Choppy and rough conditions today off Crystal River and did I ever earn today's catch. Scott and Clay were on board for the day and the morning grouper bite started off great. The first couple passes trolling produced a few grouper, but they were all just under the 22" minimum. The rest of the morning got tough and the conditions were very challenging. I'll put it this way - we didn't have a fish in the cooler until 12:30pm. Finally the grouper turned on for a few minutes and the guys put three real nice 10lbers on ice. The fourth one just wasn't meant for us today, so we anchored up on a rock pile and added a few more groceries to the cooler. I thank you both for the hard efforts and you guys did great with the less than favorable conditions. Enjoy all the fish... Capt. Dan
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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
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Friday, Oct 05 2012

Homosassa Big Haul...

I think we had almost everything we could offer today except red fish; but I'm confident we would have had a few, if the tide was in our favor. Myself and fellow Homosassa Guides Association Captains Mark Zorn, William Toney, Rick Spratt and Jody Johnson were at the Homosassa Fishing Club and we had the Turman party on board for the next couple of days. Randy, George and Jimmy were on board with me for the day and the morning trout bite was great. We drifted the shallow hard bottom areas with kelp grass and had nine beautiful Homosassa trout to start our morning. The tide was slowing up, so my crew and I ran to the shallow rock piles and caught a mixed variety. Grouper, sea bass, grunts and mangrove snapper kept us busy throughout the afternoon and it was just a fun day to be on the water. I thank the entire group for an outstanding day and here's our end of the day shot... Capt. Dan
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A perfect morning red fish tide and Bill, Joe and Mel experienced some fine red fishing. I picked the guys up from Pete's Pier Marina at 8am and we made our run North to get an early jump on the incoming tide. We targeted the rocky points with mullet activity and presented live shrimp to find our red fish. We caught several under slot red fish throughout the charter and I always enjoy seeing a good crop of upcoming red fish for the coming years; to go along with the keepers. Following the tide South, we caught a couple more nice red fish until the tide topped out. The trout bite was slow once again, but once the sea breeze kicked in and the tide turned, we had some action. Only one keeper made its way to the cooler, but several shorts kept us busy to end our afternoon. A couple mixed catches of mackerel, snapper and black drum were added to the cooler and I thank you all for the fun time... Capt. Dan
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A fine day out of Crystal River with the Platz family and friends again and the group did great. We spent most of the day using MirrOLure Lil' John jigs on the spotty bottom areas in 10ft of water for our mixed bag of species. Numerous trout, lady fish, sharks, sea bass, silver trout, mackerel, etc... kept our rods bent and it's always a fun time with all the different kinds of species. Around 1pm the tide was getting right to target red fish, so we hit the creeks. Free lined live shrimp around the rocky points produced for us today, and the red fish ended the day with a bang. I thank you all for the great day and enjoy all the fillets... Capt. Dan
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Thursday, Aug 09 2012

Homosassa Variety....

From the inshore species to the shallow rock piile residents, Donna, Tony and Merrick caught them all. What a fun day out of Homosassa and this great family sampled pretty much everything. We began the day on the outgoing tide redfishing and worked our way offshore. Every species we wanted to catch we encountered and the group had a fine catch to show for it. Action was steady on the rock piles and live shrimp on a 1/8oz Hank Brown jig head was our bait of choice for the day. I thank you all for the fun time and enjoy all the good fillets... Capt. Dan
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Monday, Aug 06 2012

Scallops and Rocks...

Myself and Capt. Rick Spratt had wonderful time with the Crymes family today and we loaded up on the scallops and caught a nice mixed bag on the rock piles. We met the group at Pete's Pier Marina and began the day just off the keys gathering our 8 gallon limit of scallops. Crystal clear water and perfect tides made it "easy" pickin's and our crew did outstanding. Just before noon we had our limit, cleaned our catch and then made our run offshore to spend the afternoon. Anchoring in the 8ft range, we caught a nice mix of grouper, grunts, sea bass, jacks, mackerel, etc.... and the action was very good. Live shrimp on a 1/8th oz Hank Brown jig head was our bait of choice for our success. I thank you all for the great time and look forward to seeing you again next time. Here's Colt with a handsome bag of scallops... Capt. Dan
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Wednesday, Jun 20 2012

Trouting in the Wind...

Another breezy day on the flats out of Crystal River and Mark Sr. and Mark Jr. were ready to give it a try. I picked the guys up from their home on the Crystal River and we were off to find some trout. The wind was howling out of the East and made the conditions challenging once again. We toughed it out and had a decent catch of trout for the day with seven nice keepers and a mixed catch of cobia, Spanish mackerel, blue fish, lady fish etc... to fill out our day. I'll be glad when the weather straightens out and allows us to get back offshore to where the majority of the fish are. Thank you both for the great time and look forward to seeing you again soon... Capt. Dan
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Another request for an offshore charter and I was anxious to take Gary, John and Brad out of Crystal River. Cobia again was our offshore species for the day and after a very productive stop at the "bait bar", we were all set to target some cobia. We arrived at our destination and shortly after anchoring up and chumming, we were greeted by several large brown bombers. It was fast and furious action, with a couple fish on at a time and on today's charter; we landed 7 out of 8 cobia for our end of the day total. As an added bonus, a couple hefty gag grouper and Spanish Mackerel graced us, and I thank you all for the wonderful time. Here's the crew with a couple of the keeper cobia and enjoy the tasty fillets... Capt. Dan
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Wednesday, Apr 04 2012

Crystal River 1/2 day Macks...

Fast and furious action with the Baylor family on board and we had a great time reeling in some Spanish mackerel. Leaving from Pete's Pier marina just after 8am and arriving at the mouth of the river to an incoming tide, we had an ideal set up to chum in the mackerel. It was non stop action all morning and live shrimp in the chum slick were irresistible to the hard fighting mackerel. Everyone did a fantastic job and I thank my good friend Dr. Chris Mckenney of Mckenney Chiropractic center for the referral. Here's today's crew with their great catch... Capt. Dan
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