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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
January 12, 2002
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Catching fish during the Winter season can be a challenge. Fortunately, our winter season is usually short lived lasting between 2 to 3 months. With that being said, the reality is just a few weeks within that period we feel the cold air. Most times when a cold front comes through we feel the chills for a couple of days and then it warms back up.
During the time lapse of daylight hours temperatures can fluctuate 30-40 degrees. Some days we have Winter-Spring like conditions with cold morning and warm afternoons. The question is does the water temperature warm up enough to trigger feeding. This depends on several factors.
Fish that remain in shallow water such as redfish sometimes warm enough to take a snack. Most of our flats become void of pinfish, the favorite food fish of redfish in our area. The pinfish move out into little swashes and deeper channels to keep warm. However, the redfish do not follow them with this scenario. Their metabolism slows down making them sluggish or lethargic.
Therefore using a soft plastic worm with a curly tail or a type of jerk bait might be your best bet. Redfish sometimes just don’t eat if the water is too cold, particularly early in the morning. The fish know that by late afternoon water temps are going to rise enough to put them in the mood to nibble a little.
However, redfish that are lured to the spring-fed rivers will bite first thing in the morning because they are acclimated. Bumping the bottom with jigs tipped with shrimp will produce some hard strikes. Areas near the headwaters including the canals of both the Homosassa and Crystal River produce strikes from spotted sea trout, ladyfish and jacks.
Creek bound redfish also will hit pretty quickly. A lot of these creeks are really hard to get into but once in they usually get deeper and have holes that are chalked full. Most of these fish are rat sized reds around 15 inches. Shrimp is the best bait. A small sinker to get it to the bottom with a 2/0 hook works pretty good.
Getting to these fish can be very hard this time of year. Our flats become very shallow and stay that way for almost three months. A flat bottom Jon boat or other type of vessel that draws less than six inches is needed to ply these waters. A jet propelled impeller outboard engine works better than just a plain old outboard motor. The surface weeds are not as bad during the winter months, so this would be a viable combination for shallow water use.
The most easily accessed fish this time of year is the ladyfish. Any type of boat from a canoe to a yacht will do. Fly anglers can easily catch ladyfish using a fly rod. The trick is, a heavily weighted clouser minnow with lead eyes are needed to get the fly 2 to 3 foot deep. Stripping it quickly. And long. A sinking line or a sink tip will produce even more strikes. Kings Bay on the Crysta River is loaded with these feisty acrobatically cousins of the tarpon.
Warmer weather is forecasted for all of next week, so folks get out and enjoy it if you can!
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