Last week my wife Lori and I spent four days at the Florida Outdoor Writers Association conference in Homosassa, Fl. Homosassa is located on the west coast an hour north of Tampa and just south of Crystal River. Rather than towing my boat over to fish unknown waters I booked a half day charter with Capt. Earle Waters of Back Country Concepts.
We met Earle at our hotel on Thursday morning and followed him to a boat ramp that would put us in the midst of prime backwater. The trip to the boat ramp took us for miles along a winding road through what is known as low country. We arrived at a paying boat ramp on private property and launched the 16 ft Hellsbay skiff.
Once on the water it took about 7 minutes to get to Earle’s first spot. When he shut down the engine a school of about 100 redfish spooked pushing a large wake through the water. Earle poled us through crystal clear water over grass flats where you could see everything below you. After a few casts I landed a 24” red on a 17MR mirrolure. We had a couple more strikes but no takers. The big school stayed just out of casting range as we pursued them so Earle decided to move on. We ran into a couple of smaller schools and caught a few reds on Berkley gulps.
As the water got shallower on the outgoing tide the fish seemed to break off into singles. We cast to a lot of fish but they weren’t in a feeding mode. My wife Lori took over the bow and made a cast with a Rapala skitterwalk and the water exploded with the crash of a redfish. The 6 lb red was boated, photographed and released. We then headed back to the boat ramp.
The next day I got to fish with Capt. Earle in the FOWA tournament. Again we saw fish but they just weren’t in a feeding mode. Earle suggested it might be due to a front that was passing through. Earle did manage a 30 ½” red on a skitterwalk and a 27 ¾” red on a berkley gulp.
One of the beautiful things about the fishing other than the beautiful clear water and grass flats was I only saw two other boats in the 2 days I fished. It’s only a 2 ½ hour drive to fish these waters. Capt. Earle is one of the only true shallow water guides in Homosassa. He can be reached at 352-302-0359 or visit his web site at http://www.backcountryconcepts.com/.
Locally, redfish and flounder are being caught at the pier. Look for the bite to get better as the surf calms down. Sunday Lou DeFazio and I did some fly fishing and faired rather well. I was throwing a top water fly and only had one hit. Lou was throwing a streamer fly and landed 3 snook, 2 trout and had numerous strikes, he also lost a big snook when the hook pulled. Watching this I changed flies and landed a snook and also lost a large one when the hooked pulled.
All the rain giving us fresh water the fishing won’t improve until it begins to flush out. Try fishing deeper water where the salinity levels will be higher.
We met Earle at our hotel on Thursday morning and followed him to a boat ramp that would put us in the midst of prime backwater. The trip to the boat ramp took us for miles along a winding road through what is known as low country. We arrived at a paying boat ramp on private property and launched the 16 ft Hellsbay skiff.
Once on the water it took about 7 minutes to get to Earle’s first spot. When he shut down the engine a school of about 100 redfish spooked pushing a large wake through the water. Earle poled us through crystal clear water over grass flats where you could see everything below you. After a few casts I landed a 24” red on a 17MR mirrolure. We had a couple more strikes but no takers. The big school stayed just out of casting range as we pursued them so Earle decided to move on. We ran into a couple of smaller schools and caught a few reds on Berkley gulps.
As the water got shallower on the outgoing tide the fish seemed to break off into singles. We cast to a lot of fish but they weren’t in a feeding mode. My wife Lori took over the bow and made a cast with a Rapala skitterwalk and the water exploded with the crash of a redfish. The 6 lb red was boated, photographed and released. We then headed back to the boat ramp.
The next day I got to fish with Capt. Earle in the FOWA tournament. Again we saw fish but they just weren’t in a feeding mode. Earle suggested it might be due to a front that was passing through. Earle did manage a 30 ½” red on a skitterwalk and a 27 ¾” red on a berkley gulp.
One of the beautiful things about the fishing other than the beautiful clear water and grass flats was I only saw two other boats in the 2 days I fished. It’s only a 2 ½ hour drive to fish these waters. Capt. Earle is one of the only true shallow water guides in Homosassa. He can be reached at 352-302-0359 or visit his web site at http://www.backcountryconcepts.com/.
Locally, redfish and flounder are being caught at the pier. Look for the bite to get better as the surf calms down. Sunday Lou DeFazio and I did some fly fishing and faired rather well. I was throwing a top water fly and only had one hit. Lou was throwing a streamer fly and landed 3 snook, 2 trout and had numerous strikes, he also lost a big snook when the hook pulled. Watching this I changed flies and landed a snook and also lost a large one when the hooked pulled.
All the rain giving us fresh water the fishing won’t improve until it begins to flush out. Try fishing deeper water where the salinity levels will be higher.