Fishing report for the Yankeetown & Crystal River Area
Saltwater/Yankeetown (Nearshore)
“Fish of the Day”
On a recent trip, Rich and Bridgette Whitney, of Tampa, caught a variety of fish while fishing the grass flats and spoil islands off of Yankeetown..Species caught included Trout, Small Grouper, and Redfish, along with the typical by-catch.
Bridgette ended up the trip catching the “fish of the day”. A 24″ Red caught on a shrimp- tipped Cajun Thunder.
Salt water /Crystal River (Offshore)
How Hot is it?
Only one way to describe the water tempreture in the gulf of Mexico and that is HOT…D**n HOT.
Most of the Grouper being caught recently have been red in color andquite a way offshore. (30 to 40 miles), A reliable sourse tells me that on a recent charter out of Crystal River, 24 anglers only manage to bring home 6 or 7 keepers!
On the other hand, the nearer wrecks and reefs are still holding plenty of small gag grouper, Spanish Mackerel and the occasional Cobia.
Endeavor to persevere my friends, the “Dog days” of summer will soon be over
Tough Fishing, But Scallops Can Be Found, Be Prepared To Move
Hey Y’all, I am not one to make up a good fishing report.
The last few days have been tough fishing, for all species. We found short fish(trout), one keeper red, a couple bluefish.
A slow catching day, however, nice weather and calm seas made it a wondeful day to be on the water.
Scallops can be found!! Look for clear water, deeper, further south, around Pepperfish. Stop the boat, put your best scout in the water. Prepare to move if your scout is not successful.
Back to fishing though. One of my favorite sayings is “you don’t know-if you don’t go!”
Captain Nick says its blow’n like h**l, but if you have the nerve..
He’s got the boat!
He Says He Can Cure Your
Fishin Jones!
Gulf Coast inshore/nearhore fishing guide Captain Nick Bozman of Slick Charters reports he hasn’t been fishing this week, he just drove up to the boat ramp. He reported what we all know, thats it’s raining all over North Florida, Captain Nick said he’ll update us early next week
Thank you God, we needed tropical storm Fay. The rivers, streams and flats needed cleaning!
Scallops & early morning trips for Speckled Trout & Redfish continue to be very productive
Scallops continue to be the most dependable resource this summer.
Water clarity will become a factor, post rainy days and T.S. Fay.
Early morning trips for Speckled Trout and Redfish continue to be very productive using Saltwater Assassin jigs 5″ pink and electric chicken colors. Topwater baits such as mirrorlure top dog or zara spook work well, for those of you who enjoy the strike as much as the pull.
These oppurtunities seem to be most productive when you have high tide in the AM.
If lucky you’ll be in right place at the right time to enjoy Trout and Reds in the same neighborhood at the same time.
I have seen this happen only a few times. It was early morning, high water at 9am, warm weather, July and large Trout and Reds were aggresively hitting topwater. It would be moments before you knew whether it was a big Speck or a Red. I wish I had camcorder! By 10 am this bite will be over.
Head out to the 8 and 10 foot flats for some deep jigging. Tie on an 1/8 or 1/4 oz assassin jig head, assassin limetruce in 4″ or 5″ tail or a gulp. Work it slow on the bottom concentrating on the darkest areas. This will be grass and where the trout will be. If you are only catching ladyfish and bluefish, slow down. When the sun is high, the breeze lays and the sweat soaks your shirt, go get wet and
pick up some scallops.
Yankeetown, saltwater flats water temps are way up…..
Saltwater Nearshore/Inshore:Water temps inside are way up this time of year, shortening up the window of opportunity to catch fish. On Sunday, we fished the spoil islands just south of the Florida Barge Canal, and the bite was very slow. Blame it on the week tide, late start, or the 86 degree water temp. Good news, the water and air temps should be decreasing soon, now if I can manage to leave the dock by 6 A.M., we will have it made.
On a recent trip out to one of the shipwrecks, several small Grouper (just under the 22″ limit) were caught on pinfish. Also, a pod of small Cobia showed up and were taken on free-lined cut bait. Schools of
Spanish Mackerel and Jack Cravelles circled throughout the day and were easily picked off with shrimp, free-lined on light action tackle.
