A Warm Winter Day

It was cool at dawn Monday the 31st. New Years eve. I took my 24ft. pontoon boat out to the boat ramp on the Waccasassa river to meet a family group for a fishing exploration trip. It was very low water at 10am as we headed out on the river. 3 young kids and the parents. They are originally from Peru, South America and now live in the Miami area. They had come up to Cedar Key to explore this section of Florida.

What a big difference life is here compared to Miami. They stayed at the `Island Place` in Cedar Key and were very comfortable there. I graduated from Coral Gables High school in Miami in 1969 and it was too crowded then. It must be very busy now-a-days.

We cruised down river to the mouth and fished there for a while and caught nothing. We worked our way back up river and fished several spots along the bank. The only fish we saw were spotted Garfish swirling at the surface. Even they wouldn`t take our baits. We fished a while longer with no luck and then decided to go on a jungle cruise. If you go upriver from the Waccasassa river boat ramp aproximately 1 mile you meet the Weekiva river as it enters the Waccasassa. It`s a narrow stream of a river and is spring fed so the water is clear.

It`s also quite beautiful. It twists and turns as you motor up againt the slight current. We saw an Otter and a 3 ft Alligator. I didn`t think we would see a gator with the water at such a cool temperature. We cruised up so far that the little river got so narrow, we had to turn around and head back.

Our fishing trip turned out to be a family cruise along a couple of rivers in a section of Florida that is `untouched`. Just as it has been for hundreds of years. Heres a picture of the Silva group.

I`m going to fish the Waccasassa river until March when the water temp around Cedar Key warms up enough to bring some bait fish into the area. I`ve caught a lot of redfish in that river and will again this winter. I have 2 trips next week and have scheduled them to coincide with the highest tide there will be. I`m sure we`ll come up with a few reds then. I`ll give you a report on how we do. Capt. Dan

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