Wednesday, Jan 09 2013
Crystal River Mixed Bag & Big Sea Bass....
I broke a record today for my boat and we caught the largest sea bass I've seen yet. Doug and Virginia were my guests today out of Crystal River and they had a great time. Running offshore to the ledges and rock piles, we caught some beautiful sheepshead, grunts, sea bass, grouper and some other odds and ends to fill out the day. The seas were flat calm and it was truly a picture perfect day. We ended today's trip targeting some shallow rock/oyster bars catching some trout on jerk baits and all the trout were upper slot quality fish. I will say the large sea bass we caught today was quite a fish and a true trophy at almost 3lbs. I thank you both for a fantastic Crystal River charter and look forward to seeing you again soon... Capt. Dan
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Saturday, Jan 05 2013
Crystal River Big Sheeps...
It felt so good to finally make a run offshore to the sheephead grounds and hooked in to some big ones. The weather has been so hit and miss lately and today was our window of opprotunity. Chuck and Edna were my guests out of Pete's Pier Marina and while the winds were quite strong during the morning - by noon, it was smooth sailing. The gulf is still cold and hovering around the 58 degree mark. When the conditions are like this, sheepshead are a best bet. The big sheepshead today were on the ledges and using a simple knocker rig with a live shrimp was our method for success. A pleasant bonus for Chuck with the hot rod, were three keeper sized grouper. We caught and released them on 10lb test line, which gave Chuck a great fight and a run for his money. He played them out beautifully, took some pictures and sent them home. The afternoon was gorgeous and I thank you both for a great day... Capt. Dan
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Friday, Dec 07 2012
Crystal River Grouper Inventory.....
Grouper, grouper, grouper!!! It was a fun catch and release day today with Lisa and Jay on board and they have always wanted to catch some big grouper. Unfortunaly the season is still closed, but that doesn't mean you can't go out and prove to the "Gulf Council" that there is not a shortage of gag grouper and take plenty of picutures. Well thats what we did and we caught some beautys. We trolled just a couple miles offshore in the 10ft range and in less than a hour, caught several keeper sized gags. It was a fish on every pass and the CD 14 fire tiger Rapala was the hot ticket. After taking some great pictures, we ran to some shallow rocks and jigged a variety of species to end the day. Trout, mackerel, sea bass and flounder finished the trip and I thank you both for the fun day. Here's the couple with a great together shot... Capt. Dan
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Thursday, Dec 06 2012
Crystal River Beautiful Weather...
I can hardly believe were in December with this beautiful weather were having. We're so blessed, and the fishing is truly fantastic. Today's Crystal River Charter was a great one and I had the pleasure of having Hazel and Bill on board for the day. These couple requested plenty of action and I delivered. We had an outstanding day targeting a mixed bag of species. Trout, grouper, sea bass, flounder, mackerel and other odds and ends kept the rods bent during the day. The abundance of Spanish Mackerel right now was surprising and we caught our fair share and lost many, many jigs to them today. The gulf has warmed to 66 degrees offshore and the action should remain great until a cold front comes through. I really enjoyed today with you both and congratulations on a fine day out of Crystal River... Capt. Dan
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Tuesday, Dec 04 2012
Crystal River Gags and Trout...
I had a really good time with Dale on board for the day and we caught our limit of trout, plus released some hefty gag grouper. Dale was solo, so I gave him the option of what species we wanted to target. Dale has fished in this area years ago with the best trout guide that Citrus County has ever known, "the late Marvin Williams" and it was great to hear some of the past stories. Trout was going to be our morning target species and as luck would have it, we caught some quality trout. The bite wasn't fast and furious, but steady enough to keep us interested. With a good catch of trout on board and a grouper trolling rod ready to go, I said "hold on Dale, were going offshore". I could go on and on, about how terrific the grouper action was; but I'll just sum it up and say "it couldn't be any better". I thank you for the excellent day and will look forward to seeing you next time... Capt. Dan
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Saturday, Dec 01 2012
Crystal River Variety Inside and Out...
We covered the whole spectrum today, from the inshore flats, to the near shore rock piles. John and Chuck were on board for the day and my only instructions were too keep the rods bent. Stating the day inshore on the trout was a little slow on keepers, but we found a few and lots of shorts to get the day going. I never really like the outgoing tide during the full moon, so I'll blame the slow morning keeper trout bite on that. The seas were favorable to make a run offshore, so we left the trout and loaded up on the mixed species. Keeper sized grouper, sea bass, grunts, mackerel, trout and a pompano made for a very exciting afternoon. The action was great and these guys had a fantastic catch. I thank you both for the fun day and look forward to seeing you soon... Capt. Dan
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Tuesday, Nov 27 2012
Crystal River Calm Seas...
You could have taken a canoe offshore Crystal River today. Rob and Keith we on board and these gentlemen had a great Crystal River fishing charter. We began the day jigging up some trout on the bars with new penny MirrOlure Lil' Johns and the trout bite was pretty good. As a pleasant surprise, we caught a hard fighting bonito to add some excitement to the mix. The gulf calmed to a mirror flat surface around noon, so we made our run offshore and caught the usual mixed bag of goodies. it was a picture perfect day and I thank you both for the fun time. Here's the guys with a fine mixed bag... Capt. Dan
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Monday, Nov 26 2012
Crystal River Rocks...
We changed it up today and had a great Crystal River charter targeting the shallow water rocks while catching a mixed bag. Nancy, Scott and Mike were on board and we let the sun come up a little, especially since there was ice on the boat this morning. Leaving the dock at 9am, we reached the gulf to a chilly 59 degree water temperature and continued our run offshore. We primarily stayed in the 10ft range and had some great action including sheepshead, grunts, sea bass and grouper. Live shrimp on a 1/8thoz Hank Brown jig head was our bait of choice and makes for fun easy fishing. After we had a cooler full of goodies, I just had to check on the grouper inventory to see how they were doing. We made a couple passes over some holes and caught some hefty gags. We took a few pictures, released them and called it a day. I thank you all for the great day and here's Scott from Ohio with a beautiful Crystal River grouper... Capt. Dan
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Saturday, Nov 10 2012
Homosassa Trout and a Skinny Water Grouper...
Day three today at the Homosassa Fishing Club with the Spalding party and it was another great day on the water. I had Darren, Robbie and Ed on board and we had a slow start for the first part of the day. Lady fish, short trout and red fish was all we could luck into before our shore lunch, but we finished strong. After a great shore lunch, we headed back out to the flats and all the guides had a great catch of trout. My boat had a pleasant surprise of catching a keeper sized grouper in really shallow water to top off the afternoon. Thanks to the entire grouper for a great couple of days and look forward to your next visit... Capt. Dan
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Monday, Nov 05 2012
"One More Cast" with Shaw Grigsby....
I just finished filming an excellent upcoming episode of "One More Cast" with Shaw Grigsby. This was truly a milestone in my fishing career and to fish with such a legend in the fishing industry, was a dream come true. The show will air after the first of the year on the Sportsman's channel and will feature some beautiful Crystal River grouper... Capt. Dan
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