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The Big Bend Report - 3-10-10
With the warming trend coming up this week inshore fish will be ready to chew. Trout are on top of most anglers list in Citrus county because the opening ( last week ) was poor fishing conditions. The west facing points on the outside keys with an incoming tide is the best areas to catch trout. The best baits have been free lined live shrimp but because of the cold conditions live shrimp can be hard to find. AD.O.A. 1/4 oz. glow shrimp worked very slowly across the rocks on these points will last longer and catch fish just like the real thing. Some of the trout I have caught on the last 3 trips have been way over 20" ( 14 so far ) with some hitting the 25" mark. Remember only one per person over 20" can be kept, but please consider releasing these big breeder trout. North of the Homosassa River all the way to Fish Creek have been the best points.
Sheep-head are still out on the rocks but a little deeper then last month. Most of the guides have told me that they are running out to 10' to 14' of water. Shrimp on a 1/4 oz. jig head or a 1/0 Eagle Claw bait holder hook with a 1/4 oz. lead to get it to the bottom. The water has been murky and a depth finder has to be used to find the rocks even in the shallow depths. Reports of trout out on the rocks in recent day smakes me to think that more trout will be moving back to the flats and creeks as the water continues to warm. High incoming tide this weekend will be mid morning.
Capt. William Toney
www.homosassainshorefishing.com
Big Bend Region
Capt. Jimmy Nelson
Extreme Offshore Adventures
telephone: 352-427-6232
email: jimsefa@yahoo.com
website: extremefishingadventures.net
The Big Bend Report Off-Shore 9-27-09
Offshore fishing in the big bend has been very good. The water temps are in the 85-88 range. The sizzling hot water and summer time weather have kept the mackerel and cobia very happy. The cobia have been thick from the flats to 80+ feet. We've been catching most of our cobia in the 25-60 foot range, mainly because that's been where we have targeted them. The cobia have been on large structure. Rock piles and wrecks are always a good place to find cobia. You can also pick them up under weed lines, rays, floating debris, and behind channel markers. Live bait is always a good first choice for cobia but we've pulled several in the boat on frozen threadfins, buck tail jigs, rubber eels, trolling lures, and just about any fast moving bait that you can get in front of them.
The kingfish and spanish mackerel have been easy to find. Just look for bait getting busted and you will find the mackerel. We have also been catching several bonito, jack crevalle and barracuda that have been mixed in with the mackerel. If you want to target the kings, trolling has proven to be very effective. Troll king busters and other fast moving lures on top. Another good option is stretch 25s and 30s. They will surely put the kings in the boat. If you just want a king or two as a by catch, put a flat line in the water while you're fishing for grouper and you will eventually have a kingfish swim by and pick it up.
The grouper fishing is how it usually is in the summer, a little slower than spring and fall but it has still been productive with a steady flow of keepers ending up in the box. The big red grouper are being caught in 50+ feet of water but the gags have been found from 20 feet on out. Red snapper rare deep, not as easy to find as last month, but the mangroves have started showing up everywhere. Good luck!!
Capt. Jimmy
Spear fishing has been hot-to-trot as well with the cool water starting to move in so have the gags. Steve Sawyer (Lakeland, FL) shot two nice gags in about 12' on some reefs off of Homosassa last week. He also commented that the sheephead and mangrove snapper are just as thick on the shallow reefs. So load those guns and take peek in the 12'-15' range. There out there!!
