Back in May of 2014, Capt. William Toney, President of the Homosassa Guides Association, came to our NCLA meeting and introduced us to the Spotted Seatrout species - how to identify them, catch them and cook them. During that presentation, he mentioned that every fishing guide in their association offerd a charter trip called a Cooked Shore Lunch. It's a morning of trout fishing and then an afternoon of cooking and eating fresh fish with all of the fixin's (hush puppies, baked beans and coleslaw) on a nearby private island. He described the process in great detail and our minds quickly shifted focus from trout talk to charter talk and in June of 2015, over a year later, four of the NCLA ladies got to experience this exclusive charter for themselves. Here's how it played out:
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The entire month of May had been filled with sunshine and blue-bird skies, however the weather reports called for 40-60% chance of rain during the entire first week of June and when was our Cooked Shore Lunch charter scheduled? Of course, you guessed it....the first Tuesday on the June calendar! Those reports were right for the most part, it did rain most every day that week but the rain seemed to hold itself off until the latter part of the afternoon. We had to decide, as a group, if we wanted to take the risk of getting dumped on out there or cancel the trip entirely based on the chance of getting caught in a thunderstorm with possible lightning. After a brief exchange of thoughts and looking at the morning skies, we decided to go for it.
7:45 a.m. All four ladies met up with Capt. Toney at MacRae's Marina, located right on the Homosassa River, where he had his boat already in the water and ready to be loaded. He reassured us that we had picked an outstanding day for a Cooked Shore Lunch Charter. The daily rains we had been getting over the past week had cooled the water off significantly and the overcast skies that we were expecting throughout the day would make it easier for trout, which are top water feeders, to see lures above without the disadvantage of the sun's intense glare beating down on the water's surface. The tides were prime just after the full moon. We had all the odds stacked in our favor.
We would still keep our eye on the morning skies, though....just so there were no surprises!
8:00 a.m. We handed over to the Capt. our 'snack packs'. This included a couple of beverages and granola bars and such....just a few snacks to get us through the morning in case our tummies started growling out there before it was actually time to eat lunch. He stowed them away, assisted us in boarding the boat and we were on our way.
(Alice - in the blue long sleeve shirt / Delores - sitting down dressed in grey / Dot - wearing a chartreuse t-shirt / Nan - in the blue short sleeve NCLA t-shirt)
(Alice - in the blue long sleeve shirt / Delores - sitting down dressed in grey / Dot - wearing a chartreuse t-shirt / Nan - in the blue short sleeve NCLA t-shirt)
Naturally, seeing rain showers in the distance brought out the synical side of us.
As we were navigating the channel markers in the no-wake zone of the Homosassa River, Capt. Toney pointed out some of the local landmarks like a mega-house on the south side of the river that is noticeably uneven due to foundation problems, and the old Crow's Nest Restaurant located on a private island at the mouth of the river. The island and structure are for sale if you're interested.
On the opposite side of the river, almost directly across from the old Crow's Nest Restaurant is yet another privately owned island with a mini-resort, called Tarpon Key Lodge, for rent by the weekend, week, or month ---only accessible by boat, though. Note to Self: "This will definitely be put on the NCLA Bucket List!"
When we passed the Tarpon Key Lodge to the left and were approaching the mouth of the Homosassa River, Capt. Toney interrupted our random girly chatter to give us fair warning that he was about to push the throttle down. He gave us a few seconds to prepare ourselves and then off we went, cruising in and then out of a body of water known to the locals as the "Sugar Bowl". Given that none of us women were at all familiar with the Homosassa fishery, we had no clue as to where the good Capt. was taking us. We just relished in the fact that we really didn't care where he was going or how long it would take to get there. We all sat back in our comfy deck chairs, closed our eyes and enjoyed the fresh morning air as it blew in our faces. It was quite a relaxing 15 minute ride.
Capt. Toney had our tackle ready to go. Here is what were would be fishing with throughout the day:
Rod: G-Loomis Saltwater Greenwater
GWR 901 S / 7' 6" / Mag-Medium / Ex-Fast
A more powerful spinning rod designed to fish live bait and soft plastics. It makes a really good choice for the deeper flats and bigger fish. It is a good choice for permit, small jacks and big reds. It will handle small crabs and has enough power to handle those over-sized surprises. Made with our "fiber blend technology", it is light and sensitive!
GWR 901 S / 7' 6" / Mag-Medium / Ex-Fast
A more powerful spinning rod designed to fish live bait and soft plastics. It makes a really good choice for the deeper flats and bigger fish. It is a good choice for permit, small jacks and big reds. It will handle small crabs and has enough power to handle those over-sized surprises. Made with our "fiber blend technology", it is light and sensitive!
Reel: Shimano Saros 2500 / SAR2500FA
Series - Saros
Family Type - Spinning
Models Offered - 4
Key Feature - X-Ship
Ball Bearings - 5
Roller Bearings - 1
Maximum Drag (lb) - 7-15 (lb)
Retrieve Per Crank Range (in) - 29-37
A redesigned series introducing Shimano's new XGT7 Graphite, the new Saros FA reels feature a super strong high tech frame, rotor and sideplate construction providing an exceptionally solid feel. Combined with X-Ship technology for solid cranking power, the four new Saros FA reels feature Rapid Fire Drag for easy and accurate adjustments when fighting fish. Just realized it's bigger than you thought? Rapid Fire Drag will help you land it. Saros FA - a new standard in spinning reels from Shimano.
Series - Saros
Family Type - Spinning
Models Offered - 4
Key Feature - X-Ship
Ball Bearings - 5
Roller Bearings - 1
Maximum Drag (lb) - 7-15 (lb)
Retrieve Per Crank Range (in) - 29-37
A redesigned series introducing Shimano's new XGT7 Graphite, the new Saros FA reels feature a super strong high tech frame, rotor and sideplate construction providing an exceptionally solid feel. Combined with X-Ship technology for solid cranking power, the four new Saros FA reels feature Rapid Fire Drag for easy and accurate adjustments when fighting fish. Just realized it's bigger than you thought? Rapid Fire Drag will help you land it. Saros FA - a new standard in spinning reels from Shimano.
Tackle: Popping Cork with Seaguar Brand Fluorocarbon in 20# test
Lure: D.O.A. / 3 inch C.A.L. Jerkbait in bourbon and bourbon flake on a red, short shank D.O.A. jig-head
We certainly enjoyed the trip out to open water. There was just something therapeutic about it that can't always be put into words, but we knew once the boat began to slow down that we were coming to the end of our ride. 8:30 a.m. - First stop of the day - Capt. Toney gave us a few moments to get our sea legs on and then began to hand out rods one by one. It was a little tricky to have four women casting rods from the same boat but he did a great job of spacing us out and pointing in the direction that we needed to be casting for the best chance of trout strikes. None of us were expert casters so it's a wonder that no one ended up with a new body piercing they hadn't planned on....including the Capt. himself, it's one of the hazards of the job.. It was 72 degrees with partly cloudy skies. The Capt. had done his job by getting us out to the feeding grounds, but now the pressure was on us to catch lunch.
We spent the next five or ten minutes getting used to casting a 7 ft rod and fishing with artificial lures that had no scent on them.. A little different than using a live shrimp like we're used to but it didn't take us too long to get the hang of it.. Alice was probably the most experienced angler of the group so it was no surprise, really, that she was the first to hook up with a fish. Unfortunately, it wasn't a trout like we'd hoped and were targeting. It was a nasty ol' Remora. Ugly boogers for sure and Capt. Toney told us how really nasty they were.
"The relationship between a remora and its host is most often taken to be one of commensalism, specifically phoresy. Though it was originally thought that the host to which it attaches for transport gains nothing from the relationship, research[4] indicates that hosts also benefit, given that remoras feed on parasites (such as copepods) and clean sloughing epidermal tissue as well as ingesting scraps of food, feces, and small nekton and zooplankton. The remora benefits by using the host as transport and protection, and also feeds on materials dropped by the host. Controversy surrounds whether a remora's diet is primarily leftover fragments, or the feces of the host. In some species (Echeneis naucrates and E. neucratoides), consumption of host feces is strongly indicated in gut dissections."
We had no clue. Pretty Gross!
For Alice it was cast after cast after cast - Remora, another Remora, and another Remora. Still...it was better than the rest of us were doing. After a half hour of that, Capt. Toney decided it was time for a move and we were ready.
Our new spot was a bit more productive but maybe that had a lot to do with the fact that we all were a tad more comfortable by then. Alice brought in an undersized trout for starters. It was too small to keep for our planned Cooked Shore Lunch, but an undersized trout is 10x better than a Remora any day of the week. And things started looking up after that.
Next in the boat was a 16 inch Trout. It was the first to be measured in the slot and so was quickly tossed into the cooler as we celebrated the beginning of our "collection" of future fillets! Delores remembered to bring the official CCA STAR measuring device because even though we were targeting trout, there was a minuscule chance that one of us could hook into a STAR tagged redfish. After all, there were four of us fishing at the same time.....it could happen.
10:00 a.m. - We had fished and relocated a time or two in the hour and a half we had been out there and every time we watched our bobber go down we naturally assumed we had another trout to add to the cooler but that wasn't always the case. This little guy was hungry too and if a Trout wasn't going to take our bait, he certainly would....and did. This encounter was the closest Nan had ever physically been to a free swimming shark....even if it was just a wee lad. They are fascinating creatures and we enjoyed a little "show & tell" time.
Much of the morning was spent just making general conversation, asking Capt. Toney lots of questions and soaking up the experience. The Capt. threw a few casts out himself in order to bump our numbers up a bit and it was fun to watch him in action.
10:30 a.m. - We had relocated to another area that had some bottom structure. We hadn't been breaking any records yet with our trout haul, even though we had four lady anglers on the boat. We were novices and doing the best we could. Capt. Toney was watching each of our bobbers with eagle eyes and knew the second he saw Delores's drop below the water's surface. She had a fish on. He instantly gave her the instruction to "Stay Tight", meaning 'don't give that fish any slack line and/or the chance to break free'. He knew the minute he netted it, it would be a legal fish, approximating it's length at about 20 inches.
He laid that Trout on the CCA STAR Tourney measuring device and it measured in at 20 inches, just like he predicted. Delores took a picture of it on her cell phone and uploaded it into the Ladies Division using the official CCA STAR phone app. And then into the cooler it went.
Nan above fishing at the bow,
Alice below covering the stern
Dot covering the water in between.
Over the next hour, and with Capt. Toney's help, we caught several more keepers, a Black Sea Bass (which would also be part of our lunch), and another baby shark. We were doing pretty good at this particular spot so as we drifted over it, we would swing back around and drift over it again and again until it was played out. We did that until around noon.
At that point we moved a little closer inshore to a place called No Name Rock. The sun never really came out fully or burned off any of the clouds so it remained overcast even in the middle of the day. The breeze slowed down considerably as well making the water near smooth as glass which made the ride a smooth one. We just couldn't have asked for better weather.
This is where we did more relaxing and sight-seeing than fishing. The water was crystal clear and the grass was vivid green. Capt. Toney spotted some small Grouper and a group of Mangrove Snapper and did his best to help Dot and Nan round up a few for the cooler. Meanwhile Alice and Delores caught sight of an enormous sea turtle and a school of angelfish swimming nearby.
Nan did well by pulling in a few Gray Snapper (Mangrove Snapper) out from under No Name Rock but none of which were big enough to keep. They needed to be at least 12 inches long,
So since we weren't able to lure anything bigger to our hooks there, we changed the scenery up and moved a little closer inshore to crawl along a few mangrove islands around the St. Martin's Keys. We were at high-tide and the water was crystal clear with overcast skies which made it easier to see the redfish loitering along the mangrove roots. We began our redfish hunt at 1:00 next to one of the mangrove islands called Pelican Key where, with the Capt.'s help, Nan hooked into the first redfish of the day.
While Nan was taking a brief snack break after catching her fish, Dot hooked into the second redfish of the day less than a minute afterward. The Capt. had put us right on top of a hungry school of them.
A quick snap-shot for the photo album (and it's clear Dot's no stranger to a camera) and then a toss into the cooler to keep the others company. We had collected quite an assortment of fish by this time and we weren't done yet.
What a amazing spot we were anchored down at. Nan caught a few undersized redfish, Dot caught a few herself and then it was Alice's turn. She hooked into a good sized redfish too but before she had a chance to reel in enough line to clear the mangrove roots, it had made a bee-line right for them and wrapped the line around a few. Not wanting to cut it loose prematurely, Capt. Toney maneuvered the bow of the boat just close enough to the mangrove line to allow Alice to work a little magic. Amazingly, after about a 15 minute tug-of-war, she managed to free the line and boat her 20 inch red.
It had been overcast the majority of the day, which was great for us, but between one and two o'clock it began to drizzle intermittently. We weren't stressing out about it, but we knew we had been pushing our luck for most of the day. The rain was bound to come at some point, we had seen the signs during the early morning ride. We were just glad it held off until later in the day. Capt. Toney had been gracious enough to give us as much time on the water as he possibly could before tapping on his watch and telling us it was time we wrap things up and prepare for the short ride to the lunch destination.
All we knew was that we were going to a private island owned by the Atlanta Fishing Club. The Atlanta Fishing Club and the Homosassa Guide's Association have a symbiotic relationship in that although the Atlanta Fishing Club owns the private island located off the Homosassa River, the Homosassa Guide's Association takes care of the necessary upkeep and therefore has special permission to use the island for their Cooked Shore Lunch Charters. We were so ready for "phase 3" of the day - eating and relaxing.
Our initial plan was to have Capt. Toney walk us through the steps as we each tried our hand at filleting our own fish so he began to take them out of the cooler one by one and hand them to us. Our job was to space ourselves out at the cleaning station (pictured behind us) and fillet two fish each with the Capt.'s guidance. Do you think that actually happened? Psshhh - NO! Please!----- We held our fish long enough for a group photo and then looked at him with a blank stare on our face. Then he said, "Or I could do it." Well, that's pretty much all we needed to hear. We were SO hungry we couldn't hardly wait and we changed our minds about filleting our own fish when we all realized how long it would take us to do it. That's the beauty of being a woman - we have the prerogative to change our minds at any time we deem necessary - and this was one of those time. We politely left our fish on the cleaning table and then excused ourselves with some "I have to go to the bathroom" statement as we all walked away in a single file line leaving Capt. Toney to literally do the dirty work. We know he secretly appreciated the gesture himself. Can you imagine the time it would take to teach four middle-aged women how to fillet their own redfish?
This was about the time our camera and video batteries had gone dead. We had taken so many pictures and video clips during the last six hours that we drained the batteries of almost every cellphone and video device we had. Our concern was that we had captured the amazing first half of our Cooked Shore Lunch Charter but there would now be no way to document anything that happened beyond this point. All we could do now was sit back, watch Capt. Toney cook us up a great meal while we sat in our lawn chairs around an abandoned campfire chatting up a storm.
We did manage, however, to find this awesome video of a promo for a Homosassa Cooked Shore Lunch that just so happened to star our very own Capt. William Toney. This video clip picks up exactly where we left off so it gives you an idea of what we experienced once we got to the island. https://youtu.be/um0zn9SEZZE
We did manage, however, to find this awesome video of a promo for a Homosassa Cooked Shore Lunch that just so happened to star our very own Capt. William Toney. This video clip picks up exactly where we left off so it gives you an idea of what we experienced once we got to the island. https://youtu.be/um0zn9SEZZE
Method to the Madness
Take a cast iron skillet, fill it with vegetable oil, and deep-fry a pound of bacon in the oil. When you deep-fry the bacon, it seasons the oil. Then hushpuppies (made with House Autry brand hushpuppy mix found at Publix) are cooked in the oil and the bacon and the hushpuppies are served with the guava jelly as shown in the video above. That's what serves as the appetizer. The guava jelly is a Toney Family recipe made from their own crop of guava trees. Once the hushpuppies are done, the fresh fish is fried in the same seasoned oil which gives it such a great flavor. The side dishes consist of Bush brand Grillin' Beans and Publix homemade coleslaw fresh from the Publix Deli.
By 3:00 p.m. we were stuffed to the gills!!!! Capt. Toney had laid out an amazing picnic spread of fried fish with all the fixin's and we had done our best to make room for every last bite but we just couldn't quite pull it off. We sat with our hands on our bellies whining about how full we were while the Capt. was packing all of his gear and carrying it back to the boat. We took a deep breath, slowly rose out of our chairs, and casually strolled back to the end of the dock and climbed back in the boat for one last short ride back to the Marina. We were exhausted and in desperate need of a nap! It was a quiet ride back with the occasional comment about how much fun the adventure had been.
Capt. Toney docked the boat and as we were making our way back to the Marina, he did a quick inventory of our things, making sure that we wouldn't be leaving any valuables behind. There were still a number of fish left in his cooler and he made quick work of getting them filleted and divied up between us for a home-made fish dinner at a later date. We thanked him for an outstanding experience and made our way back to our vehicles for the drive home - in much need of a shower!
This was one of the most memorable charters we've had the pleasure of participating in during the history of the NCLA. From the weather, to the Capt's funny stories., to the company, to the food - it was a most remarkable day not soon to be forgotten. If you have the time and funds to do something like this, you will not regret it. It is worth every penny.
Capt. Toney docked the boat and as we were making our way back to the Marina, he did a quick inventory of our things, making sure that we wouldn't be leaving any valuables behind. There were still a number of fish left in his cooler and he made quick work of getting them filleted and divied up between us for a home-made fish dinner at a later date. We thanked him for an outstanding experience and made our way back to our vehicles for the drive home - in much need of a shower!
This was one of the most memorable charters we've had the pleasure of participating in during the history of the NCLA. From the weather, to the Capt's funny stories., to the company, to the food - it was a most remarkable day not soon to be forgotten. If you have the time and funds to do something like this, you will not regret it. It is worth every penny.
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