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John Maddox, Jr. of the Homosassa Fishing Club got to fight the biggest grouper of his life on light tackle. Maddox had the advantage over the grouper for a few seconds until the rod broke--the first time--near the butt. When the fish went in the hole, I yelled at him to pull him out. Maddox did get the bruiser out and then the rod broke again up near the tip. With more yelling and pulling, the rod broke two more times until all that was left was the handle and the reel. The 13-pound fish was then brought in by hand with the aid of a towel.
Incredibly, the big grouper was caught in less in 5 feet of water on a live pinfish. The light spinning rod broke because the line used was 50 pound Fire Line, which was over rated for the rod. Maddox was thrilled to have such a tussle on light tackle.
So far, October has been a fair month for catching spotted sea trout. My parties and I have had to work hard for what we catch. Getting the limits are still kind of hard at times, as I think the biggest push of fish are yet to come. My averages have been around 10 keeper-size trout per day with a variety of other fish such as lady fish and jack crevalle.
For trout, I like to use the cork rig by Equalizer and the model is Cajun Thunder. The smallest size is the one I like. The cork has a 4-inch wire running through it with a swivel on each end. Both top and bottom have beads that rattle to attract any game fish. Two brass balls are located at the bottom of the cork to give it just the right weight for casting long distances.
Tying a 20-30 inch section of 25 pound test Seaguar Fluorocarbon leader material onto the bottom end of the cork is a good way to fool the trout into not seeing the line. I then tie on a red 1/8 Cotee jig head. Then I thread on a split tail, grub, or swimming tail in white, pink, rootbeer or chartreuse.
Fishing from my 23' custom boat, the Flatfisher One, I can accommodate 3 people pretty easy for trout fishing, as we are drifting areas in open water. Casting the cork rigs in depths of 3-5 feet of water has been most productive. Look for patches of kelp grass or sargassum weed. This is where the trout are hiding. The bigger trout are usually in shallower water and hit early or late in the day. Areas near the creek mouths hold the kelp grass I am referring to.
Top water lures are also very good this time of year. The turtle grass is not as bad this time of year and the fish are more active with the cooler gulf water temperatures. Getting in shallow water is a must for the lures to be most effective.
Mirrolures have always been the most popular hard bodied artificial bait in Homosassa. There are models for every wind condition. Just recently a local resident caught a 32-inch snook on a Top Dog Pup. For calm conditions the 7M808 is a good choice for trout. There are many colors to choose from, but for the west coast of Florida, the 7M18 is a green back with a white belly and silver scale. This color pattern represents the scaled sardine or white bait as guides call them.
For a little windier conditions (between 5-10 mph) try using a 5M750. This is my Dad's favorite color. This Mirrolure has a black back, fluorescent orange belly and flame chartreuse side. This color is also available in the 7M series, which has no spinners.
A guide thing is to take off the front spinner--which allows the lures to sit down a little deeper in the tail section. It just gives a different action and throws the water a little less than with both spinners attached. Arguably, most folks do work their top water lures too hard. But this all depends on the wind. A good rule of thumb is to make less splash or movement with little or no wind. If it is windy, then make more splash and work it harder. The Top Dogs are the best for windy conditions above 10 mph and have a large bead that clicks and imitates wounded minnow.
Last month was a great redfish catching month especially for the big ones. Less than a month ago and just before the big cold front, regular catches and releases of 40 reds per day were common. Bob Gorham and son Bill come to Homosassa each and every year during the summer run. They caught reds between 5-11 pounds for three solid hours.
Other folks did well, too. Barry Kaplan slammed 20 + redfish up to 9 pounds with a buddy from Ocala. Scott Eccles and Kevin Horner fought many reds. They sent their best customer to me, Bradley Briscoe, who, together with his wife, reeled in over 30 redfish. His wife now loves fishing. They were hitting the bait as soon as it hit the water. Double hook-ups were common.
Duke Lane Jr. brought his peach packing bosses down from Georgia and some other important folks to a pretty good combination of trout and redfish. Duke caught his biggest redfish ever, a 31 ½-inch, 11 pound redfish. A close second was Big Roy's 31-incher. Buddy also landed a 30-incher and Jack caught his big one as well. As you know, all of these fish were released to fight another day. The crew of 10 all had their keeper size reds each day and some nice trout to take back home.
Some of these folks had fish mounts made from a photograph. The picture is used to copy the spots the redfish have, as some of these spots are quite unique. The replica is made from a material that will last a lifetime. If you have a fish (any kind of fish) you want copied in a lifelike size, please contact me. The price is very reasonable and the mount will last a very long time. The workmanship and painting is very close to looking like the real thing.
Most of the big schools of reds have left the area recently with the cooler weather. But there are still plenty of reds up to 6 pounds hanging around the rock bars. Spotted Sea Trout are in abundance now and have moved in closer to shore. Even with a cold front bearing down on us yesterday, Bill and Ann Tribble caught 5 keepers up to 19 inches in less than an hour of fishing. Only one keeper redfish was caught, but several smaller ones were caught and released. An undersized black drum and two catfish were thrown back during the half day trip.
Like the late Ernie Lee used to say, "Get out there and go fishin', cause it is gooood fer ya!!!!!"
Capt. Mike