Wow!! What an unbelievable last couple of weeks in the world of fishing off of Crystal River and Homosassa. World Records have been broken, huge schools of Redfish have showed up early on many of the local flats, the Tripletail have finally showed up along the Nature Coast and the shallow water rocks, wrecks and reefs have become invaded by hungry Grouper, Cobia and Spanish Mackerel. With all of this going on at once it has been extremely difficult and painstakingly fun to put together a game plan day in and day out.
Have you ever seen a true WAVE of fish before? Normally this time of year is full of surprises but I could have never predicted the massive schools of Redfish that have been feeding up and down many of the islands our area is "World Famous" for. Until this year some of the biggest schools of Reds that I have seen in the backcountry ranged from 60-75 fish. In the last month and half I have already spotted 3 schools of well over 130-150 fish and the remarkable aspect of each of these schools is that I have spotted them as far as mile apart. This has led me to believe that these Redfish have schooled up for a reason. Whether it is a mating ritual or if there is just safety in numbers either way these fish are extremely large and are feeding like crazy. These fish are ranging anywhere from 7-15lbs and I know for sure I have seen a handful that would bottom out a BocaGrip. Lately I have been using pieces of cut ladyfish and mullet to get these fish excited but the best part of using such a huge chunk of bait is that you can definitely separate the men from the boys when the Reds come down the shoreline to feed.
As exciting as the Redfishing has been the true gem of the last few weeks has been the amount of action on many of the shallow rocks, wrecks, and reefs scattered throughout the area. Grouper, Snapper, Spanish Mackerel, Tripletail and Cobia have all congregated in mass on many of the local structures scattered throughout the Nature Coast. When fishing these structures I LOVE to chum with shrimp and sardines. You can find out just how active a spot is by sacrificing a handful of shrimp into the water. Normally the Spanish Mackerel will show themselves first but after they have found the slick it normally doesn't take long before the Snapper and Cobia are following the trail also. Because of the unpredictability of this type of fishing it is important to have a rod rigged for what ever unexpected event you can imagine. When fishing the Foul Area I always carry a rod rigged with a 7/0 Circle Hook for a Grouper or Cobia, a rod rigged with a 3/0 Circle hook for a Tripletail, and 4 rods rigged with 1/0 long shank hooks for the Spanish Mackerel, and Snapper. However, even with all of these rigs on hand in the heat of the moment I will still run to the tackle box to rig something up for the unexpected Tarpon, Shark or Huge School of Black Drum that come passing by. GOD! I love this kind of fishing.
To cap off this action packed report I am sure everyone is wondering what is going on with the OIL!! First off I hate this word! Second of all it has been reported that the sheen from the spill is well over 400 miles away from our coast, putting the bulk of the oil at least 600 miles away. Long story short our area is in NO ! immediate danger from the spill so please don't let the media fool you out of your Florida vacation or your next inshore fishing adventure.
SCALLOP SEASON OPENS UP ON JUNE 19TH!!!!! IF INTERESTED IN A FISHING AND SCALLOPING ADVENTURE GIVE RED HOT FISHING CHARTERS A CALL TODAY!!
Capt. Kyle Messier
(352) 634-4002
kylemessier@yahoo.com
WWW.REDHOTFISHINGCHARTERS.COM
