Fishing on Fire!!!

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The offshore bite continues to be on fire! I’ve already caught more Cobia this year than any other season. The Cobia are so thick you can almost walk on them; we’ve caught or hooked one on almost every recent charter! We had two monsters on Wednesday, 5/20/15, but weren’t able to boat them, that were in the 40 to 50 pound range! They tortured and teased us swimming right under my Young at least six different times! There have been so many Cobia brought back to the cleaning tables by the Old Homosassa fleet, I hope there are a few left for the Cobia Big Fish Tournament the weekend of June 6th & 7th!

The offshore bits is so hot, I haven’t done any inshore fishing since the beginning of May. Though I do have a couple of inshore trips booked before the end of the month. Stayed tuned for the inshore report in my next report. We continue to catch and release many large Gag Groupers in the 10 to 15 pound range! We can only hope they continue to eat after the season opens on July 1st! If you want to get “your arms broken” pulling these very tasty fish off the bottom, book your charters soon as July is always one of the busiest months of the year with Scallop Season opening early again this year on June 27th.

Come experience what’s best described as an “Underwater Easter Egg Hunt”! Lots of clients will book a full day charter and scallop in the morning and swim in the crystal clear springs in the afternoon and then book an offshore charter the next day. Now that’s a fun couple of days on the water! Check our website at www.HomosassaRedfish.com for more details about both the Gag Grouper and Scallop charters.

The Red Grouper bite has also been good but most of them have been short and released but we have managed to catch some keepers on most trips. You can catch as many Grunts as you want to clean, as that’s one of my boat rules, (and I don’t have many boat rules), but we don’t clean Grunts!

On one recent trip we had a smoker Kingfish, 35 pound range, in our chum slick for almost an hour; it seemed like an hour anyway. I watched him from the tower on my Young nonchalantly swim up to dead baits we had tossed out of the live well and slurp at least six baits in our slick. We couldn’t get him to slurp one with a hook in it though. It was at the end of the day and we stayed out longer than normal just trying to hook him. It’s hard to come home when you can see a trophy fish right behind the boat, he even swam right up to the engine!

Also on another recent charter I saw something, I’ve never seen here before and I’ve been fishing here since 1981, a huge Barracuda! It’s really been exciting as we never know what we’re going to see on each trip! This is a great time of the year to fish in Old Homosassa, book your charters soon to join in on the fun! Fishing charters make an awesome gift for Father’s Day, June 21st, or Graduation!

As I’ve traveled the world attempting to fish the “Seven Seas”, whenever I’m asked where I’m from and answer Homosassa, the first response is usually Tarpon. Homosassa and Tarpon have become synonymous in the world wide fishing community. So what do I do, travel to places like Costa Rica or Belize to battle with the mighty Silver Kings, go figure. Many fly fishing world records have been set here and anglers from all over the world come here to test their skills. With the Tarpon and Cobia basically here at the same time, “Cobia Fever” always takes over as my target of choice because they are so tasty! It’s cool watching the Silver Kings do their mid-air acrobatics but you can’t eat them!

The recreational red snapper season for Gulf state waters opens to harvest Memorial Day weekend. The 2015 season will start the Saturday before Memorial Day (May 23) and run through July 12, closing July 13. This season will resume for all of Labor Day weekend (Sept. 5-7) and finish with Saturdays and Sundays throughout the rest of September and all of October, with the last day of harvest being Sunday, Nov. 1. State waters in the Gulf are from shore to 9 nautical miles. This results in a 70-day recreational red snapper season in Gulf state waters.

In Gulf federal waters this year, anglers fishing from private boats and anglers fishing from federally permitted for-hire vessels will have different season lengths. Federal waters will open June 1 for both groups and will remain open through June 10, closing June 11, for anglers fishing from private boats. For federally permitted for-hire vessels, the season will remain open through July 14, closing July 15. Federal waters in the Gulf start at 9 nautical miles and extend out to about 200 nautical miles. Anglers targeting red snapper in Gulf waters off Florida (excluding Monroe County) from a private boat need to sign up for the Gulf Reef Fish Survey prior to fishing. Sign up at a local retail store, tackle shop or tax collector’s office; by calling 1-888-FISHFLORIDA (347-4567); or online at: https://license.myfwc.com/

What all this means is if you want to go out and KEEP Red Snapper this year, your best bet is to go with a charter captain. In the Homosassa area the run to the Middle Grounds is 70-90 miles offshore, way too far to go in my boats. If you’d like to fish the Middle Grounds for these tasty American Red Snappers, please let me know and I’ll refer you to a Captain with a vessel large enough to make that run. The going rate for a trip to the Middle Grounds from Homosassa is $2500.00 for a day trip and $3000.00 for an overnight trip. The day trips start at 4 AM and lasts until early evening and the overnight trips start at 7 AM to 2 PM the next day. This is a once in a lifetime adventure that will create memories that will last forever!

Upcoming Events

May 23 – September 7 – CCA Florida STAR Tournament, www.ccaflstar.com
June 2 – Full Moon
June 6 & 7 – 31st Annual Cobia Big Fish Tournament
June 12 – Rolling Stones concert in Orlando
June 13 – I’ll be with the “Three Amigos”, BooDreaux, Steve Chapman and Captain Mike Ortega, on The Fishing Florida Radio Show in Orlando, from 6 to 9 AM, broadcast in the Central Florida area on 740 AM – The Game. Or you can listen live on-line at www.fishingfloridaradio.com click on Listen Live. If you’d like to call in and talk some fishing the toll free number is 800-729-8255 or locally 407-916-8255. It would be great to hear from my Orlando/Central Florida area friends!
June 21 – Father’s Day – Gift Certificates available
June 21 – Summer Solstice
June 27 – Scallop Season opens
July 1 – Gag Grouper Season open
July 15 – 17 – ICAST Show in Orlando, I will be in the Denali Performance Apparel booth during the show, www.DenaliPerformance.com

May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

A tackle box is better than an Xbox any day!
Fishing is a real experience that create memories that will last forever!
“For Real & Forever”

Let’s go CATCHING!!!
Captain “Red ED” Brennan
352-382-3939