Beiträge von fishbuster

Monday, 1/16, after a weekend of rough offshore conditions, seas were calming down, with a forecast for two-to-three foot seas out to twenty miles. It was rougher than that, but it was calm enough for my hardy anglers, Bud Glanzer, Lee Larsen, and Alan and Wendell Bronson, all long-time customers. We headed out of new Pass to about twelve miles, where we fished with live shrimp. We caught twenty-two sheepshead, twelve of which were nice keepers to 20 inches. We also caught eight keeper lane snapper. We released about a dozen smaller lanes, along with fifteen mangrove snapper shorts, a flounder, some small gag grouper, grunts and crevalle jacks.

Jason Broctorss, his dad, Barry Broctorss, and friends, Chris Cooley and Brandon Rogers, wanted to do some sport fishing, as well as some fishing for table-fare. We headed out Tuesday morning and fished in various spots between twenty and thirty-five miles west of New Pass. First, we caught some blue runners to use for bait, and those worked to get the guys two good goliath fights with one 150-pound and one 175-pound goliath, both of which were gently released. Next, we targeted some eating fish with live shrimp. The guys caught two nice16-inch sheepshead, four nice mangrove snapper to 16 inches, fifteen nice whitebone porgies, all 14 inches and 15 inches, and a mess of big grunts to 14 inches. We released undersized triggerfish, a big blue angel fish, hogfish shorts, and five amberjack schoolies about 18 inches long. We also released lots of gag grouper to 21 ½ inches, as well as just short red grouper to 19 ¾ inches. We had a big shark surface and bite a porgy we were reeling in at the time, but the shark broke the line. All in all, we had a full, productive day of fishing.

Wednesday morning, Jim Mungo and Doug Bigelow fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with me. We had a slow tide, making the fishing kind of tough, but we released two snook to 20 inches, a 12-pound stingray, and some mangrove snapper, all caught on live shrimp.

Thursday, I headed out of New Pass with frequent customers Ron Musick and friends, Fred, Tom, Dick and Eddie, to 28 feet. The sheepshead, snapper and grouper were biting well. We used live shrimp to catch seventeen keeper sheepshead to 17 inches. We released eight smaller sheepshead. We also caught seven keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, one keeper lane snapper, a 17-inch flounder, and one keeper triggerfish. We released ten gag grouper to 21 inches, along with four red grouper shorts. We used live shrimp for all our catches.

Friday morning, I headed to the reefs off Bonita Beach, and to the close-in spots where we caught the big sheepshead the previous day. But the sheepshead action wasn’t nearly as steady as it had been the day before. David Bloomfield and his friend, Dave, released a lot of small ones, but got only one keeper sheepie at 15 inches. We also caught keeper snapper and grunts.

Saturday, I headed out to 38 feet, west of New Pass, where I fished with Rich Gosselin, his fiance, Tammy Small, his brother, Gene Gosselin, and friend, Gain Frances. Using live shrimp, the group caught and released five gag grouper to 21 inches and two red grouper shorts. They also caught a 16-inch keeper sheepshead, and released three smaller ones. They added to their fish feast six nice whitebone porgies and six keeper porkfish, as well as some large grunts. The prize catch of the day was an 18-inch hogfish, one of the biggest I have seen around here. We also released a smaller hogfish.

Monday, 1/23, Bill Daniel, Larry Flagg, Ken Holmes, Jack Ross, and Butch Adams fished offshore with me. We started out at the near-shore reefs, then moved to various spots to fish in about 45 feet of water. We used only light tackle and live shrimp, which made for some fun catches with good sized gag grouper. With gag season currently closed, we had to release them, but the guys had a great time catching three nice ones: a 32-inch, 13-pound gag; a 27 1/2-inch, 8-pound gag; and a 23-inch gag. We also caught ten sheepshead, two of which were 15-inch keepers, along with keeper porkfish and grunts. We released quite a few red grouper shorts, as well as mangrove snapper to 11 inches.

Tuesday, my frequent customers, Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonse, Fred McNeal, Dick Arnett, and Bill Ryan fished with me, about 18 miles west of New Pass, using live shrimp. We caught too many grouper to count--reds and gags, but no keepers, with gags out of season and the reds short, to 18 inches. But the group caught eight nice mangrove snapper keepers to 16 inches, three keeper hogfish to 17 inches, a dozen nice whitebone porgies, seven keeper porkfish, and a mess of grunts.

Wednesday morning, Mike McDonald fished Estero Bay with me. He caught a 17-inch black drum, a 16-inch sea trout and two 15-inch sheepshead, all on live shrimp. We released eight smaller sheepshead.

Tony and Tim Rolli, and friend, Ken Boemer, had planned to fish offshore with me on Friday. But the weather forecast was promising trouble on Friday, with probable rain and high winds and seas. With nothing booked on Thursday, I recommended we change their fishing date to Thursday, which worked out well for them. The trio caught three keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches, some nice whitebone porgies, all about 15 inches, a mess of grunts, and a keeper hogfish. The grouper action was great again, and we released three gags to 24 inches that would have been keepers, if not for closed season. We also released numerous gag shorts to 21 inches and red grouper shorts, all 18 and 19 inches, along with some short sheepshead. We used shrimp for all, 19 miles west of New Pass.

Friday was as promised: rainy and windy and rough. I remained in port. By Saturday morning, seas had calmed enough for me to get out to the near-shore reefs off Bonita Beach, where I fished a catch-and-release trip with Scott Severaid, Brian Matlock, Tim Brunkorst, and Tom Thoms. We used live shrimp to catch a 28-inch, 11-pound gag grouper and five would-be-keeper sheepshead to 19 inches. We released those, along with lots of smaller sheepshead and mangrove snapper.

The photo shown is of angler, Larry Flagg, with a 32-inch, 13-pound gag grouper, caught on live shrimp and released, due to closed-season, on a recent offshore trip.

[video]

After two days of windy, rough, unusually cold weather, thanks to a strong cold-front, I finally got back out fishing on Wednesday morning, 1-4-12. It was still a chilly 35 degrees first thing that morning, and seas were residually rough offshore, so Andy Oliver and Pat O’Neil opted to leave later in the morning and to fish the bay, rather than the gulf. We fished Estero Bay, down toward Wiggins Pass, using live shrimp. The guys caught a 17-inch black drum and a 14 1/2-inch sheepshead, both of which they kept for dinner. They chose to release a 19 1/2-inch (keeper-sized) redfish, and they also released two 20-inch snook and a dozen smaller sheepshead.

Thursday, it was finally calm enough to head offshore, with two-to-three foot seas, so I headed out about fifteen miles with long time customer, Ron Musick and his usual crew of friends, Dick, Fred, Bill and Eddie. We fished with live shrimp in 38 feet off Naples. The guys caught two keeper mangrove snapper, fourteen keeper lane snapper, a half-dozen nice porgies, ten grunts, and two keeper sheepshead. They released lots of mangrove snapper shorts, smaller porgies, a porkfish, a small hogfish, and lots of red and gag grouper shorts.

Friday morning was still chilly, but it warmed up quickly, and soon it felt like SW FL again! Seas were calm, and I headed offshore about 19 ½ miles west of New Pass to fish with live shrimp in 43 feet. Tim Gustin, his son Chase, and friend, Clark McCloud, had been waiting since weather canceled their original plans to fish on Tuesday—It was worth the wait: The trio caught seventeen nice mangrove snapper to 17 ½ inches, four porkfish, a mess of porgies, and grunts. They released some yellowtail snapper shorts, and decided to release all their other catches except the mangrove snapper, as they had plenty of those. They reluctantly released a 23 ½ inch gag grouper, which ate a shrimp, as well as a beautiful 31 ½ inch gag that ate a porgy. Gag grouper are currently out-of season.

Saturday morning, I had an inshore trip with Sal Rodando and Bob Walker. We fished Estero Bay, using live shrimp. The tide was pretty slow so the fishing action wasn't stellar, but the guys managed to catch a couple keeper-sized sheepshead. They released a 17-inch redfish, lots of smaller sheepshead and snapper, and ladyfish.

My next day on the water was Tuesday, 1/10/12, when I fished with Ron Musick and friends, Dick, Fred and Eddie, all of whom had fished with me the previous Thursday. We headed out to 45 feet, about 21 miles west of New Pass to look for some of those big mangrove snapper I had been catching out there last Friday. We didn’t find any quite that big, but we did catch a half- dozen keepers to 14 inches, and released a whole lot of smaller mangs. We also caught seven keeper lane snapper, and released lots of lane shorts. We kept seven nice porgies out of a mess of those caught, and we released a few short triggerfish, along with about forty red grouper to 19 ½ inches. We used live shrimp for all our catches.

Wednesday brought rain and gusty winds, as another weather front approached. I remained in port. But Thursday, I fished Estero Bay with Robin Latham and Chris Welch. We baited with live shrimp, and caught five keeper sheepshead to 17 ½ inches—a 17 ½ inch, a 17-inch, a 15-inch and a pair of 14-inch sheepies. The guys also caught two redfish, one of which was a keeper at 20 inches, and the other one 17 inches and released. We also caught two keeper mangrove snapper at 11 inches each.

Seas got rough once again, with another cold front that reached the area Friday afternoon. I canceled my planned offshore charter for Saturday.

The photo shown is of yours truly, Captain Dave, with a 31 ½ inch gag grouper, caught on a porgy and released ( due to closed season) on an offshore trip January 6th.

Monday morning, 12/19, I fished in the backwaters of Estero Bay with Larry Baumgartner, his son Chris, granddaughter, Madeline, and family friend, Walt Barney. The tide was a little on the low side, but we made the most of it, and were able to catch a 19 ½ inch pompano and three keeper sheepshead to 15 inches. The group released seventeen smaller sheepshead, a few crevalle jacks, a 24-inch snook, and a six-pound stingray. We used live shrimp for everything.

It was still choppy well offshore on Tuesday, so Frank Barry, brothers Tim and Zack Rivera, and friend, Steve Flower, decided to stay inshore and fish the Estero Bay flats, with live shrimp. The group broke my previous record by two on the number of redfish caught in one morning: twenty-two in all! Only one of those was legal to keep, at 19 1/2 inches, so we released the rest, along with crevalle jack, ladyfish, a small founder and a 20-pound stingray. We also caught three keeper sheepshead, all around 15 inches, and we released some smaller sheepshead.

Though seas were forecast earlier in the week to be calming down by Wednesday, such wasn’t the case as of the early morning forecast that day. The winds continued to blow pretty hard, and Rob & Tracy Wessels , their son, Tanner, and their daughter, Maddie, decided to fish the backwaters, on my recommendation. The family caught half a dozen redfish, one of which was a keeper at 19 inches. They also caught two keeper sheepshead. They released eight smaller sheepshead, an 18-inch gafftop sailcat, and four stingray, the largest of which was 18-to-20 pounds.

I finished off my pre-holiday week with a backwaters trip with Bob Potts and son, Trevor, Friday morning, 12/23/11. We fished the channel down toward Wiggins Pass, using live shrimp. We caught and released a 20-inch sea trout (sea trout are presently out-of-season.) The duo also caught two nice sheepshead, 15 inches and 17 inches, and they released twenty-five smaller sheepshead. They also caught two 16-inch pompano.

Tuesday morning, 12/27, just ahead of a cold-front's approach, I fished Estero Bay with long-time customers, the Tomlinsons. Vince and Jenny, along with their son and daughter, Mike and Katie, had fun catching lots of sheepshead on live shrimp. Most were smaller than keeper size and were released, but the family kept one 13-inch sheepshead to go with a 15-inch whiting they caught, for dinner. Vince also caught a nice, 17-inch trout, which had to be released, since trout are out of season for another few days. The family also released some big sailcats, small snapper, and a 16-inch crevalle jack.

Wednesday morning began chilly, with about 48 degrees and a stiff wind. But, long-time customers Steve Spitzer and Jalissa Reever braved the chill to fish in Estero Bay with me. Jalissa also brought her son, Joe Tusing, along. The tide was dead-low most of the morning, but the trip did well anyway, using live shrimp to catch three keeper sheepshead, all in the 14-to-15-inch range, as well as a 16 ½-inch black drum and a 20-inch, keeper redfish. They released lots of smaller sheepshead, along with a puffer fish, a 6-pound crevalle jack, and a 20 ½-inch trout. Let’s hope these nice trout stick around for the opening of trout season on January 1st.

Thursday, I fished inshore again, this time with Len Salefia and friend, Jim. We caught lots of sheepshead to 17 ½ inches, two redfish, including one 18 ½-inch keeper, and a 19-inch black drum, all on shrimp. The guys kept the largest sheepshead and the black drum for a fish dinner, and released the rest.

Friday morning, seas were finally calm enough to get out to the near-shore reefs. I did so with Dick Driscoll, his son, Rich Driscoll, and grandson, Jack. They were joined by friend, Steve Calhoun and his two young daughters, Emma and Sadie. The group used live shrimp to catch two keeper pompano, 13 inches and 14 inches, three keeper sheepshead to 16 ½ inches, and a keeper flounder. They released lots of smaller sheepshead, along with lots of Atlantic barbs.

The new year began with predictions for an approaching cold-front…in fact, my offshore trip for Monday, 1/2/12 canceled, due to small craft advisories and questionable timing on the front’s arrival that morning. And Tuesday’s predicted low temp of 34 degrees scared my Tuesday trip into rescheduling for Friday, 1/6. But we’ll do our best to fish whenever we can this coming week! Happy New Year to all!

The photo shown is of angler, Joe Tusing, with a 20 ½-inch trout, caught on shrimp and released in Estero Bay on an inshore fishing trip the final days of 2011. Had this trout been caught two days later, trout season would have been re-opened and it would have gone in the fish cooler instead of back into the bay!

Just as busy season was gearing up, the first week of December brought not only high winds and rough seas, but also red tide conditions in the gulf and up into Estero Bay.

The good news is that the weekend's wind direction helped push the red tide out to sea. And, the backwaters, at least the spots I fished on Monday, 12/5, held no trace of red tide, and the fishing was good. I fished with long-time customers Erwin and Mille Metusiak. Using live shrimp, we caught a total of seventeen redfish Monday morning, to 21 inches. The couple kept three of those, along with two keeper, 15-inch sheepshead. They released crevalle jacks and a 24-inch snook.

Tuesday, there was a temporary calming of the seas offshore, and Mike Connealy, along with his father-in-law, Dick Elston and Mike’s newlywed daughter and son-in-law, Paige and Shaun Stevens, took advantage of conditions to head into the gulf. We fished with live shrimp in 43 feet, out of New Pass, where we noticed no significant red tide effects. We caught a smorgasbord of fish, including twenty gag grouper to 21 ½ inches, which we released, along with fifteen red grouper, all in the 16-to17-inch range. We also caught a keeper mangrove snapper, and released about twenty mang-shorts. The group caught twenty-five keeper-sized whitebone porgies to 14 inches, and released all but ten of those. They also caught a couple of sheepshead, one of which was a keeper at 15 inches, along with a keeper hogfish at 14 inches, a keeper porkfish, and several large grunts. We released a half dozen triggerfish shorts, along with yellowtail shorts and several Atlantic barbs (a croaker-type fish.) We released two scamp groupers that were just ½ inch short of legal, at 15 ½ inches.

Friday, 12/9, I fished Estero Bay with Dave Karrey, Steve Below, Desi Parent and Barry Saltzman. We used live shrimp to catch four keeper sheepshead to 17 1/2 inches, a keeper whiting, and a keeper redfish at 18 1/2 inches. The group released two shorter reds, two snook to 20 inches, crevalle jacks and a half dozen ladyfish.

Monday morning, 12/12, I fished in Estero Bay with Roy and Chris Mittman and Todd and Lynda Cohen. Fishing with live shrimp, the group caught fifteen sheepshead to 16 inches, and kept two of the four keeper-sized ones. They also caught a 17-inch pompano, and released a 15-inch black drum and an impressive, eight-pound crevalle jack.

A few days of rough seas intervened before I got out again, which was on Saturday morning, 12/17, with Bud Glanzer, son-in-law, Chris, and friends Alan Bronson and Dennis McGuire. Fishing with shrimp in 43 feet, out of New Pass, we caught a nice hogfish measuring 17 inches, a keeper triggerfish at 14 ½ inches, five keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, twenty-five whitebone porgies, and a mess of large grunts. The group released eight smaller triggerfish, five smaller mangs, fifteen of the porgies, and twenty of the grunts. They kept the rest for a family dinner. They also released lots of gag grouper to 20 inches and red grouper to 18 inches.

The photo shown is of angler, Alan Bronson, with a 17-inch hogfish, caught on shrimp in 43 feet, on an offshore trip this past weekend.

With rough seas persisting into the weekend, my Saturday charter was deferred to Monday, 11/14/11, when seas calmed to two-to-three feet. I headed about 22 miles offshore, out of New Pass, with Bob and Stephanie Rose. We caught a bunch of grouper, but no keepers. Using shrimp and pinfish, we caught and released fifteen red grouper to 18 1/2 inches and three gag grouper to 18 inches. We used shrimp to catch five mangrove snapper to 16 inches, seven keeper lane snapper, and ten porgies. We released yellowtail snapper shorts.

Tuesday, Mike Lischer and Jeff Heinrich, who had fished the bay with me the previous Friday, decided to try an offshore trip. We headed out about 23 miles west of New Pass, where we caught and released a mess of undersized red and gag grouper before we hit the jackpot with a 25-inch, 11-pound red grouper, which bit a pinfish. We also caught about fifty keeper lane snapper, though the guys kept only nine of those, and we released porgies, grunts, blue runners and a remora.

Thursday morning, 11/17, I fished the backwaters of Estero Bay with Peder Engebretson and Dan Fazendin, using live shrimp for bait. We caught a 21-inch keeper redfish, two big black drum, at 26 inches (15 pounds) and 29 inches (18 pounds), a 15-inch sheepshead, and six mangrove snapper. We released some short mangs and a few crevalle jacks. The guys decided to release the two big black drum also, as they had enough fish for dinner without them. So they are out there, waiting to be caught once again!

Saturday morning, I fished in Estero Bay with Vince Tomlinson, Andrew Steiger, Bob Krough and his son, Ryan Krough. We caught four redfish, two of which were keepers at 18 1/2 and 19 1/2 inches. We also caught three keeper sheepshead, all 13 1/2 to 14 1/2 inches. We released two 18-inch snook, a pufferfish and some ladyfish.

Monday, 11/21, I headed offshore for a day of fishing with Wayne Bauman and his son-in-law, Mike Lorenz. Fishing was great, about 38 miles west of New Pass, where we got into some nice grouper. We caught six keeper red grouper to 21 ½ inches, using spot-tail grunts for bait. We released more than a hundred additional red and gag grouper shorts to 19 inches, and we lost three other big ones. The rest of our catches were on live shrimp, and included twenty-five keeper lane snapper, all about 11 inches long. The guys chose to release all but five of those. We also caught a 14 ½ inch triggerfish, and released lots of smaller triggerfish, along with a mess of big grunts. The mangrove snapper we caught were mostly shorts, except for one nice 16-inch mang that we kept. We also caught two nice yellowtail snapper at 16 inches each. Of the thirty keeper-sized whitebone porgies we caught, the guys kept only the largest one, at 17 inches. We also released four small amberjacks, all about 20 inches. All in all, it was a very good day of fishing!

Wayne and Mike returned, despite sore arms from the previous day's fishing, to fish with me again on Tuesday. We fished in a couple of spots 28 miles and 36 miles west of New Pass. We continued to catch lots of red grouper, and released about fifty of those. Two were mighty close to keepers at 19 7/8 inches but, when they are that close, it is safest to release them. We also released four gag grouper, all about 21 inches. We caught a 29-inch king mackerel, four keeper yellowtail snapper, four keeper mangrove snapper, and we released lots of mangrove and yellowttail shorts. We also caught five keeper-sized triggerfish, and the guys kept the biggest one of those, which measured 15 inches. We also kept eight out of thirty whitebone porgies, as well as a 15-inch sheepshead. We released two 20-inch amberjacks and a 70-pound goliath grouper.

Wednesday morning, I fished the islands in Estero Bay on an incoming tide with Tom Zensen, John Hamilton and Greg Bauer. We caught thirteen redfish in all, six of which were keepers to 21 1/2 inches. We also caught three keeper sheepshead to 15 inches, and released eight small crevalle jacks.

After the Thanksgiving Day holiday, I was back in Estero Bay Friday morning, fishing a catch-and-release trip with Amy Banks and Andrew Gires. They had planned to fish offshore, but the rough seas and high winds dictated otherwise, so we headed to the most wind-sheltered fishing holes in the bay. We did well with redfish, using live shrimp. We caught six of those, to 21 inches, along with a 15-inch sheepshead. We also released smaller sheepshead, snapper, crevalle jacks, ladyfish, and a stingray.

Winds and seas picked up over the weekend, with small craft advisories offshore. Rough conditions are forecast into the middle of the coming week.

The photo shown is of angler, Peder Engebretson, with an 18-pound, 29-inch black drum, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay, on a recent inshore trip.

Winds have been blowing hard and seas have been rough for a while. Those conditions tend to curtail offshore fishing. But on Wednesday, 10/26/11, I had a group of guys who wanted to fish the bay. We timed our trip to coincide with the best tide conditions, and it paid off. Don Kalmey, Karl Russ, Terry Thomas and Kent Gregory caught seven redfish, five of them keepers at 19 to 21 inches. The group also caught ten sheepshead, two of which were keepers at 14 inches. They also released ladyfish, puffer fish and crevalle jacks. All were caught on shrimp, fishing around the islands in Estero Bay.

We had high winds and rain again for part of this week, but I did get out fishing in the backwaters on Friday, 11/4/11, on a catch-and-release trip with Rod Knudson and Dave Mercer. we had a great morning of fishing, just ahead of a windy, cool front moving through the area. We caught eight redfish, six of them keeper-size, though we released all. We also released fifteen sheepshead to 16 inches and two stingrays. We used live shrimp for all, fishing the islands of Estero Bay.

Monday morning, 11/7, I fished with long-time customers Steve Spitzer and Jalissa Reever. With four-to-six foot seas offshore, we scrapped our gulf plans and decided to fish Estero Bay instead. We did well with redfish on shrimp, catching eight of those, five of which were keepers to 20 inches. We also caught nine sheepshead, including five keepers to 14 inches. We released a 16-inch black drum.

Wednesday morning, 11/9, I had a short morning of fishing Estero Bay with Paul Oleff, who had to be back in time for an appointment. But the abbreviated time out there didn't stop us from catching eight redfish, five of which were keepers at 19 1/2 inches each. We also caught five keeper sheepshead to 15 inches, all on shrimp.

Friday morning, 11/11, I fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with Terry Lischer, her adult son, Mike Lischer, Jeff Heinrich, and Jeff’s 4 ½ year-old daughter, Maddie. A brisk northwest wind of about 25 knots blew all morning, so we fished the spots that we could stay best sheltered from the wind. Using shrimp, we caught and released a keeper–sized redfish, along with several sheepshead, some small mangrove snapper, and four stingrays.

The photo shown is of angler, Terry Thomas with a 21-inch redfish, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay, on a recent inshore trip.

Wednesday, 10/5, I had an offshore trip planned with Bryan Smith and friends, Tony and Kevin. There were small-craft-advisories in effect that morning, and seas were forecast to be two-to-four feet. The guys didn't want to fish inshore, preferring to go after some bigger game, so we decided to try some near-shore spots. We had sloppy conditions, with four and five-foot seas even as close as twelve miles offshore. But we caught some ladyfish and Spanish mackerel to use for goliath grouper bait, and we caught and released three goliaths, 30 pounds, 70 pounds and 100-plus pounds. After that, we moved in closer to the reefs off Bonita Beach, where we used live shrimp to catch four grunts, four croakers, and three keeper lanes, so the guys had something to cook for dinner. We released small sheepshead, along with lots of ladyfish and blue runners.

Tuesday, 10/11/11, I fished Estero Bay on an incoming tide with Jim Jambor, Jim Burton, Jerry Klukas and Herb Lethert. We did well with live shrimp, fishing around the islands for reds. We caught five keeper redfish, one 18 1/2 inches, three 19 1/2 inches, and one 20 1/2 inches. We released two 16-inch red pups, as well as a three-pound crevalle jack and a 21-inch snook. The group also caught two keeper sheepshead, 12 1/2 and 14 1/2 inches, and a keeper mangrove snapper.

Wednesday, 10/12, I headed offshore with Purnell and Shana Steiner, and their seven-year old son, Jaiden. Although NOAA's forecast was for two-foot seas out to sixty miles, we encountered three and four foot seas right out of the New Pass. The winds and seas calmed a little over the course of the morning, and we were able to fish about twelve miles west of New Pass, where we used live shrimp to catch seven lane snapper, three of which were keepers, seven mangrove snapper, three of which were keepers, a mess of whitebone porgy keepers, and some grunts. It's fair to say that Jaiden caught the majority of fish! We also caught some ladyfish and Spanish mackerel to use as bait for some goliath grouper fun--We had one must-have-been-huge goliath snap off a 275 braided steel cable. We also got a 300-pound goliath to the surface so Shana could photograph it before we released it. So all in all, it was worth braving some rough seas.

Andy Oliver and Pat O’Neil fished offshore with me on Thursday, 10/13, in 40 feet, seventeen miles west of New Pass. We caught seven whitebone porgies, including two 15-inch keepers, a keeper yellowtail snapper at 12 ¼ inches, a 14-inch triggerfish, and a few grunts. We released two goliath grouper, 80 pounds and 150 pounds, which ate a blue runner and a crevalle jack. We also released a 4-foot sandbar shark, which ate a live shrimp. We sited a huge manta-ray, which was pretty cool.

Saturday morning, 10/15, I headed offshore with a group of six guys. Jim Jenkins, Dave Ewing and son, Eric Ewing, Ken Fiedler, Nick Forte, and Ron Messier were willing to brave some rough seas that morning. Although the forecast was for two foot seas out to twenty miles, I knew better as soon as I awoke to an already brisk breeze. Winds and seas were forecast to increase later in the day. We headed out to about 35 feet and fished with live shrimp in three-to-five foot seas all morning, in a steady wind of about 25 knots. I guess the hogfish liked the weather, though, because we caught six of those, four of them keepers to 16 inches. The group also caught a mess of grunts, two keeper porkfish, and five nice whitebone porgies. They released seven smaller porgies, along with a 16-inch red grouper, a 15-inch gag grouper, and a 3 ½ foot bonnethead shark.

The photo shown is of angler, Brian Taylor, with a 9-pound bonito, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.

The photo shown is of angler, Herb Lethert with a 20 ½-inch redfish, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay, on a recent inshore trip.

Check out our new action videos:
[video]

After a long time off the water, nearly a month, due to our very slow slow-season, along with a couple weeks of consistent rains, I finally got out fishing again on Monday, September 12th. I fished with live shrimp in central Estero Bay with long-time customers Steve Spitzer and Jalissa Reever. We caught three redfish, including one keeper at 19 ½ inches, and two we released at 17 ½ and 16 inches. We also caught seven sheepshead, including one 14-inch keeper, and thirteen mangrove snapper, including three 11-inch keepers. We also released a 25-pound stingray and two 6-pound gaftop sailcats.

Monday, 9/19, I fished offshore with Brian Taylor and Ryan Sullivan. The guys wanted to experience some goliath grouper fighting before we went after table-fare. So, we put a couple blue runners and and a Spanish mackerel out there for the goliaths. We caught and released one that was 75 pounds, and we battled another one that was probably close to 500 pounds for a long time before he broke the line. After that adventure, we started baiting with live shrimp to catch and release fourteen red grouper to 18 inches. We also caught four keeper yellowtail snapper, a keeper lane snapper, five nice mangrove snapper to 17 ½ inches, two Spanish mackerel measuring 23 inches each, and seven nice whitebone porgies to 21 inches. We released a dozen smaller porgies and a bunch of smaller mangrove snapper, along with a barracuda that was over four feet long, a 38-inch sharpnose shark, and a nine-pound bonito.

Wednesday, 9/21, I fished Estero Bay with Al & Gloria Schroedel and friends, Mary Lou and Roger. We used live shrimp to catch three keeper mangrove snapper, and we released seven smaller mangs, a couple of sheepshead just under keeper size, a 17-inch redfish, and a 39-inch bonnethead shark.

Robert & Monica Kreiling and friend, Tim Collins, wanted to catch some big fish Saturday morning, 9/24. We started out catching bait-fish, such as ladyfish and small lane snapper, so we could fish for goliath grouper. We caught and released four goliaths, which got progressively bigger, beginning with a 60-pounder, then an 80-pounder, a 250-pounder and the biggest at about 500 pounds. We shot some video and took some pics, and released all, without harm to the fish, though the same cannot be said for our arms!

The photo shown is of angler, Matt Haylock, with a 40-inch bonnethead shark, caught on shrimp and released on a recent offshore trip.

Check out our new goliath grouper action videos:
[video]

Monday, the first day of August, I fished with Paul Fenwick, daughter Emma, son Spencer, along with John Priddy, his daughter, Jordyn, and her cousin, Susan Carlisle. The group wanted big fish, so we spent some time catching bait for goliath grouper. Using live shrimp, we caught ten grunts, nine porgies, twelve mangrove snapper, five crevalle jacks and two ladyfish, all yummy fare for the goliaths. We caught and released four goliath grouper that ranged from forty to one hundred fifty pounds, and the group had great time. They plan to fish again with me on Thursday, which should allow enough time to rest their sore arm muscles!

Tuesday morning, I headed out to about 26 miles west of New Pass with Chuck Schmitt and his two grandsons, Nick and Zach Trani. We originally planned to fish a spot about 22 miles out, but we had to keep running from the many dolphins that were trying to grab all our catches. We ended up doing well with snapper, with fifteen keeper lanes and 14-inch keeper yellowtail, caught on live shrimp. We released ten smaller lanes, a few smaller yellowtail, a half-dozen mangrove snapper shorts, and thirty-some red grouper ranging 17 to 19 1/2 inches, many just short of their 20-inch legal size. The grouper bit best on grunts.

Wednesday, I headed out to fish in 63 feet, about 24 miles west of New Pass, with Daniel Veita, his dad, George, and friend, Gino. We used live shrimp and pinfish to catch twenty-five keeper-sized lane snapper, a half-dozen Spanish mackerel to 26 inches, and two keeper yellowtail snapper, 13 inches and 15 inches. We released eight mangrove snapper shorts and twenty-five red grouper shorts to 18 1/2 inches, along with half the keeper lanes, since the trio wanted only enough for dinner. We also released two sharpnose sharks.

Thursday morning, I fished with the same party I fished with Monday. Paul Fenwick, son Spencer Taylor, daughter Emma, Emma's cousin Susan Carlisle, along with John Priddy and his daughter, Jordyn, fished with me at the near-shore reefs off Bonita Beach. We caught nine mangrove snapper, four of which were keepers, eleven lane snapper, three of which were 12-inch keepers, a keeper porgy and a 15-inch flounder. We released two red grouper shorts, one gag grouper short, one under-sized sheepshead, lots of ladyfish and crevalle jacks, and a 15-pound stingray.

Friday morning, I fished a catch-and-release trip in the Wiggins Pass area of Estero Bay with Dan & Jackie Marshall and their eight-year-old daughter, Bethany, who are visiting from the U.K. We used live shrimp to catch and release twenty-five mangrove snapper to ten inches, crevalle jacks, three small sheepshead, a 13-inch flounder, and a pompano.

I had planned an offshore trip for Monday, 8/8, but we awoke to thunderstorms encompassing the gulf. We rescheduled that trip for Friday, which was the first day fit for fishing this entire, soggy week. The skies finally brightened a bit Friday morning, 8/12, when I headed offshore about 23 miles west of New Pass with Eric Vincent and family and friends, who had waited since Monday to get out fishing but, each day, it seemed to rain harder than the day before. We managed a near rain-free trip Friday, though we did encounter a thunderstorm mid-morning. We used live shrimp to catch eight keeper lane snapper and three keeper mangrove snapper, along with seven nice whitebone porgies, a keeper porkfish, and a 21-inch Spanish mackerel. We released about twenty-five smaller mangs, a small hogfish, and red grouper shorts to 18 inches.

Wednesday, 8/17, I fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with Matt Haylock and Emma Wilkinson. We used live shrimp to catch and release two black drum, 20-inches and 27 inches, three bonnethead sharks ranging 35 to 40 inches, half a dozen snook to 20 inches, and fifteen mangrove snapper.

Thursday morning, I headed offshore with long-time customer, Robert Dulberg, his son, Daniel, and family friends Len Kerns and William. We had to stay a little closer to shore than I had planned, in order to miss the rainstorms further out in the gulf. We fished with live shrimp in 30 feet of water, about fourteen miles west of New Pass. The group caught two hogfish, one of which was a 13-inch keeper, three keeper mangrove snapper to 13 inches, fifteen grunts and four nice whitebone porgies. They released fifteen smaller mangrove snapper, a few short yellowtail snapper, and a few red grouper shorts.

Friday morning, I fished with J.T. and Diane Thompson and J.T.'s daughter, Christie, in Fish trap Bay and central Estero Bay. We used live shrimp to catch three redfish, one of which was a keeper at 19 inches. We also caught eight mangrove snapper, one of which was a keeper. We released the short reds and mangs, as well as two 20-inch snook and some big pinfish. We sighted two sharks in Fish Trap Bay, which is kind of unusual. One was a brown shark that looked like it could have been a bull, and the other was a 4 1/2 foot bonnethead shark.

The photo shown is of angler, Tim McConnell, with a 4-foot barracuda, caught on shrimp and released on a recent offshore trip.

A new goliath grouper action video can be viewed at:
[video]

Monday, 7/4, Tony Herring, son Jacob, friend, Josh Schneider, and Tony's two nephews celebrated the Fourth of July with a fishing trip offshore. We fished in 60 feet, using live shrimp and cut-bait. We caught a 13-inch keeper mangrove snapper at our first spot, but the dolphin showed up right after that and forced us to move. At the next spot, we managed to catch eight keeper lane snapper before the dolphin began harassing our catches again. Our third spot was great for red grouper, and we released over forty of those that were short of keeper-size, before Jacob caught a 21-inch keeper. Tony released a 22-inch gag grouper, due to closed season for those.

The next time I planned to fish was Thursday, 7/7, but the rain that began in the early morning hours never stopped throughout the entire day. I had no choice but to disappoint my anglers and scrap plans to fish anywhere that day.

Friday morning was better in terms of rain, but with small craft cautions issued beyond twenty miles, Ron Simon and his sixteen-year-old son, Cameron, had to give up plans for a full day of deep-sea fishing. We decided to try our luck at the near-shore reefs, where seas were predicted to be two- to-four feet. We soon found out that prediction was seriously flawed! In only eighteen feet of water, we endured steady four and five foot seas, with occasional six-footers. Since that was neither comfortable nor safe, we moved in toward the bay, but bay fishing is difficult, even with high tides, in the offshore boat. We did as best we could, catching and releasing small bonnethead shark, while trying to avoid all the catfish that the influx of rainwater had caused.

I hadn't fished for about a week, but finally got back offshore on Friday, 7/14, when I headed out of New Pass to depths of 38 to 51 feet to fish with Stu Silverman and his group of friends and family. The water was so clear, we could see bottom in 51 feet. We fished with live shrimp and cut-bait, and caught a dozen whitebone porgies, a keeper porkfish, three keeper mangrove snapper, and two keeper lane snapper to 13 inches. We released half of the porgies, along with five smaller mangs, three yellowtail shorts, forty red grouper to 19 1/2 inches, a pufferfish and a barracuda. We saw a ten-foot tiger shark, which circled the boat a couple of times, then hung out about 4 feet below the surface for a short while, before swimming off.

Monday morning, 7/18, I headed offshore with Mike and Dana McConnell, their son, Brody, and friend, Dylan. The group wanted to catch something to eat for dinner, but most of all, they wanted to sport-fish for something big. We achieved mission one first, catching porkfish, grunts and whitebone porgies to throw in the cooler. Next, we began catching bait-fish to use for luring goliath grouper. The group caught and released two goliaths, an eighty-pounder and a 150-pounder. We also released gag grouper and mangrove snapper shorts, along with a couple of puffer fish.

I was off the water for over a week, thanks to slow time in SW FL, along with quite a bit of rain. But I got back offshore on Thursday, 7/28, when I fished with Mike and Peggy Weldon, their daughter, Alex, and her boyfriend, Ross. There is a stalled tropical depression over us right now, and seas were kind of sloppy even just twelve to fifteen miles offshore, where the wind blew about twenty knots and seas were three-to-four feet. We used live shrimp to catch snapper and porgies, and ended up with four keeper mangrove snapper, three nice lane snapper, and four nice whitebone porgies. We released about fifteen additional smaller mangs, along with some yellowtail shorts, a half dozen smaller porgies, and three gag grouper shorts. We also caught and released an eighty-pound goliath grouper, which grabbed a pinfish that had bitten a shrimp. We were broken off about fifteen times by goliaths, as we reeled in snapper that they bit.

The photo shown is of angler, Andrew Williams, with a 26-inch gag grouper, caught on shrimp and tearfully released (due to closed season) on a recent offshore trip.

And check out our new goliath grouper action videos at:
[video]

Monday, 6/20, was a perfect day for offshore fishing, and I spent the day in the good company of Jamie Long, Tom O’Donoghue, Rich Shamer and Matt Booth. We fished about 36 miles west of New Pass in 70 feet, using live shrimp and bait-fish. We made out great with red grouper, catching five keepers all 22 to 24 inches, and we released about 35 additional grouper that were short of keeper-size. We also caught fifteen nice yellowtail snapper to 16 inches, twenty-five nice whitebone porgies, of which the group kept ten, a mess of grunts, and a few keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches. We had a really nice mang on the line at one point—about 16 inches—but a barracuda spotted that one and mangled it as we reeled it in. We also caught a 39 inch king mackerel, and caught and released two sharpnose sharks at three-foot each, a four-to-five-foot bull shark, and four goliath grouper ranging 50 to 150 pounds. And, our surprise catch of the day was a mahi-mahi, usually caught in Miami and the Keys, but today we were surrounded by them—small ones to about 18 inches.

Tuesday, I had a half-day trip and I didn’t venture as far as I had on Monday. But, that didn’t stop us from getting some nice catches, about 20 miles west of New Pass. I fished with Jeff Wampler, whose family has fished with me for many years. Jeff is now second-generation, and now taking his own children fishing. This time, he brought his son, Joe, and also Mike Long, who is Jeff’s daughter’s boyfriend. We used pinfish and live shrimp to catch four keeper red grouper that ranged 20 ½ to 22 inches long. We caught over fifty red groupers in all, but only four were keepers, though many of the throw-backs were only ½ inch shy of keeper-size. We also caught eight nice lane snapper, all about 12 inches, and released twenty-five smaller ones, along with grunts and some short mangrove and yellowtail snapper.

I had a lull in fishing trips for the next week, though this coming week looks to be a busy one, that is, if our rainy season's kick-off will allow me to get out.

I finally fished again on Tuesday, 6/28. Monday was canceled, secondary to rain showing up on radar all over the Gulf. I headed offshore Tuesday morning with Mike Bochman and family, who are repeat customers who try to get two or three days of fishing with me included in their June vacation to our area each year. Though NOAA had predicted two-foot seas all the way out to 60 miles, we encountered 25-30 knot winds and rough seas around the many storms in the gulf. We, therefore, didn't head out quite as far as we'd have liked to. Fishing in about 43 feet, we caught nine keeper lane snapper, three Spanish mackerel, all 23-24 inches, grunts and porkfish-keepers. We released short triggerfish, gag and red grouper, yellowtail snapper, and a 100 + pound nurse shark.

Mike Bochman fished with me again on Wednesday morning, this time accompanied by Zach Clark and Steve Anderson. There was still a lot of rain out over the gulf, but we were able to puddle-jump and avoid the heavier rains. We fished about 17 miles west of New Pass in 39 feet. The trio caught four keeper mangrove snapper, all 12-113 inches, and released eight smaller ones. We also caught and released three hogfish, a couple of which were too small to keep and the other a female, which we chose to release. We also kept eleven nice whitebone porgies and ten good-sized grunts, along with three keeper porkfish. We released short yellowtail snapper and red grouper shorts, along with a 4-foot, 35-pound barracuda. We caught everything on live shrimp, except for the ‘cuda, which bit a grunt that was cut in half.

Thursday morning found me avoiding rain storms once again, when I fished with Paul McConnell and his two sons, Andrew and Tim. We fished about 20 miles west of New Pass with live shrimp. The boys caught four keeper lane snapper and released fifteen smaller ones, one keeper mangrove snapper and released ten smaller ones, and a 13-inch keeper jolthead porgy. They also released triggerfish and red grouper shorts, along with a four-foot barracuda.

Friday morning, Mike Bochman fished the last of his trio of trips with me this week. It was the only day of the three that was rain-free in the gulf. Since Mike and friends planned to head back north the next day, they had no interest in keeping fish. They decided they'd like to do some goliath grouper sport-fishing. We headed out to catch bait for the big guys: Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, crevalle jacks, ladyfish and blue runners all made it to the bait box. In the course of catching those, we also caught and released about twenty-five snappers--mangs and lanes. Next, we set about finding the goliaths over hard bottom. Mike and friends, Zach Clark and Tim Lynch, wrestled with three goliaths, one at 125 pounds, one at over 200 pounds, and one about 300 pounds. We called the trip at the half-day mark, after everyone had exhausted arm, shoulder and neck muscles!

Saturday began with some unanticipated heavy storm activity. I delayed my offshore trip by a couple of hours to allow the worst of the weather to pass, then I headed offshore with Brad Wind, his son, Matt, and friends, Andrew Williams and Josh Brown. We went looking for goliaths, as this group, like several others this week, wanted to have fun with big game. The guys caught and released a total of eight goliath grouper, ranging between 30 pounds and 250 pounds, using bait that we caught, such as Spanish mackerel, crevalle jacks and blue runners. We also released mangrove and lane snappers, as well as a nice 26-inch gag grouper, which is currently out of season.

The photo shown is of angler, Jamie Long, with a 39-inch king mackerel, caught on shrimp in 70 feet on a recent offshore trip, 36 miles west of New Pass, Bonita Beach.

Goliath-grouper fight videos can be viewed here:
[video]

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Memorial Day Monday, I had planned to fish all day offshore with repeat customers, Mack Wilson and John French. But the winds followed the NOAA prediction and increased all morning, gusting to 20-25 knots by the time 1:00 rolled around. So we decided to take a rough ride back to shore then, having already caught plenty of fish while fishing 22 miles west of New Pass with live shrimp. Our catches included two keeper red grouper, 20 inches and 21 inches, two Spanish mackerel keepers at 22 inches and 24 inches, a half-dozen keeper lane snapper all around 13 inches, porkfish, porgies, and an 18-inch filefish (an interesting catch.) We released the filefish after photographing it, along with some mangrove snapper and yellowtail snapper shorts, a bunch of short red grouper and gag shorts to 19 inches, a short king mackerel, and two sharpnose sharks, 30 inches and 40 inches.

With family visiting for about a week, I was off the water for several days. The next time I fished was Thursday, 6/9/11, with Greg and Helen Bauer, their daughter, Tara Barns, her fiancé, Glen Scheider, and his daughter, Kaylee. Seas were pretty rough, with winds having picked up over the past couple of days, but we made it out about 17 miles to fish over rocky bottom, using live shrimp and bait-fish. We caught seven keeper whitebone porgies to 14 inches, a 13-inch keeper porkfish, two Spanish mackerel, 20 inches and 24 inches, eight grunts, and a 17-inch pompano. We also had fun fighting two goliath grouper, one about 80 pounds and one about 400 pounds. We got some video of those fights, and then released the goliaths, which were caught on blue runners and crevalle jacks. We also released ten mangrove snapper, all about 11-inches and too small to keep, along with gag and red grouper shorts.

Saturday morning, I headed offshore in calm seas to fish over rocky bottom, about 17 miles west of New Pass, with Craig Rodano and his young son, Dominic. We used shrimp to catch four hogfish, two of which were keeper-sized at 14 inches, along with a dozen keeper whitebone porgies to 13 inches, and a mess of grunts. We released gag grouper shorts, small mangrove snapper and sheepshead. We caught two Spanish mackerel and used them as bait to have some fun with goliath grouper. The first goliath we hooked was about 60 pounds, and the boys only thought that was a good work-out; the second one we hooked was most likely over 450 pounds, the biggest one I have seen to date. Dominic shot some video as Craig and I wrestled that one to the surface. After that, we took our tired arms and backs to shore!
Monday morning, 6/13, I fished Estero Bay with Mike Mercer and Chris Limeberry. We used live shrimp to catch a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper, all 11-12 inches, and a keeper redfish at 19 inches. We released a 17-inch redfish, two 20-inch snook, two small black drum, ladyfish, three smaller snapper, and small sheepshead and sea
trout.
Wednesday morning, despite NOAA's predictions for two-to three foot seas out to 60 miles, I knew it would be sloppier than that, with the westerly winds blowing pretty hard. I fished with Doug Sapp and family, who wanted only to have fun catching and releasing fish, so we decided to head to the near-shore reefs, where we fished with live shrimp. We caught a half-dozen Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, fifteen crevalle jacks, eleven croakers, and some small mangrove snapper and red grouper.

Chris Morrow and family fished with me about 17 miles west of New Pass Thursday morning, as he has done each year for the past several years. We fished with live shrimp and caught a couple of keeper lane snapper, a mess of twenty good-sized grunts, eight keeper porgies, and a 23-inch Spanish mackerel. We released a three-foot sharpnose shark, a dozen undersized red grouper to 16 inches, and fifteen short mangrove snapper. The group experienced many cut lines, probably due to mackerel.

Friday morning, Jeramie Sollmann and his eleven-year-old son, Mitchell, fished with me on a catch-and-release trip at the near-shore reefs off Bonita Beach, using live shrimp. Jeramie caught a nice, 24-inch permit, and Mitchell released an 18-inch gag grouper. The pair also released lots of ladyfish, grunts and ten mangrove snapper, all around 13 inches.

The photo shown is of angler, Jeramie Sollmann with a, 24-inch permit, caught on shrimp on an offshore trip last week.

After a few days off the water, with high winds and seas persisting into mid-week, I got back offshore on Friday morning, 5/20, with long-time customer Casey Miller. This time, Casey was in town for a wedding, and he invited the groom and friends to fish with us. The group, consisting of ( in addition to Casey) groom, Scott Smith and friends Jeff Jorth, Travis Blazer, Joel Clausen and Jeremy Vaught, had no interest in keeping fish, but they had a lot of interest in wrestling with some big fish, and that we did! We headed out about fourteen miles and fished in 45 feet, over some rocky bottom. We started out using live shrimp, and those got us three Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, five keeper-sized lane snapper to 14 inches, a 13-inch pompano, seven crevalle jacks, and two cobia, one 30 inches and the other 45 inches and about 20 pounds. We released the cobia and kept the Spanish, a few jacks and a couple of lanes to use for bait for much bigger things to come. The group got to wrestle with five goliath grouper, ranging in weight from 40 pounds to over 400 pounds. The biggest one of those completely straightened a 12/0 hook, and nearly pulled two of us out of the boat! We shot some pics and video and released all.

Saturday morning, I fished with Sean Flora, T.J. Taylor, age twelve, T.J’s grandpa, Jessie Hernandez, and Steve Mitchell. It was kind of a déjà vous with Friday’s trip because this group was also in town for a wedding and we fished in the same spots, fourteen miles west of New Pass. Once again, we hooked up with the goliaths, using crevalle jack, Spanish mackerel, and blue runners for bait, and we released five of those to 425 pounds. As if that wasn’t enough of a workout for the boys, they also caught a 40-inch, 30-pound permit and a 36-inch cobia, both of those on shrimp, the permit eating a free-lined shrimp that we had out for mackerel. We also released gag and red grouper shorts, Spanish mackerel, and small mangrove snapper.

Thursday, 5/26, I fished with Bob Granger, in central Estero Bay. Our plan was to catch redfish and anything but catfish. We started out at a small point, with the tide flowing into it, baited with live shrimp. We caught two nice 18-inch reds and two sheepshead to 14 inches. Moving on to the next spot, we hooked up with two more 18-inch reds, one small mangrove snapper, and the odd porcupine puffer, then a catfish--time to move on! Hitting one more spot on the way back in, we managed another 18-inch red, making the total redfish count five, along with a 14-inch trout.
Bob & Katie Sawyer, Katie’s mom, Ann, and Ann’s husband, Mike, fished central Estero Bay with me Friday morning. We caught two keeper sheepshead, each 13 ½ inches, a 13-inch sand bream, and a 24-inch black drum (which we released.) We released three redfish to 17 ½ inches, two crevalle jacks, and two 17-inch snook.
Saturday morning, I fished Estero Bay again, this time with long-time customers, Steve Spitzer and Jalissa Reever. Steve and Jalissa have fished offshore with me before, and decided to try the backwaters this trip. We caught a nice variety of fish on live shrimp, including a 16-inch keeper trout, a 19-inch keeper sheepshead, a keeper redfish at 18 inches, and an 11-inch keeper mangrove snapper. We released a 24-inch Spanish mackerel, several crevalle jacks, a stingray and a 3-foot long bonnet-shark.

The photos shown is are angler Casey Miller, with a 30-inch cobia, caught on shrimp and released, on a recent offshore trip, as well as a 425 goliath grouper he reeled in for a photo.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday, 5/2, was another one of those breezy day, but the wind direction made it possible to at least get my party of four out to the reefs. Long-time customers Dennis & Jamie Riddell brought Dennis' brother, Tom, and sister-in-law, Joan, along this time. We used live shrimp to catch six nice trout to 18 inches, a 16-inch flounder, a couple of keeper mangrove snapper, a few Spanish mackerel to 23 inches, and four sheepshead to 13 inches. We released about 25 gag grouper shorts.

Tuesday, I headed back to fish the reefs, this time with Ralph and Kelly Kroll. Seas were still a little sloppy for getting out well offshore, but the reefs provided us plenty of action in relatively calm seas. We used live shrimp to catch fifteen trout, seven of which were nice keepers, all measuring between 16 and 18 inches. We released eight that were in the 15 to 15 1/2 inch range. We also caught a couple of keeper mangrove snapper, and we released lots of gag grouper shorts and ladyfish.

Thursday morning, a very windy one, I fished Estero Bay with Chris & Barbara Hodgson. We used shrimp to catch and release two black drum, two crevalle jacks, and five sheepshead. We also caught two keeper mangrove snapper. The tide was going out most of the morning, with the wind blowing about 18 knots.

Friday, I fished the last of this season’s trips with long-time customer, Ron Musick, joined by Eddie Alfonse, Dick Arnett, and friends, Denzel and Garrett. Eddie caught a keeper red grouper at 21 ½ inches, and the group caught fifteen nice lane snapper to 15 inches. The grouper ate a sardine and the lanes took live shrimp. We released a five-foot barracuda, which also ate a sardine and, after a tough fight that nearly pulled me and Ron out of the boat, we caught, on a sardine on the bottom, a nurse shark that was 7 ½ feet long and estimated at 150 pounds. After we released that one, we called it a day!

Saturday morning, I fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with Greg Parish and his two sons, Jason and John. We used shrimp to catch and release two redfish, a snook, and trout.

Tuesday, 5/10, I fished 22 miles west of New Pass with Jeff & Tina Slabbekoorn and their children, nine-year-old Zayda and seven-year-old Max. We used live shrimp to catch a 21-inch keeper red grouper, seven Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, and fifteen keeper lane snapper to 13 1/2 inches. We released about 25 additional red grouper that were shorts to 19 inches, as well as 35 additional smaller lane snapper.

Wednesday, the ,SW winds made for some sloppier conditions offshore, so David Raynondo and Joe Resendes fished near-shore with me, in 18 to 26 feet of water, with live shrimp. We caught two keeper sheepshead that measured 13 inches each, a 16-inch sea trout, a 17-inch black drum, a 16-inch flounder, and two Spanish mackerel 23 and 24 inches long. We released lots of mangrove snapper and gag grouper shorts.

Long -time customers, brothers, Harry and Grant Kurtz, along with Harry’s daughter, Lindsay, and her boyfriend, Cory, fished with me 22 miles off Naples on Thursday. The wind was up around fifteen knots, with the seas two to three feet. We stopped at the first area in about 43 feet of water, where visibility was about twenty feet. The plan was to catch enough fish for dinner and release the rest. We had non-stop action on nice lane snapper, but there were not many big ones at that spot so, after an hour or so, we moved a little ways, looking for grouper, and found lots of undersized red grouper and a few bigger lanes. Cory also caught his first Spanish mackerel, which was 20 inches long.

The next time I was scheduled to fish was on Saturday, 5/14, when I had hoped to get offshore with a party of six that got canceled a couple of Saturdays ago, due to rough seas. But the weather-front that moved through the area early Saturday had winds and seas kicked up once again, along with ominous looking skies threatening rain. We had to cancel that trip, and hope to reschedule for a day that might finally offer good conditions.

The photo shown is of angler, Joe Resendes, with a 16-inch flounder, caught on shrimp on a recent trip (last week.)

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday, 4/18, I headed offshore with longtime customer, Peter Kenney, his son, David, and friends, Bernie and John. We fished about 22 miles west of New Pass with live shrimp. The catch of the morning was David’s 24 ½ inch, 8-pound red grouper. Once we had that lunker, the group saw no need to keep a lot of other fish, so they kept about ten of the thirty-some lane snapper we caught, to 14 ½ inches, and released the rest of them, along with about 35 red grouper shorts to 19 ½ inches.

Tuesday, I headed back out to the previous day's lucky spots, this time with Ron Musick, Dick Arnett, Bob Mayer, Larry Lodick and John Zahaby. The red grouper were abundant again, but no keepers were among them. We released lots of them to 19 inches. But we did catch thirty keeper lane snapper, and released a bunch more of those too. It was tougher fishing because the tide was ripping out and the wind was howling by early afternoon, with seas building. The guys were broken off four times by what was probably grouper that got down in the bottom and cut their lines.

Wednesday morning, I fished a catch-and-release trip with Richard Driscoll Jr. and Sr., along with Richard Jr.'s five-year-old son, Jack, and Jack's eight-year-old cousin, Sadie. The visiting family was heading back home to Virginia tomorrow, so the group had no interest in keeping fish. The kids just wanted to try their hands at catching a few. We used live shrimp, and we released mangrove snappers, sheepshead and snook.

Thursday, I headed out 22 miles and fished with Steve Spitzer and Jolissa Reever in 47 feet, using shrimp. We were fishing with light spinning tackle, which served us well for the twenty lane snappers we caught, to 13 inches, as well as seven whitebone porgies to 14 inches. But, when something big grabbed Steve’s pole as he was reeling in a lane snapper, we wished we’d had it on a heavier pole. It ended up being an approximate fifty-pound cobia, which we fought for forty-five minutes. It appeared to be tiring, not running so far from the boat, and nearly within our grasp but, at the end it wore through the leader and got off…sore arms are all we have as a reminder, as we couldn’t even get a photograph!

Friday morning, winds picked up to about twenty knots, and we encountered some four-foot seas, out about 23 miles, where I fished with Tom Wolfe, his son, Jordan, and Gary Johnston. We kept twenty nice lane snapper to 14 inches, out of thirty-two we caught on live shrimp. We released red grouper shorts to 18 inches, and also got hit hard once by something big that bit a free-lined shrimp.

Saturday morning was windier than Friday was, and I couldn’t get out as far as I did on Friday, due to rougher seas. Frank Partee and his son, Joe, fished the near-shore reefs and a few other close-in spots with me. We caught eight keeper lane snapper and a mess of grunts for the family’s dinner, and then we got to play with an 80-pound goliath grouper, on light tackle, which we got to the surface for photographs.

Monday, 4/25, I headed out about 22 miles with Bob Sawyer, family and friends. We caught thirty-five keeper lane snapper to 16 inches, and released lots of red grouper shorts to 18 inches, all on live shrimp. Seas were a little sloppy, with some wind and rain in the forecast for later that day, but it was comfortable enough out there to spend a little over half a day catching ‘em up.

Tuesday, seas were calm once again, and I headed out about 22 miles with Dick Hall, son-in-law, Clay Attebery, Clay's son, Jack, and family friend, Chuck Schmidt. We caught a brace of 21-inch red grouper keepers and released three others that were just borderline-20-inches. We also released about twenty additional red grouper shorts. We caught the grouper on pinfish and tomtates. We also kept thirty lane snapper of about fifty, all caught on live shrimp. Also on shrimp, we caught two 23-inch Spanish mackerel and a 13-inch keeper mangrove snapper. We released about fifteen smaller mangs.

Wednesday, I had planned a full-day trip offshore with long time customer, John Carmack, and his eight-year-old son, Jackson. It was to be Jackson's first offshore trip with me, and he was looking forward to some big fish. Unfortunately, winds were blowing hard, and seas were three-to-four feet, even at the near-shore reefs, so we didn't venture much further than those. We caught a keeper pompano, as well as keeper sheepshead and Spanish mackerel. But, Jackson did get his wish for a big fish when we hooked a 40-pound goliath grouper, which we photographed and released.

Thursday, I fished central Estero Bay on a catch-and-release trip with Jim Fares. We released eleven redfish to 19 ¾ inches, a small snook, a 13-inch sheepshead, and a 12-inch mangrove snapper, all on live shrimp.

John Carmack and his eight-year-old son, Jackson, returned to fish with me Friday, this time with family friend, Rick. Seas were even rougher offshore than they were on Wednesday, when John and Jackson fished the near-shore reefs with me, so we elected to fish in Estero Bay this time. We released three redfish to 16 inches, two of them caught by Jackson. We also caught three keeper mangrove snapper, and we released a couple of rays.

Saturday morning, I had planned to head offshore with a party of six but, with seas forecast to be three-to-five feet well offshore, I advised the group to wait for a day with better conditions, since the most productive fishing recently has been out beyond the reefs.

Sunday morning, 5/1, I fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with long-time customer, Jim Novy and his four children, Jaclyn, Jordan, Jimmy and Julia, ages twelve, nine, eight and six. The Novy family planned to return north the next day so there was no need to keep fish. We released mangrove snapper, sheepshead, crevalle jack, a 16-inch snook, and a 17-inch trout, all caught on live shrimp.

The photo shown is of angler, David Kenney with a 24 ½, 8 lb., red grouper, caught on shrimp, on a recent offshore trip.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday morning, 4/4, I fished the near-shore reefs off Bonita Beach with Tim and Stephanie Cobb and their two children, Spencer and Sydney. We were fishing just ahead of a weather-front predicted to kick winds up to 25 knots by early afternoon, and to bring some rain to the area the next day. Even close-in, it was beginning to get rough, but we did well using live shrimp. The group caught two keeper flounder, two 24-inch Spanish mackerel, three keeper mangrove snapper and a 22-inch black drum.

Tuesday, winds were strong and seas were high, in advance of thunderstorms predicted to hit our area about 11 AM. I canceled my fishing plans and remained in port for the day.

Wednesday morning, long-time customers Andy Ungar and Al Layton, along with their friend, John, fished Estero Bay with me. Andy and Al usually fish offshore, but rough seas prohibited that, so we spent the day in the backwaters, fishing with live shrimp. We caught four redfish in all, including one keeper at 21 inches. We released the other three, along with two snook, 23 inches and 24 inches, sheepshead, rays, and crevalle jack.

Thursday, the bay fishing was not as active as it had been just the day before. I fished with Doug Zak, his girlfriend, Jeannie, and her brother, Jay. We released two snook, a couple of sheepshead and a few rays. There was a slow, incoming tide all morning that didn’t serve us real well.

Friday, I fished a catch-and-release-trip near-shore, about 8 miles west of New Pass in 27 feet, with Dave Kempston and his two young sons, Brandon and Connor. We used live shrimp to catch a 28-inch, nine-pound gag grouper, which was definitely photo-worthy, a 14-inch hogfish, whitebone and jolthead porgies, grunts and sheepshead.

The next time I fished was Monday morning, about 22 miles west of New Pass, with Doug Sapp, Homer Smith, and four of their friends. Seas got a little sloppy later in the morning, as the winds picked up, but we caught three nice hogfish, a pair of 14-inch mangrove snapper, and some grunts. We released lots of red grouper shorts, and also had some fun with goliath grouper, after we quit competing with them for our catches!

Tuesday, I fished in 63 feet, about 27 miles out of New Pass with Mike McDonald. We did well fishing for snapper with live shrimp. We caught a half dozen yellowtails, all 15 and 16 inches, four 14-inch mangrove snapper and fifteen keeper lane snapper. We released lots of red and gag grouper shorts. At the last spot we fished, the barracudas were abundant. Between 'cudas, goliaths, and porpoise, it was a challenge to get our fish reeled in before anything else got to them!

I had an excellent day of fishing Wednesday with Greg Bauer and friends, John and Bob. We fished several spots out to 38 miles west of New Pass, in depths of 65 to 75 feet. The action was steady--We had no time to even get photographs--but the group caught eight nice yellowtail snapper keepers to 17 inches, some keeper mangrove snapper, and whitebone porgies. That's all they chose to keep. We released a lot more porgies, along with some short mangs, about thirty red grouper, just short of keeper size, to 19 1/2 inches, gag grouper shorts, five almaco jacks, seven banded rudder fish, nine vermillion snapper, short triggerfish, and two big remoras. All were caught on live shrimp.

Thursday, I captained Ron Musick’s boat with Ron and friends, Eddie, Dick, Tom and Bob, out to about 70 feet, 37 miles west of New Pass. Again, action was good, but the 30-plus red grouper we caught were all just short of keeper size. We did bring home about 25 whitebone porgies and keeper mangrove snapper. We released some triggerfish shorts. Two of the guys were broken off each one time by something very large, but couldn’t tell what it was.

It was another exceptional day well offshore on Friday, when I fished with Chris Lemonis, his sister, Argie Lemonis, and their dad, George. We fished several spots between 28 and 37 miles west of New Pass, in depths of 55 to 72 feet. We came back with 43 fish and we also released even more than that. We caught a keeper red grouper at 21 inches, and released about 40 grouper in all, including reds to 19 ½ inches and gags to 21 inches. We also caught a 36-inch king mackerel, 25 keeper lane snapper, two keeper yellowtail snapper at 13 inches each, and a mess of nice whitebone porgies that ranged 16 inches to 19 inches. We used shrimp for those catches, but then we switched to using some spot-tail grunts, which was the ticket for some shark. We released a 38-inch sharp-nose shark and a sandbar shark that was over six-feet long and estimated at over 100 pounds. We also released about fifteen mangrove snapper shorts.

Saturday morning, 4/16, I headed out about 17 miles and fished in 38 feet with Marty Gmeiner, Mike LaForte, and Bill Murphey. We used live shrimp to catch twenty keeper lane snapper, a keeper yellowtail, a keeper Spanish mackerel, a keeper porkfish, and some whitebone porgies and grunts. We released smaller yellowtails, short mangrove snappers, a small hogfish, and red grouper to 18 ½ inches. We also wrestled with a 60-pound goliath grouper that bit a porgy as we were reeling it in.

The photo shown is of angler Argie Lemonis, with a 36-inch king mackerel, caught on shrimp, on an offshore trip this week.

:toocool:

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday, 3/21, I fished central Estero Bay with long-time customers Joe Goodall and his son, Alex. Eleven-year-old Alex has been fishing with me every year since he was just over two years old. This time, the father-son team also brought a couple of other family members, Fred and Dave. We used live shrimp to catch and release whitings, sheeshead and crevalle jacks. But Alex showed the adults how to do it when he landed a nice 25-inch redfish--that one went home with them!

Tuesday, I captained Ron Musick's boat out to 65 feet, with his friends, Eddie Alfonse and Dick Arnett, along with Dick's son, Nate, and Nate's eight-year-old son, Jack. We caught eight nice keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches, a few keeper lane snapper that were all about 12 inches, and some nice whitebone porgies, all on live shrimp. We released gag grouper to 22 inches and red grouper to 20 inches--We're hoping those reds will still be out there when season opens for them in April.

Wednesday, Chris Ernberger, his twelve-year-old son, Carter, and Carter's grandpa, Jerry, fished with me about 17 miles west of New Pass. We used live shrimp to catch three keeper sheepshead 17 to 18 inches in length, along with some grunts and porkfish keepers. We released smaller sheepshead and lots of groupers. Connor's most exciting moments were when he hooked two goliath grouper, one about 50 pounds and one about 80 pounds. He used blue runners for those, and he required only a little assistance to reel them to the surface. He was savoring his sore arms on the trip in!

Thursday, Sandy Hook and son, Rusty Hook (no kidding), who have fished with me a couple times per year for many years, brought Rusty’s young sons, Charlie and Jeremy along this time, as well as family friend, Sam Sales. We headed out to about 18 miles from New Pass. The boys had a ton of fun catching and releasing ladyfish, which were abundant. They also released lots of out-of-season grouper. For the family’s fish-fry, they brought home a mess of whitebone porgies, all about 14 inches, as well as some large grunts.

Chris Ernberger and his twelve-year-old son, Carter, who fished with me Wednesday, fished with me at the reefs off Bonita Beach on Friday morning. We kept seven sheepshead, all 18 to 19 inches, and released a bunch more of that size or less. We also caught a keeper mangrove snapper, as well as a two-pound grunt.

Saturday morning, the tide was kind of slow, when I fished in 40 feet with Rick McGrath, his wife, daughter, and daughter’s boyfriend. We tried to play with some goliaths, but we couldn’t lure them out, so we switched to fishing for food with live shrimp. The group caught three keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, two keeper sheepshead at 14 inches and 17 inches, and a mess of grunts. They released grouper shorts, triggerfish, small porgies, and a couple of king mackerel that were just short of their 24-inch keeper size.

Monday, 3/28, we awoke to a severe-weather-watch in force until noon, due to a rainy, windy, lightening storm. Although the rain cleared out by about 10AM, seas offshore were 3-5 foot, in the storm's wake. Additional heavy rains were forecast for later in the afternoon, as well. I cancelled my offshore trip.

Tuesday, there was still a good swell in the morning, but seas were a lot calmer. I captained Ron Musick's boat, along with his friends, Eddie Alfonse and Dick Arnett, Dick's son, Nate, and his young son, Jack, along with Ron Hobbs and Ron's young grandson, Josh Jacobs. We came in with about twenty-five fish, including three keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, nice-sized whitebone porgies and grunts, all caught on shrimp in 44 feet, west of New Pass. We released red grouper that would have been keepers, had they been in season, as well as gag grouper to 21 3/4 inches.

Wednesday morning, when I fished again with Sandy Hook, who fished with me last Thursday, his friend Matt Ball, and Matt's young sons, Nate and Emmett, seas got progressively rougher, even at the near-shore reefs off Bonita Beach. By the time we decided to head in a little early, there were some five-foot waves out there. The boys managed to catch two keeper flounder, though, 12 inches and 15 inches, a keeper Spanish mackerel, and two keeper sheepshead to 15 inches. They released smaller sheepshead and mangrove snapper.

Thursday, seas were five-foot offshore so long-time customer, Stuart Norris, along with his friend, Mike, traded offshore plans for a morning of fishing the backwaters of Estero Bay. The winds got progressively stronger all morning, and there were actually two-foot waves in some parts of the bay. Anchoring and casting were challenging, for sure, as was dodging the undesirables, such as catfish and stingray—we released our share of those, along with five redfish short of slot-size. But, Stuart did land a nice, 25-inch keeper redfish as the last catch of the day, caught on live shrimp.

Friday’s early morning hours began with thunderstorms, followed by more high winds and seas. I canceled my trip for that day. But, by Saturday morning, winds were a lot calmer. Seas were predicted to be 2-3 feet but, anticipating a residual swell offshore, long-time customer Ed Bock and I decided to fish in the backwaters. We did well in Estero Bay, using live shrimp. We caught a keeper, 23-inch redfish, two nice sea trout that were 16 inches and 20 inches, a 13-inch sheepshead, and an 18-inch Spanish mackerel.

The photo shown is of eleven-year-old angler, Alex Goodall with a 25-inch redfish, caught on shrimp, on a recent inshore trip.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday, 3/7, I fished with (I kid you not) Dave Hanson! After we laughed about captain and client having exactly the same name, Dave introduced me to the rest of his angling party, which included his son-in-law, Ryan Seipp and friend, Wayne Courtney. We fished central Estero Bay with live shrimp and had a good morning there. We caught a half-dozen sheepshead and kept the two largest of those, each 14 inches. We also caught a half-dozen trout, including three keepers to 18 inches, which we caught using popping corks. We released ladyfish.

Tuesday, I fished central Estero Bay again, this time with Justin & Sarah Hefner and Sarah's brother, Tim Kennedy. We used live shrimp and popping corks to catch four trout, two of which were keepers at 16 inches and 18 inches. We used shrimp on the bottom to catch six sheepshead, two of which were nice ones at 15 inches and 18 inches. We also released a 17-inch redfish, and two snook, 18 inches and 20 inches.

Wednesday, winds and seas were once again increasing, but I managed a near-shore trip to the reefs with long-time customer Alene Haug, her mother, Carrie, Alene's brother-in-law, Dick, and two friends, Eli and Ethan. It was a little bumpy, even close-in, but we did pretty well, with five keeper Spanish mackerel to 24 inches and five keeper sheepshead to 17 inches. We released smaller sheepshead and ladyfish.

Thursday was a rainy day that wasn’t suited for fishing anywhere. And Friday brought more brisk winds and rough seas. I cancelled my offshore trips for those days and, with 25 knot winds Friday, even inshore fishing wouldn’t have been the most comfortable or successful experience.

Saturday morning, though seas were still sloppy as they tried to calm down, I was able to get out to the near-shore reefs with long time client, Leon Dargis, his four sons, Brett, Ryan, Kurt and Andrew, and friend Bob. We used shrimp to catch a mess of sheepshead, fourteen of which were nice ones to 19 inches. We kept those and released the rest of them, along with a bunch of ladyfish. The group also caught one keeper mangrove snapper and a large grunt.

Monday morning, 3/14, I fished the reefs off Bonita Beach with Mark Loverude and his young son, Ben, along with Darryl DeRuiter and his young sons, Jake and Derek, and friend, Casey Miller. The boys had a great time fishing with live shrimp, and they caught seven keeper sheepshead to 18 inches, four Spanish mackerel, all 22-23 inches, and a few large grunts.

Tuesday, Ron Musick, who fishes with me often, joined by his friends, Dick Arnett, Eddie Alfonse and Tom Collins, fished in 45 feet with me, 18 miles west of New Pass. We caught a mess of whitebone porgies and grunts, all right around 14 inches in size--twenty of them in all, caught on shrimp. We released red grouper shorts, triggerfish, gag grouper to 20 inches and a few small king mackerel.

Wednesday morning, I fished the near-shore reefs on a trip arranged by long-time customer Peter Kenney, for his daughter and for several of his grandchildren, all of whom were visiting. Susan Augustine, accompanied by youngsters, Marissa, Atlanta, Regan and Mitchell, used live shrimp to catch a mess of sheepshead, five of which were nice ones to 15 inches, two keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, large grunts, and a few Spanish mackerel to 24 inches. They released smaller sheepshead, grouper shorts, blue runners and the kids’ personal favorite: pufferfish. In fact, the photo of that fish might be finding a home on a teenager’s facebook page!

Thursday morning, Jim McGrath and Bill Crockett, who have fished with me several times over the past couple of months, headed offshore with me to 43 feet, about 18 miles west of New Pass. There, we used live shrimp to catch a keeper hogfish at 15 inches, two keeper sheepshead at 17 inches and 18 inches, and eighteen whitebone porgies, of which we kept the three largest, all about 15 inches. We released the rest, along with lots of near-keeper-size (but still out-of-season) red and gag grouper.

Mark McCarthy and four of his friends fished with me Friday morning, 17 miles west of New Pass, with live shrimp. The guys caught a 14-inch, keeper hogfish, a mess of mangrove snapper, four of which were keepers, keeper porgies, and a 24-inch Spanish mackerel. They released smaller snapper, sheepshead, porkfish, and red and gag grouper.

Gary Schwandt, his son, Rob, and his young grandsons, Graham and Gavin, fished in 43 feet with me on Saturday morning. It was one of those slower-action days, with the tide not ideal, but the kids still caught and released lots of fish, and had a good time. There were a few keepers too, including a 17-inch sheepshead, a 14-inch whitebone porgy, and Spanish mackerel.

The photo shown is of angler, Ursula Padavic, with an 18 ½ inch sheepshead, caught on shrimp, on a recent offshore trip.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday, 2/21, Don Kennis, his dad, Doug, and his twelve-year-old son, Bradley, fished a catch-and-release trip with me about 18 miles west of New Pass. We released a hogfish, thirty mangrove snapper, red grouper, grunts, porkfish and sheepshead. There were some keepers among the mangs and sheepies, but the Kennis family just wanted to fish for sport, while visiting from Ohio, so we released all.

Tuesday morning, Mike Connealy, his sister, Kass, and her husband, Rod, headed out with me in hopes of playing with the goliath grouper for a while, then catching some table-fare. We did hook a few goliaths, but never got one close enough to photograph. We moved on and fished in 43 feet with shrimp to catch about sixteen food-fish, including whitebone porgies, grunts and triggerfish. We released mangrove snapper and grouper shorts.

Wednesday morning, the keeper-sized fish were more abundant, when I fished with Frank Partee, his son, Mike, and Mike's wife, Ginger in 43 feet, 18 miles west of New Pass, though the fog persisted offshore most of the morning.. The Partees chose to release everything except what they needed for dinner, but we caught a nice variety, including a dozen keeper whitebone porgies, all about 14 inches, of which we kept three, and eight sheepshead, including four keepers, of which we kept the largest, 18 inches. We also caught about twenty mangrove snapper and kept one that was 13 inches. We released a 12-inch hogfish, grouper shorts, grunts, porkfish, triggerfish, and a 20-inch Spanish mackerel.

Thursday, Ron Musick, who fishes with me frequently during winter-season, brought his friends, Dick Arnett, Eddie Alfonse, Fred McNeil and Denzel Green, and we headed out about 38 miles to fish with live shrimp in 70 feet. We brought home 39 fish, including 38 large whitebone porgies to 22 inches and one 15-inch mangrove snapper. We actually caught close to a hundred keeper-sized whitebones, but released all but the largest of those. We also released gag and red grouper to 20 inches.

Jim McGrath and Bill Crockett, who fished with me last week, fished with me again on Friday, 2/25. Winds picked up that morning, and seas were a little sloppy so we decided to fish near-shore at MAY Reef, off Bonita Beach. We did very well, using live shrimp, and caught twenty-seven keeper-sized sheepshead. The guys kept a dozen of those to 18 ½ inches. We also caught thirty keeper-sized mangrove snapper and kept ten of those to 17 inches. We released grouper shorts, and we enjoyed steady action the entire morning.

With the bite as good as it was at the reefs on Friday, I headed back out to fish there on Saturday, this time with long-time customers Lee Larsen and Bud Glazer, and their friends, Joe Kaufman and Alan Bronson. After a couple of minor mishaps on the way out, which included running up on a mud flat in the dense early-morning fog, then getting a wad of improperly discarded fishing line wrapped around my starboard engine, we ended up doing well catching fish. So, other than losing the shine on my prop and having to spend some time unraveling fishing line, which had completely shut down my starboard engine, it was a good morning! (Notice to all anglers: Please discard your fishing line appropriately, which means not in the water.) Anyway, using live shrimp, we caught three keeper hogfish, 13 inches, 16 inches and 17 inches, a keeper triggerfish at 14 inches, nine keeper sheepshead to 17 inches, and thirteen keeper mangrove snapper. We released smaller sheepshead, snappers and grouper-shorts.

Monday morning, 2/28, predictions were for calm seas, but the winds picked up to 15 to 20 knots and there were 3 foot seas even at the near-shore reefs, where I fished with Joe and Ursula Padavic. We caught about twenty-five sheepshead, and kept five of them that ranged from 13 to 18 inches. We also caught two hogfish, including one keeper at 15 inches. We released the shorts, along with a 20-inch Spanish mackerel.

Tuesday, Ron Musick fished with me again, this time at the near-shore reefs, along with his friends, Eddie Alfonse and Dick Arnett. Once again, the bite was on! We caught seventeen keeper mangrove snapper, two hogfish that were 13 inches and 16 inches, three keeper Spanish mackerel, and about forty sheepshead, of which we kept ten to 15 inches. We also caught a mess of grunts, and we released grouper shorts.

I suspected that Tuesday would be the last day this week for calm seas, as rain ushered in a windy cool-front late Tuesday. Sure enough, there were small-craft cautions issued for Wednesday morning, and seas were building to three-to-five feet offshore. Ross McDonald, his son Gary, his eight-year-old grandson, Evan, and his ten-year-old grandson, Ethan, had planned a morning of offshore fishing. Once advised of conditions, we changed that plan and, instead, fished in Estero Bay. The boys caught a lot of sheepshead, most of them released, but we did get two keepers at 14 ¾ inches and 15 ½ inches. We also got a 15-inch flounder, which we kept, and we released a five-pound crevalle jack.

Jim McGrath and Bill Crockett, who fished offshore with me a couple times over the past several weeks, also had to trade their offshore plans for backwater fishing on Thursday, with strong winds and rough seas keeping us inshore. We used live shrimp to catch two keeper trout at 19 inches and a6 inches, and we released sheepshead-shorts and ladyfish…oh, and Bill wanted to be sure I gave him credit for his “back-bay, garbage-can slam,” which included a catfish, a stingray, a ladyfish and a crevalle jack!

Rough conditions persisted Friday and Saturday and I had to cancel my offshore fishing trips those days.

The photo shown is of angler, Ron Musick, with a 22-inch whitebone porgy, caught on shrimp, on an offshore trip 2/24/11.

The week of 2/7 was not very angler-friendly. There were rough seas and gusty winds offshore and low-tide conditions in the bay, as consecutive weather fronts moved through our area. I finally got to fish in the bay on Friday, 2/11 but it was a chilly, rainy day. The rain that was predicted to be light and brief ended up persisting throughout the morning. But Art Mader, his son and his son-in-law stuck it out for the opportunity to fish. Using live shrimp, the trio caught seven sheepshead, three of which were keepers to 17 inches. They also caught two whitings, one of which was a keeper, and they released a 14-inch sea trout.

Long time customer, Leon Dargis, son Brett, and Leon’s two young grandsons had hoped for a morning of fishing offshore on Saturday, 2/12, but the rough seas prohibited that so the group decided to give bay fishing a try instead. We delayed leaving to allow for some warm-up, with temps beginning in the 40s. By 9:30, it was only a couple of degrees warmer, but we headed into the bay. The winds were blowing about 20 knots, making the wind-chill pretty severe. The boys did more shivering than reeling and, after catching and releasing a few, decided they’d rather head back to shore and warm up.

On Tuesday, seas were two foot out to 60 miles, and Ron & Susan Musick asked me to captain their boat, with their friends Eddie Alfonse, Bob Mayer, Fred McNeil and Liz Condos joining them for some fishing about 18 miles west of New Pass. We fished with live shrimp in 43 feet, and caught a pair of 16-inch-hogfish, six mangrove snapper keepers to 15 inches, porgies and grunts. We released smaller mangrove snapper, gag grouper to 21 inches, and red grouper to 19 inches.

Thursday, I fished in 43 feet again, this time with Rick McGrath and friend, Bill. We caught five keeper lane snapper to 14 inches, a keeper mangrove snapper, and four whitebone porgies. We released lots of small and out-of-season grouper.

Jerry Casey, Jerry Everling, Steve O’Connor, John Gaworecki and John’s two sons, fourteen-year-old Jake and twelve-year-old Luke, headed offshore with me on Friday morning to fish with live shrimp in 38-45 feet. The group caught three hogfish, two of which were nice keepers at 17 inches. They also caught about fifteen mangrove snapper, and kept one that measured 15 inches, along with seven keeper lane snapper, whitebone porgies and grunts. The group also released red grouper shorts.

Saturday morning, the gulf was flat and the bite was active, but with few keeper-sized catches, when I fished in 43 feet with Bob Meyer and his grandson, Shawn. The duo did keep some grunts and porkfish to eat, but most of our many catches had to be released, and included twenty-five mangrove snapper that were all 11 to 11 ½ inches, gag grouper to 21 ½ inches, red grouper to 19 inches and triggerfish shorts.

The photo shown is of angler, Blair Austin, with a 17-inch hogfish (yum!), caught on shrimp, on a recent offshore trip.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

:toocool: Monday, 1/24, seas were calmer and I took advantage of those conditions to head out to two spots, one 28 miles west of New Pass and one 36 miles out, to fish in about 65 feet with long-time customer Barry Pflueger and his friends, Glen Ray, brothers Gary and Barry Search, Jack Roberts, and Joe Cithonski. We got into the snapper in a big way, and caught about 150 mangroves in all, releasing all but thirty-two of those that measured to 19 inches (see photo). We also caught a 13-inch, keeper yellowtail snapper and a 14-inch, keeper lane snapper. We caught twenty whitebone porgies to 14 inches, and the group kept four of those. Barry and friends have another trip planned this coming Thursday, but weather might foil that one, so they were glad for the catch they got Monday.


Tuesday, seas were rough again, in advance of yet another weather front, expected to bring rain late Tuesday into Wednesday morning, cooler temps, and higher winds and seas. Seas were only minimally calmer on Thursday, and I canceled my trips and I remained in port until Friday morning.

Friday, 1/28 finally brought calmer seas of 2-3 feet, and I headed out to depths of 43 feet with John Pound, Dan Dow and Troy Bouchard. The snapper were biting our shrimp well, and we caught a total of about fifty mangs and kept seven of those, to 17 inches. We also caught a keeper porkfish, and we released lots of undersized gag and red grouper, as well as triggerfish.

Saturday, I fished the backwaters with Tim Cobb and Ted Shy. Using live shrimp, we caught a 15-inch keeper sheepshead, and released a lot of smaller sheepshead. We also released a 17-inch redfish and three trout that were just short of 15 inches, along with some ladyfish.

Monday morning, 1/31, I headed into Estero Bay with Bob Meyer and his brother, Ken. The guys mostly wanted to learn about fishing in the bay but, in the course of doing that, we caught a few fish, of course! We released two 17-inch redfish, a 20-inch snook, and small mangrove snapper and sheepshead. We also caught one 15-inch sheepshead, which the guys kept to eat.

Tuesday, I had a deep-sea trip scheduled, but that was foiled by small craft advisories and seas of three-to-five feet offshore. We rescheduled for Friday, in hopes that conditions will be better then.

Leo Walsh and friends had planned to fish offshore with me on Wednesday morning, but the rough seas made that impossible, and the group decided they’d fish the backwaters instead. We fished central Estero Bay with live shrimp, and caught four silver trout and three whitings. We caught eight sea trout also, but those were all just short of their 15-inch keeper-size and had to be released.

Thursday might have been a window of opportunity to get offshore, but conditions were “iffy” and forecasts have been unreliable. NOAA predicted two-t-four foot seas out to twenty miles, and three-to-fives beyond twenty miles. That forecast was sandwiched between two days with reports of three-to-five and four-to-six foot seas. I advised my offshore clients of the conditions, and told them I sure couldn’t guarantee comfortable conditions. They deferred their trip to Monday, 2/7, when we hoped for calmer seas…that didn’t happen either, as it turns out.

Seas were calmer on Friday morning and I headed offshore with Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonse. We started out at the reefs, fishing with shrimp, then moved further offshore out to 35 miles. We caught about 60 fish in all, but only a dozen were keepers, including mangrove snapper, grunts and porgies. We released lots of triggerfish shorts, as well as gag and red grouper.

Blair Austin and Roy Sculfort headed out to 43 feet to fish with me Saturday morning. Seas were unexpectedly calm in the early morning, but they got a little sloppy by the time we headed back in. By that time, the guys had caught two keeper hogfish, a few keeper mangrove snapper, and some grunts. They released undersized triggerfish, gag grouper and red grouper.

Monday morning, wind gusts and 3-5 foot seas nixed our hopes of heading offshore on the trip we’d rescheduled from last Thursday…looks like rough conditions will persist, at least through mid-week.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Tuesday, 1/11, I fished a catch-and-release backwater trip with Mike Hubble and Mike Richards, who had escaped the snow up north and just wanted a warm day out on the water. We released three redfish to 17 inches, fifteen trout to 17 inches, 15 sheepshead and 30 ladyfish, all caught on shrimp in central Estero Bay.

Wednesday was a cold morning with brisk winds, occasionally gusty. Alene Haug and family decided to give bay-fishing a try, and we released snapper and ladyfish before the group decided to cut the trip to half-time and get out of the cold winds.

Thursday brought freezing temperatures and backwaters so shallow that it would have been foolhardy to even attempt to take my scheduled bay trip out into muddy Estero Bay. We rescheduled that trip for later this month.

Friday, seas were calming but it was still rough first thing in the morning, when I headed to the near-shore reefs with Chuck Schmitt and his friend, Dick. We used live shrimp to catch four keeper sheepshead, all about 15 inches, a keeper flounder, some grunts and a whiting. We released lots of smaller sheepshead.

Monday morning, 1/17, I headed to the reefs, ahead of an incoming rainy weather-front that was due to arrive sometime after noon. Bob Eckle, his three teen-aged sons, Clark, Jason and Nick, and the boys' grandfather, Hugh, were finishing up their visit to our area and due to head home on Tuesday. Seas were 2-3 foot close-in at the Bonita reefs, and they built to 3-4 feet later in the morning. But we managed to catch some fish and get back in about 1PM, just as the first rumbles of thunder could be heard and the first drops of rain began to fall. We used live shrimp to catch fifteen sheepshead, and the group kept three of those that were about 15 inches long. They released the others, even though they were keeper-sized at 12-14 inches, since they needed only enough for dinner tonight. They also kept one mangrove snapper and a large grunt, and released all the smaller ones.

Tuesday, after some early morning fog cleared, we had nice conditions, with warmer temps, sunshine, and much calmer seas. I fished in 43 feet with Fred Lance and Hobie Fleetman. They caught six keeper mangrove snapper, about 14 inches, and released smaller mangs, red grouper to 19 inches, gag grouper to 21 1/2 inches, triggerfish, porkfish, porgies and grunts.

Wednesday morning began with fog and some rain. But the rain was of short duration and pretty localized, so I managed to work around it when I headed out to 38 feet to fish off Naples with Roy Mittman and son, Zack. We caught about 20 mangrove snapper, 4 of which were keepers, a keeper sheepshead at 14 inches, some whitebone porgies, and a mess of large grunts, about two pounds each. We brought in seventeen fish and released the rest, including nine gag grouper to 19 1/2 inches.

Thursday, I headed out in calm seas to 30 miles west of New Pass to fish in 65 feet with long-time customers Ron Musick, Dick Arnett, Eddie Alfonse and Alan Zunk. The snapper bite was on, and we caught sixty mangrove snapper to 17 ½ inches, of which we kept twenty-five. We also caught fourteen yellowtail snapper to 17 inches, and kept eight of those. We released twenty gag and red grouper to 18 inches, along with five bluefish to 13 inches.

Friday, I cancelled my scheduled trip, as a front rolled in with dense fog, rain showers and rough seas. On-land winds were calm Saturday, but offshore, seas were still rough, with a 15 knot wind out of the northwest, so I didn’t reschedule for that day.

The photo shown is of angler, Paige Connealy, with a 26-inch gag grouper, caught on shrimp and released, due to closed grouper season, on a recent offshore trip.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

By Wednesday morning, 12/29, though still frigid first thing, there was a warming trend in force and, best of all, seas were only two feet. I headed out to 43 feet, west of New Pass, with long-time customers Dennis and Jamie Riddell, daughter, Robin, and son-in-law, Kerry. We caught about twenty mangrove snapper, but only six of them were keeper-size. Those six were nice ones, though, to 17 inches. We also caught a 15-inch sheepshead to throw in the box. We released grouper and snapper shorts, grunts and porgies, having caught everything on live shrimp.

Thursday morning, as the chill of the past week began to wane, I headed out to 43 feet of water, west of New Pass, with Brad Hayes, fiancé, Lisa, Lisa’s son, Joey, Lisa’s daughter, Katie, and Katie’s boyfriend, Walker. Brad has fished with me many times, the most recent being just two days before this trip. But the group he had with him this time had fished offshore only once ever. The group had fun catching snapper and sheepshead mostly. They kept six nice mangrove snapper, two lane snapper to 14 inches, and a 17-inch sheepshead, all caught on shrimp. We released smaller snapper and sheepshead, along with red grouper shorts.

Friday morning, temps were much milder. Seas were calm, at two feet out to twenty miles. I headed out to 43 feet with Gary Schwandt and his twelve-year-old grandson, Graham. My fourteen year-old grandson, Cody, who was visiting for the weekend also joined us. There were many boats out, as it was the beginning of a holiday weekend and the first warm day in a long while. We managed to find a couple of good snapper holes, even in the crowded waters, and we used live shrimp to catch eight keeper mangrove snapper to 17 inches (see photo), along with some grunts. We released grouper shorts.

I was off the water for the holiday weekend. Monday was one of those rare (thank goodness) times when a captain gets stood up by a party who has reserved a date--not a great way to start the new year but, since it only happens once a twice a year, maybe it is over with for this one. It is unfortunate, though, that someone else didn't get to enjoy a warm, calm day offshore.

Tuesday morning was even warmer and calmer than Monday, and Norman Miller and his fiancé, Jessica, enjoyed fishing with shrimp in 43 feet so much that they decided to extend their half-day trip by about an hour. They caught a total of 35 mangrove snapper, a dozen of which were keepers to 15 inches. They released the rest, along with some grunts and some red grouper shorts.

Wednesday was another calm, warm day offshore, and I spent the morning fishing about 17 miles west of New Pass with long-time customer Mike Connealy and his daughter, Paige. The grouper bite was on, though they are currently out-of-season, and we released about 15 gags and red grouper shorts, along with one nice, 26-inch gag that would have been a keeper, were it not for grouper season being closed. We also caught six keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, some grunts, and a 15-inch hogfish, all on shrimp.

I had planned two consecutive full-day offshore trips for Thursday and Friday, but the weather got in my way. Another cold-front approached Wednesday night into Thursday morning, bringing rough seas for both Thursday and Friday, building to 4-6 foot seas by Friday and persisting into Saturday. Both Friday and Saturday were beautiful days on land, and I had to question NOAA’s forecast for offshore. But, the forecast consistently and persistently warned of 4-6 foot seas, small-craft advisories and high-surf conditions, and I had to take that forecast at face-value. Sunday offered a slight improvement and, perhaps a window of opportunity to get offshore, but neither of my cancelled trips were available to go out that day. And Monday brought more high winds and 3-5 foot seas, so I remained reluctantly in port.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

I was in port for several days the week of December 12th, due to a strong cold-front that elevated seas offshore to 12-18 feet, as winds gusted and temperatures plummeted. By Thursday, conditions were calming, but the trip I had scheduled for that day decided to wait one more day to allow for greater warming. We headed out on a chilly morning Friday, 12/17, but it warmed up nicely and quickly in full sun. I fished in 43 feet, about 17 miles west of New Pass, with Jack Roberts and friends Kaitlin, Terry and Jim. We used live shrimp to catch keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, whitebone porgies, porkfish and grunts. We released smaller mangrove snapper and lots of red grouper and gag grouper that were just short of keeper-size.

I thought I would get my Saturday morning anglers out and back to the dock before the rains introducing our next cold-front arrived. Those rains were predicted to come through late in the evening on Saturday. But as all fishermen and meteorologists know, approaching fronts are on a time-line that often changes from its original prediction. We awoke Saturday morning to rains that persisted throughout most of the day, and fishing was out of the question.

Monday morning, 12/20, though seas were predicted to be 2-3 feet, within twenty miles, I got no further than the near-shore reefs with Norm Bauer and son, David. It was a cold morning, with a wind-chill of 42 and sloppy seas. The fish must have been freezing too, because it was tough fishing. We used live shrimp to catch a keeper sheepshead at 15 inches, a couple of snapper, and some grunts. We released smaller sheepshead and snapper, an eel and a mother-in-law fish. Norm and David plan to go fishing again while David is visiting, and we'll hope for a warmer day with calm seas that will allow us to get to at least 45 feet of water. But, we had fun and caught enough fish for the two to have for dinner.

Tuesday was only minimally better than Monday, in terms of temperature and wind. I waited until Wednesday to get back offshore, and fished about 18 1/2 miles west of New Pass, in much calmer seas and warmer conditions, though the water temperature is still only 64 degrees. Long-time customer, Brad Hayes, fished with me, along with his son, Jackson, and Jackson's friend, Billy Denny. Billy caught a pair of hogfish, both 16 inch keepers, and released one smaller hog. The trio also caught ten keeper mangrove snapper keepers that ranged 14 to 17 inches, along with a 15-inch keeper sheepshead. We released smaller sheepshead, as well as red and gag grouper shorts, all caught on live shrimp.

Dan Miles and his son and friends had planned a morning of backwater fishing with me on Thursday, but the tide was dead-low and I didn’t think the fishing in the bay would be very productive. So we decided to head offshore to 43 feet of water, where we used live shrimp to catch eight keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches and a 16-inch sheepshead. We released smaller mangs and triggerfish, as well as gag and red grouper shorts.

As seas once again built offshore on Friday, I was glad to be fishing in the backwaters with long-time customer, Vince Tomlinson, his son, Mike, and daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Joe Cavanaugh. We fished with live shrimp in Estero Bay, toward Wiggins Pass, where we caught three nice sheepshead to 18 inches (see photo). We released one that measured longer than that, but it was a skinny one that was more head than body, so we let it go. We also caught a keeper 13-inch flounder. We caught and released two 17-inch sea trout, which are currently out-of-season. We released some small mangrove snapper.

After the holidays, I had hoped to resume fishing Monday, with a full week of trips booked. But, Mother Nature had other ideas, as an arctic air-mass made it south to our area, bringing gusty winds, high surf and small-craft advisories, and record-low temperatures. Monday’s trip and Tuesday’s trip cancelled. We are looking toward a gradual warm-up, and I have hope that I will be fishing the rest of the week.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

After a rainy cold-front pushed through the area on Wednesday, 12/1, seas were rough through Thursday. Predictions were for 15 knot winds and 2-4 foot seas on Friday but, when I headed offshore with Greg Bauer and friend, Jim, we hit three-to-four-footers a mere six miles off the beach. Greg and Jim are pretty hardy anglers so we continued out to about 17 miles, where we fished in steady four-foot seas, with a few fives mixed in, as the wind howled 20-27 knots. But the grouper bite was on, and Greg caught a nice 28-inch gag on a grunt. We lost two or other nice ones that cut our lines, and we released lots of red grouper shorts. We also caught four keeper mangrove snapper and a mess of large grunts.

Saturday morning, seas were calmer, when I headed out to 19 miles west of New Pass with Bob Rose and Stephanie Oberlie. We had a lot of grouper bites, but no keepers. We released small snapper as well as a bunch of grouper shorts. We also lost a couple of bigger ones that broke off in the rocks. We caught a dozen keeper whitebone porgies, all 13-14 inches, a 14-inch keeper mangrove snapper, and a mess of grunts—plenty for the fish-fry the two had planned for evening.

Monday morning, 12/6, brought temps in the forties, strong winds, and small craft advisories offshore, with seas of 4-6 feet. Long-time customers Erwin and Millie Matusiak traded offshore plans for a morning of flats fishing in Estero Bay, after which we were all ready for some shelter from the wind and a cup of cocoa! The Matusiaks kept a couple of 14-inch sheepshead for dinner, and released a 20-inch bluefish, an 18-inch trout, as well as lots of smaller sheepshead and ladyfish. All were caught on live shrimp.

No one braved the conditions to fish on Tuesday and Wednesday, with near-freezing temps and brisk winds. Thursday, we added rain to the mix. But by Friday, 12/10, it was looking like SW FL once again. Despite a chilly start, we warmed up to the low 70’s by afternoon, and our winds calmed somewhat, with 2-3 foot seas making it possible to venture offshore about 15 miles. I fished in 43 feet with Chris Ernberger and his twelve-year old son, Carter, along with Carter’s grandfather, Jerry. We caught a mess of nice-sized grunts, keeper mangrove snapper and keeper porkfish, all on shrimp. We released smaller porkfish, triggerfish shorts and grouper shorts.

By Sunday, 12/12, another cold-front was pushing through, bringing wind-gusts to 40 knots by late Sunday into Monday, seas of 12-18 feet offshore, and cold temperatures. With a little luck, conditions might improve by the end of the week, when I hope to get back out on the water.

The photo shown is of angler, John Hornell, with a 16-inch hogfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

After a couple days of rough seas, I got back offshore on Thursday, 11/18, and fished in 2-4 foot seas on 43 feet with Terry Howell and Chris Steinbauer. We used live shrimp to catch seven keeper porgies to 14 inches, a 22-inch Spanish mackerel and a 16-inch mangrove snapper. We released red grouper shorts, as well as short sheepshead, grunts, porkfish, triggerfish, and a 30-pound goliath grouper.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, I fished on Friday, 11/26, with Robert and Roberta Duhlberg and their two children, Daniel and Rebecca. Seas were pretty sloppy in advance of a cool front moving through, but we did okay in about 40 feet, fishing with live shrimp. We caught four keeper mangrove snapper, a 15-inch hogfish keeper and four keeper sheepshead in the 13-14-inch range. We released gag and red grouper shorts, as well as triggerfish shorts.

Saturday morning, seas were calm, when I headed out 17 miles west of New Pass with Bob Welch and his friend, Carl. We used live shrimp to catch a 16-inch sheepshead, a 15-inch mangrove snapper, and a mess of whitebone porgies and grunts. The guys were planning a fish-fry for some guests so the table-fare was much appreciated. We also had some fun with a 10-foot shark, which cut our line three times, as it circled the boat. We released triggerfish shorts and some smaller snapper.

Sunday morning there was more chop on the water, which actually made the fishing better than it was in the dead calm waters the day before. I headed out to 43 feet of water, about 17 miles west of New Pass with Paul McConnell and his sons, Tim and Andrew, on the last day of their Thanksgiving weekend visit. The guys caught keeper mangrove snapper and three nice gag grouper, at 22 ½ inches, 24 inches and 28 inches. We hooked and released a huge goliath grouper that I estimated to be about 400 pounds. That one bit two blue runners and provided some sore arms for both the boys, who managed to get it to the surface with heavy tackle. When we released it and tried for another, the 28-inch gag bit the blue runner bait, and it wasn’t much of a fight on that heavy pole. (see photo) The two smaller gags bit shrimp on light tackle. The McConnells planned a fish-fry for their last dinner before heading home.

Connie Matusak and friends, Ray and Dan, spent Monday morning fishing in Estero Bay with me. We released a half dozen redfish shorts and seven snook, and kept a pair of 15-inch sheepshead, all caught on live shrimp.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Wednesday morning, 11/3, I headed offshore just ahead of an approaching cold-front for the last day in the next several that would allow offshore fishing. Seas were a little sloppy at two-to-three feet about nineteen miles west of New Pass, where I fished in 45 feet with long-time customer Bill Story and his friends, Bernie, Marvin, Jim and Larry. We used live shrimp to catch some good table-fare, including twenty nice whitebone porgies, fourteen grunts, each about two pounds, a 14-inch yellowtail snapper and a 16-inch hogfish. We released lots of red grouper shorts.

A strong cold-front came through on Thursday,11/4 with rain most of the day, leading into a weekend of high winds and rough seas. It was still just calming down by Monday, when long-time customers Mike and Leah Connealy were scheduled for an offshore trip, so we deferred that to Wednesday, 11/10. We fished in 45 feet out of New Pass with live shrimp, mostly interested in dinner-fish. The Connealys bagged five keeper mangrove snapper, all about 13 inches, and seven 14-inch whitebone porgies. We released lots of smaller mangrove snapper, triggerfish-shorts, porkfish and red and gag grouper shorts, to 19 inches and 21 inches, respectively.

The next time I fished was Monday, 11/15, when I headed out of New Pass to between 38 and 48 feet of water with Steve and Jolissa Spitzer. We caught a trio of keeper gag grouper that got progressively bigger, with one 24 inches, one 27 inches and one 30 inches (see photo). The two larger ones bit blue runners, while the smaller one ate a live shrimp. We also caught a half dozen nice mangrove snapper to 16 inches, and we kept two 14-inch whitebone porgies, out of the fifteen we caught. We also released lots of smaller gag and red grouper, mangrove snapper, triggerfish, and an 80-pound goliath grouper, which bit a blue runner.

Dave Flemming and friends and family were in town to attend his grandmother’s 85th birthday the weekend of 10/22, and Dave and five others, Rob, David, Tom, Brad and Al, decided to work in a catch-and-release fishing trip on Saturday, before catching their flights home. There was a small-craft-caution in effect offshore, so we stayed close in and fished at May Reef, where seas were every bit of three-foot, accompanied by a strong, 15-20 knot wind. We used shrimp to catch two nice flounder, 16 inches and 17 inches, along with a pair of 23-inch Spanish mackerel, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and gag grouper shorts.

Monday, 10/25, I fished with long-time customers Chester Yanik, his son, Mark, and friend, Tom Murphey. We headed out to 65 feet, about 28 miles west of New Pass, where we fished with live shrimp. Chester caught a nice red grouper that weighed 11 pounds and measured 28 inches(see photo). It ate a jumbo shrimp. We released about 50 more red groupers that were short of keeper-size. Mark also released a big barracuda, about 40 inches long and 20 pounds. It tried to eat one of the porgies we caught. In fact, the goliaths and the ‘cudas ate the biggest of the fifteen porgies we hooked, but we kept a half dozen nice ones to 15 inches. We also caught two keeper, 14-inch yellowtail snapper and fifteen keeper lane snapper to 12 inches. We released a short hogfish and small mangrove snapper.

Another long-time customer, Herb Guarascio, fished near-shore with me on Tuesday, along with his wife, Renee, son Joe, nephew Ryan, and friend, George. We fished with shrimp 8-12 miles west of New Pass and caught five keeper triggerfish to 14 1/2 inches, four Spanish mackerel to 25 inches, five whitebone porgies to 13 inches, a 12-inch lane snapper, and a 13 inch mangrove snapper. We released smaller mangs and short red grouper.

Chester Yanik, Mark Yanik and Tom Murphey, who fished with me Monday, did so again on Wednesday, when we headed out 36 miles to about 70 feet. We caught a keeper red grouper at 21 inches, which bit a pinfish. The rest of our catches were on live shrimp, and included a dozen keeper yellowtail snapper, two 14-inch keeper triggerfish, and a half dozen keeper whitebone porgies. Mark released a 100-pound goliath grouper, and we also released lots of triggerfish-shorts and grouper-shorts.

Monday morning, 11/1, I fished 19 1/2 miles west of New Pass with John and Bud Hornell. We used live shrimp to catch a 16-inch keeper hogfish, a keeper yellowtail snapper, eight whitebone porgies all about 14 inches and eight nice-sized grunts to add to the table-fare. We released lots of mangrove and yellowtail snapper that were just short of keeper-size, along with lots of red grouper and triggerfish shorts and one smaller hogfish.

:toocool: “No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Friday morning, 10/8, I fished in central Estero Bay with Bill and Jenn Beattie and their four-year-old son, Sam. Sam was excited to be on a boat fishing, and he made the most of it—he caught a dozen fish and had a great time. Catches on live shrimp included keeper-sized mangrove snapper and keeper trout to 15 inches, but Sam chose to release them all.

Saturday morning, Bill Briskin and nine-year-old daughter, Jaclyn, fished offshore in 44 feet with me. The bite was a little slow, but we caught some keeper porgies and keeper yellowtail snapper to 13 inches, on live shrimp. We released red grouper and triggerfish shorts, along with a 60-pound goliath grouper that bit a blue runner.

Bryan Smith, his father-in-law, Tony Haas, and friend, Craig Simpson were supposed to fish with me this past Wednesday but rough conditions that day, with four-to-six foot seas offshore, put a crimp on those plans. We rescheduled for Sunday, which was a beautiful morning offshore in calm seas. The catch-of-the-morning was a 41-inch, 18-pound cobia, which bit a shrimp (see photo). We also used live shrimp to catch about forty yellowtail snapper, fifteen of which were keepers to 14 inches. We also caught a few keeper mangrove snapper, porgies, porkfish and grunts. We released red grouper shorts, gag grouper to 19 inches and three goliath grouper, two at forty pounds each and one at 80 pounds.

Bryan, Tony and Craig fished with me again on Monday, this time joined by Bryan’s wife, Tammy, and two young daughters, Maggie and Mandy. We used live shrimp in 44 feet to catch a bunch of keeper whitebone porgies, all about 14 inches, a keeper yellowtail snapper, porkfish, grunts and a 13 ½ inch hogfish. We released short triggerfish and red grouper.

Tuesday morning was a bit sloppier offshore, with the winds picking up from the weather system approaching causing some 3-foot seas. I fished with Steve Martis and his dad, Bob, in 45 feet, west of New Pass. We released lots of short red grouper, and we caught keeper whitebone porgies, lane snapper and mangrove snapper, grunts and porkfish. We kept about a dozen fish out of about 40 that we brought to the boat.

Wednesday morning, we awoke to heavy rain in the area, but most of it cleared out by about 8 AM. Seas were calm, and I headed offshore to about 42 feet with Jim Corbett and Joe DiAmbrosio. We used live shrimp to catch two nice hogfish at 14 inches and 14 1/2 inches. We also caught keeper yellowtail snapper, keeper mangrove snapper, porkfish, grunts, and a 25-inch Spanish mackerel. We released red and gag grouper shorts to 19 inches.

Thursday still presented a good chance of rain, but we lucked out and never got wet, fishing in 40 feet and also in closer at the reefs, where I took Chris and Tamala DeChaine and friends, Jeremy and Stephanie. We caught and released 16-inch triggerfish, a half dozen keeper-sized mangrove snapper, an 18-inch red grouper short, and a 60-pound goliath grouper. The group was planning to leave Saturday morning and had no time to cook fish, so we released even the keepers.

Friday morning, I fished Estero Bay with Joe & Sherry Tomley and their sons, Chris, thirteen, and Eric, ten. The boys were both experienced anglers, having fished the lakes up north, but this was their first time fishing in SW FL. Eric caught a nice 24 ½ inch redfish under the mangroves. The family also caught two keeper trout at 16 inches and 16 ½ inches, a 13-inch sheepshead, mangrove snapper, and a 22-inch Spanish mackerel. We released some smaller trout.

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday morning, 9/20, I fished central Estero Bay with Joe & Donna Corso. The trout bite was active but most were short of keeper-size. We kept a 15-inch trout and released ten others. We also got two keeper-sized mangrove snapper, out of fifteen that we caught, and we released two 23-inch snook and a 16-inch redfish. Joe pulled a bit too hard and lost two nice reds under the trees, but we'll catch them next time!

Thursday morning, 9/30, after a couple of rainy days, I fished eighteen miles out of New Pass with long-time customer Pat Fitzgerald and his friends, Jimmy C. and Jimmy G. They wanted to feel the pull of a big fish, so we caught and released three goliath grouper to 50 pounds, using blue runners for bait. Then, we switched our attention to some table-fare and used live shrimp to catch four keeper yellowtail snapper, all 13 inches, five keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, a 25-inch Spanish mackerel, and two 14-inch whitebone porgies. We released lots of smaller fish of all those varieties.

Jason and Laura Faust, who were in Estero on their honeymoon, joined me for a morning of fishing Friday, October 1st. Seas were calming and were only two-to-three feet offshore, so we headed out to about 43 feet, where we caught a 23-inch red grouper, thirteen keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, a 13-inch hogfish, and Spanish mackerel to 25 inches. We used shrimp for all except the red grouper, which we caught on a blue runner. We also released three goliath grouper to 40 pounds, and had a generally fun morning of fishing in beautiful weather.

Mike Barnabee and his sons, Matt, Danny and Chris, along with another family member, Ben, headed out to about 43 feet to fish with me on a slightly sloppy Sunday morning. The winds were increased just enough to kick up the seas to two-to-four feet. The group had fun, though and caught a 13-inch hogfish, a few keeper mangrove and yellowtail snapper, and porgies. We also released a 25-pound goliath grouper.

Monday morning, 10/4, I fished a catch-and-release trip with Jim McCarty and his seven-year-old son, Alex. We used shrimp to catch and release fifteen fish in all, including two redfish, two snook, four trout, a ladyfish, and a half dozen mangrove snapper.

The photo shown is of angler, Jeanette Thron, with a 16 ½ inch hogfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.