A last minute cancellation for today's charter, but I was able to break in my new engine on my skiff and fish with my good friend Capt. Randy Hodges. Yesterday, I had my new 2015 Mercury 115 four stoke installed on my Silver King skiff and I was anxious to put some time on it, before I began chartering out of it. I always enjoy this time of year when the conditions are right and pole the rocky shore lines deep in Ozello. The fog was a bit of a hazard for the morning hours, but soon cleared and we were eventually deep in the woods. The red fish were definitely there and we caught about a dozen on DOA golden bream jerk baits over a couple hours, while casting along the shore lines. A good time and here's Randy with the big one from today... Capt. Dan

With a couple days down while I wait for a replacement part for my engine, I had the opportunity to fish with my great friend Capt. Matt Flemming and see the North country. Matt is an expert in the Yankeetown, North terrain and he invited me to fish the creeks for red fish. This is John boat/Air boat country and we had a great time. The red fish were deep in the holes and just a simple live shrimp under a popping cork worked great. We didn't catch any large reds, but numerous "rats" in the 15"-17" range. I really enjoyed the day and here's a shot of a mouth of a creek, we worked our way up in to... Capt. Dan

I had hopes to go offshore today and do some catch and release grouper fishing, but mother nature had other plans. It was quite bumpy for the morning hours and with Mishel, Earl and Jason on board; we stayed in the comfort of the river. I'm not a huge fan of fishing the river, but whens there's no water and a hard NE wind; it can save the day. We fished a couple rock piles and did quite well. Lots of under slot red fish kept us busy with a keeper mixed in here and there and the same with the trout as well. Some black drum also kept the rods bent and it was a good time. I hit a spot or two in the salt river with the same results and with the tide coming in; I mad a run for the creeks. Unfortunately, I had a bit of engine trouble and had to wrap up the trip. I thank you all for the good time and I always enjoy having you on board... Capt. Dan

Nice full moon tides to get back in the creeks and the trout have finally showed up in some numbers, with the moon phase. I had a great full day charter with Tom and Susan out of the Plantation on Crystal River and we found the trout and red fish. We fished the shallow kelp beds with DOA deadly combos and drifted up some nice trout to start the day. It sure was good to see that the trout have showed up, they have been pretty scarce from talking to the other guides that have been inshore fishing. The couple put ten nice keepers in the cooler and then we made our way south through Ozello to fish for some reds. The red fish bite was pretty good with mostly little ones, but we finally added a pair of nice slot fish to end the day. I thank you both for the fun time and look forard to seeing you in the future... Capt. Dan

Today may have been the most red fish I've ever caught on one day, on a charter! I was at the Homosassa Fishing Club fishing the Craft party and the red fish were on. We had a surprising excellent tide for this time of year and plenty of water move around. I fished a couple points on the inner keys with mullet activity and could do no wrong. Every shrimp that hit the water resulted in a red fish. Now, most of them were shorts; but a couple keepers were mixed in too. I did trout fish for a couple hours before we red fished, but there were none to be found. A fun day with a great afternoon shore lunch and I thank you all for the fun time. Here's Frank with a fine Homosassa red fish... Capt. Dan

Baby it's cold outside "ice on the boat until 9am". Well, this is the cold front we did not need. The gulf has plummeted into the low 50's and not being on the water the last three days; it is the game changer. The winds are forecast to be up for the long range forecast and I personally only have done well on grouper when the gulf is above the 58 degree mark. I hope for warmer weather before the December 3rd season closure, but there's plenty of other species to target; which leads me to today. On today's charter I had Allen and Mike on board and we stayed inshore for the incoming tide and found some fine red fish. The bite was slow to be expected, but we caught several shorts, an over slot and some keepers to make the day. Free lined live shrimp and DOA jerk-baits were the baits of the day. Thank you both for the good time and great job on a chilly day... Capt. Dan

We were Rockin' and Rollin' out there today with Sue and Debra on board, but we hung in there and caught a couple. The gusty NW wind pushed in a little bit of tide and we were able to red fish for a couple hours. As many of you know, I've been on the offshore game for a while; so it took me a bit to find some red fish - but we did catch several. The shorts were keeping us busy and Debra caught her first keeper red fish. The tide finally dropped out and in amongst the white caps, we caught some fine keeper trout to finish up the day. A fun day with you both and I thank you for the great time... Capt. Dan

A week ago today the trout fishing was fantastic, but today it just wasn't happening. I was out of Macrae's on the Homosassa River fishing Tom and his family Karl and Stephen. The wind was up a bit for the morning hours and we gave it our best trout fishing, as I drove all over the "entire" gulf of Mexico it seemed like. One trout and that was it for a couple hours of fishing. The good news was, the winds layed down around 10:30 and we ran West. I stopped on a shallow rock in 10ft of water and in 20 minutes the guys had six beautiful grouper on ice - some really large ones too. We wrapped up the day and added one red fish to the catch and we headed to the dock. An awesome day grouper fishing and I thank you all for the fun time... Capt. Dan

If you're a fisherman, you either love the full moon tides or don't. I personally like them for red fishing, but grouper can be a bit tough with the large volume of water moving. However, the bite usually gets good though on the slack periods. Today Clell and Lee joined me for the day and we were able to troll up a quick keeper gag, before we hit the keys for red fish. The red fishing was good today and we did have to work for the keepers we had. Lots and lots of under slot fish kept us busy and it's always nice to see our up and coming red fish in good numbers. A great day with you both as always, and look forward to seeing you next time... Capt. Dan

The trout bite was not happening for us today with only one keeper, but the red fish and grouper were on. Bart, Jim and Richard were with me for the day and what a fun day. We tried drifting for trout for a couple hours off the keys, however they did not want to cooperate. The red fish on the other hand were awesome. The team caught double digit red fish and free lined live shrimp were the baits of the day. To end the trip, the seas calmed and we trolled up a pair of fine gags to take back to Pete's Pier. Thank you all for the great day and look forward to seeing you soon... Capt. Dan