Crystal River Fishing Charters & Homosassa Charters

Quite the variety today on the rocks and we kept the rods bent. Pat and Oscar were my clients for the day and what a Crystal River Charter they had. With winter time upon us, I like to really concentrate on the sheephsead fishing for my winter charters. The sheepshead migrate inshore for spawning and congregate around various structures, usually until about mid March. That was today's plan and the guys had a fantastic mixed bag. Live shrimp on the rocks was the bait of choice for the sheeps, grunts and floiunder and we ended our trip jigging up a couple trout to end the day. A beautiful, cool day offshore, and I thank you both for the great time... Capt. Dan

A couple days off the water with some family in town and I had a great Saturday, celebrating my nephews first birthday.... Back to work today though and wooooo, it was a chilly ride. Bill was my solo guest and what a great 1/2 day charter he had. Bill lives local and fishes the back waters of Ozello on his own.  He doe's great on trout and red fish, but he wanted to target something different today. He asked about sheepshead, seas bass and pompano and believe it or not, he caught all three species. We fished a couple shallow rock piles and live shrimp on a knocker rig did the trick. A fun, but chilly day on the water and I look forward to seeing you again. Here's Bill with a fine Crystal River pompano... Capt. Dan

What a beautiful day and very comfortable conditions for today's team out of Crystal River. Bill and Karen were my guests for the day and they had a blast. The wind swapped out of the NE for us and allowed for much more favorable conditions for going offshore. Today, we agreed to leave the trout alone and target what ever else we could find. Red fish were our first order of business and from free lining shrimp around the oyster bars, to sight fishing them in the creeks, we caught quite a few. Two of them were mid slot fish, while the others were the typical winter "rat" reds. Next, we were offshore bound to anchor down on some sheepshead. Well... we eventually got in to them after about thirty grouper break offs. The gags were beating the sheepshead to the shrimp. (Yes, there's still no shortage of keeper gags inshore). The sheep's started coming over the gunnel and a fine catch of them ended our day. I thank you both for the fun time and look forward as always to our next trip... Capt. Dan

A steady SW wind kept me and my crew from heading offshore today, but we definitely kept the rods bent inshore. I had Tony, Roy and Chris on board and double digit red fish began our trip. Red fish after red fish were on the line and all were running in the 16" range, but fun none the same. Next up, schools of jack crevelles were coming through like packs of wolves and we had them on three at a time. With sore arms and for a change in species, we ended the trip with a nice catch of trout. DOA deadly combos and MirrOlure Lil' Johns helped the team put the trout on board and we called it a day. Thanks guys as always for the fun time and look forward to our next Crystal River Charter... Capt. Dan

I took a gamble today and made a run quite a ways offshore to see if the sheepshead are making there way inshore. Well, I'll just say this and yes they are..... I saw quite a few yesterday on some shallow locations which gave me the incentive to head West. So, for today's charter, Will and Trent were my guest visiting from the panhandle and wanted some fillets to take home. I knew I could load up on grunts and if the sheepshead were there, it would be a great bonus. Both plans came together awesome and it was truly a fish after fish day - with some catch and release grouper as well. With plenty of fish for the guys to take home, we worked up a couple trout and macks to add to the mix and what a day. I thank you both for the outstanding charter and look forward to next time... Capt. Dan

What a treat to have a great father and son team on board today. Sam and Sam Sr. were my guests and at 93 yrs old, Sam Sr. was catching them up. I wanted to check a couple areas to see if the big black sea bass have showed up, and they're there. The guys had them coming in one after the other and a couple nice grunts were mixed in with them. With a box full of sea bass, we ran back inshore and caught a handful of real nice trout. Not big numbers in the trout, but all upper to over slot fish. To end the day, I pulled up on one of my favorite oyster bars, and the team caught six red fish with two of them making it home to dinner. I thank you both for the great day and I look forward to seeing you guys again... Capt. Dan

A beautiful day out of Crystal River with Pat and Laura Lou on board and this husband and wife team did great catching some trout. I picked them up at their home on the river and headed West. We jigged some of the outer islands and though the bite wasn't fast and furious, the MirrOlure Lil' Johns and DOA soft plastics put a limit of 10 keeper trout in the box. Laura Lou had the big fish honors with a hefty trout over 20". A couple Spanish mackerel and a sheepshead were added to our day and I thank you both for the fun time... Capt. Dan

I'm ready.... I just had Gulf Coast Marine in Homosassa install my new 225 Pro XS Mercury Optimax for this year. I'm so blessed to be sponsored by Mercury and all of you that have fished with me, know how impressive these engines are. A big thank you to Mercury and let's go fishing.... Capt. Dan

I'm sad to say, today was the last day of the 2013 gag grouper season for our area and was it ever great. Just about every charter produced limits of quality keeper gags and throughout the five months of the open season, only a very few short fish were caught. As many of you know, shallow water grouper is one of my passions and I take a lot of pride to produce for all of you great clients. I seldom go past the 25ft range and trolling is my favorite method to target them, with casting plugs and bottom fishing following. With the new limits, fuel prices and fewer anglers on the water, the gag grouper stocks have rebounded very, very well. I don't know what the 2014 gag grouper season will bring, but when the dates are posted, I'll let you all know. To end the season, my wife and I did another fun day and we caught some quality fish in 7ft range casting plugs. F18 Rapala's were the magic lures and we get to enjoy some fresh grouper in the coming weeks. I thank each of you that fished with me this season and look forward to next years memories... Capt. Dan

It has been a tradition the last couple years for my wife and I to have a couple fun days at the end of the grouper season and put a couple fillets in the freezer for the family. Tomorrow is the last day of the 2013 gag grouper season and with today''s great catch, it's sad to see it end. Well, today was chilly to say the least, but the gags were on fire. Becky and I left from Pete's Pier just after 8am and fished the shallow rocks. We threw plugs on just a couple spots and by 9:15am we had our four fish limit. We caught and released a few others trolling, just to check out a couple areas for tomorrow and called it a day. Always fun to see the Mrs.'s get almost pulled in the water, but she does a fine job turning them. Here's Becky with a nice pair of Crystal River shallow water grouper.. Capt. Dan