Just a quick update. I had my long time friend and very respected outdoor writer David Brown on board for a feature story on Crystal River today. We caught some great fish and I don't want to give to much away, so please stay tuned for a future story in Florida Sportsman magazine. Here's David with one of today's "models"... Capt. Dan

Hardly a ripple on the water out of Homosassa today and the offshore trout bite continues to be very good. Today I was at the Homosassa Fsing Club with my two great friends Capt. Mark Zorn and Capt. William Toney and we had another great trip with the Craft party. We all set up on some long drifts with the DOA deadly combo/MirrOlure Lil' John combinations, and once again these outstanding rigs did their job. My crew of Phil, Tim and Bo had 11 keepers before we had to run in and prepare an afternoon shore lunch. Capt. Z and Toney had some great looking trout as well, along with several sea bass and a few mackerel. I thank you for a great day and always enjoy the time on the water with you all. Here's Phil with a beautiful 22" Homosassa trout... Capt. Dan

With calm seas, crystal clear water and great clients, today was a beautiful day out of Crystal River. Mark and Dave joined me for a full day charter and these gentlemen just wanted some great fish catching action. Running a little ways offshore to some scattered rocks in 6ft of water, we began the day catching some great trout on the DOA deadly combo/MirrOlure Lil' John combination rigs. Usually when the water depth is 5ft or deeper, I just use a jig with out a cork. However, due to the calm conditions, the clacking cork was calling up the trout from the deeper water. The guys had their limit on a couple drifts and running to another location, I spotted a nice tripletail on a piece of floating debris. Quickly hooking on a live shrimp, the tripletail was on jumping on the end of Daves line. I made another stop on my cobia hot spot for the afteroon and once again we had had a hook up, but quickly broke off around the structure. Thank you both for a great action packed day and look forward to seeing you again soon. Here's Dave with a not to common Crystal River tripletail... Capt. Dan 

The cobia did what they can sometimes do best, and that's make an angler go crazy. I had my great friends and clients Bill and Karen on board and they wanted to experience a drag pulling cobia. We left from Pete's Pier Marina this morning, caught a couple dozen pin fish and ran to a near shore wreck to find a cobia. There was another boat in the area and we patiently waited for them to move, before we anchored up and gave it our best. In a short time, we had a couple cobia surfacing next to the boat, but they had lock jaw today. Refusal after refusal was what we experienced, so we pulled anchor and saved the day with a nice catch of trout and a bonus flounder to end the day. Thank you both as always for the wonderful time and look forward to seeing you again soon... Capt. Dan

A totally different day out of Homosassa and even though it was another chilly morning, the day warmed nicely. It was senior Jamboree day at the Homosassa Fishing Club and I was fortunate to have Dr. Coco and Mr. Maddox on board for the day. These gentlemen have been fishing Homosassa for over 40 years and it's always a great time hearig the old time stories of what this area used to be like. Having an out going tide for the majority of the day, we bounced around and targeted trout for our charter. The warmer conditions put the trout in a feeding mood and the bite was extremely better today. We just kept our angler limit and finished up our afternoon with our famous Homosassa Guides Association shore lunch. Thanks to all the members for a great day and here's my crew with today's catch... Capt. Dan

You would have thought it was January by the chilly start to this April day. I had the Neal family on board for this Tuesday morning 1/2 day charter out of Macrae's and when I launched the boat this morning, the air temperature was in the low 40's. We arrived at the mouth of the river to a quite breezy NW wind, so we kept it simple and worked some of the shallow rock bars in Homosassa bay. The trout bite was a little slow, as to be expected due to the drastic 10 degree water temperature change, but we made a series of drifts and caught a few trout. A couple of under slot trout and three keepers was what our DOA deadly combo/MirrOlure Lil' John rigs produced. I thank you both for the fun morning and look forward to fishing again when the conditions are a little better... Capt. Dan

We knew the rain was on its way before we left the Homosassa Fishing Clubs dock today, but we were able to get a very good 1/2 day of trout fishing and shore lunch in, just in time. I had Iqbaugh, Scott and Jeff on board for this fine day out of Homosassa and we started off where we left them biting yesterday, and the trout bite was fantastic. Using DOA deadly combo oval corks and root beer colored MirrOlure Lil' Johns, my crew had their 15 fish trout limit by 11am. Great action for the morning and just after noon, we pulled up to the island and prepared a tasty shore lunch. It was a quick meal with all the fixings and we safely arrived back at the club dock just before the storm. Thanks to the entire West party for a great couple of days and look forward to your visit next year... Capt. Dan

The bite was on! Wow, what a day out of the Homosassa Fishing Club and myself and fellow Homosassa Guides Association Captains Mark Zorn, William Toney, Rick Spratt, Charlie Harris and Fred Lyles had an outstanding day. Trout limits across the board and several nice catches of red fish; it was a trip the West party will not soon forget. I had John, Phil and Tom on board and my crew did great with their 20 fish trout limit and a couple over slot and slot red fish. DOA deadly combos did the job on the trout and free lined live shrimp for the red fish, I can't thank you all enough for a great day. Here's me crew with their great catch... Capt. Dan

It was day three for Mishel and Earl to join me for another full day charter and today we launched out of Homosassa. Leaving the river and arriving at the mouth to breezy south winds, I knew today we would have plenty of water to red fish. The tide was just turning at roughly 9am, so we killed a little time and caught a few Homosssa trout. We made a long drift off St. Martins Keys and the trout were there in good numbers. DOA cal shad tail and MirrOlure Lil' John did the trick and it was great action until it was red fish time. The tide was getting pushed in pretty hard by the wind and by noon, the winds were out of the west and here came the water. We were jumping point to point free lining live shrimp and cut ladyfish, but all we could come up with in one lonely red fish for the afternoon. We gave it our best and we sure covered a lot of ground today. Thank you both for a great time and here's Mishel with her Homosassa red... Capt. Dan

We changed it up today and targeted some bigger game species for Mishel and Earl on their day two charter. With the cobia run just starting up, we ran offshore to one of my favorite locations and the cobia were there. Once we anchored up, about 10 cobia came to the surface and it was time to cast out a couple live pin fish. An immediate hook up was on order and in a couple hours time, we landed four cobia and lost two I estimated in the 30lb range. I just love the hard fighting battle these fish give an angler and you both did an outstanding job today. Here's Mishel and Earl with the first cobia we brought boat side today... Capt. Dan