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