Anytime that I go visit my friend Nick in Gainesville I never have a bad time. In order to get on the water we take trips to the Nature Coast or to the Big Bend. Check out some of my other posts like, “Chassahowitzka Redfish Smackdown“, “Scalloping in Steinhatchee” or “Nature Coast Redemption” that dive into my adventures in this part of Florida. This time around we went to Waccasassa.
The Plan
We knew the tides were going to be super low, so the morning plan was to look for tripletail on crab buoys and weedlines. After this once the water came up a bit to where we could get into the feeder creeks that dump into Waccasassa Bay we’d look to target redfish.
Things did not go as planned at the start. We didn’t see one tripletail and the water was too murky and the sky too cloudy to flyfish. Because of this, we threw D.O.A soft plastics. We caught more trout and reds than we could count. Nearly all the trout were keeper fish, only two slot reds however.
Waccasassa Pay Off
There were two key moments that defined the day. One is Nick back casting and hitting my rod and snapping it in half. The other is me subsequently catching the fish of the day on half a rod. See below.
We harvested a few fish for dinner and called it a day, the drive back to Gainesville is only 45 minutes so it was an easy day.
What really is amazing about this part of Florida is the landscape. It really is a land forgotten by time. It’s a snapshot of what Florida was like before people.
The dolphins in the videos above swam right along with our skiff for at least a mile and a half. A truly incredible experience.
Until next time, Tight Lines.