CRYSTAL RIVER AND HOMOSASSA
FISHING REPORTS
Crystal River
and Homosassa River Fishing Charters
Jan /
Feb / Mar /
April / May /
June / July / Aug / Sept / Oct / Nov/ Dec
By Captain Mark Zorn aka Capt
"Z"
July
19, 2010: Michael and his two sons (Steven and
Matthew) met me at MacRae's on the Homosassa River. We
were at the end of high tide, so we decided to try for some reds
!
On the first cast Matthew
hooked up with a big one. After a good fight, he landed a
fat 25 1/2" Redfish. Matthew seemed to have the secret
touch and before his dad or brother could get hooked up, he had
another one on. It was another nice keeper Redfish around
20" long....Way to go Matthew !
Before long Michael and
Steven got in on the action, an we had our boat limit of Reds
and released a few others before we changed gears and set our
sights on Speckled Trout.
Using 3" gulp shrimp on a
1/16 oz jig head, the action continued and we landed Speckled
and Silver Trout, Bluefish, Sea Bass, Lady Fish and others.
At the end of the day, the
boys caught the most fish, but the dad had the most keepers.
It's always a pleasure to spend the day with a family that
appreciates the sport of fishing ! Many thanks to
Michael, Steven and Matthew.
July 1 - 18, 2010:
GONE FISHING ! What else would a fishiing captain
do on his vacation. I'll be back on the waters of Crystal
River and Homosassa on the 19th. I look forward to seeing
you then !
June 20-30, 2010:
The waters of Crystal River and
Homosassa continue to be clear, and the fishing and scalloping
have been fantastic. We are truly blessed that the tragedy of
the oil spill has not effected our area to date.
Scallop season
opened early this year on June 19th and runs
thru Sept 15th. Scalloping brings many
people to the Crystal River / Homosassa area,
and there have been plenty of scallops to go
around. I've been enjoying many scallop
trips with my guests, and boat limits are the
norm. Depending on the tide, we've been
harvesting scallops in 4-8 feet of water.
Speckled Trout and
Red Fishing have also been very productive thru
out the month of June and I expect and look
forward to the same in July !
June 18-19, 2010:
Captain William Toney and myself met our clients at the
Tarpon Key Lodge at the mouth of the
beautiful Homosassa River. This lodge is a one of a kind place to stay on
the Homosassa River. It's a self-contained private island that is only
accessible by boat. A great place to just get away and the perfect place
to plan a fantastic fishing vacation.
Jay, Gary, John and Steve were visiting Crystal River to
enjoy some great fishing and just have a good time. They were lucky enough
to do accomplish both !
John threw out the first cast of the day that produced
a fat 25 1/2" Redfish. His first redfish he'd ever caught ! What a
great way to start off the day !
We had boated our limit of Reds by 9:30 am, and decided to
set our sights on Speckled Trout and Spanish Macks. The fish were biting,
but a storm kept chasing us back towards the island for cover. After
deciding that the storm was not going to allow us to do any more fishing we
called it a day, however there was plenty of Redfish for the grill that evening.
On the second day we went after Reds again. The bite
was slow at first, but soon the action picked up. Steve landed the largest
Redfish at 30" long.
After redfishing, we decided to go offshore and fish the rock
piles. Everyone was catching a wide variety of species including Spanish
Mackerel, Flounder, Snapper, Grouper, Bluefish, Ladyfish, Shark and others.
Like the first day, the storms were still around us and we watched a couple of
water spouts form before deciding to head back to the island.
As always it was a pleasure teaming up with Captain William
Toney, and many thanks Jay, Gary, John and Steve for a great two days of
fishing.
June 16, 2010:
I met John and Brian at Pete's Pier on Crystal River. The
forecast was HOT !! and we hoped that the fishing would be the same. The
action started off a bit slow, but it wasn't long before things started to
really heat up !
Brian started things off with a 23" Gator Trout.
We had a shore lunch scheduled, so this fat Trout was the perfect start to a
tasty lunch. The action continued with everyone catching fish.
Later on we switched to using free-lined live shrimp and had the Spanish
Mackerel and Snapper in a feeding frenzy. Both John and Brian also
landed some nice Flounder as well as small Grouper.
When it was time for lunch, we headed towards the island with
a cooler full of fish ready to cook up our fresh catch of the day. A
perfect and tasty ending to another great day on the water.
June 14, 2010: It was another beautiful day on the fishing flats of Crystal River.
A light breeze out of the West kept us comfortable all day. Tony, Kim,
Maddie and John were visiting Crystal River and were ready to catch some fish -
and that's exactly what they did!
Everyone boated their share of Speckled Trout, Sea Bass,
Bluefish, Blue Runners, Shark, and Snapper. Kim had the largest Trout, but
Tony landed the most keepers. Maddie caught just about everything you
could think of, but was most happy to help her mom and dad.
After a while we changed tactics and targeted Spanish
Mackerel. Tony had the first strike, but tried to put the brakes on the
speedy Spanish Mac that got away to be caught another day. John hooked up
with a "Monster Mac", a big 31 inches long that pulled the Boga Grip down to the
5 Lb mark. Way to go John !
Another great day of Crystal River fishing goes down in the
log book, and hope to see this family back on the water again soon.
June 12, 2010:
The Turman family reunion continued today out of the Homosassa Fishing Club.
My fishing partners for the day were John, his daughter Emily, and Chris and his
son Troy.
This fun group was made up of four boats of anglers who were
all competing for the most fish landed per boat. It was only a half day
of fishing, but Emily and Troy didn't waste any time and made the most of every
minute. Our crew went on to land 91 fish ( yes... almost 100 fish) and
came in 1st place as the boat landing the most fish. This awesome
catch consisted of Speckled Trout, Spanish Mackerel, Sea Bass, Pompano, Lady
Fish, Shark and others. The #2 boat came in at 82 fish landed !
Now I must say not bad- but better luck next time guys !
Seriously.... it was all in great fun, and only legal limits
were kept and all others were released unharmed back into the gulf to catch
another day. Many thanks to the Turman group for a fantastic and fun two
days of fishing.
June 11, 2010: The
Turman family was down from Atlanta for a gamily reunion, and as always, it was
my pleasure to fish with them out of the Homosassa fishing Club. Today
John, his sister "Laura" and her husband "Harold" boarded my boat and we set out
to do some catch'n. As it turned out it was a special day because it
was Laura's birthday, and what a fantastic fishing birthday it turned out to be
!
Laura started her birthday out by landing what ended up to
be the largest speckled trout of the day, which was a 22" long, 4 Lb GATOR Trout
! She also went on to put most of the keeper sized trout in the
cooler. Later on in the day - when we went looking for Reds, she was still
"on fire" and continued to show off her fishing skills. Laura put the
first keeper Redfish in the cooler and didn't stop until she landed a beautiful
30", 9 1/4 Lb Bull Red ! Wow !!! Way to go "Birthday Girl".
Now I must mention the two gentlemen anglers, "John" and
Harold" who also landed their share of nice Reds, But Laura the Birthday Girl
was the shinning star of the day !
May 25, 2010: I met my friends and some of my
favorite fishing guests "Ben and Fran" at the dock of the
Atlanta Fishing Club in Homosassa. Ben had a group down
from Atlanta and they had a shore lunch planned for later in the
day. The pressure was on to catch lunch, and this
team was sure to deliver!
We made a run offshore to a rock pile and
targeted Spanish Mackerel and Snapper. The action was
fast and furious when a big Cobia showed up and gobbled up
Fran's bait. She set the hook and didn't let this
fierce competitor rattle her, as she went on to land this Cobia
after a 10 minute battle.
This nice keeper Cobia weighed in at 36" long and 17 Lbs and
made a nice contribution to the shore that we cooked up on the
club's island along the river.
Ben was not to be outdone, and went on
to land a huge 24" long, 5 1/2 Lb Gator Trout.
Thanks
Ben and Fran for another exciting and fun day of Homosassa
fishing !
May 20, 2010: Today I picked my clients up at the
"Tarpon Key Lodge"
at the mouth of the Homosassa River. Fred, his daughter Megan,
and their friend John were my fishing partners for the day, and
they were ready to go ! On the first stop Megan hooked up with
a 24" Redfish and landed the bronze beauty like a pro. Fred and
John put two big Speckled Trout in the Boat using live shrimp
under a popping cork while working the grassy points where the
Reds like to hang out.
We decided to move on out to the shallow
rocks and the action continued. Using 3" shrimp Gulp on 1/16 oz
jig heads we went on to catch Speckled Trout, Spanish Mackerel,
Grouper, Cobia, Blue Fish, Lady Fish, Blue Runners, Jack
Crevalle, Rock Bass, Pink Mouth Grunts and Shark. Fred said
he had fished all over the world and had never caught as many
species of fish in one day as we did fishing today out of
Homosassa.
Fred and John were fantastic fishermen, but
Megan was definitely the "master angler" of the day catching the
largest of all the keeper Redfish, Speckled Trout and Spanish
Mackerel. Better luck next time guys !
Licenses
While fishing out of Crystal River, I've been using a 1/16 oz
jig head with a live shrimp.
