For more information on fishing in Citrus County, visit the Discover Crystal River fishing page
I’ve said this many times before, my favorite part of fishing in Florida is the diversity of our ecosystem. You can fish offshore, inshore, and freshwater fish steps away from each other. It’s incredible!
I had the pleasure of visiting Citrus County to film a show last year. The manatees, scalloping and inshore fishing draws the most crowds to this area…but the freshwater fishing is world class.
Here info on some of Citrus County’s hotspots.
Lake Rousseau
Lake Rousseau is one of the premiere largemouth bass fishing lakes in Florida. The lake is 12 miles long and covers over 3700 acres. Lake Rousseau was created as a reservoir on the Withlacoochee River.
In recent years, over 90 largemouth bass over 10 pounds have been caught. The lake is also home to crappie, stumpknockers, catfish and bluegill. This lake is stumpy and grassy…the bass love that! Large wild shiners are a sure bet for big bass. For artificials, frogs are the ticket, such as the Stanley Ribbit.
Homossassa River
The name Homossassa, for me, is synonymous with scalloping. However, the fishing here is amazing. There aren’t many places you can catch largemouth bass and redfish in the same day…
The Homossassa River is loaded with largemouth bass, bluegill and bull head catfish. The water on the Homossassa River is extremely clear, you need to adjust to the clarity of the water and focus on presentation. Rat-L-Traps work very well in tidal areas like this.
Lake Henderson
Lake Henderson is part of the Tsala Apopka chain of lakes located in the west-central part of Florida in the town of Inverness. This lake is picturesque with cypress trees, weedy shorelines and dozens of islands.
Many trophy largemouth bass have been caught in this lake. There is also an abundance of crappie. Like Lake Rousseau, large live shiners will produce the biggest largemouth bass. While filming Bass 2 Billfish we had great luck with topwater frogs, skipped across the lily pads.
Here’s a clip from Lake Henderson: