Crystal River Fishing Reports (May 2026)

Mike Ashley
Yankeetown, Florida
Reported: 3 days ago

It is always a blessing to fish with Brian and Stacie. This is their third trip down from West Virginia to fish with me in the last year and every trip has been both fun and productive! They only had time for a half day Charter this time because they...

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Mike Ashley Yankeetown, Florida Reported: 3 days ago

It is always a blessing to fish with Brian and Stacie. This is their third trip down from West Virginia to fish with me in the last year and every trip has been both fun and productive! They only had time for a half day Charter this time because they had other commitments but we made the best of it as they started out on a nice Seatrout bite first thing in the morning. Caught about 15 to 20 trout and kept seven good ones. Then went on to catch a variety of other fish including Black Drum, Redfish, and Sheepshead. The coolest event of the day was watching two spinner sharks Circle one of our live baits on a cork. They were very cautious but one decided to dive in and got hooked up. He made a drag pulling run and then jumped fully out of the water did a 360 barrel roll, and spit the hook. What a magnificent sight! You just never know what you're going to see out here in God's Country. I'm
looking forward to the fourth trip which sounds like it is coming up soon!

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Leon Hampton with Reel Time Outfitters
Hernando, Florida
Reported: 3 weeks 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: 3 weeks 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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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 4 weeks ago

The fishing has been phenomenal lately, getting into our spring trends with higher tides and strong bite inshore. Snook, redfish, trout and tarpon have been the big targets along with Spanish Mackerel, Jack Crevalle, mangrove snapper and others. White bait is prevalent throughout the sound and that's what these predatory...

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Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 4 weeks ago

The fishing has been phenomenal lately, getting into our spring trends with higher tides and strong bite inshore. Snook, redfish, trout and tarpon have been the big targets along with Spanish Mackerel, Jack Crevalle, mangrove snapper and others. White bait is prevalent throughout the sound and that's what these predatory fish love to eat. Plenty of fun fights everyday fishing bar lines, grass flats and mangrove islands.

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Randy Frank
Saint James City, Florida
Reported: 1 month ago

Red Grouper bite has been spotty but good slabs when we find em.. Blankets for the ride out on those chilly Fla. mornings..

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Randy Frank Saint James City, Florida Reported: 1 month ago

Red Grouper bite has been spotty but good slabs when we find em..
Blankets for the ride out on those chilly Fla. mornings..

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Mike Ashley
Yankeetown, Florida
Reported: 1 month 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: 1 month 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: 1 month 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: 1 month 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: 1 month 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: 1 month 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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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 2 months ago

Sheepshead season is in full swing and despite the colder days and extra layers for a comfortable day on the water, we are loading the boat with delicious fish. Sheepshead crowd into our area this time of year for the spawn and they are hungry and need to fill up...

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Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 2 months ago

Sheepshead season is in full swing and despite the colder days and extra layers for a comfortable day on the water, we are loading the boat with delicious fish. Sheepshead crowd into our area this time of year for the spawn and they are hungry and need to fill up to get through the hard days of spawn. Alongside the sheepshead, we are catching many other species such as redfish, black drum and mangrove snapper. All very fun and very tasty species. Cold days or warm days we are keeping the rods bent and having a lot of fun on the water with Floridaze.

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