Crystal River Fishing Charters & Homosassa Charters

Picture perfect weather and it felt like spring again. It was back at Tarpon Key Lodge for fishing the Green party and myself, Capt. Zorn and Capt. Toney were the hosts for the days charter and afternoon shore lunch. Merritt and Jeff were on board with me today and since the gang is flying back to Atlanta tomorrow, today was just a catch and release day. There was a stiff NE breeze for the early morning hours and it was pretty "skinny" running the flats. We started the day using cork rigs off the keys and did well catching six keepers to get the day going. As the day warmed and wind calmed, we made a quick 2 mile run to about 6ft of water and made a long drift over some spotty bottom. Excellent trout action and a mixed catch of pompano, Spanish mackerel, blue fish, grouper and sea bass filled out the day nicely. We totaled 16 keeper trout "which all were safely released", before we ran back to the lodge and prepared a fantastic shore lunch. A great time today with you both and here's Merritt with a keeper trout that posed for a quick picture... Capt. Dan

A beautiful day on the water with Joanne and Joe on board for their charter out of Crystal River. I assured them the trout action has been great and we made our run offshore. We began drifting some spotty bottom areas in 5ft of water and caught a nice mixed bag.  Trout, macks, pompano, lady fish, grouper, etc.... kept us busy and a combination of bourbon and watermelon colored MirrOlure Lil' Johns were the ticket. We left the variety show and made a run to check on a cobia spot, but no one was home today. To end our charter, we hit a couple points and found some red fish both above and below the slot to top off the day. I thank you both for the wonderful time and look forward to seeing you again soon... Capt. Dan

I believe I could have "almost", worn shorts on today's charter. It warmed up nicely and Doug, Virginia, Elizabeth and James had an absolutely beautiful day out of Crystal River. The trout action for us today's really heated up towards the end of the day, but was slow during the morning. We covered several area's, but had the best action in the mangrove creek mouths. We used the islands to block some of the SW wind and using DOA jerk baits and MirrOLiure Lil Johns, the gang caught some beautiful trout. It was a couple fish on at a time for a little while and time sure fly's by when you're having fun. I thank you all for the great day and congragulations on your fantastic catch... Capt. Dan

We hit it out of the park today! Myself and Capt. Mark Zorn fished the Kilebrew party for an excellent day of Crystal River Fishing. I had Bob, Greg and Brad on board and the trout fishing couldn't have been better. From the oyster bars to the rock piles, the trout action was excellent. My team primarily used MirrOlure Lil' Johns in the new Bourbon color (I really like this color, and so do the fish) on 1/8th oz DOA cal jig heads. We had some added bonus species for the day including snook, pompano and Spanish mackerel. The entire group did oustanding with both boats bringing in their limit of trout and Capt. Z had several more macks to end the day. I thank you all for the great time and for more pictures, please visit the Crystal River Fishing facebook page... Capt. Dan

Someday's, you hit it just right! With the barometer dropping before tomorrows front, today's action was unbelievable. The gulf reached the 60 degree mark and it seemed as if the fish came out of hibernation. John and Kelli were on board with me today and for the first part of their vacation, it truly began with a bang. We targeted the rock bars today with MirrOlure Lil' John's in the new bourbon color and it was the magic color. This color is similar to the root beer color, but more translucent and can be found exclusively a Blue Water Tackle in Homosassa. The trout bite and the additional bonus species were great and several trout were over the 20" mark. The team did beautifully catching their limit of trout and our next stop with the tide topping out, was a couple red fish points. The action was slow for the first couple places, but the last spot, we hit the money. We hooked into eight red fish on free lined live shrimp, with a couple nice keepers to end our day. I thank you both for the very memorable day and congratulations on a fine day of fishing... Capt. Dan

A little breezy on the big pond today, but we caught a few to ensure a great day. Clell, Sam and Butch were my guest today out of Crystal River and the guys met me at 9am at Pete's Pier Marina. Targeting offshore sheepshead was going to be my original plan, but the winds would not allow us to do so. For a back up plan, it was going to be an inshore day trying to hide from the wind and tackle some trout. We covered a lot of ground from the North to the South and had the best action in the creeks mouths. DOA deadly combos and glow jerk baits were the baits of choice.  We had some good action, but most of the trout were just under the keeper size with a couple keepers sprinkled in. I thank you guys for great time and look forward to seeing you again.... Capt. Dan

A beautiful day on the Gulf of Mexico with Chris and John on board. The guys weren't to serious about loading up the cooler with fish, so we made a long run south, did some scouting and checked out some early spring locations. Much like yesterday, the bite was quite slow for the the majority of the morning hours. We picked up an assortment of fish here and there and made a stop or two for sheepshead; but they were no where to be found.  Finally, when the late afternoon outgoing tide started running, the trout turned on. We had some awesome action for 30 minutes with a fish on almost every cast and the guys just kept enough for their family's. I really enjoyed the day with you both and enjoy tonight's fresh catch... Capt. Dan

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

When the weathers allows me to get offshore in October, the fishing is usually as good as it gets. This is exactly what Merrill, Lou and Dan experienced this fine day off Crystal River. I met the guys at Pete's Pier Marina and we were ready to troll up some gags. We targeted ledges, rocks and wrecks and all these areas had some very nice keeper sized grouper on them; plus we lost a couple too. Fire tiger, orange and blue mackerel colored Rapala and Yo-Zuri plugs were the top producers today and there was very little floating grass to deal with. Leaving the grouper, we anchored up on a rock pile and caught a multitude of species. The action was non stop and the big and "pleasant" surprise, was hooking into five beautiful pompano to add to our catch. What a perfect day and congratulations on your outstanding catch... Capt. Dan