352-498-3008 |
FISHING HOLES Email me at danielle@seahag.com To SEA HAG MARINA main page |
|
|
Offshore buoy reported today (1/7/01) that
the seas had a wave height of 16 feet! Yikes! No offshore fishing going
on with that out there. Hopefully all will calm for an awesome weekend
of fishing.
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 1/1/01
With
the trout in the river, the cold weather is not stopping the avid fisherman
who needs not travel too far from a dock to land some real nice trout.
Click photos to see enlarged.
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 12/31/01
With
Even though the weather was getting a bit bad, these folks managed to land
this nice Kingfish. Normally Kingfish are long gone from out waters in
December, but the unusual warm weather kept the fish around for an extremely
long season. (Click photos to see enlarged).
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 12/28/01
With the cold weather we get the movement
of the trout into the river. The mouth of the river is producing the most
fish but a nice size trout was even caught off our docks here at the Sea
Hag Marina. Live shrimp appears to be working best as well as live pinfish.
When the live bait sells out, the Bass Assassin paddle tailed grubs are
working well. We are selling the following colors the most: Limetreuse,
Space Guppy, Electric Chicken, Chartreuse Glitter, and Candy Corn. We expect
(but don't hold your breath) that the fish will move further up river if
the weather remains cold.
Offshore the grouper have been more than spectacular. I've been told by many that this fall has been the most producing season they have ever fished. I've been told that trolling Stretch 30+'s have been the way to go and that bottom fishing just isn't catching as much fish right now. Some of the best selling colors are Hot Pink, all the new Holographic colors, the Red Tiger, Fire Tiger, and Gold with Black Back but I really don't think color matters that much. Stop by the marina to get some hot GPS coordinates and next year tide charts. I will be mailing tide charts to our boat storage customers, however, if you would like to have one, please email me your address and I will be happy to send a paper copy to you. Email at danielle@seahag.com or check out the tides on the net by clicking here.
The big attraction for the January and February
fishing are the
Sheepshead, which migrate in to spawn.
Expect to catch them on the new
and full moons when the tide fluctuates the most.
Sheepshead cling
closely to structures so be sure to hunt them
down and anchor over them
at the Steinhatchee Reef. Use a sliding
sinker rig with a 3/4-ounce egg
weight and one to two foot mono leader of 30-pound
test line. Mustad
makes a special Sheepshead hook that does not
straighten with the
strength of the bite. Try a hook in the range
of size 6 up to 1/O. Be
ready to set the hook quickly as the Sheepshead
is notorious for
stealing bait very quickly. Sheepshead
love fiddler crabs and sand fleas.
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 12/1/01
Capt Sam LeNeave
Lite-Line
Charters
Gainesville, FL
Phone: 352-374-4003
Email: flyfisher@ix.netcom.com
My clients, Craig & Matt Cardella, and
I left the Sea Hag Marina around 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning headed for
the Steinhatchee Flats. As we went out the river, it was obvious
that we were going to encounter some fog on the flats at least during the
morning. In addition, the tide was going to be low, low at
8:34 a.m. this morning.
As I hit the open water, for safety sake, I continued out almost to marker #1 and then turned south. We ran south for about 6 miles and then back to the east until the water was about 8 to 14 inches deep.
The water was dead calm with the tide still flowing out. My clients started fishing light tackle spin gear using Capt Mike’s Indian River Gold Spoons and Sam Griffin Top Water Plug (silver and black).
The reds were tailing pushing and moving everywhere. We had many follows and rolls on both baits before hooking up with a nice 28” redfish on Capt Mike’s Gold Spoon.
We continued moving south in this shallow water with my clients missing 6 to 8 potential hookups on these numerous reds. We found the reds were not aggressive and in some cases it took two or three strikes before they hooked up.
We continued fishing through the low tide and continued up to high tide. The fish became more reluctant to bite as the tide continued to rise. We changed our baits many times during the day with the most productive being Capt Mike’s Indian River Gold Spoon. However, we did manage to catch a 26” trout, a 20” trout and a five-pound pompano all on a black and gold Yozuri Crystal Minnow.
The final tally for the day was 4 reds 20 to 28 inches, 2 trout 20 and 26 inches and 1 five- pound pompano.
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 11/12/01
Rick Davidson of the Gainesville
Offshore Fishing Club caught this awesome Flounder. I have additional reports
of other flounder being caught as well as seeing a few more than usual
in the shrimp nets.
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 11/7/01
Capt Sam LeNeave
Lite-Line
Charters
Gainesville, FL
Phone: 352-374-4003
Email: flyfisher@ix.netcom.com
Saturday morning my clients and I left the Sea Hag Marina about 6:45am. My initial reaction was not good because the fog was so heavy that I had to pick my way from marker to marker going out the river channel. Once out on the flats we ran south for about 20 minutes then turned east into the shallow water. The tide was going to be at mean low-low water at 9:34 and I wanted to be in position and fishing as quickly as possible. At least this morning the wind was not blowing 20 mpg from the outset, but this fog was bad!
Eventually it started to lift and I was able
to get my bearings on our location and started polling my boat south.
During the morning we boated one 23inch trout but that
was it until about 1pm and then we got into the reds! At first we
picked up a few scattered reds then I noticed a big push in the water about
60feet from the west side of the boat. This push was at least 20
yards wide and coming our way. My clients threw copper and gold spoons
into the school and I threw a gold and black Top Dog Jr. All three
of us hooked up with all fish too large to keep. I estimate there
were at least 200 reds in this school. As they passed us we continued
moving down the flat, picking up scattered large reds. The day produced
8 redfish the smallest was 26 inches and seven more between 27 and 29 inches
all fish were in the 7 to 10 lb. slot. Not too bad after all!
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 10/21/01
Gainesville Offshore Fishing
Club Fall Funament by Brian Kiel
Fished out of Steinhatchee, Sunday
October 21 in the Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club (GOFC) Fall Funament
held out of Sea Hag Marina. The heaviest inshore and offshore fish would
get $150 gift certificates from the
Tackle Box in Gainesville. I was
fishing with the infamous Russ Roy and Bobthecobiaduckhog with grouper
and kingfish in mind. Trolling was to be our primary emphasis. Weigh in
started at 3 p.m. so since there wasn't much time to fish we elected to
pass up catching live bait and stick to trolling or bottom fish with frozen
sardine. Running with a following sea we got offshore quickly. Running
without first catching live bait was an odd feeling.
Offshore, lines of weed everywhere
made trolling very difficult. Trying to troll over specific numbers was
near impossible. On our first number large Amber Jacks (AJs) were swirling
under the boat and we picked up one that went 16 pounds on a Stretch 30
(blue back). There was a good bite on the lizardfish but we only picked
up one sublegal gag. We were trolling two Stretch 30s on flatlines, one
downrigger with a Rapala Sliver, and one duster with a sardine. Didn't
swing out the outriggers on account of all the weed. Bonita were a problem
as they were hitting both the Stretchs and the lone duster. We kept one
but let the rest go. In an attempt to bottom fish, we
deployed a sea anchor and did three
drifts over one number but it didn't pay off as the spot was a small one
with no nearby large expanse of hard bottom. Drifting, I needed 8 ozs to
maintain contact with the bottom.
Deciding to troll again, the only
way you could troll was to run parallel with the weeds and steer for a
clear path. Since home was into the seas we also decided to troll towards
Steinhatchee to cut down on our run back. Blind
trolling at best.
Not doing well in the grouper department
we decided to run inshore to 35 feet to fish two numbers close together.
By now the winds had decreased and running wasn't too bad. Finding the
first number wasn't difficult as you could tell you were over the structure
on account of all the AJs. They were
everywhere. We played with them
a little but only managed two gag; one legal, the other just short. Didn't
have any problems with the cudas that were circling the boat. Having only
20 minutes before we had to leave for the weigh in we decided to run to
the nearby second spot. Once anchored it was an immediate feeding frenzy
with the grouper finally cooperating. We kept 4 gag and had to leave them
in the middle of an excellent bite. It hurts to leave a bite like that.
At the weigh at Sea Hag Marina our largest gag only went a little over 7 pounds. We finished the day with 5 gag, one 16 pound AJ, one black sea bass, and one white grunt (the last two being breakfast fish). The largest offshore fish caught by GOFC President Richard McDavid, a kingfish went around 17 pounds and took the top seat in the largest offshore fish. Apparently, at 35 feet there was a good kingfish bite as the two friends caught a limit of kings both Saturday and Sunday.
Low tide was at 12:04 p.m. Wind
was northeasterly with seas running a solid 3+ decreasing to near flat
by 1 p.m but picking up again around 2. Offshore water temp at 8 a.m was
69.8 degrees F and at 2 p.m. it warmed up to 72.7
degrees F. Barometric pressure
was wavering a little at 30.06 inches and it was 3 days pre-First Quarter
moon. Weed was everywhere. Early we didn't see much in the baitfish department
(too rough) except a few hits on the bottom finder on the bottom. Grouper
in one spot hit only the fresh bonita while at the second (hottest spot)
they only hit dead sardines. Only picked up one black sea bass trolling
and three bottom fishing (fortunately). We were surprised to see a Carolina
Skiff around 19-21 foot offshore trolling 25 miles offshore. At one point
they were anchored up and the oncoming seas looked close to going over
their low bow. We didn't see a radio antenna either. It's amazing what
you see offshore sometimes. In 35 feet we saw a few pods of baitfish and
the weed still was present but not as bad as offshore. Interestingly, we
talked to two other parties and they each said that the day was slow only
to have the bite start around 2 p.m. We found the same thing to be true.
It was nice to get the boat back in the water after a 2-month spell of
no fishing. All in all a real nice day.
Here is a quick overview of the GOFC Fall Funament.
The largest offshore fish was caught
by the Ricochet Team
(with 1st Mate Dave Abril) with
GOFC President, Richard McDavid manning the rod with a kingfish that went
16.4 pounds which took the top seat in the heaviest offshore fish. At 35
feet there was a good kingfish bite as they caught a limit of kings both
Saturday and Sunday, even releasing a few others. They also took a nice
gag that went 11.3 pounds. Inshore, the fishing team of Rick Davidson and
Doug Fertig had an impressive cooler of trout (two limits), two redfish,
one spanish, and a 2 pound flounder. Their 2 pound 8 oz. redfish took the
heaviest inshore species. Both Richard McDavid and Rick Davidson (a.k.a.
LuvMuffin) went home with $150 gift certificates from the Tackle Box. It
was a great day despite a forbidding NOAA weather forecast.
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 10/3/01
Capt Sam LeNeave
Lite-Line
Charters
Gainesville, FL
Phone: 352-374-4003
Email: flyfisher@ix.netcom.com
click photo to see enlarged My clients
and I, Tom and Kylane Thornhill from Norfolk Va., left the Sea Hag Marina
about 7:15am Wednesday morning. Compared to the previous four days, this
day should be spectacular from a weather standpoint. The tide was going
to be low at 9:41am with a strong incoming tide to be high at 3:20pm. The
wind had subsided and the sky and water were clear. We ran South for about
20 minutes, then I ran in toward the shore for several hundred yards, killed
the motor and started to pole the last few hundred yards to get into the
desired water depth of about 12" to 18". With the tide still falling we
would drift down the coast and I could still allow the boat to move out
with the tide as needed. We started out with the old standby topwater plugs,
HighRoller silver and black RipRoller, Jerkin Sam black and gold. We fished
these plugs for about 45min and had one trout hit and miss Tom's Jerkin
Sam. I then changed to a chartreuse and red ChugBug and a gold TopDog Jr.
We fished these plugs for an hour or so with no results.
By this time the tide was dead low
so I took this opportunity to run down
toward Tater Island. Once we got
in position I started poling South again
in water about 12" deep. I changed
plugs again using a Johnny Rattler gold and a HighRoller chugger white.
As we started to fish the tide had turned and
the water started to come alive
with activity. Red's were everywhere. They
were tailing, they were bulldozing
the water, they were chasing bait every
where. But they were not biting.
They would swim on the plugs but turn off
at the last minute. I changed plugs
at least five times trying to come up
with combination that would work.
But nothing worked! There were so many
fish that you did not know where
to cast! But no hook up's. As frustration
started to set in I decided to
move South almost to Pepperfish Keys. By
this time the tide had gotten high
enough so we could move in on the marsh
grass. I changed both rods to gold
spoons. Not just any gold spoon but Capt. Mike Haklas Indian River specials.
These are weedless spoons with a strip of
Mylar tape in four colors and eyes
on the back of the spoon. The hooks can
be replaced as can the weed guards.
This is the only gold spoon I fish with
and it usually is successful. Well
we started throwing these spoons and
what do you know we started catching
fish! We boated 5 red's between 25"and 27" 4 medium sized trout and 2 large
ladyfish. Plus we flushed a large cobia out from under a big ray and took
a shot at him. In addition all of the reds were in the 7 to 9lb. slot so
they gave a good account of themselves on
light tackle with 8lb. test line.
By this time the tide was past full so we
decided to call it a day. All fish
were caught and released.
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 9/01/01
By Dave Abril of Gainesville
Offshore Fishing Club
Hey Danielle... many thanks to
you guys for always be
so accommodating. I don't know
if Charlie said
anything or not, but this past
Saturday while we were
limiting out on big spanish and
a few kings we hooked
up, boated, tagged and released
a Sailfish. In 30 feet
of water! It ran like a small king
or large spanish,
it was about 42" overall. It was
caught on a 5.25
inch crystal minnow (floater).
75% of our hits were on
that lure too. Solid hits at that.
So you better
stock up (crystal minnow #F8, colors
C4 & C6). Richard
McDavid (It was on his boat, Ricochet)
took my picture
so maybe I'll have something for
your website. Boy
wouldn't that be good advertising.
The Sailfish are
in ! Just go a few miles off the
channel...
Click
photo to see enlarged. Well thanx again for
the cook out help and all. See ya
later.... Dave Abril (alias
joe Boxer)
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 8/26/01
Scallop
and Short Inshore Fishing Report for August 24, 25, & 26th
Our Annual Mergo Family
Scallop Outing (4 families) went well with good weather and plentiful scallops.
Over 3 days we scalloped 5 miles to the north of the channel and we found
the scallops to be abundant. We did the best in the areas with deep sand
bars next to the shallow flats. Low tides mid day helped make the deeper
cuts not to much work snorkeling. These deeper cuts (29 degrees 41.588
and 083 degrees 33.040) seemed to have been avoided by other scallopers,
as the scallops were plentiful.
One of our best scallop trips
was when we left the dock at 5 p.m. and we
scalloped in the deeper (10
foot) sandbar cuts. In the distance we could
only see 3 other boats scalloping
and they were pulling anchor as we were dropping ours. It was more work
(deeper water) but the scallops were pretty thick and appeared larger than
those we found last week over thick seagrass in shallower water. The absence
of afternoon thunderstorms and running in as the sun set made for a neat
scallop experience, not to mention the absence
of numerous boats nearby.
> The scallops were abundant
and the largest we've seen to date. As usual we found the manatee grass
(thin cylindrical blades no wider than a pencil lead) to hold more scallops
than in the turtle grass (flat bladed and wide) and the best place to find
the scallops was at the sand/grass interface. Surface water temperature
was 85 degrees and with a lot of grass floating on the surface-it would
have been hard
trout fishing with lures.
During this outing we did fish
inshore on Sunday for 2 early hours but
with a 24 foot center console
it isn't exactly the best inshore platform.
High tide was around 7:22 a.m.
so it wasn't too bad for such a large boat. Since we were one of the first
boats coming through the channel we hit the #1 Marker for cobia. It started
off well. Throwing an eel we caught two sublegal cobias-one of which we
boated twice. As one of my young nephews James, was unhooking the cobia
it started thrashing and in the process James got the hook into his thumb
and threw up his hands in surprise. As he threw up his hands it was odd
sight to see the cobia go into the air and out of the boat. Fortunately
it was still hooked and we re-netted and released it. On the third cobia,
my youngest nephew, Bobby (11), had one that looked like it would run 25
lbs. It was taking a lot of drag and his eyes were pretty large as he struggled
to keep the rodtip up. At two points his father driving the boat (keeping
the cobe off the marker) almost stopped the boat to hold onto to him as
it looked like he may go overboard. At the surface the cobia managed to
throw the lure and we never raised the ling again. Although we didn't boat
the cobia, Bobby definitely enjoyed that fish!
It definitely seemed the
smaller cobia were the first to intercept
anything thrown. It's that time
of the year when the juvenile cobias are
all over our local markers.
Closer to shore we floated 2 small blue crabs off the stern and threw both
topwater and D.O.A. shrimps with Equalizers but only managed one 18 inch
trout on a jig. Plenty of baitfish near shore with mullet jumping frequently.
We had a few boils on the topwater plugs but the fish seemed to be striking
short. It was great to be on the water again and it was a great trip with
our extended family.
Brian Kiel of
Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club
This Week's Steinhatchee Fishing
Report 8/12/01
Capt Sam LeNeave
Lite-Line
Charters
Gainesville, FL
Phone: 352-374-4003
Email: flyfisher@ix.netcom.com
Caught this 27" red on TJ Neal's "Red Fish
Chubby" in 12" water off Steinhatchee, FL, Sunday, August 12.
Click Photo to see Enlarged
Fishing Reports 6/26/01
thru 3/11/01
Fishing Reports 3/11/01
thru 4/2/01
Fishing Reports 2/3/01
to 3/10/01
Fishing Reports 11/00
thru 1/30/01
Fishing Reports 6/1/00
thru 9/25/00
Fishing
Reports 5/6/00 thru 5/22/00
Fishing Reports 4/26/00
thru 4/29/00
Fishing Reports 3/27/00
Fishing Reports 3/3/00
thru 3/10/00
Fishing Reports 1/21/00
thru 3/3/00
Fishing Reports 1/10/00
thru 1/1/00
Fishing Reports 12/31/99
thru 9/18/99
Fishing Reports 8/25/99
thru 4/3/99