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Florida State Parks

Homossa State Park
Bahia Honda State Park

Always Fishing Guide Service

Offshore Fishing Report
Inshore Fishing Report

Capt. Barry Hoffman's Upper Keys and Florida Bay Flats fishing report.

Florida State Parks

Homossa State Park
Located just 75 miles North of Tampa and St. Petersburg, and 90 miles West of Orlando on the West coast of Florida, the Homossa State Park was first inhabited by the Calusa and Seminole Indians. In 1846 a former US Senator established a plantation and sugar cane mill, and was the areaós first known settlement made by the white man. Today, owned and protected by the state of Florida, there is no place like the Homossa State Park to view a wide range of Floridaós spectacular wildlife.

From atop a floating observatory, visitors can gaze upon the splendor of thousands of fresh and saltwater fish. This is also one of the few places in the world where all year round visitors can enjoy an up close look at the manatees that have been rescued by the parks reserve, while park rangers provide educational information about the physiology and preservation of the endangered specie. The park doesn't allow for visitors to swim with the manatee, but they do sponsor an adopt a manatee program. The park waters are also home to a hippopotamus, alligators, crocodiles, otters and a myriad array of waterfowl.

Along with the unspoiled nature trails open to the public, the Homossa State Park installed 500 feet of elevated boardwalk and viewing platforms. These platforms guide the curious bird watcher up to the tree tops for a much more intimate look at the habits of the birds of prey, as well as offering a birds eye view on the unsuspecting wildlife below. From the safe distance of a viewing platform, one could hope to catch a glimpse of a gray fox or a black bear, or maybe even the Florida panther, that also makes its home beneath the trees of Homossa State Park. In addition to strolling and hiking, the park likes to emphasis environmental education. The park is open all year round and offers a number special events offered including a fall Arts and Crafts festival and gardening workshops; there is also a childrenós educational center which providing the parks smaller visitors with a hands on introduction to the wild.

Bahia Honda State Park

What makes the 13 acres of Bahia Honda State Park located in the big pine key so special, is that it is the only island in the Florida keys that can boast extensive sandy beaches and deep waters close enough off shore as to provide visitors with exceptional swimming, snorkeling and diving. The channel that lies between the old and new Bahia Honda bridges, is the deepest natural channel of the area.
BAHIA HONDA STATE PARK

The park offers three camping areas, with a total of 80 campsites. Most sites accommodate trailers or tents, while the marina allows overnight docking for up to two weeks. If your interests involve tarpon fishing or ocean fishing, you may consider staying awhile and enjoying some of the best in the keys. Otherwise there are plenty of leisure activities including hiking along a nature trail that follows the shore of a tidal lagoon at the far end of Sandspur Beach. Guided tours can point out some of the unusual and rare plant life of the park, including the largest remaining stands of the threatened silver palms in the United State. The park grounds also provide a safe refuge for the endangered small-flowered lily-thorn.

Offshore
Offshore fishing is steady. A lot of changes have brought a mixed bag of fish to the dock. Some of the changes are the introduction of new divers in the area. I have noticed many new Dive shops blooming up all over. With this brings new spear fishermen. I have noticed these people are using a lot of my inshore numbers. (Note I don't own the numbers) I have nothing against them but the conditions offshore are so bad for diving they have no recourse but to dive the shallow rocks. I don't have the answers to fix this so I will live with it.
The Enterprise has been doing well in thirty-eight feet of water. Nice catches of reef fish have been caught. I guess there is a place in the gulf for all.

Inshore
Inshore fishing, which I have been doing a lot of, is great. Fishing around the thunderstorms has produced great fish. Large snook, red's and trout seem to bite best just before and after the storms. I noticed a lull in the fishing when the sun peeks out. I have been using Bass Assassins and Love lures to entice these fish.
Sometimes I use Bass crank baits but be aware if you don't wash these baits in freshwater you will have to replace the hooks often. Grab a rod and head for the water, the fish are biting.

Capt. Barry Hoffman's fishing report for the Upper Keys and Florida Bay Flats and Backcountry.

Tarpon and bonefish are still what most are targeting this time of the year. I fished with Ed Caldwell for both on Wednesday. The day was a bit overcast but we did have a number of shots at both. Fly casting was tough with the wind. On Thursday and Friday I fished with Dan Kane. We left a bit later in the day to take advantage of the cooler temperatures. Once again it was a bit windy and we had a tough time getting the bait in front of the bonefish. We did have a few shots at small permit as well. Later in the day we went to try and catch a tarpon. It was a slow night as I saw only two fish caught. We did hook one but couldn't keep it on. On Friday we tarpon fished in the morning for a few hours than decided they wanted to just catch a few fish to salvage the trip. We headed back into the park where I thought I could find a few redfish. The weather was horrible. It rained almost the whole time back there so sightfishing was out of the question. Instead we bailed small seatrout and ladyfish for a few hours. We probably caught fifty fish. Saturdays trip was canceled due to the heavens breaking open and dumping the Keys with several inches of rain. On Sunday, John Daughterly was extremely patient (sitting for hours in the hot morning sun) and caught one tarpon about seventy pounds. Monday, Joe OKane fished with me. We had some nice large schools of bonefish early in the morning. We caught two and went in search of permit and tarpon. We found about five schools of small tarpon that went about 12 to 40 pounds. We couldn't quite get the fly to them. One very nice permit showed on the flat but soon saw us as well.