This page is what has worked for me, when where and how, as I am a rebel of sorts and not willing to go with the flow all the time, but,  willing to try different approach's to catching fish here on the nature coast, as I like the fight at the end of the line, no matter what it is. It is all about catching in my book.

 

January - February

Catch What You Can

 

These are the months with cold air  temperatures, coldwater, high winds, lots of fog, extreme low and high tides, but fish can be caught if you know where to go. And the place the place to fish is in the backwaters, water three to a foot deep, it can be very productive. We have caught larger then normal trout, redfish, sheepshead, and etc, so get your shallow water boat out and give it a try.  Remember to keep an eye on the tide if it is going out, or you could be left with no way out, with no water to float the boat.

I need to mention here that February is all so  prime time for sheepshead, on any rock pile from fifteen feet to two feet deep,  using pieces of shrimp or very small shrimp, and they do not have to be live shrimp, frozen or brined will do. Below is a fishing trip report from members of Pine Ridge Fishing Club, and although they did not catch a lot of fish, they did catch fish, which is why they call it fishing, not catching.

We had 4 boats & 9 members fish last Thursday. While the fishing wasn't great, all had a good time. I think Bob Livings got the big Trout & I think I got the big Red, buy default. The big Ladyfish award went to Mickey  Brophy or Bill Haderer. ( Hard to say.. they each claimed the other one caught it! )George Finster got a short Red.
As for the Brockschmidt boat with fred, Tom Barnum & Frank Wormwood, They said they caught some nice trout but didn't have a measuring board, so they couldn't confirm any measurements! ...... Really they said ! I don't know, I never saw any fish! Frank did say he caught a Redfish but couldn't get it's diaper off to get a good measurement. Now Ron Pfau fished with me & I can tell you he is a catch & release fisherman. He didn't keep any fish... yeah, that was it!
We really did have a good time & thanks to all that enjoyed the day on the water.

 
Mike ( President of Pine Ridge Fishing Club )

 

 

Grouper Fishing

Nov. - Dec.

Flat seas, 5 knots or less; Air temperature around 55 degrees morning, to low 70’s afternoon; Water temperature approximately 64 degrees; Depth 35 to 60 feet deep; Fishing out of Homosassa on a bright and sunny day prior to a cold front moving in the next day with high winds on that day.

We left the dock around 6:30 AM and picked up pinfish for bait at the shrimp lady, and then headed out to the deeper water in our quest for grouper. Our first stop in 40 feet of water produced some short gag grouper, so we decided to head out even deeper, stopping at around 60 feet. All most immediately we got into the red grouper, with an occasional gag mixed in, with a lot of shorts coming to the boat. Being a non conformist, I decided I was going to use squid for my bait, a whole squid at first, but the grunts were cleaning me out before it even got to the bottom. I then cut up the squid into 3 pieces and started fishing with a smaller piece, up the grunts started to come, and they were not small. Catching a few of them at first, then the grouper started coming in to me, but mostly shorts. In the luck of the angler (it’s called fishing, not catching), I continued to catch fish, grunts and short grouper but the tide would turn and I would catch my share of legal grouper. On this trip I would only keep 2 grouper and the grunts, for in my book the grunts are better eating.

As the bite slowed we would move to a new area, and what I saw was, if the grunts were not there, the grouper were not there, so it was move and find the fish, as this is how you fish grouper on the bottom. We continued this process, moving back to shallower water, as the day wore on, with all catching a lot of grouper, both reds and gags, mostly shorts, but it was the fight on the rod which kept us fishing, and it was constant. We returned to the dock late in the day, tired, happy, and with 11 keeper grouper plus 21 very large grunts, as we only kept the large ones.

A lesson learned this day was, don’t forget the squid, and if you can get thread fin herring take them along with pinfish for bait, as these are the best fall grouper baits, say I. These baits have all ways worked for me, even though others will say, OH, you don’t need them.

The old man loves to prove them wrong.

Rich 

 

September – October- 07

We started fishing for Albi’s ( False Albacore, Bonita ) the first week of September out of Crystal River, FL and the action was sort of slow. The bait was there, but the Albi’s did not want to stay up long enough for us to get into them good, and the school’s of fish were small, plus we had a lot of heavy wind in the month of Sept. which limited the days we could get out.

Albi’s are a migratory fish which start showing up here off of Crystal River, around the first week of Sept., and it is a run and gun type of fishing, a very different way of fishing, but a very hard fighting type of fish worth the effort. Let me explain the particulars.

First and foremost is run and gun. What I mean here, it is a two person type of fishing, one to run the boat, and one to cast to the school. You need to see birds diving on the water feeding, in 15 to 25 feet of water. You then run over to the feeding birds looking for footballs coming to the surface chasing bait, if you see fish jumping clear of the water, they are more then likely bait fish or Spanish Mackerel, and the mackerel will cut you off. If it’s bait or mackerel you need to look for more birds feeding. You spot another school and run over there and see from a distance these are albi’s, you then cut your speed back drastically and idle up towards the school, with the person who is going to cast to the fish up and ready to do so, as sometimes you only get one shot at the school. You get with in 50 to 60 feet of the school and the caster needs to cast directly into the school, as you bring the boat to a stop, never shutting the motor off, because if you shut the motor off, the albi’s will more then likely disappear. If they stay up, it is time for the boat operator to get with it and try for one all so, but I give you warning here, they are a very strong fighting and fast swimming fish, and they will try and stay with the school, ripping off a lot of line in record time. Many a time when I have fished for them, one of us had to work the boat to gain line back or keep the fish from going under the boat or running the line into the motor, plus when the fish is finally beat, some one has to net the fish, as the person who caught it will have their hands full right to the very end.

The equipment you will need is a little heavier then you would normally use on trout or reds, as these are a very hard fighting fish for their size. I prefer a 7 to 8 foot rod in medium heavy to heavy with a #40 or #30 spinning reel loaded with at least 20 lb. braid. Cheap reels with out a very good drag system will not work on this fish as they will burn the drag up in a heartbeat.

I tie on a 25 to 30 lb. fluorocarbon leader, about 3 ft. long and then add a 1/4 or 3/8 oz white jig with a good stout hook. A thin wire hook will bend out or break, or will pull out of the fish.

Albi’s are particular in their bait choices and we have found that white or glow curly tails, 3 inch, or Bass Assassin’s Baby Shad, 3 inch, in alewife, glow or black shad work the best. If you do not have these, try using the above colors in a flip tail or something similar, but remember to keep it 4 inch’s or less.

Albi’s are not table fare in my book. The meat is blood red, and has a very strong smell to it, but they are excellent bait for grouper, sharks, and king mackerel when cut into bait strips. They also make very good chum for the above mentioned fish as, they are very oily, and will give you a good chum slick.

Rich

 

 

 

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Waters A Cooling, Winds A Blowing 12/06

Remember  
 Many men & women go fishing all of their lives, without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
 ~ Henry David Thorea

As we head into the end of the year, cooler and windier weather seem to prevail, so like the fish we head back into the backwaters of the gulf, looking for the holes and flats which hold a few fish, some times we can get there and sometimes not, due to the winters extreme low tides. Now till the end of February is the time to fish our lures or bait slow and delicately. This is also the time for extreme low tides and very clear water, time to go out in the gulf and around the keys on calm days, find those elusive rock piles, springs, deeper holes, and mark them for future study, fishing pole in hand of course.

This is also the time of the year NCA starts to wind down from the previous year and gear up for the coming year. December brings us to our annual picnic, located at the Geren home in Old Homosassa, with a very good meal, friendship, and of course, the nasty casting contest. I don’t know who set up the area, but for some the trees were a bummer.

We did have winners though in the women’s and men’s groups, with Rita Smith winning the women’s group and Gary Smith ( no relationship ) winning the men’s. Both received gift certificates for the Outcast Fly Shop, after their extreme efforts of keeping their lures away from the lure eating tree, and instead putting them into the circle. The executive board would like to thank Russ Medeiros, and his army of volunteers for making this event a memorable one, and the Geren’s for having the picnic at their home.

Yes, we did have a tournament in December, for reds, trout, grouper, and sheepshead, but yours truly does not have the results as of yet, due to having to stay home and get a fantastic pork roast in the oven, as ordered by the boss, on time I might add. I do know my tournament partner, Glenn Takahasshi and I were up and ready to go, at 5:00 AM there was no wind, at 6:00 AM it started to blow, at 6:30 AM it was up to 15 knots and Glenn and I said no way, as we were going to fish grouper and sheepshead. Some braver then we did wander out into the gulf ignoring the nasty wind, 7:00 AM 20 knots, and Russ Sacheleben was rewarded with a 29 pound King Mackerel, and Bob Darr was rewarded with a 5 pound plus sheepshead. Good work gentlemen. We did have a very large turn out for this tournament, with most anglers trying to fish the backwaters, but many found with the extreme low tide, minus five, they had to wait for water to come in, at least they were sort of out of the wind.

December monthly meeting starts off with our nomination of officers for the following year, beginning planning for tournaments the next year, followed by our annual pizza party and flea market. End of meeting and early out, sounds good to all. Look for a full schedule starting in January of 2007, and we will be accepting applications for new membership at this time also. Check us out at www.naturecoastanglers.org and while your there check out some of sponsors, like www.alwaysfishing.com on our links page.

I need to make some corrections to 11/04/06 article at this time, as typos ain’t my fault; I’m old, and allowed to have my senior moments

The application page can be found at; http://www.naturecoastanglers.org/member_app.htm

And you can contact Mark Nichols of DOA Lures at; http://www.doalures.com/

Rich