flats, and spoil islands. Once a promising structure is found often you will find baitfish immediately. Jumping mullet are always a great indicator and if the area also holds mud minnows, crabs, oysters, and pinfish you really are in business. And as far as the moving water aspect is concerned if you have tidal movement you have moving water. Successful anglers will find out this month that if you combine all three of these strategies into a game plan great fishing days will happen.
Capt. Tommy Thompson’s website {352-284-1763} captain@twotree.net
Inshore Light Tackle and Fly Fishing
Steinhatchee, Florida