Writing fishing reports has been on the back burner for quite a while. I am trying to turn over a new leaf, but can not promise I will succeed. Part of the problem is finding time when I am not too tired. I think I will shorten the reports to try to keep some fresh news on the site. Thanks for your patience. Check back once a week, to see if I have done better. Speckled Trout and Redfish action in Homosassa Bay has been very good the last two days. Scott Browning and Steve Emerson of Brooksville along with Dean came out on an all day light tackle artificial lure only charter trip. The Fall like weather felt good on our faces as we moved out in the Mercury powered Pro-Line. Yesterday’s action started out with the trio throwing Mirrolure Top Pups, Johnson Gold Spoons and Mirrolure Catch 2000’s. Within minutes Steve caught the first red which was a rat. Later, Scott heaved a long cast out in the middle of the bay for a nice 18 inch trout. We tried a few more spots with no luck. I then moved the boat to a favorite key and as I poled towards it I noticed a small school of perhaps 50 redfish. Scott cast out with the top water lure and was instantly hooked up. Dean and Steve also connected using gold spoons. With all three hooked up at once, I got the camera out. Two of the reds measured 26 inches and were iced. Dean’s fish was too big by maybe a half inch. We waited a while to see if the school would come back and they did not. We then shifted our focus on trout action. I went to a place in which the day before we iced down 10 nice keepers. The fish were there. Everyone were getting strikes on the top water lures. Steve hooked up first using the Mirrolure Top Pup in fire tiger. One thing I noticed was that the trout were short striking the top water lures and so I tied on a Mirrolure Catch 2000 in the 750 color which is black back, gold side and orange belly. This lure is an intermediate twitch lure which is almost neutral buoyancy. It is the most amazing lure I have ever used in shallow water. Steve, Dean and I all caught trout on the Catch 2000 while Scott wanted to stick with the top water lure. We all did well and had a nice mess of fish for everyone to take home, so we quit around 1:00 PM to try for some shallow water grouper. Scott got a hit which was so awesome that it pulled the lure in half from where it was put together from the factory. We had the drag cranked all the way down and the big fish took off toward the ledge with no problem. We run out of time before we boated the first keeper. Day before yesterday, Craig and Karen Suarez along with Don and Susan booked me for a similar trip. The difference was that the first we spot we stopped was a winner. Using live shrimp, Karen, Susan and Don boated and released 15 redfish plus kept four fish ranging between 25-26 inches. Craig stayed out of the way all the while. When we switched to top water lures, Craig got in on the action. Craig used the big daddy of Top Dog Mirrolures, the red and white which is a 94MR11. The lure weighs 3/4 oz. and 4-3/4 inches long, so you can heave it a country mile. For most practical purposes this lure is to heavy to cast all day long. But Craig liked the feel of the lure and the fact that you can throw it a long way. Meanwhile, Karen and Susan were regularly landing keeper size trout using the Cajun Thunder Equalizer cork rig. A 1/8 ounce red Cotee jig with a pink/white grub was used below the cork. A 24 inch section of Seaguar 25 pond test fluorocarbon ties the two together. It was determined that the girls won by catching the most fish in both reds and trout. A total of 14 fish were kept. The fish were filleted and skinned, then put into heavy duty Zip-loc freezer bags. Water is added and the air is squeezed out to provide maximum protection and freshness. Remember that if you are too busy to go fishing, well you are just too darn busy!