A fun 1/2 day charter with my good friend and client Bill, out of Crystal River today. We had gusty NW winds, so we stayed in the safety of the river and caught a little variety. Free lining live shrimp in the spring holes produced mangrove snapper, red fish, and trout. We kept eight mangrove snapper and unfortunately the red fish and trout were a little short on one end. A pleasant surprise was when Bill caught a chunky fresh water catfish that put up a great fight. I haven't seen one of these in a while, so we took a quick picture and released it to fight another day - you never know what the next cast can bring. Thanks as always for the fun time and enjoy the fresh fish... Capt. Dan

Another great day on the sheepshead grounds. I know this has been my main target species lately, but the action has been great and starting next month, the other inshore species will be back in the picture. I had Ron, Becky and Malcolm on board out of Pete's Pier Marina and the group was ready for some sheepshead tugging on the line. Running offshore once again to some hard bottom areas, produced a great day of sheepshead fishing. We kept fifteen for the for the day and released a few others and some nice grouper as a mix. Live shrimp from Blue Water Tackle in Homosassa was the bait of choice and another fine day in the books. I thank you all for a wonderful time and enjoy tonight's fresh fish dinner. Here's Ron with the big one of the day... Capt. Dan

Wow, what a day! Skip, Chuck and John joined me for a full day out of Crystal River and running down some sheepshead. With hardly a ripple on the gulf, we loaded up, ran to some of my favorite grouper ledges and the sheepshead were there. The water is crystal clear right now in the 20ft range and it's quite a sight seeing all the different species of fish swimming around on all the various structures. We stopped on about a dozen locations and caught over 60 sheepshead along with some beautiful gag grouper, sea bass and numerous grunts. This was a big catch today and I only take a couple off each location, but please know, we safely released twice as many as we kept to be caught again. I did make a tackle change from the 1/8th oz Hank Brown jig head to a 1/2 oz knocker rig, due to the deeper water and it worked perfect. A great day with some great clients; I thank you all for the outstanding charter. Here's the crew with today's impressive catch... Capt. Dan 

I left the ledges alone for this charter and went back to the rocks to target the sheepies. Fred and Jim were on board for a full day out of Crystal River and with clam seas, crystal clear water and hungry sheepshead; the guys did great. We jumped rock pile to rock pile and caught a little variety on every stop. Sheepshead, grunts, sea bass, grouper and porgys kept the rods bent for a busy fish catching day. Live shrimp on a 1/8th oz Hank Brown jig head was our simple tackle rig for the day. After noon, we left the offshore species and ran in the creeks in hopes of a back county red fish, but came up empty handed today. It was about a nice a day as one could hope for and I thank you both for a great time. Here's Jim and Fred with their catch... Capt. Dan

A little bit of everything from today's trip, from the inshore species to the offshore. I had Clell and Lee on board for a full day out of Crystal River and the day for the most part, was identical to yesterdays charter. We started the day targeting trout and it was a little slower than I had hoped, but we caught a few keepers and some red fish mixed in while we fished inshore. The winds finally calmed just around noon, and we headed off to the sheepshead grounds. We anchored up and in short order, the sheepies were coming in one after the other. For a bonus, Lee caught a beautiful shallow water gag grouper that was 8lbs and put up a great fight on our light 10lb tackle. I thank you both for the fun time and great catch today. Look forward to seeing you soon... Capt. Dan

A picture perfect day out of Crystal River and Dan, Erin and Mark had an outstanding charter. We left from Pete's Pier Marina just after 8am and began the day jigging trout right were I left them yesterday. It was a little breezy for the first couple hours of the morning which made the boat positioning a challenge, but the crew had their sea legs and did great. Using MirroLure Lil Johns, DOA cal shad tails and gulp shrimp was what the trout were in the mood for. The winds slacked off around noon and we made our run offshore. I targeted some under cut ledges today and the sheepshead bite was excellent. We totaled close to thirty sheepshead for the afternoon and kept a bakers dozen, while releasing the others. Live shrimp once again was the bait of choice for the sheepshead and I thank you all for the fantastic day. Here's our mixed bag catch of trout, sheepshead, grunts and sea bass... Capt. Dan

After a week off the water, today was my homework day and l was ready to find some fish. Having several charters lined up, I always like to do the best I can for my clients and have a pattern established. Leaving just after 9am, I spent the morning jigging for trout with MirrOlure Lil Johns and totaled nine keeper trout which all were safely released. The trout were holding tight around the structures and the gulf water temperature was 57 degrees. I didn't check on the winter sheepshead, but they are pretty predictable and let's see what tomorrow brings. For those of you that don't know, I'm obsessed with fly fishing and today I brought one of my 8wt fly rods along. I normally don't fly fish on my group charters do to casting restrictions, but for one on one trips, we can make it happen. (In the near future I'm going to expand more on the fly fishing side). That said, I pulled up to a shallow shell bar and sight fished a couple trout; with one just over 20" and a under slot red fish on one of my home made Homosassa special flies. It's always enjoyable catching fish, but when it's on the fly, it's that much more rewarding. Well, that's today's recap and we'll see you soon... Capt. Dan

If you've wondered where I've been? I just returned from a great winter week family vacation in the South Central Pennsylvania area. A major change from the Florida weather l'm accustomed to; we experienced snow flurries, 17degrees mornings and highs in the low 30's. It was a great vacation seeing the vast farm lands and experiencing the world renowned 96th annual Farm Show. It was a little to cold for me to wet a line (it would have probably frozen) but I checked on several of the famous Pennsylvania trout streams, that I'll test my skills on in the future. I made a stop at the Yellow Breeches Outfitters (1-717-258-6752), a very knowledgeable and friendly fly shop and made some new friends. A beautiful outfitter shop with fly tying materials, books, clothing, flies, etc.. it had it all. Thank you Rowland for your time and hope to see you down here in the Crystal River/Homosassa area sometime. I did make a stop at the legendary Letort Spring Creek Run and I must say, this beautiful small stream, although intimidating for the fly fisher, is one of the most beautiful places I've seen. Thank you to all the friends and family for making this vacation so memorable and if your in the Boiling Springs area of Pennsylvania, stop by the Yellow Breeches Outfitters and say hello... Capt. Dan

Today was our 4th annual kids fishing trip with the 5th graders from Homosassa Elementary School. Myself and the rest of the 16 members of the Homosassa Guides Association donated our time, to give these youngsters a great fishing trip to remember. It's fun fishing, but a little science and math is involved as well. Recording the air and water temperatures, measuring and weighing the fish and enjoying the different types of wildlife; the day is a great exerpience. I had Mrs. B's group on board the these young lady anglers had a ball. Were anchored up, found a school of trout of all sizes and it was fish after fish. We recorded over 40 trout and everyone caught plenty. I thank everyone for making the event a great success and nothing is better than seeing these young anglers catch their first fish. Here's my crew with one of our Little Homosassa trout... Capt. Dan

I continued today's 1/2 day Crystal River charter targeting the hot sheepshead bite. Dan and Renee joined me out of Pete's Pier and they had a great morning. We made our quick run offshore, anchored up and fish on! We only fished two locations and had some outstanding action on the sheepshead and a few grouper also bent the rods. Live shrimp was once again our bait of choice and we released several other sheepshead to keep our stocks on the up. Calm seas and good fishing; it was a fun morning. Thank you both for the great charter and look forward to seeing you next time... Capt. Dan