WELCOME TO OZ

Welcome to OZ

from Better Off Wet Water Lifestyle Magazine July 2022

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Welcome to OZ

Ozello is a community in Citrus County, Florida, located between Crystal River and Homosassa. Ozello consists of several keys which are connected by The Ozello Trail (County Rd 494), one of Florida’s most scenic drives. The Ozello Trail is 10 miles of twisty road, running West off of US 19. The trail is extremely popular for motorcycle riders and offers a ton of wildlife and beautiful scenery. Ozello has a particular “old Florida” feel that seems to just put you into an “old Florida” state of mind. The small community was only accessible by boat, until the early nineteen sixties. The community is surrounded by St. Martin’s Nature

Reserve. So, hopefully, as the rest of Florida seems to be growing at a Hare’s pace, Ozello will go the way of the Tortoise, slow and steady.

Our trip brings us to Ozello in mid May and the weather was absolutely beautiful, for our 3 day stay. We were greeted, on arrival to Ozello Keys Marina (OKM) by the Owners of OKM, Captain Gary, his wife Breanna, their son (and ball of energy) Brody, and Marina, their dog. We pulled our 26 foot Silver King Boat Works panga, on our custom aluminum Loadmaster trailer, with our RV, to OKM. OKM has a tractor available to launch your boat for you, if you decide to pull it to OKM with your RV. This is a great

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Welcome to OZ

service for the” trailering RV’er”. We have launched our boat with the RV in some “tight” boat ramps. So, the help from the tractor was greatly appreciated. The RV area is just behind the Marina, directly on the canal. The RV hookups include power (30 amp and 50 amp service) and water. The RV spots have fire pits, dock space, fish cleaning station, and a custom grill, available for your use. OKM also has a very nice rental house, with private deck and boat slip available. The beautiful weather and warm welcome from OKM let us know up front we were in for a great trip.

After getting our RV set up and the boat launched, we met a couple of OKM Fishing Guides, Captains Jake and Teddy, who told us of a friendly fishing tournament, taking place that night, for the heaviest keeper Redfish. We were not fishing in the tournament but were happy to be able to follow them out of the Marina, since it was our first time boating in the area. As with many places on the Nature Coast, Ozello has their share of rocks and underwater obstructions, as the Captains reminded us. If, you

are new to the Ozello waters, OKM has a screen setup in the Marina that can show you the tracks for getting around. We were then able to spend a few hours exploring the channels, cuts, and islands leading out to the Gulf, from Ozello, before the daylight disappeared. Once back at the dock we saw some of the anglers, who had fished in the Redfish tournament. They then informed us the heaviest keeper Redfish was around five and a half pounds and all the other keepers brought in were just an ounce or so shy of the Winner. With a busy day of traveling and exploring, we thanked God for the wonderful day and headed off to snoozerville, to get some rest for a busy next day.

The sunrise was beautiful to start our day 2 of exploring and fishing. We decided to just fish artificial baits on the end of the morning’s incoming tide. We headed out to an island where we saw some Redfish action, the day before. We saw many redfish but didn’t catch any that morning. They did not seem to be interested in the artificial baits we were casting their way. The water is very clean

and clear. We did manage to hook up on a flawless little 20 inch Snook, who was in the mood for the D.O.A. shrimp tossed his way. Being out of season and out of slot, he quickly went back in the water and swam back to the shelter of the island. After a few hours of fishing and not much luck on the artificial baits, we decided to head back to OKM, to grab a bite to eat and explore the island by bike. Boating in Ozello is a true pleasure. Just on our ride back to the marina we saw multiple Rays swimming and playful Dolphin. There is no lack of wildlife and beautiful views! Once back at OKM, we decided to have lunch at The Tropical Tarpon, a wonderful food truck located at the Marina. Everything we had there was delicious. If we were in that area every day, we would certainly be at the Tropical Tarpon every day.

Our bike ride took us from OKM to Ozello Park Boat Ramp. This covers the majority of the Ozello Trail and takes you by a couple Gift shops, an ice cream shop, hiking trails, and a few restaurants. There are large signs on Ozello Trail that say to share

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the road. But, as with anywhere, be cautious when riding bikes on narrow roadways. Heading towards the Ozello Park Boat Ramp on the trail you will come to a bridge at Peck’s Old Port Restaurant. Just from our bicycles we saw beautiful 40 inch plus Snook having a ball and feasting at the culvert outfalls. A local Senior Lady, who lives near the bridge, said she buys shrimp all the time at OKM to head home after the fish that congregate around the bridge. Ride just over the bridge and take a couple of easy to navigate turns and you will end up at the Ozello Community Park and Boat Ramp. We were scheduled for an airboat tour back at OKM, so after a little more bicycle exploration, we made our way back down the trail to OKM.

OKM offers a couple different airboat tours. We had the pleasure of going with Captain Billy on the Gulf and Backwater Airboat tour, which lasts about an hour and a half. This is by far the best airboat tour, we’ve ever done! Captain Billy and Captain Gary grew up as next door neighbors and have been friends so long, they

don’t remember meeting. Captain Billy thinks they were around 2, when they became neighbors. Both Captains grew up in the area together and built their first airboat around the age of fifteen. Captain Billy said there were many times when they’d have to find a place to use a phone and call home after exploring and hiking through the marsh trails. Captain Billy is more than “at home” on the airboat, and in our opinion the perfect man for the job, to show you Ozello by water! On this tour you can expect backcountry sightseeing, to include

Welcome to OZ

many birds, gators, pigs, and deer. The trails are unbelievably cool, fun, and beautiful. We saw a ton of wildlife including some baby gators. Captain Billy also took us to the Gulf side of Ozello, where he killed the engine, and we drifted across the St. Martins Reef. We saw Sea Turtles, Dolphin, Rays, and a ton of fish. On the tour before ours, Captain Billy said they saw a beautiful Tiger Shark, right off of the boat. Captain Billy has a great demeanor for a tour boat captain, a great sense of humor, and (in our opinion) one of the best offices a water

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Welcome to OZ

lover could ever dream of. An airboat tour from OKM is sure to be a good time. We saw many folks coming back in and every one had a smile!

After heading off of the airboat, we bought some live shrimp from OKM and set out on the boat, to look for some fish. We looked for fish around a few different islands, before setting our shallow water anchors and posting up on the leeward side of an island that had a lot of action at the Mangrove line. We set up our rods to fish our live shrimps with popping corks on 2/0 hooks. Our first stop was a good one; we caught the targeted species of Redfish as well as some Mangrove Snappers. The Redfish were as plentiful as anywhere we had ever been. A good pair of polarized sunglasses can make the difference, in our opinion, when it comes to spotting fish and knowing where and when to cast. Don’t limit yourselves with bad visibility. We continued fishing multiple islands, until the sun set beautifully on the horizon. The Redfish, Sea Trout, and Snook were plentiful and the backdrop was breathtaking. OKM has 12 fishing Guides that operate

there. We saw many Sea Trout slobs and Redfish come in to the filet table, caught by clients of the Guides at OKM. The Guides at OKM know fishing and they know Ozello waters. Our evening of fishing was fun and very rewarding. After cleaning the boat and heading out on the bicycles to grab a bite for dinner, it was time again to catch some Z’s and get ready for the next day of adventure on the water.

On our last morning staying in Ozello, we left out on the boat around 9 a.m. and went on a cruise to explore more of the area around the outer islands of Ozello, nearest to the Gulf of Mexico. We were very fortunate to have a light wind and calm sea state, once we were at the outer islands. We shut off the motor and spent a couple hours just drifting over the beautiful St. Martins Reef. There was around 2 foot of crystal clear water under our boat and we could see everything, like

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Welcome to OZ

viewing an aquarium. The St. Martins Reef was teaming with life this morning, as we had seen the day before on the airboat. But, being over the reef for an extended time, on our boat, of course we were able to observe much more. The biggest standout, among many things, to us was the incredible number of Sea Turtles we saw, in such a short amount of time. There were literally dozens of them, seeming to playfully swim around our boat, then stop, then swim off again. Early afternoon came and we started to make our way back through the channels and Mangrove Islands to get back to OKM. We fished some of the same islands and a few new ones from the days before, on our way back. We didn’t end up catching any monster Redfish but it’s always a blast for us and never grows old catching the gorgeous smaller ones, mostly around 18 to 20 inches. The numbers of Redfish present in this area continued to be

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Welcome to OZ

“

Ozello is one of those places that made us feel like we literally never wanted to leave... ”

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Welcome to OZ

a topic of conversation for the Better Off Wet Crew and we were already talking about the next visit to Ozello, to catch one of the big brothers to the Redfish we did catch.

Our trip to Ozello and Ozello Keys Marina was amazing. Ozello is one of those places that made us feel like we literally never wanted to leave, pretty much from the moment we arrived. The hospitality and smiling faces of OKM had us feeling right at home, as well. If, you are a water lover, the Better Off Wet Crew will basically guarantee that you will thoroughly enjoy your time on the water there. We cannot wait to return. Maybe we will be able to get back for some Winter Groper fishing in the shallows! Thanks for reading. Stay safe and have fun on your next watery adventure.

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