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Florida fishing at its best! Many of the guests that stay at our vacation home enjoy fishing. This picture of 3 generations shows the Speckled Trout that the youngest, Eric, has just caught in the grass flats close to the house. This is a common experience with our guests. Many of our guests eat fresh fish every day during their stay. The dock behind the house has a flood light that comes on under the dock at night. You can see the 2 to 3 FOOT LONG Tarpon and Snook lurking under the dock at night. Catching them is the challange.   Kevin, on the right, is from Cananda. I split the cost of a Flats Fishing Trip with guide RICH KNOX's and Kevin landed this VERY NICE Snook. This was in August 2006. Some folks says Snook don't bite well in August, but Capt. Rich Knox knows where they hang out in the Summer time and how to catch them.  If you are interested in fishing with a real professional you can give Rich Knox a call at 727 376-8809.   . This snipet from a nautical chart shows the channels that extend out from this community and the fishing areas beside the channels. There are "oyster reefs" beside the channels and the red fish and speckled trout like to hang out around these reefs looking for dinner. These areas are all "grass flats" that are about 3 to 5 ft deep with long grass on the bottom. Excellent fishing... http://www.loveslures.com/ This shows a very popular "Love Lure" and float. The Love Lure that seems to work the best is the white with a red head. CLICK HERE for more information on fishing lures by Love Lures. The "Equalizer" float is a "popping cork" that has plastic beads on it that go click click when you are retreiving the lure. This imitates the sound of a live shrimp, which is a dinner bell to the speckled trout, redfish, and snook. These corks come in several colors and any of them work well. On the right is what the properly "rigged" line looks like with these lures and float. The bottom lure should be about 1 foot from the sea grass on the bottom. This means a total depth of 3 to 4 feet is about right. When working this rig, you cast it out the repeat the following cycle: point the fishing rod directly at the float and reel in just the slack line Pull the float toward you by raising the tip of the fishing rod and pointing it straight up go to step 1 Some very good fishermen that I know do not use the float. They "keep the lure moving" all the time, with just a slight pause now and then to allow it to sink just a little. They are careful not to let the lure get caught in the sea grass. This is a picture of one of many variations of the DOA shrimp lures. The white shrimp with the red head, shown here is the lure that I have had the best luck using. The DOA Fishing Lure company makes LOTS of different lures, but the shrimp seem to have the best luck of all for me. CLICK HERE for more information on DOA Fishing Lures. This is a sample of the "live bait" that can be caught with a throw net. This is called a "green back".. technically it is a "scaled sardine" and the fish around here think it is a candy bar. Fishing Guides Several of my guests have asked about a fishing guide for this area.  The picture above is of Capt. Rick Knox is a very good fishing guide. Rich says the full moon will be the best day for fishing. Capt. Rick Knox can be reached at (727)  376-8809   Another guide in the area that is good is Capt Tom Post.  Tom has a web site . FISHING TRIPS Visit our websit at www.onlinetarpon.com  Capt.Tom offering inshore fishing Snook, Redfish,Sea Trout,Tarpon also offering Island Hopping, Pleasure rides, Shelling on Anclote Key,and Sunset Trips 727-809-3474       The full moon causes strong tides, and one of the fish we will be after, Snook, are famous for biting on strong tides.  We may catch Speckled Trout, Redfish, and Snook.  The Speckled Trout are the most "aggressive feeders" and thus are the easiest to catch.           The Snook are "ambush feeders". They lay in wait at "strategic spots" where food is likely to be carried by them on the strong tide.  Snook are also the most finicky eaters. I have seen them "bump" a live bait to "see how it reacts to almost being eaten.  If it does not react in a "healthy" manner, the will not take the bait.  The Redfish (Spotted Drum) are very plentiful now, with record numbers being caught although most are an inch or 2 too short.  So by March they should have grown to just the right size !!..  The Redfish is the fish made famous  by Paul Prudhomme in Louisana as “Blackened Redfish”.   http://chefsaraskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/02/blackened-redfish.html http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Paul%20prudhomme's%20blackened%20redfish  Several of my guests have "split the cost" of fishing charters with me. Typically, we meet the guide just about 15 minutes before dawn on the fishing day at the Anclote River Marina which is just beside the Anclote River County Park .  This is located right where the Anclote River  You should bring the following:    water  sandwich or snack  sun screen  hat  long sleeve shirt  sun glasses with a “keeper strap”  A “cheap” throwaway camera  a sense of anticipation. Everything you bring may get wet, so put everything (camera, mobile phone) you want to stay dry in zip lock baggies…   We will leave the dock just as it is getting light enough to see the channel markers and run for about 4 or 5 minutes to the grass flats to catch bait, usually Scaled Sardines (greenbacks).  The process of chumming up a “ball” of bait and catching a day’s supply usually takes between 20 minutes and 45 minutes.   Then we are off to some of Rich’s secret spots for Snook, Speckled Trout and/or Redfish.   Of course, there are no guarantees, but I can honestly say that every time that I have been out fishing with these guides  we have caught fish and have had a good time.   Home | Fishing | Beaches | Birds | Golf Neighborhood | Resturants | Availability | Rates | Reservations | Contact Us Copyright © 2002 Samuel Roach. All rights reserved.   Copyright© 2003 Samuel Roach all rights reserved Click to email me Contact Information We are sure you will have questions and will be glad to talk to you about any aspect of our beautiful vacation homes. You can e-mail us at any time by clicking on the link below. My wife and I both work during the day, so it will be evening before I can get back to you. I generally check and reply to my e-mails twice each day, around 6:00am and again around 7:00pm.   I have an automated response that you will get almost instally, and I will get a copy of your e-mail which I will reply to in the evening when I get home.   Click to email me Feel free to give us a call any time if you have any questions about our Florida vacation rental home.   Again, it will be evening before we can return your call. Dan or Suzanne Fickes 5230 Tilson Dr. 3939 Rudder Way 34652 Toll Free (888) 772-8586 phone no. (813) 789-5002 These numbers ring into our home. Both Suzanne and I work during the day. If you call us during the day you will have to leave us a message (our black lab "Blackie" has not yet learned to answer questions about our rental homes) and we will be happy to give you a call back when we get home in the evening. Or if you prefer, you can call us in the evenings up until about 11:00pm Florida time.   Reservations Here is how to reserve this home. Here is the procedure that we go through Select which of our homes your like. Check availability and pricing on our calendar. email me your choices of homes and the dates. Subject of your contract should be PLEASE SEND ME A CONTRACT. Click to email me and request a contract. When I get home in the evening, I will e-mail you a contract for the home and the time period you are interested in. Print out the contract. If you have any question, you can either call me or e-mail me with your questions. Be sure to fill in your name and address on the contract legibaly as this is the address that I send the breakage deposit back to after you leave. Sign the Contract and Mail me contract and check. mail it to       Dan Fickes    .                     3939 Rudder Way                     New Port Richey, Fl  34652 I operate on a first come, first serve basis. So you may want to overnight this contract back to me. If it is a "last minute" reservation, you may want to use www.paypal.com to send me the payment, and put the contract in the regular mail. For those of you who do not know, paypal is the service that eBAY uses for its auctions. It has been around for about 5 years and is very dependable. To send me payment, just send the payment to my e-mail address at dfickes1@tampabay.rr.com. If you use paypal, they charge an extra 3% for processing the payment, so you must add the 3% to the amount you send me so I will receive the full amount. When I receive your contract and check I will send you a complete "welcome kit" that includes maps and directions from the airport and for driving from the north Then I will confirm your reservation by doing the following Updating my web site to show your reservation Send you a reservation confirmation e-mail The confirmation e-mail has the following details Driving direction from the north. Driving directions from Tampa Airport. Address and phone number of the vacation home. Directions to the closest beach. Directions to several other beaches in the area including Sunset Beach Howard Park Beach Anclote River Beach and boat launch Honeymoon Island State Park/beach Directions to the closest swimming pool Directions to the closest Supermarket(about 1 mile away) The combination to the lockbox and instructions on getting the door key and letting yourself into the vacation home. There is no need for you and I to meet before you let yourself in. Home | Fishing | Beaches | Birds | Golf Neighborhood | Resturants | Availability | Rates | Reservations | Contact Us Copyright © 2002 Samuel Roach. All rights reserved.   Copyright© 2003 Samuel Roach all rights reserved