They can't be big ones everyday and on today's charter, they definitely eluded us. I had Rick, Don and Mario on board and after we dodged the morning storms, it turned out to be a pretty nice day. We covered a bunch of ground from the North Shore off Crystal River to the back country in Dixie bay. The guys had action with red fish, mangrove snapper and a little pup snook, but we just couldn't get on any fish of any size. It was still a fun day and with super high tide from the steady SW wind, I gave the guys a great boat ride though the creeks. Thank you all for your efforts and here's Rick with a future trophy snook... Capt. Dan

The best of both worlds today out of Crystal River and Tony and Donna had a ball. Tony and Donna live in California, but when they are in town, we always have a couple great days on the water. Today's charter began running a little bit south and hoping to get a quick jump on the red fish. The school wasn't nearly as large as yesterday, but they were there and we did catch a few. You could see the push of fish, so we made a long cast with MirrOlure provoker jerk baits and hooked up. A couple over slot reds, one just under the 27" mark and our next stop was to find a grouper. We reached the 20ft range, sent down some plugs and the drag was pulling off the reel. Donna and Tony did great and in a couple passes they had their limit. A picture perfect day and I thank you both for the fun time... Capt. Dan

Quite a day on the flats off Crystal River and myself and Capt. Clay Shidler encountered one of the largest red fish schools I've seen in years. I had Tood and Frederick on board today and Frederick had traveled all the way from Sweden to experience some Crystal River fishing. After leaving from Pete's Pier Marina, we began targeting various points and we caught a nice slot red fish, jack crevelle and a couple mangrove snapper to get the going. My good friend Capt. Clay was just to the North of me, called me and said he had just realeased his second double header of over slot reds, but lost the school of well over a couple hundred fish. I immediatley jumped up on plane, made a big swing to the West of him about a 1/4 mile, shut down and the school popped up heading towards me. My team immediately hooked up and we totaled nine hefty red fish up to 32" and Capt. Clays party was back in them doing the same. A great team effort between the two boats and this is what guiding is all about. Here's Todd and Frederick with their second double header... Capt. Dan

An action packed day in the creeks, flats and near shore rock piles on today's Crystal River charter. I had Kay, Bill and Tommy on board and we had a fantastic day. To start the day we had a little and "I mean a little" bit of tide to work with to find a red fish. Luckily we found the right point and each of the guys caught some beautiful slot sized reds on free lined live shrimp. The water was getting supper skinny with the NE wind, so we did a combination of drifitng the flats for trout and anchoring on a rock pile to fill out the day. The trout action was Ok with a couple keepers, shorts and a bonus pompano, but the snapper fishing was superb. An easy limit on mangos made their way in the boat and another great day in the books. I thank you all for the fun time and look forward to seeing you again soon... Capt. Dan

Two full days of chasing down red fish at the Homosassa Fishing Club and myself and fellow Homosassa Guides Association Captains Mark Zorn, Rick Spratt, William Toney, Jonathan Hamilton, Jim Long, Mike Baize and Fred Lyles had the pleasure of fishing the Dodson party. Saturdays trip consisted of a good morning of fishing, afternoon shore luch and Capt. Zorn won the prize with the most keepers for the day. My crew did good with a couple nice red fish and half a dozen mangrove snapper to fill out the day. Sunday's trip was fair with red fish catches and the money pot was for the largest red fish and the tie breaker being most spots. It was a bit of a slow one for me and our largest red fish was a 21" decent fish, but not a money fish. The excitment at the end of the day was when Capt. Long and Toney had matching 26 3/4" red fish, but Capt. Toney won by having a very heavily multi spotted red fish to take home the $$$. A fun couple days and we always look forward to this yearly event... Capt. Dan

Red fish were the name of the game for Lee and Clell today out of Crystal River and the father and son team did great. The weather was going to be an issue, so we left a little bit later, let the storms pass and we had a nice window to get a 1/2 day charter in. The tide was perfect for us and the SW wind pushed a lot of water in. From the backcountry of Ozello to the outer keys, we caughy some really nice red fish. Free lining live shrimp along the rocky shore lines was the bait of choice and it worked beautifuly. Lee caught a true trophy and one of the largest red fish I've seen in the back country. It put up a great fight, we took some pictures and watched her swim away. I thank you both for wonderful morning and look forward to our next charter... Capt. Dan

An inside and out trip today with Donna, Tony, Merrick and Chris out of Crystal River. I met the gang at Pete's Pier Marina and we ran inside through the creeks to find a couple red fish. We jumped point to point and a pair of nice slot sized red fish and mangrove snapper got our day going. The tide turned to go out around mid morning, so our next stop was to catch a few live pin fish and meet and greet a grouper. The team caught several quality sized pin fish and we soon anchored up and dropped down for a grouper. Merrick caught a beautiful 25" gag, but that was the only one we could turn today. A couple break offs and it was quite slow for the afternoon bite compared to the last couple days. We wrapped it up just before 3pm and I thank you all for the fun time. Here's Donna with a beautiful Crystal River red fish that started the day... Capt. Dan

A fun day with Jen, Sam and Robert on board and they caught a little variety. Leaving from Pete's Pier Marina at 8am, we had just enough tide to find a quick red fish. We pulled up to one of my favorite rocky points and immediately hooked up. The team did great right off the bat and free lining live shrimp, they caught red fish, flounder and snapper. The tide was getting low and for some sure fire action, we ran to the rocks and kept the rods bent. Grunts, numerous snapper, sea bass and grouper filled out the afternoon and everyone caught plenty of fish. A great time with a great family and I look forward to seeing you all again. Here's Jen with a fine gulf flounder... Capt. Dan

What a day!!! Grouper, snapper, sea bass, grunts and red fish all by 1pm. I had Bill and Richard on board for today's Crystal River Charter and they had a day to remember. We left from Pete's Pier Marina just after 8am and made our way to the rocks. Great action with snapper, grunts and sea bass on a live shrimp with an 1/8th oz Hank Brown jig head was the bait of choice. With a good catch started, I made a quick stop on a shallow ledge on the way in and the team added a beautiful grouper to the mix. Only one grouper bite for us today, but the tide was running in and just getting right for trying our luck for a red fish or two. Well, the red fish bite was on and three perfect sized reds made thier way on board to top off the day. I thank you both for an excellent time and always look forward to our charters... Capt. Dan

One day they are biting like crazy and the next, well I'll just say it was a bit of a slow one. Pete, Jeff and George was on board with me today out of Pete's Pier Marina and we definitely had to work for them. I made the run offshore to the trout grounds and we caught a couple, but not steady at all. We did get in to a large school of jacks and bluefish to keep the rods bent and landed well over a dozen to add to the mix. A couple more trout here and there but with the big tide rushing in, the feed was not on. Before we called it a day, I made a couple stops inshore and we found a nice red fish to end the day. Not a banner trip with big numbers of keepers, but a lot of fun and I really enjoyed having you guys on board. Here's George with the red fish that saved the day... Capt. Dan