The one and "only" good thing about a NE cold front, is that you can usually make it out a couple miles before it gets to rough. I had my dear great clients Mishel, Earl and Jason on board today and we made the best of it with the gusting winds. I started the day tracking down some snook in the river and we immediately hooked up. We had them on and some real good ones; but they either straightened the hooks or the hooks pulled out. Mid morning, we made our way to the gulf and began trolling some inside ledges. The first rod went off and Mishel caught one heck of a surprise snook on a Rapala x-rap 20. We picked up a keeper grouper and then made our way south to cast a couple plugs for some more gags. I put the boat in position and the team put some beautiful gags in teens to top off the day. It was a bit bumpy, but thank you all for working hard and congratulations on a great day. Here's Mishel with her big Crystal River snook... Capt. Dan
Thursday, Nov 07 2013
Crystal River, Limit of Gags and Big Fish of the Year.... "So Far"
Written by Captain Dan
The day of all days..... Finally, we had a break from the howling winds and we're able to make a run offshore. Gary, Jim and Luis were my guests today out of Pete's Pier Marina and it was a great grouper day. Calm seas, aggressive gags and beautiful weather- it felt good to be offshore after five days of windy weather. I took the guys to the 20ft range, sent down the Rapala x-raps and "wham" the grouper were on. Gary had big fish honors and raised the bar again for big gag grouper of the 2013 season. The fished weighed 22lbs on the boga grip and was in the mid 30" range. All the other grouper were of quality size as well and we caught a couple keeper trout on the flats to end the day. I can't thank you all enough for the great time and here's Gary with today's this years big grouper... Capt. Dan
Well.... Unfortunately, I had to cancel another grouper trip due to the recent windy conditions, but I was to save the day with my good friend Capt. Randy Hodges. Randy is a life long friend of mine, excellent fisherman and knows some of the deep Ozello back country like no one else. We shared some trade secrets and had a blast. He and I took turns poling the Silver King around and we found some nice trout and red fish. The wind made it a bit tough to sight fish, but one particular red fish was tailing so perfect, I wish we could have got it on video. The day ended with a pair of river snook and I'm hoping tomorrows conditions are favorable for trolling up some gags. Here's Randy with a fine Crystal River snook... Capt. Dan
I always want every trip to be a perfect day, especially with the weather; but today we definitely had less than "favorable" conditions. I had Bill and Hazel on board from New Mexico and we made the best of a windy situation. We loaded up after 8am and made our way to the flats. The tide was dumping out hard and it kept getting lower. We started picking up quite a few trout, but the wind went in to fourth gear and it was rough. White caps and frothy on top of the swells - it wasn't fun. To save the day, we found a good school of small snook in the river and we landed nine on them to bend the rod. I wish the conditions could have been better, but we hung in there and had a fun time. Here's Hazel with one of today's Crystal River snook....