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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
February 13, 2006
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Are Snook In Troubled Waters
Gulf Water temperatures are steadily dropping at Marker 26 on the Homosassa River currently at a chilling 48 degrees. If we get a hard freeze tonight, then all I will need to do to catch a fish is bring my dip net along.
Snook are most susceptible to hypothermia. In 1977, ‘83 and ‘89 there were freezes that took out our mangroves and many snook, reds, and trout.
Of course, good places to fish this week are the headwaters of our spring fed rivers in Citrus County or the warm water discharge of Progress Energy aka Florida Power. Just early last week Capt. Tommy Thompson and I met at Pete’s Pier and fished the upper reaches of the Crystal River.
A cold front with a line of showers was over Cedar Keys and we both knew we had a good chance to catch a few fish as the barometer was falling fast. My first cast produced a jolting strike from a fish instantly when the lure hit the water it was a good thing that I had a good grip on the rod and reel.
With a big grin on my face I watched a 10-pound tarpon come out of the water and I have always wanted to catch a small one. Last year while fishing the headwaters of Homosassa, a Japanese client fought but lost a 4-pound tarpon. While catches of these smaller brothers where huge world record tarpon roam are rare, the smaller ones are quite numerous. Tarpon average 100 pounds off our gulf coast in May and June.
Capt. Thompson gave me the secret garage built lure and I am excited about going back to see if it was luck or we have something special that the little babies like. Because Capt. Thompson may be allowed to write about our experience on the river that day in Florida Sportsman Magazine, I will not go into too much detail about our day.
However, on the same day and nearly at the same time, Capt. Jim Long was hosting Bill Miller of “Hooked On Fishing” from Catch 47 TV and Darryl Seaton of Best Western of Crystal River. They were in the warm water discharge canal and these two anglers are world class and have fished all over the planet.
Capt. Long had just installed some new MotorGuide trolling motors on the stern of his classic Pro-Line 24’ powered by a new Mercury Opti-Max Outboard. He was on the inaugural trip with the new twin transom mounts and enjoying the moment when Bill hooked and landed an 11-pound snook. Later Darryl landed an 18-pounder. Both fish were landed using jigs and the show aired recently across the entire Tampa Bay region.
Now I believe this was a first for Long in hooking snook in the canal, as was the baby tarpon I hooked in waters fished during the winter months. Are we just lucky or are we getting smarter? Don’t answer that question. Perhaps it is both and we know that snook have become more plentiful in recent years.
The freeze we are about to experience could cause another huge fish kill where snook are on the northern edge of their territory. A hard freeze can affect snook all the way to Tampa Bay and some points south. This freeze although rare is Mother Nature’s way of changing and unbalancing our ecosystem. Hopefully, the freeze will not be that bad.
Have a great week and make your plans to fish here soon.
God Bless You.
Capt. Mike
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