A special trip today with my great clients Mishel and Earl and we trolled up some hefty gags. The seasons still unnecessarily closed, but we wanted to have fun on some hard pulling grouper. With a light SE wind, we made our run offshore to about 20ft of water and the grouper bite was fantastic. The first hook up was very exciting and as Mishel was reeling in her grouper, a huge goliath grouper ate her fish and we lost the battle. We continued on trolling rock pile to rock pile and totaled over 25 gag grouper with the majority of them keepers, while the largest tipping the 18lb mark. Rapala x-raps in the bunker color, were the baits of choice and the gulf water visibility was crystal clear top to bottom. To finish our trip, we made a stop in the creeks, caught a couple red fish and the day was quite a success. I thank you both as always for the great times and look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks. Here's Mishel with the big grouper of the day... Capt. Dan 

A fun father and son full day charter out of Crystal River today and Rick and Everett had a ball. Leaving from Pete's Pier Marina just after 8am, we made our run offshore to some scattered rock piles and see what we could find. Casting jigs, free lining live shrimp and bottom fishing with Hank Brown jigs produced a mixed bag of treats including; trout, grouper, lady fish, sea bass, mackerel, grunts and even a early arrival cobia. My young angler Everett did great and nothing brings more joy to this Captains than seeing a young fisherman catch a bunch of fish. I thank you all for the fun time and look forward to seeing you again soon... Capt. Dan

A unbelievable gorgeous day out in the gulf and I had my good friend and client Ted on board to enjoy it. We began the day targeting trout on the last of the incoming tide using DOA jerk baits around the shallow hard bottom areas and finishing our limit, a little bit deeper with MirrOlure Lil' John jigs. The trout bite was very good and crystal clear water conditions made for some exciting strikes. For a change in the action today, and even though grouper season is closed, we decided to cast some plugs, made a run south off Homosassa and do my speciality: Shallow Water Grouper. The grouper action was absolutely outstanding and between fishing three different structures, we landed over twenty gag grouper in no deeper than 8ft of water. Using Yo-zuri crystal minnows and rapala F-14's, it felt great to wrestle with some grouper. All the gags were released unharmed and they'll be waiting for us, come season opener July 1st. Thank you Ted for the great day and look forward to doing it again soon... 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 

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

What a picture perfect day to be on the Gulf of Mexico! I had my long time Maine guide friend Jim on board, for a full day of some offshore and inshore fishing. We began the morning to foggy conditions and stayed in the river catching trout and lady fish until the fog cleared, to safely make our run offshore. A little after 9am the fog cleared and we were offshore bound. Targeting some rock piles in the 17ft range, we loaded up on a great mixed catch. Large sheepshead, black drum, flounder, grunts, and grouper gave us an awesome show off the different structures we fished, to make for a busy day. Keeping just enough for dinner and releasing close to 20 keeper sheepshead, we ran back inshore and finished the day with four beautiful back country red fish. I was so pleased to be able to put Jim on such a variety of species, after he has done such a great job guiding me on some fantasttic Maine brook trout and salmon over the years. Thank you Jim for the fun time and hope to see you soon... Capt. Dan

What a great way to end the year by taking some fantastic young anglers fishing. I had Robert, Mack and Will on board from California today out of Crystal River, for a half day charter and just some fishing fun. It was a catch and release day and we caught an awesome variety of species. While fishing the river, the guys caught mangrove snapper, trout, red fish and lady fish. It was an extremely foggy morning and it took most of the morning for the fog to burn off, but when it cleared, we made a quick run to a couple rock piles for some steady action. The sea bass and grouper gave a good pull on the lines for several stops, but the highlight of the day was seeing a 200lb Goliath grouper swim under the boat in 6ft of water for an unbelievable surprise. The boys counted over 30 fish and it was the best fishing day they have experienced. I thank you all for a great time and ending the year on a perfect day. Here's Mack and Will with a double header sea bass catch... Capt. Dan

Dr. Marks from Sanibel Island joined me this Christmas Eve, for a full day out of Crystal River. With the action being so great on the shallow hard bottom areas, that was were we spent our day catching some tasty seafood species. The morning started out with a foggy, light drizzle; but ended with blue skies and sunshine. The sea bass bite was outstanding once again, but I encountered more sheepshead this charter for a welcomed surprise. Grouper, trout, Spanish mackerel, grunts, sea bass, sheepshead and a end of the day red fish, was our total plethora of species for the day. Great action, good laughs, funny stories; it was truly a perfect day on the water. I thank you for the great time and have a Merry Christmas... Capt. Dan

I had a special request to target some shallow water grouper today and even though the seasons closed, we had some outstanding catch and release action. Jim was on board today out of Pete's Pier Marina and we were excited to troll up some gags. Calm seas, clear water, ideal water temperature and the gulf was to ourselves; it was shaping up to be the perfect day. We arrived at our first destination just after 8am and shortly after, we were catching, photographing and releasing several beautiful grouper. Using Rapala x-raps in the fire tiger and bunker colors were are baits of choice for the day. We fished from the 15ft depth range on out to 35ft of water and every single location produced keeper gags. Only a handful of under sized grouper were brought to the boat and the majority were keepers ranging from 23" to 32". I wish I could post all the great pictures from the day, but here's Jim with one of the larger grouper form today's charter. Thank you for the great time and look forward to seeing you again soon... Capt. Dan

I changed the schedule today with Dr. Joe and we made our offshore run first this morning and then finished the day inshore. I wanted to check out some ledges in 15ft of water off Homosassa and see if the sea bass were congregeated there. Leaving from Pete's Pier Marina again, we made our long run south and with calm seas, it was a perfect ride. When we arrived at our location; grunts, sea bass, trigger fish and several grouper were waiting for us and started our day off great. Using live shrimp on a 1/8th oz Hank Brown jig head was our bait of choice and on light tackle, all these species fight great. To finish up the afternoon, we made our run back to the North, worked the bars and with a little hunting, we found the trout. The trout were a little finicky this afternoon and I almost gave up on them, but Joe hooked the first one and the rest soon followed. I want to thank you for a great couple of days, it was a joy to fish you and look forward to your future visits... Capt. Dan