Nature Coast, Capt William Toney

With this weeks unusual late cold front it will put my fish finding wheels back into motion when the winds die down. The water temps were up around 73 on Sunday but with this hard north wind I expect a 5 degree drop in our Gulf water. Talking with local guide Dan Clymer his prediction was that the drop in water temperature may fire back up the sheepshead bite. I would agree, it always seems better for sheepshead when the water is cold on the deeper rocks but again this past Saturday I saw some good numbers of sheepshead up inside around the keys.

For trout I believe they will hunker down in the deeper holes of major creeks like, Fish, Mason and the St. Martins River. Techniques to catch them may be the same as in winter months by fishing slow and with a suspending bait or live shrimp. As of this time I’m writing this report the Homosassa River is up on the sea walls but expect the next few days to get extremely low as our winds will shift more north east. This can be a two edge sword, one side it makes it hard to get around when there is no water but the other side it will concentrate the fish. Just have to make the effort to get there.

If shallow, prop bending, bottom gouging rocks is not your cup of tee the best bet would be to hit the Bombing Range or the yellow bottom just to the north of the Bird Rack this weekend for trout or spanish mackerel. Good thing we live in Florida and cold weather doesn’t last long. Incoming tide will be daylight early morning or very late evening.