Crystal River Fishing Reports (April 2026)

Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters
Hernando, Florida
Reported: 1 week ago

Snook season is about to end at the end of April and right now is the best time to get on some nice snook. We are using live bait on a 4/0 circle hooks free line around the mangrove islands sight fishing most of the fish we have been catching....

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters Hernando, Florida Reported: 1 week ago

Snook season is about to end at the end of April and right now is the best time to get on some nice snook. We are using live bait on a 4/0 circle hooks free line around the mangrove islands sight fishing most of the fish we have been catching. The redfish is the same using live bait on a 4/0 circle hooks free line under the trees on the mangrove islands in really shallow water. There are some big schools of snook and redfish on the outside islands.

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Mike Ashley
Yankeetown, Florida
Reported: 3 weeks ago

What a blessing it was for me to be able to spend the day with these two guys yesterday out in God's Country!!! I fished with Ken from Dunnellon and his buddy Jeff, who lives in Ocala. While they are both into fishing, Ken is really hooked (pun intended🤣). He...

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Mike Ashley Yankeetown, Florida Reported: 3 weeks ago

What a blessing it was for me to be able to spend the day with these two guys yesterday out in God's Country!!! I fished with Ken from Dunnellon and his buddy Jeff, who lives in Ocala. While they are both into fishing, Ken is really hooked (pun intended🤣). He has mainly fished fresh water, and wanted to learn and experience our fishery here in Yankeetown. He also kept us entertained with stories of fishing in the Amazon! They started off the day catching Seatrout, putting some in the cooler for dinner. Then we headed off to hunt for Redfish and Black Drum. They put some nice Redfish, Black Drum, and Mangrove Snapper in the box, on top of Trout, that ended up being a nice bag of fillets, and we made it back in safely before the crazy winds started blowing hard. From what they tell me it looks like I am going to be seeing them a lot on future charters. Long story short, another successful adventure out in the Gulf of America!

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Mike Ashley
Yankeetown, Florida
Reported: 3 weeks ago

Quality fish was the theme of the day! I ran a single angler trip with Mark yesterday out in God's Country and he really put some nice Redfish and Seatrout in the boat. He started out the day with a Big Trout in the fog, then put a few Trout...

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Mike Ashley Yankeetown, Florida Reported: 3 weeks ago

Quality fish was the theme of the day! I ran a single angler trip with Mark yesterday out in God's Country and he really put some nice Redfish and Seatrout in the boat. He started out the day with a Big Trout in the fog, then put a few Trout in the box for dinner. After that, we moved on to catch some nice Reds. I even got to fish a little and picked up a Big Permit. Mark is a great guy and I was really blessed to be able to fish with him yesterday. He took home a nice bag of fillets for a fish fry with family and friends, including Redfish, Seatrout, Permit, and Mangrove Snapper. We threw live shrimp, mud minnows, and artificial lures, but once again, the fish were really keyed into the beautiful live shrimp from Captains Cove. Check them out for all your bait and tackle needs. Overall, it was a beautiful and productive day fishing, along with good conversation with a great guy, out of
Yankeetown Marina!!! Until next time...

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters
Hernando, Florida
Reported: 4 weeks ago

We are targeting Trout, redfish and snook. The redfish and snook bite is going strong right now on the mangrove islands. We are fishing the points with moving water using artificial lures and live bait. When we are using live bait it has been mud minnows and pinfish and the...

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters Hernando, Florida Reported: 4 weeks ago

We are targeting Trout, redfish and snook.

The redfish and snook bite is going strong right now on the mangrove islands. We are fishing the points with moving water using artificial lures and live bait. When we are using live bait it has been mud minnows and pinfish and the artificial lures has been z-Man prawn stars that is a shrimp style bait it has been working the best this time of the year.

Trout has been in the shallow flats with the mullet schools and on the hard bottom in under 2ft of water we have been using all artificial lures from top water plug to Z-man plastic jerk shadz in all colors rig on weedless hooks.

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Janot Vilardell
Dunnellon, Florida
Reported: 1 month ago

Our freshwater bass trips in Dunnellon Fl are really doing great!

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Janot Vilardell Dunnellon, Florida Reported: 1 month ago

Our freshwater bass trips in Dunnellon Fl are really doing great!

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters
Hernando, Florida
Reported: 3 months ago

Freshwater fishing report We have been catching crappie and large mouth bass on Lake Panasoffkee. We have been using minnows and shiners with some artificial to target these fish they have been around the shorelines and docks even a few around the weed lines in the middle of the lake....

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters Hernando, Florida Reported: 3 months ago

Freshwater fishing report

We have been catching crappie and large mouth bass on Lake Panasoffkee. We have been using minnows and shiners with some artificial to target these fish they have been around the shorelines and docks even a few around the weed lines in the middle of the lake. When we are using the minnows we are targeting crappie for the most part but we have been getting some nice bass on them to using a slip cork rig so we can change depth fast.

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters
Hernando, Florida
Reported: 3 months ago

We have been targeting redfish and trout at the creek mouths and inside the creeks our trout has been in the deeper holes and the redfish are mixed in with them to there are a lot of our redfish on the edge of the oyster bars and rocks on the...

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters Hernando, Florida Reported: 3 months ago

We have been targeting redfish and trout at the creek mouths and inside the creeks our trout has been in the deeper holes and the redfish are mixed in with them to there are a lot of our redfish on the edge of the oyster bars and rocks on the side of the creek banks. We have been sight casting our redfish on the side of the banks using Zman prawn star in the 3.5 inch per rig 3/16oz. The trout has been biting the same bait you do need to let it sink a little more do to it being a little bit lighter then we have been working it slow on the bottom with the cooler air temperature.

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Kevin Trahan
Inverness, Florida
Reported: 3 months ago

Scott Merry Christmas to all! Sheepshead fishing has been picking up on the nearshore rocks. Live shrimp and fiddler crabs will get them to eat. Black bass, grunts and Spanish mackerel are also on the rocks. Inshore, the water has cooled and the reds and trout are moving to the...

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Kevin Trahan Inverness, Florida Reported: 3 months ago

Scott

Merry Christmas to all!


Sheepshead fishing has been picking up on the nearshore rocks. Live shrimp and fiddler crabs will get them to eat. Black bass, grunts and Spanish mackerel are also on the rocks. Inshore, the water has cooled and the reds and trout are moving to the creeks and rivers. Some black drum and mangrove snapper are in the deeper holes of the creeks. There has been very little water due to extreme low tides and a persistent east wind, thus most of the fishing is in the main river and nearshore rocks recently.

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