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Fishing Reports for Local Area - Location |
    
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 320
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 - 8:16 am: | |
Wednesday morning, 4/28, I fished Estero Bay with Paul Martz and Christian LeClerc. We caught a 23-inch Spanish mackerel, released short snapper, and were bemoaning the slow action when, all of a sudden, two lines began bending, and we reeled in two keeper redfish, at 18 1/2 and 19 inches--so we ended up with our limit of reds.
Thursday morning, 4/29, I fished with Ron Musick and friends, Eddie & Carolina Alfonso. We caught seven keeper mangrove snapper and five keeper porgies, and released two gag grouper shorts, fishing with shrimp about 19 miles out of New Pass.
Friday, 5/7, was the next time I got out fishing, and that was bayside with Bill & Terry Major, long-time customers. We fished Estero Bay with live shrimp and caught a keeper 21-inch redfish and an 11-inch keeper mangrove snapper. We released a 22-inch snook and a porcupine puffer-fish.
Slow season has come earlier and more abruptly this year so fishing trips will not be daily occurrances for a while—I’ll post them as I get them!
The photo shown is of angler Bill Major, with a 21-inch redfish, caught on shrimp on an inshore trip last week.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 319
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 10:31 am: | |
Tuesday, 4/13, the wind was howling through the tree-lines of Estero Bay, where I fished the backwaters with Richard Kostrcewa and his son, Stephan. We used live shrimp to catch and release nine sheepshead, a mangrove snapper and two crevalle jacks.
Wednesday was another windy morning in Estero Bay, where I fished with long-time customers Ed and Margie Bock. We caught a trio of keeper trout at 16 inches, 17 inches and 19 inches, and we released lots of crevalle jacks.
Thursday, the seas were too rough for my gulf trip, planned on a customer’s boat, so I cancelled that and got my newly re-powered offshore boat in order.
I fished offshore in 45 feet and sloppy seas Friday with Larry Kurlander and friends, Dave and Don. We caught keeper mangrove snapper to 18 inches, a 20-inch sheepshead, and whitebone porgies. We released smaller snapper, triggerfish to 13 ½ inches and grunts.
Saturday morning, I fished a catch-and-release trip with Harry Stevenson and son, Mark, in 45 feet out of New Pass. We released mangrove snapper, porgies, and gag and red grouper to 20 inches.
Monday morning, 4/19, after a Sunday that dumped nearly four inches of rain in our area, I fished in Estero Bay with Don and Rayelynn Welk and nephew, Dillon. We caught four keeper trout to 16 inches and released small sheepshead, crevalle jacks and ladyfish, all caught on shrimp.
Tuesday, I headed offshore about 38 miles with frequent customer, Ron Musick, along with his friends, Eddie Alfonso, Steve and Frith. We used live shrimp and had a nice variety of catches, including a 24-inch gag grouper. We also caught a 21 1/2 inch gag, but he was a half-inch too short to keep so we released that one. We also released a red grouper that was a half-inch too short at 19 1/2 inches. We caught a half dozen nice mangrove snapper, ranging from 15 to 19 inches, a 13-inch porkfish, and a half dozen whitebone porgies that were 14-to15-inches. We released a 30-inch cobia, short triggerfish, and grunts, along with a big remora.
Ray Reeber and son, Steve, fished Estero Bay with me on Thursday morning, where we caught eight keeper-sized Spanish mackerel, a keeper mangrove snapper, and two big stingrays. We released four of the mackerel, along with the stingrays.
Tom and Karen Gartland and son, Danny, fished for trout with me in Estero Bay Friday morning, using live shrimp. We caught five keepers to 16 inches and also caught two keeper sheepshead, each 14 inches. We released two Spanish mackerel and some ladyfish.
Norm & Pete Ayres had rescheduled their gulf trip several times this winter, due to weather. They planned to fish with me Saturday morning. Winds had picked up overnight, but seas were predicted to be 2-4 feet out to twenty miles, so we gave it a shot. Before we were even out of the pass, we were looking at 4 and 5 foot seas, so we ended up bagging the trip and returning to the dock.
Monday morning, 4/26, brought some pretty violent thunderstorms for a couple of hours, with rain, winds and high seas persisting even after the worst was over. I remained in port. I did so on Tuesday also, with no trip scheduled…just as well, as seas were predicted to remain sloppy and rough.
The photo shown is of angler, Sidney Minnis, with an 18” mangrove snapper, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
The photo shown is of young angler, Ben Loverude, with an 18”trout, caught on shrimp on a recent inshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 318
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 7:09 am: | |
Tuesday, 3/30, seas were rough offshore and I ended up re-booking my planned gulf trip with a trio of ladies who wanted to fish the bay. Karen Taylor, son Evan Taylor, and Evan’s grandmother, Kate Collins, fished with live shrimp and caught six keeper sheepshead to 18 inches and a keeper mangrove snapper. We released lots of smaller sheepshead.
Wednesday, with seas calming down, I headed offshore for a morning of fishing in 45 feet, out of New Pass with Alene Haug, daughter Amy Akerburg, granddaughter Erica Ackerburg, grandson Austin Ackerburg, and Austin’s friend, Grant Seiffert. We used live shrimp to catch mangrove snapper to 17 inches, a 15 ½ inch hogfish, sheepshead to 16 inches and a half dozen porgies.
I headed offshore again Thursday, out to 36 miles with anglers Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonso, Dick Arnett and John Ebbrecht. It was the first day of open grouper season and we caught a 24 inch gag that we got to keep! We also caught seven nice mangrove snapper to 17 inches, two keeper lane snapper, a 13 inch porkfish, and lots of porgies, seven of which were good-sized, to 17 inches. We released lots of smaller porgies and grouper, and used live shrimp for all.
Friday morning found me back offshore again, this time with Jim Ascher, son Chuck, and grandson Matt. We used live shrimp in 45 feet to catch a mess of keeper porgies, a keeper porkfish, mangrove snapper to 17 inches and a 16 inch hogfish. We released red and gag grouper shorts, grunts, pufferfish, blue runners and a bluefish.
Saturday morning, Denise and Rick Wiesemann and their sons, E.J. and Brian had just enough time to squeeze in a backbay trip before E.J. had to catch a flight home. We fished Estero Bay with live shrimp and caught four keeper sheepshead. We released ten additional sheepshead, along with a 20-inch crevalle jack.
Monday was a beautiful day but I had to redirect my gulf trip to another captain, due to mechanical problems with one of my engines--it doesn't happen often, but it is unfortunate when it does so and cancels out someone's long-planned trip. Fortunately my customers were successful in finding a gulf trip.
I will be fishing the bay for a few days this week, while upgrading to new motors on the offshore boat. But Tuesday, I headed offshore to 60 feet on a customer's boat, with Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonso, Dick Arnett, and father-son team, Mike and Clay Thompson. We caught a dozen nice mangrove snapper to 17 inches, along with ten keeper lane snapper, on shrimp. We released about fifty smaller mangs, along with gag and red grouper shorts, amberjack and grunts.
The Christenson family has fished with me for many years, and they returned to do so Wednesday. Dave Christenson and sons Brenden and Connor, fished Estero Bay with me. I didn’t go to my favorite sheepshead spot because young Brenden was aching to catch a stingray. He didn’t get to catch one, but he did get to see one, and he was pretty excited about that. We also caught and released a 17 ¾ inch redfish, caught a keeper 14-inch sheepshead and keeper mangrove snapper.
The Ron Haggin party, consisting of John and son, John Jr., Jamie, Timmy and Jack, fished Estero Bay with me Thursday morning. We had steady sheepshead action, to 16 ½ inches, and also caught two nice trout at 16 and 18 inches, and a bluefish. We used live shrimp for all.
Friday morning I fished Estero Bay with Larry Siegl and son-in-law, Shawn Tudisco. We did well with trout, catching five keepers to 20 inches, on live shrimp. We released small sheepshead and an 18-inch snook. We lost something big that came unhooked, most likely a big crevalle jack or a ray.
In years past, the Novy children have numbered three when they fished with me but, this year, young Julia, age five, was big enough to join us. So, Saturday morning, Jim Novy and his four children, Jaqueline, eleven; Jordan, nine; Jimmy, seven; and Julia, five, went catching and releasing in Estero Bay. The kids had fun using live shrimp to catch a half-dozen sheepshead, some mangrove snapper and crevalle jack.
Monday morning, I fished in a windy Estero Bay with Don Britton, his son, Don Britton, Jr., and Junior's son-in-law, Pat. We had high winds, low tide, and a lot of fresh water influx from the heavy rains of Sunday, so conditions were less than ideal. Using live shrimp, we caught sheepshead to 14 inches, a keeper mangrove snapper, and released lots of crevalle jack.
The photo shown is of angler, Skip King , with a 20-inch sheepshead, caught on shrimp on a trip earlier this month.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 317
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 8:10 am: | |
Tuesday morning, 3/16, the trout bite was nothing like it had been the day before. I fished with Mark McCarthy, his father-in-law, Richie Jenkins, and friend Matt. Richie caught the only trout of the morning, measuring 15 inches. We released ladyfish and sheepshead.
Wednesday morning, light rain fell until after noon time, but that didn't deter Mark Loverude, son Ben, and friends Casey Miller and Chris Church from fishing Estero Bay with me. The group used live shrimp to catch five keeper sheepshead to 18 inches, a keeper flounder and two keeper trout, each 18 inches.
Brian VandenBossche and his son, Charles, fished Estero Bay with me Thursday morning and caught a keeper trout and three keeper sheepshead, on live shrimp. We released lots of smaller sheepshead. We also released a lot of ladyfish.
Mark Loverude and his sons, Ben and Brandon, along with friends Joe Goodall and son, Alex, fished Estero Bay with me Friday morning. The boys had fished the bay with me earlier in the week and we had considered heading offshore Friday but, with seas just calming down after three to five footers Thursday and three young children aboard, we decided to play it safe in the bay. We did well there, using shrimp, and caught six keeper sheepshead to 15 inches, two keeper whitings at 14 inches each and a 16-inch trout. We released lots of smaller sheepshead and sand perch.
Rick McGrath treated his daughter, Carrie McGrath, and her three friends, Jenn Conley, Nora Fload and Sidney Minnis, to a spring-break fishing trip offshore Saturday. We used live shrimp, and the girls did well with snapper and sheepshead. We caught a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 18 ½ inches, a 14 inch keeper hog snapper, a mess of sheepshead to 17 inches, and grunts and porgies. We released grouper shorts.
Monday, 3/22, began rainy. My scheduled full-day offshore trip was scaled down to a half-day bayside, due to rough seas offshore and a small craft advisory. After the rain tapered off a bit, I headed into Estero Bay with Kent Swedberg, his son-n-law, Bob Ericson, grandson Zack, and friend, Rob. We caught six keeper sheepshead ranging from 13 ½ to 15 inches and released ladyfish and crevalle jack.
Tuesday morning, Omar & Sheila Jama and their children, Ayden, six-years old and Fiona, three-years old, fished Estero Bay with me. We caught, on live shrimp, eleven keeper-sized sheepshead to 16 inches, and the family kept the five largest of those. We released the rest, along with eight smaller sheepshead.
Long time customer, Doug Grieble, drove from Tampa with his dad, John Grieble and friends, Bill Conklin and Skip King to fish offshore with me on Wednesday, 3/24. Seas were still a little sloppy early in the day, but a nice calming and warming trend was in place. We fished about twenty miles west of New Pass in 45 feet with live shrimp. We caught a dozen nice mangrove snapper to 18 inches and a mess of keeper-sized sheepshead to 20 inches—we kept five of the fattest of those and released the rest, along with red and gag grouper and triggerfish shorts. We also caught some porgies to 15 inches and a 15-inch hogfish. We had a 4-foot shark on the line at one point, but with no steel leader on, it broke the line and swam off before we could photograph it.
Another long time, annual customer, Stuart Norris, fished with me Thursday morning and brought his friend, Frank Cappellino, We fished in 45 feet again, out of New Pass, with live shrimp and caught a 14 inch hogfish, two keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches, a 14-inch keeper triggerfish, three sheepshead to 15 inches, grunts and porgies. We released red and gag grouper, along with an 18 inch true black grouper. We were between weather fronts and had some sloppy seas, but most of the morning was fairly calm.
Mike Connealy and Tom Stover fished in Estero Bay with me on a rainy Friday morning. By about 10 AM, they had caught six keeper sheepshead to 18 inches and released ten smaller ones, along with a crevalle jack, and decided they had enough fish and enough rain, so we headed back to shore.
The folks I has scheduled for Saturday were dead-set of fishing offshore, but feared the predictions of two-four foot seas, so they cancelled their trip for that day, and I remained in port.
Monday, 3/29, brought rain and wind, once again, with unpleasant conditions inshore and unsafe conditions offshore. I cancelled another trip.
The photo shown is of angler, Ron Musick, with a 28-inch gag grouper, caught on shrimp and released on an offshore trip this month. As of April 1st, grouper season re-opens and we’ll be able to keep a fish like this one…now, if we can only catch him again!
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 316
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 9:15 am: | |
Wednesday morning, 3/3, was chilly and windy but my brave party of three lady-anglers, Alene Haug, her mother, Carrie and friend, Connie, decided to give the backwaters a try anyway. We caught and released sheepshead until the ladies decided they'd had enough cold, then we headed back for shore.
Thursday morning, I fished Estero Bay with John Kenney and his eight-year-old son, Anthony. We had to bundle up and try to stay out of the wind as best we could, but we had fun using live shrimp to catch and release seven sheepshead to 12 inches, three trout to just short of15 inches, and a 16-inch whiting.
My trip for Friday cancelled, as two in the party wanted to wait for better conditions and warmer temperatures.
By Monday morning, 3/8, a nice warming and calming trend was in effect. I fished 20 miles west of New Pass in 45 feet with Bob Wojtowicz, his son, Greg, and grandson, Josh, along with family friend, Bob Bradley. We used live shrimp and caught keeper mangrove snapper, sheepshead, porkfish and jolthead porgies. We released triggerfish shorts, as well as lots of red and gag grouper, the largest of which was a 26 ½ inch gag, caught by Bob Bradley. Grouper season re-opens April 1st.
Tuesday morning, I sure was happy to see calm seas for long-time customer Ron Musick. So far this season, Ron had tried to get out offshore nine times and had been foiled by weather each time. But Tuesday was a good day for Ron and his friends, Dick Arnett, Eddie Alfonso and Hank Scheroski. We fished in 45 feet out of New Pass, using live shrimp and caught keeper mangrove snapper to 19 inches, two 14-inch keeper hogfish, a half-dozen keeper sheepshead to 18 inches, and some good-sized whitebone porgies and grunts. Ron landed and released a 28-inch gag grouper and scored best catch of the day.
Alene Haug, daughter-in-law, Margie Kempfort, and friend, Cali McCarthur fished with me on Wednesday morning, in 45 feet west of New Pass. We caught two keeper hogfish at 15 inches and 16 inches, two keeper sheepshead, 15 inches and 18 inches, and a 13-inch mangrove snapper. We released red and gag grouper. Seas were calm most of the morning, but it did begin to get a little sloppy around noon-time.
Thursday morning was drizzly and winds were strong, with a small-craft advisory in effect. Chuck Nebes and son, Steven, traded their offshore plans to fish a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay, where we used live shrimp to land four keeper-sized sheepshead to 15 inches, crevalle jack and ladyfish.
Friday brought heavy rains and gusty winds to the area, to be followed by more rains and rough conditions on Saturday, so that ended my fishing for this week.
Monday, 3/15, was sunny, windy and cool, but pleasant for my inshore fishing trip with long-time customers Joe Goodall and his son Alex, who has been fishing with me annually since he was a toddler. They were joined by friends Dave Bixby and Fred. We fished wind-sheltered spots in Estero Bay with live shrimp and caught two keeper trout at 18 inches and 16 ½ inches, along with two keeper sheepshead.
The photo shown is of young angler, Alex Goodall , with an 18-inch trout, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay on Monday, March 15th.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 315
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 - 8:43 am: | |
Tuesday morning, 2/16, after a gorgeous day offshore on Monday, seas were back to their usual for this winter—rough, with small craft advisories issued. Brad Urlaub and family traded their offshore fishing plans for a morning of bay fishing. We used live shrimp to catch lots of sheepshead, including three keepers measuring 13 inches, 15 inches and 17 inches. We also caught a 15-inch whiting and a 12-inch mangrove snapper. We released lots of ladyfish, along with the smaller sheepshead.
Wednesday morning found me back in the bay, as there were again small-craft advisories offshore. I fished with Frank Partee, son Mike and daughter-in-law, Ginger. We caught five keeper sheepshead to 17 inches and released some smaller sheepshead and some ladyfish.
Thursday was a chilly morning, when I fished with Mike Daley and daughter, Elizabeth Hayes, in Estero Bay. We used live shrimp to catch nine keeper whitings to 16 inches.
Friday, seas began a calming trend, so I headed offshore for a day of fishing with Bill Conklin, his son Eric, and friends Mike Grandominico and Dennis Baker. We fished in 73 feet, 37 miles west of New Pass, and did well. We released four keeper grouper (due to closed season), three gags to 26 inches and a 21-inch red grouper. We also caught two keeper hogfish at 14 inches and 16 inches, nine mangrove snapper to 18 ½ inches, and some nice whitebone porgies to 18 inches, all on live shrimp.
Bill Conklin and friends, who fished with me Friday, had originally planned to fish one day gulf-side and one day bay-side but, after seeing the low water in the bay and the calm seas offshore, they decided to take advantage of the good offshore conditions and head out again on Saturday. We fished 22 miles west of New Pass with live shrimp. We did very well with snapper and hogfish again, as well as sheepshead. The group caught six hogfish, five of which were keepers raging in size from 14 inches to 16 inches. They also caught a dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 18 inches, three whitebone porgies to 15 inches, grunts, and three keeper sheepshead, the largest of which was a whopping 24 inches and 8 pounds. We released two 24-inch gag grouper, due to closed grouper season, along with smaller sheepshead.
Monday, 2/22, we awoke to rain. It was light on shore but there was rain out to 40 miles offshore and my party of six felt like conditions were too unstable to get out there so they postponed their trip. Unfortunately, Tuesday's trip had to cancel due to a family-medical issue.
Wednesday morning, I headed offshore ahead of the next weather front, while seas were still calm. But morning fog was thick with about 1/8 mile visibility most of the morning. Mike Connealy and daughter, Mandi, fished with me in 43 feet, about 20 miles west of New Pass. Using live shrimp, we caught nine mangrove snapper to 18 inches. We released two grouper, due to closed season: a 20-inch red grouper and a 24-inch gag. We also released lots of shorts, including triggerfish, snapper, grouper, porkfish and grunts.
Thursday morning was another chilly, windy one. I fished the backwaters with Eduardo Heriques and his two sons, Eduardo Jr. and Richie. We used live shrimp to catch five keeper sheepshead to 18 inches and an 18 ½ inch trout.
Friday, seas were predicted at two-to-four feet and I hoped to get offshore but, with morning wind-chills in the thirties, by customers wanted no part of being on the water. My Saturday anglers called to say they were unable to get out of the airport in N.Y., with a massive snowstorm up that way. This is shaping up to be a winter of record, to say the least.
Ed and Marge Bock fished Estero Bay with me Monday morning, March 1st. Though predictions were for 2-3 foot seas out to twenty miles, after the rough conditions of the previous several days, I expected sloppy seas and a swell, so I advised the Bocks to fish bayside instead. Using live shrimp, we caught a 16-inch trout and two keeper sheepshead to 16 inches. We released lots of smaller sheepshead.
Tuesday, we awoke to gusty winds and thunderstorms. I had to reschedule the trip I had planned in the bay.
The photo shown is of angler, Dennis Baker, with a 16-inch hogfish, caught on shrimp, on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 314
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 - 9:50 am: | |
On Wednesday, 2/3, after watching the rain for the two preceding days, I finally got out fishing. Seas were still rough offshore so I fished Estero Bay’s backwaters with Bob Graham, daughter, Jenn Ness, her husband, Ryan Ness, and their adorable little boy, Graham Ness. Using shrimp, we caught two keeper sheepshead at 14 inches and 17 inches and a 17 inch keeper whiting. We released loads of ladyfish, which kept little graham amused—his 24-incher was almost as tall as he is! We also released lots of smaller sheepshead and mangrove snapper.
Thursday morning, I fished Estero Bay with John Hornell and his dad, Bud. We caught a 19-inch sheepshead, four keeper whitings and we released lots of ladyfish, small snapper and sheepshead. We used live shrimp for all.
Friday was rainy and windy, but the skies cleared Saturday, as the next front moved through, leaving a high pressure system in effect. Unfortunately, winds continued to be strong and offshore plans had to be traded for a morning of bay fishing. Brian Distefano and friends, Ron, Jim and Jim’s son, Nick, fished Estero Bay with me, using live shrimp. By mid-morning, the winds were roaring so we stayed as sheltered as possible and managed to catch five keeper sheepshead, all about 15 inches. We released lots of smaller ones.
As luck would have it, Monday was the one day this week I did not have anyone scheduled to go fishing and it was the calmest day predicted all week. None of my clients were able to change their schedules, so I had to let the relatively calm conditions go unappreciated. The forecast for the rest of the week was not at all encouraging, with seas up to nine feet predicted by mid-week to week's end.
The next time I got out on the water was Thursday morning, and that was in the backwaters on a catch-and-release trip with Mike Daley and son, Chris. It was chilly early on but warmed up nicely, and we delayed our start a bit to allow the sun to warm the air temperature. We used live shrimp to catch lots of sheepshead, the largest being 17 inches and 20 inches. We also released an 18-inch trout and some ladyfish.
Friday’s five-to-seven foot seas prohibited my offshore trip from going out. We might have fished the bay, but with cold winds and a 90% chance of rain, the group decided to bag the trip entirely. Saturday morning, four brave anglers headed into Estero Bay with in early morning temperatures of right around fifty degrees, with a cold, NW wind gusting 25-30 knots. Shannon and Rob Staples and their friends, Lisa and Bob O’Keefe fished in the most wind-sheltered spots I could find for them. Using live shrimp, the group caught five keeper sheepshead to 18 inches and released lots of smaller ones. Bob & Lisa also landed two nice trout at 19 inches and 17 inches.
Monday morning, 2/15, I had to look out the window and check the NOAA forecast twice to believe what I was seeing and hearing...CALM seas! I couldn't have asked for a better day to fish offshore with long-time customers, Jim Sistek, his son, Jim Sistek Jr., grandson, Ryan, Andy Unger and his son, Dave, and friend, Frank Burkosky. We got out to 75 feet of water, 37 miles west of New Pass, where we had a great day of fishing with live shrimp. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if grouper season wasn't closed because we released four nice ones, three gags at 22, 23 and 25 inches, along with a 21-inch red grouper. We also caught our limit of mangrove snapper, the largest one being 24 inches and nine pounds, which is among the largest I have seen around here (see photo). The next largest was 21 inches and all of them were respectable size, mostly 16 to 17 inches. We also caught two keeper hogfish, 14 inches each , keeper sheepshead to 17 inches, grunts,and several nice whitebone porgies to 17 inches.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 313
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 10:00 am: | |
Wednesday, 1/20, seas laid down nicely and I had a great morning of fishing with Rick and Ann McGrath and Orlando and Susan Ferrer. We headed out of New Pass to 43 feet and fished with live shrimp. We did well with grouper and snapper, and caught two keeper gag grouper at 25 inches and 23 inches, and thirteen keeper-sized mangrove snapper to 18 1/2 inches. We also caught a few keeper lane snapper and sheepshead, and we released lots of smaller grouper and snapper, with steady action all morning.
Unfortunately, those ideal conditions were short-lived. Another weather–front moved in and, as of Thursday morning, there was a small craft advisory and seas of three-to-five feet offshore. Friday was only slightly better in terms of seas, with strong winds and heavy fog most of the day. Both my Thursday and Friday trips were for offshore and both had to be cancelled.
Saturday, seas were predicted to be two-to-four feet, but the wind’s strength led me to believe that the seas would likely be at the higher end of the range. Since my anglers that day included two six-year-olds, we voted to fish in the backwaters. We fished central Estero Bay with live shrimp, and caught nine keeper whitings and a 15-inch sheepshead. We released lots of smaller sheepshead, some crevalle jacks and lots of ladyfish.
The next weather-front moved in overnight Sunday, bringing rain and gusty winds Monday morning, and I had to cancel Monday's offshore trip. Tuesday's trip was also for offshore and the seas, still in the 3-5 foot range, necessitated also cancelling that one.
Wednesday, seas were still sloppy, but slightly better, with predictions of two-to-four feet out to 60 miles. I had a group of experienced, hardy anglers going with me, so we headed offshore to 43 feet. If it hadn't been so sloppy we might have headed out further but, as it turned out, we were exactly where we needed to be--We had an awesome day of fishing, using live shrimp to catch a plethora of fish. We landed a 28-inch gag grouper (see photo), twenty-eight beautiful mangrove snapper to just over 20 inches, three keeper hogfish to 17 inches, three keeper lane snapper to 12 inches, and a few triggerfish that were keeper-size but that we chose to release. We also released lots of smaller mangrove snapper, red grouper and gag grouper.
Thursday, I headed back offshore to 46 feet, this time with Drew Van Werden and his young sons, Gabe, age eight, and Charlie, age ten. We caught a mess of nice mangrove snapper to 18 inches, two keeper sheepshead to 17 inches and a 22-inch, keeper red grouper. We released lots of undersized red and gag grouper, triggerfish, grunts, porgies and a small hogfish. The boys had a great time, with steady action all morning.
More nasty weather rolled in over the weekend and I was off the water from Friday, 1/29 through Tuesday, 2/2.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 312
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 18, 2010 - 9:13 am: | |
The cold temperatures of last weekend persisted into this week, but Alene Haug, her daughter, Emma, and family member, John, were brave enough to fish Estero Bay with me on a very cold, windy late morning trip on Tuesday. We used live shrimp to catch and release one snook and two redfish, along with a couple dozen sheepshead. We caught a few keeper -sized mangrove snapper also.
My remaining scheduled trips for this week have rescheduled for hopefully warmer days. That being said, we are still lucky here in southwest Florida, compared with the weather reports from everywhere else in the country right now. Unfortunately the cold extremes caused a hefty fish-kill, which has now prompted stricter regulations in order to protect our local fisheries. As a result, snook and tarpon season will remained closed through September.
After cancelling a week's worth of fishing trips during the windy, cold weather we have had, I finally made it offshore Wednesday morning, 1/13/10, with John & Karla Bolan, John's daughter, Alanna, and Caleb and Greg Robertson. It wasn't at all warm when we headed out but, compared with the deep freeze of the previous days, it almost seemed warm! We headed out nineteen miles from New Pass to fish with live shrimp in 43 feet, and had a productive morning. We caught eleven nice mangrove snapper to 17 inches, a 13-inch keeper lane snapper and a mess of grunts. The big prize went to Caleb, who caught a 22-inch keeper gag grouper (Caleb gave this prize to Karla to hold for the picture shown.). We released lots of smaller grouper and snapper.
Weather went downhill once again and I cancelled a few more trips for the rest of that week. This week is super-busy on the books but we’ll have to see how many trips weather will allow.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 311
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 02, 2010 - 9:23 am: | |
Tuesday, 12/15, I fished Estero Bay with Alene Haug, Kalee McCarthur and Jeff Sailors. We caught eighteen sheepshead, four of which were keeper-size to 18 ½ inches. Kalee released a 17-inch sheepshead, and we also released small mangrove snapper, crevalle jacks and a small permit. We used shrimp for all, fishing the tree-lines and oyster bars.
On Wednesday, a weather front was predicted to move through and kick up winds and seas in the afternoon, but the morning looked like it would be decent offshore, so I headed out to 46 feet with Bill Story and friends, Dave, Marvin and Ernie. We used live shrimp to catch a half-dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 17 inches, keeper whitebone porgies and grunts. We released lots of short mangrove and yellowtail snappers, gag groupers to 20 ½ inches and triggerfish. We had a close encounter with a king mackerel that was out to get me: We had thrown out a shrimp, which was eaten by a blue runner and, as we reeled the blue runner in, a large kingfish cut it in half and took off. He must have decided to come back for the other half and, when he did, he jumped and hit the side of the boat, just missing landing inside—a foot higher on his jump and he’d have jumped directly on the captain.
As predicted, winds and seas picked up Thursday and heavy rains moved in by late afternoon and persisted over-night and into Friday: No one was out on the water. Winds remained blustery Saturday, and the next time I was on the water was Monday, 12/21.
I fished Monday in Estero Bay with Sue & Roderick Price and daughter, Tessa. We caught a mess of sheepshead to 16-inches, a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper, and a 15-inch pompano, all on live shrimp. We released ladyfish.
The tide in Estero Bay wasn’t as favorable on Tuesday, when I fished a catch-and-release trip with Harold Harris and friend, John. The tide was low and going out all morning and into the early afternoon. We did okay with live shrimp, though, and released two keeper-sized trout, which are currently out-of-season, a 23-inch snook, ladyfish and keeper-sized sheepshead.
Wednesday, the marine forecast was a lot better than the reality. I headed to the near-shore reefs with Tom Wolf and sons, Patrick and Jordan. The winds blew hard all morning and were more northeasterly than straight out of the east, as had been predicted. It made for tough anchoring and generally tough conditions. But the boys hung in there and used shrimp to catch four keeper sheepshead to 16 inches. They released smaller sheepshead, Spanish mackerel, red grouper shorts and gag grouper to 21 inches.
The Vince Tomlinson family has made a tradition of fishing with me each Christmas–eve for a few years now. Thursday, Vince, his recently married daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Joe, and Vince’s son, Mike, fished Estero Bay with me, along the channel, on a very windy morning. Fishing was tough again with the hard wind making it tough for the anglers to feel bites. There were lots of nibblers out there, but few big ones. The group caught a couple of keepers, though, including a 13-inch pompano and a 14-inch sheepshead. They released smaller sheepshead, small mangrove snapper, a redfish, a permit, and a 20-inch cobia, all on live shrimp.
Christmas weekend was reserved for family events, and I was back on the water Monday, 12/28, when I fished Estero Bay with Tony and Becki Struble and their three daughters, Katie, age fifteen, Anna, age thirteen, and Daisy, age seven. The Strubles were visiting from Ft. Smith Arkansas and had spent this past week exploring Disney World. Though we couldn’t provide quite that level of entertainment, they had a great time learning to fish the bay with shrimp, on a catch-and-release trip. We caught fifteen sheepshead, six of those keeper-sized to 18 inches, keeper-sized mangrove snapper, and a small snook.
Tuesday, 12/29, the winds were blowing pretty hard, but the Rob Wessels family decided they’d brave the morning at the near-shore reefs, rather than fight a low tide fishing in the bay. We fished with live shrimp at May Reef, where we caught seven keeper sheepshead to 18 inches, two keeper mangrove snapper and a 15-inch pompano.
Wednesday morning, Sven and Corinne Peterson fished at the near-shore reefs with me. The wind was still blowing hard most of the morning and it was rough enough near-shore that we decided not to venture further offshore. We caught four keeper sheepshead to 16 inches, keeper mangrove snapper and a keeper triggerfish, all on shrimp. We released lots of bluefish, smaller sheepshead and grouper-shorts.
I closed out this year fishing in Estero Bay with long-time customer, Chester Yanik, his son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Aimee, and their two children, Jasmine, age ten, and Adam, age nine. We used live shrimp to catch about twenty sheepshead, including a couple of keepers to 15 inches. We also caught a keeper mangrove snapper, and we released the smaller sheepshead, a trout and a stingray.
Happy New Year to all!
The photo shown is of the captain (because no one else on board would hold this fish) with a 35-inch king mackerel, caught on a ladyfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 310
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 14, 2009 - 8:13 am: | |
I had planned to fish everyday of Thanksgiving week, but by Wednesday, 11/24, it was raining in advance of a cold front that kicked up seas to 5-7 feet offshore on Friday. The next time I got to fish, after Tuesday, was on Saturday morning, 11/28, and with seas as rough as they were Friday, we decided to play it safe and fish the backwaters. I fished with Mike & Regan McIntosh and their friends, Clark & Ashley Horgan. The redfish bite was on and we released eleven of those, along with several sheepshead. We kept a larger sheepshead and a 15-inch flounder, all caught on live shrimp.
Monday morning, 11/30, with seas calmed down offshore, I headed out to 43 feet with Nicole Sennett and her boyfriend, Mike. We caught a mess of Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, keeper mangrove snapper, keeper lane snapper, and whitebone porgies. We released lots o grouper shorts, yellowtail snapper, and triggerfish to 13 inches, all caught on shrimp. Mike had fun catching and releasing a 60 pound goliath grouper, which bit a pinfish.
Tuesday was a good morning of fishing, especially for grouper, with Erwin and Millie Metusiak. We fished in 46 feet out of New Pass with live shrimp and caught a 26-inch keeper gag grouper, a 20 ½ inch keeper red grouper, a 16-inch keeper triggerfish, and keeper lane and mangrove snapper. We released lots of shorts of all those species. It was good to finally get a keeper trigger, since the new size-limits on those (14-inch minimum) have made keepers hard to come by.
Wednesday, it rained all day and did much of the same parts of Thursday, all of Friday and most of Saturday. I had to cancel all my trips for those days and was unable, unfortunately, to reschedule them. I set my sites upon better weather for this coming week, which is predicted, at least for the first part of the week. We have an El Nino weather pattern in effect this winter, which is notorious for interfering with fishing plans, given the wetter winter it brings.
Monday, 12/7, was finally a nice day to head offshore and I did exactly that with Mark Muller and son, Mark Muller, Jr. We fished 37 miles west of New Pass and did very well with snapper of all varieties. We caught fourteen yellowtails to 16 inches, ten mangs to 15 inches, and a half-dozen lanes to 13 inches, all on shrimp. We also caught keeper-sized Spanish mackerel to 20 inches, and keeper-sized porgies, but we released those, as the guys had plenty of snapper to feast upon. We also released lots of grouper and triggerfish shorts, a 4 1/2 foot sandbar shark, and an 80-pound goliath grouper, which bit a blue runner. On our trip in, about 4 1/2 miles offshore, we saw a nice tarpon roll, but we were underway at that time.
Tim Carberry and June DeJonge fished Estero Bay with me on a windy Wednesday morning. The two were admitted novices, but they caught on quickly and had a good time fishing with live shrimp. We caught and released four redfish to 17 ¾ inches, just ¼ inch short of legal keeper-size. We also caught a keeper sheepshead at 13 inches and a 19-inch black drum.
Friday morning, I fished the bay with Jonathan Tracy and friend, Jeff. The tide was low and slow and we tried to stay as sheltered as possible from the twenty-knot winds that blew most of the morning. We caught keeper sheepshead and mangrove snapper on shrimp.
Saturday, with seas still kicked up offshore, the Dargis family decided to stick with the backwaters. Grandpa Leon, son, Brett, and grandsons, Connor and Blake, caught and released redfish just short of keeper-size, along with an 18 ½ inch snook. The group also caught keeper some sheepshead and a half-dozen keeper mangrove snapper, all on shrimp.
The photo shown is of young angler, Ben Hutson, with a 25-inch gag grouper, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 309
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - 10:06 am: | |
John Landis and Bud King had one day to fish before heading back north, and they had hoped for a day offshore. But, with the remnants of the weather stirred up by Tropical Storm Ida meeting an approaching cold-front, the Gulf was out of the question Thursday, 11/12, so they traded their offshore plans for some morning fishing in Estero Bay. Using live shrimp on that catch-and-release trip, we released ladyfish, mangrove snapper, snook and sheepshead.
Tuesday, 11/17, I fished Estero Bay with Bob and Rita Grant. Using shrimp, we caught keeper-sized sheepshead and mangrove snapper. We released smaller ones of both varieties, along with crevalle jacks.
Friday, 11/20, was a beautiful day, suitable for fishing inshore or offshore. John Aletta and Steve Russo decided on Estero Bay, where we fished with live shrimp, using popping corks for trout, and fishing for anything else that was biting, since trout season is closed and those had to be released. We released seven of them to 15 ½ inches. We also caught a keeper mangrove snapper, keeper sheepshead, a 15-inch flounder, and we released ladyfish and three redfish to 18 inches.
Monday morning, 11/23, I fished offshore in 47 feet out of New Pass with Kim & Colleen Anderson, their daughter, Kelly, and her husband, Kevin. The group hooked five nice grouper, but had a tough time boating those big ones before getting their lines cut in the rocks. They caught and released a few smaller grouper, and also caught keeper Spanish mackerel, whitebone porgies and grunts. We used shrimp and blue runners for bait.
Tuesday, I headed offshore about twenty miles from New Pass, with Mike and Tammi Hutson, their thirteen-year-old son, Ben, and Mike’s dad, Ray. We caught a 25-inch gag grouper and released lots of smaller gag and red grouper, including a red that was just ¼ inch shy of keeper-size. We also caught two nice king mackerel, one 28 inches and the other over 35 inches. Ben hooked the bigger king, and reeled it in with a little help. We also caught keeper lane snapper, and we released mangrove snapper, porgies, grunts and triggerfish. We caught everything on live shrimp, except the grouper, which bit pinfish.
I planned to fish offshore again on Wednesday, but Mother Nature had other plans: we awoke to rain that looked likely to last all day. Thursday was reserved for Thanksgiving. Forecasts are calling for a cold front over Thanksgiving night, with brisk winds on Friday.
The photo shown is of angler, Ed Leroux, with a 30-inch bull-red, caught on shrimp a recent inshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 308
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 11:10 am: | |
Bill Story and friends, Mike, Dave, Jim, Marvin and Ed picked a nice calm morning to fish offshore with me on Tuesday, 10/28. We headed out of New Pass about eighteen miles and fished in 43 feet with live shrimp. The guys were after pan-fish for a fish-fry they planned for this week, and we did well to fill their table with keeper lane snapper, mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, grunts, Spanish mackerel and porgies of the whitebone and jolthead varieties. We released lots of smaller snapper, as well as short triggerfish and red grouper.
Friday morning, 11/6, Mark Murphey, Tom Stefaniak and Jerry Craig fished with me in Estero Bay. We had a great morning, mostly because of the 32 1/2 inch snook Mark caught on shrimp--It was a beauty, and we were holding our breath when we measured it. Fortunately, it fell 1/2 inch below maximum size (see photo below.) The guys also caught some nice keeper sheepshead and mangrove snapper, along with four sand bream. We released crevalle jacks, an 18-inch snook and all but ten of the 35 mangs we caught. The group planned to go have their catch cooked for lunch at Fish House, then to ride back to where they were staying on Marco...probably a long ride for Tom and Jerry, listening to Mark brag the entire time!
Though Friday had been windy, it seemed calm, compared with the winds of Saturday morning. I fished Estero Bay again, this time with Jim and Kytha Eibel and their ten-year-old son, Graham. The high winds made for a tougher time fishing, but we caught three keeper sheepshead and released lots of smaller sheepies, along with snapper and two large stingrays to 20 pounds.
The storm out in the Gulf, north of us, caused our winds to grow stronger and stronger throughout the weekend. The party I was to fish with on Monday decided that even bayside fishing would be too challenging, with wind gusts predicted to reach 30-35 mph, so they deferred their Monday trip. As it turned out, winds laid down pretty nicely that morning and didn’t become gusty until after noon.
Winds were moderate Tuesday morning, when I fished Estero Bay with Ed Leroux and friend, Jim. We caught too redfish, one too small to keep at 17 inches and one a bull, too big to keep at 30 inches. We released those after photographing the larger one, along with small mangrove snapper, crevalle jacks, and two stingrays. We caught a few keeper sheepshead for table-fare.
The photos shown are of angler Adam Koenigsmark, with a 34-inch king mackerel, caught on a sand perch on a recent offshore trip, and of Mark Murphey with his 32 1/2 inch snook, caught in Estero Bay this week.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 307
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - 11:13 am: | |
Seasonal business is just beginning to pick up around here, though most of the recently reserved dates are for later this month and into next. I did get offshore Saturday, 10/10 with long-time customers Jerry and Barb Rudan, from Wisconsin. We headed out of New Pass to about 18 miles, but it was slow going heading out in sloppy seas. Predictions were for one-footers, and it did eventually calm to about that, but the trip out was definitely not that calm. We used live shrimp to catch a lot of different fish but many of our catches were frustratingly just short of keeper-size. We released red groupers that were as little as one eighth of an inch short of legal. The same was true of many yellowtails and mangrove snapper. Triggerfish were abundant and would have been keepers prior to the regulation change, which now demands 14-inch minimum, so we released those too, along with lots of ladyfish. On the bright side, we did manage to catch a mess of keeper-sized snapper too—mangs, lanes and yellowtail, as well as Spanish mackerel.
David Koenigsmark, son Adam, and father-in-law, Hubert, fished offshore with me Thursday, 10/15. We had a full-day so we headed out 37 miles west of New Pass to 74 feet. David had fished with me this summer, but we were bayside to accommodate his younger son. This time, he wanted his fourteen-year old son to have some offshore adventure. We caught a variety of fish, some of them pretty good size, which included a 34 inch king mackerel, a 28 inch king, whose tail was bitten off as Adam reeled him in by a huge barracuda, a 3 ½ foot sharpnose shark, a very large stingray, and an 8-pound bonito. We kept the kingfish and released the shark, stingray and bonito. We also caught some good table-fare—lane snapper, mangrove snapper and yellowtail snapper—all keeper-sized, though we released all the lanes and a few mangs, as we already had plenty of fish, and also released lots of grouper shorts. At one point, we spotted about fifteen large mahi-mahi, right beside the boat—we had just arrived and weren’t rigged up yet, and they spooked and swam off.
Sunday morning, 10/18, I had planned to fish offshore with Dan Wampler, son, Barry, and eleven-year-old grandson, Max. The weather, however, had other ideas, as our first real cool-front came through the area, bringing not only much cooler temperatures, but also stiff winds and rough seas offshore. Dan and family decided to brave the cold morning temps and fish in the calmer waters of the bay. We stayed as sheltered from the wind as possible, and used live shrimp along the mangrove shoreline to catch five keeper sand bream and nine keeper mangrove snapper. We released small sheepshead and two small snook.
As the winds continued to be strong and seas rough offshore on Monday, Chester Yanik, son Mark, and friends Jim Basara and Tom Murphey also swapped their offshore plans for two days of inshore fishing in Estero Bay. Monday, we caught a dozen keeper-mangrove snapper out of twenty-five total mangs, and four keeper-sheepshead out of a bunch of sheepies caught. We released the smaller snapper and sheepshead, along with a 16-inch snook. We were fishing with shrimp and small bait- fish along the shoreline, wherever were able to stay somewhat sheltered from the winds.
Tuesday, the same group caught a bunch of trout--about 30 throw-backs measuring 14-15 inches--and they kept three nice trout that were 16 inches, along with keeper mangrove snapper. We released four redfish to 17 inches, an Atlantic spadefish, and a 3 1/2-foot bonnethead shark. We fished mostly in areas behind Ft. Myers Beach, using live shrimp and popping corks for the trout and reds.
The photo shown is of angler Mike Page, with an 18-inch sheepshead, caught on shrimp on a recent trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 306
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 04, 2009 - 11:28 am: | |
I was off the water for a while—slow season here means time to do yearly boat servicing and maintenance. I did get offshore Thursday, 9/24, with Frank Reid and son, Tim. Seas were calm on the beach but a little sloppy in 38 feet out of New Pass. We released mangrove and lane snapper, along with a 40-pound goliath grouper, before we headed in a little early to get out of the swells.
Friday, October 2nd, I headed offshore to 73 feet, 36 miles out of New Pass with Randy and Susan Weestrand. We caught a bunch of good-eating fish, including whitebone porgies to 19 inches, mangrove snapper to 14 inches, yellowtail snapper to 14 inches and keeper lane snapper. We released red grouper shorts, some of which were painfully close to legal size, along with a 50+ inch barracuda. We used live shrimp for all except the ‘cuda—That one cut off two of our fish, then grabbed a third one and got caught in the lip with a circle hook. (see photo)
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 305
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 - 10:49 am: | |
The bay was good fishing on Friday morning, 9/4, when I fished a catch-and-release trip with father-son anglers Dennis and Mike Page. Mike hooked a bull red at the edge of the trees and fought that until it broke free in the mangrove roots. We also caught and released eleven keeper-sized trout to 16 inches, two sheepshead at 14 inches and 18 inches, and fifteen keeper-sized mangrove snapper to 15 inches. We fished with shrimp under the edges of the mangrove trees, and used popping corks on the flat for the trout.
Monday, 9/14, I fished in 38 feet, 18 miles offshore from New Pass, with Dennis and Jamie Riddel and their friends. We were lucky with hogfish—caught five of those, three of which were keepers to 16 inches. The Riddels will definitely be eating well! We also caught some keeper Spanish mackerel, nice whitebone porgies and grunts, which are good to eat too, but hogfish have a way of making everything else seem unworthy! We caught keeper yellowtail, but released a bunch more of those that were just short of the 12-inch legal size, along with four mutton snapper at 15 1/2 inches, also just shy of keeper-size, triggerfish, and red and gag grouper shorts.
Tuesday, 9/15, I headed out of New Pass again to about 18 miles, with Doug Sapp and his two friends, one also named Doug and the other, Brian. Brian released two goliath grouper, one of which was 5 foot long and quite a monster to fight. The other was a small one at about 15 pounds. We also caught keeper Spanish mackerel and whitebone porgies. There were lots of big ladyfish around, which were a nuisance, so we had to move several times.
The photo shown is of angler, Robert Deering, with a 15-inch hogfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 304
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 02, 2009 - 12:02 pm: | |
Monday morning, 8/31, I fished in 45 feet, out of New Pass, with Mike & Denise VanHorn. We fished for goliaths first, while the couple had their best energy--Good thing because Denise hooked one that was most likely over 300 pounds. Mike followed up with one that was around 100 pounds. We used Spanish mackerel, blue runners and a grunt for bait. After we released those two fish, we got serious about finding some fish to eat. We ended up with ten keeper lane snapper, all caught on shrimp. We released mangrove snapper just short of the twelve inch requirement, along with red grouper shorts.
Estero Bay had good tides most of this week. Wednesday morning, the tide served us well, when I fished with Bob Flesch and his friend, John. Bob caught a nice red. We could tell it was going to be good-sized from the way it fought, and we were hoping it would be within the slot for keeping. We were lucky, as it measured exactly 27 inches (see photo.) We also caught five keeper mangrove snapper and a 14-inch sheepshead. We released two small snook, as well as a 50-pound stingray, which was an admirable fight!
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 303
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 12:11 pm: | |
It's that time of year when fishing trips are spaced more sparsely. Add to that a three-day hiatus in celebration of a wedding anniversary and the net result is just a couple of days on the water this week.
Tuesday morning, 8/25, I headed out of New Pass about eighteen miles with Harold Matthews, his son, Chad, and Chad's wife, Misty. Seas were not as calm as predicted on the way out, but they did calm as the morning progressed. We caught four nice porgies and porkfish on shrimp, but we did more releasing than keeping. We released lots of undersized gag grouper, lane snapper and yellowtail snapper. We also had fun catching and releasing two goliath grouper, 35 pounds and 45 pounds.
Eleven-year old, Anna Perry and her dad, Evan Perry, fished central Estero Bay with me, using live shrimp, Thursday morning. Anna had done some fishing from piers but had never before fished from a boat. She had no trouble acclimating: The first catch of the day was Anna’s 25-inch redfish (see photo), which she reeled in on her own, from beneath the mangroves around New Pass. She also caught a 12-inch sheepshead and a 16-inch trout. Add to that mix eight keeper-sized mangrove snapper, five of which the father-daughter team kept.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 302
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 9:55 am: | |
Saturday morning, 8/15, I fished with Greg Sommesi and family at the reefs off Bonita Beach. With a 70% chance of rain predicted and seas beyond 20 miles at 3-5 feet, we decided the near-shore reefs might be our best bet, especially with three youngsters on board. We did well with snapper, catching thirteen keepers to 12 inches, and releasing lots of smaller ones, along with undersized triggerfish and flounder. We also caught a keeper lane snapper, Spanish mackerel and grunts.
Monday morning, I fished the reefs once again, this time with Mike and Noreen Weber. We limited out on keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches and released lots of others after we had our ten. We caught two keeper flounder also, as well as some grunts. We released three small goliath-grouper to 20 pounds. We used shrimp for all but the goliaths, which bit blue runners.
Tuesday, Robert and Roberta Duhlberg and their two young children, Daniel and Rebecca, planned a ¾ day of fishing with me in the bay. Those plans were foiled when a surprise thunderstorm hit about 11:30 AM. We had to quit fishing and take cover as best we could until the storm slowed to a light rain. By that time, we were all wet and ready to head in. we did manage to catch three keeper mangrove snapper and a 16-inch trout, on shrimp.
The photo shown is of angler Dawn Croft, with a 21-inch red grouper, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 301
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 - 9:58 am: | |
Slow season is here for sure. Seasonal residents have fled our heat and humidity until October and the economy is not producing our usual number of summer vacationers this year. On top of that, a low pressure system that hung over our area for several days was still in effect Monday, 6/29, when I fished a windy Estero Bay with Bill Maybrook and friend, Andy. We missed the rains and were able to catch six keeper mangrove snapper on shrimp. We released nine smaller snapper, two snook to 16 inches and four sheepshead that were just short of keeper size.
The weather remained pretty unstable most of the week, with rains likely both morning and afternoon. Seas in the gulf remained rough. The next time I got out fishing was Friday morning, 7/3, in Estero Bay, with Paul Rosenberg and Cory Knight. We did well, using shrimp to catch three keeper trout to 18 ½ inches, a keeper sheepshead and four keeper mangrove snapper to 13 inches. We released 15 smaller trout and crevalle jack.
Tim and Amy Harwood, nine-year-old daughter, Emily, and eight-year-old daughter, Abby, fished central Estero Bay with me Wednesday morning, 7/8. The backwaters are very warm and that tends to slow down the bite, but we had pretty steady action with trout, using shrimp and popping corks. We caught and released nine of those, along with nine mangrove snapper and a small permit.
I was back in Estero Bay Friday morning, when I fished with Jerry Robertson, his son, and grandson. We again had good action with trout and snapper on shrimp with popping corks. We kept two mangrove snapper and a 16 inch trout.
The photo shown is of anglers, Bryant and Gary Click, with a pair of redfish and a 23 inch trout, caught on shrimp on a recent inshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 300
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009 - 10:01 am: | |
This week was challenging in terms of weather, for sure.
Monday morning, 6/22, was the best weather of the week. I fished Estero Bay with the Matt Stanford family, including Matt, his wife, their two young children and the children’s grandfather. We had a good morning, using live shrimp to catch seven keeper mangrove snapper, three keeper sheepshead to 14 inches and a keeper whiting. We released two small snook, each about 16 inches.
Tuesday morning, Julie Brady, her son, Nick, and Nick's friend, Colby, had planned to fish offshore, but with stiff winds out of the west, we changed those plans to fish inshore instead. Using live shrimp in central Estero Bay, we caught keeper mangrove snapper and a 14 inch sheepshead. We released smaller mangs and sheepshead, along with a 15 inch snook.
After two consecutive days of strong, westerly winds and rough seas, the offshore forecast for Wednesday calmed down significantly, with predictions for two-foot seas out to 20 miles and two-to-fours from 20 to 60 miles offshore. Robert Smith and son, Walker, were pleased to awake to calm winds that morning, and we optimistically headed out. But, even at the near-shore reefs, seas were sloppy, with a leftover swell and seas on top of the swell higher than predicted. We fished there until it wasn’t fun anymore, dared not venture out further, and retreated to the relative calm behind Ft. Myers Beach for the final hour of fishing. We caught keeper mangrove snapper and grunts, and released Spanish mackerel.
NOAA continued to forecast calming seas, with predictions for two-foot out to 60 miles for the rest of this week. But the low pressure system that stalled over us had other ideas. Thursday morning, I was back to the dock by 10 AM with Mike Weber, Bill Carlson, and their wives. There was a stiff 20 knot wind and seas rough enough to be border-line unsafe. We released a couple fish and decided to head in before it got any more uncomfortable or dangerous.
Needless to say, with unstable, rough conditions and lots of moisture still around on Friday, I advised Chris Morrow, son Alex, and Bob Snyder and son, Zack, to fish inshore, rather than risk gulf fishing. We dodged a few rainstorms throughout the morning but we ended up catching ten keeper mangrove snapper and a keeper sheepshead. We released smaller snapper and sheepshead, and returned to shore just as the skies were letting loose with a heavier shower.
The photo shown is of six-year-old angler,Tyler Guthman, with a bonnethead shark, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay, on a recent inshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 299
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 20, 2009 - 9:57 am: | |
Tuesday morning, 6/16, I fished with Larry Battiste and his young son, Lorenzo, in Estero Bay. We used live shrimp to catch seven keeper mangrove snapper and a 14 inch sheepshead. We released smaller sheepshead, snapper and trout.
Wednesday morning, I fished Estero Bay again, with Cody Hennessey, on a catch and release trip. We released a dozen mangrove snapper and a 15 inch sheepshead. We hooked a big red but he got away from us before we could boat him.
Saturday morning, 6/20, I fished a very warm Estero Bay with John McGushin and friend, Mike. We used shrimp to catch five keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches and we released crevalle jack and ladyfish. We couldn’t get any reds to bite—maybe the warm water temps are making them lethargic. We half expected the fish to be reeled in already cooked!
The photo shown is of angler, Steve Vender, with a 24 1/2 inch redfish, caught on shrimp, on a recent inshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 298
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 11:14 am: | |
Monday morning, 6/8, I fished Estero Bay with Steve Sepan, his son, Ron, and his young grandson, Logan. We used live shrimp to catch two keeper sheepshead to 15 inches and a keeper redfish at 18 1/2 inches. We released small mangrove snapper, trout and crevalle jacks.
Tuesday was a full day fishing trip with Florian Kordas and son, Mike, so we headed out a good ways to 73 feet, about 36 miles out of New Pass. We had a good day with lots of action and variety. We caught and kept ten nice mangrove snapper to 19 1/2 inches, three keeper yellowtail, all about 14 inches, and a few 15-inch whitebone porgies. We released Spanish mackerel to 26 inches, a ten-pound bonito, a 150 pound goliath grouper, mutton snapper shorts to 15 1/2 inches, undersized yellowtail and mangrove snapper, gag grouper shorts and red grouper shorts to 19 1/4 inches. We used shrimp for bait except for the goliath, which took a blue runner. It was a good day for both sport fish and table-fare.
Wednesday morning, I was back offshore, but only to about 20 miles and 43 feet, fishing with John Winters and Steve Pettitt. I tried my mutton snapper hole first, but a huge goliath grouper ate the first three fish we hooked--all pretty nice muttons--so we had to move because it is hard to compete with a 500 pound monster. We checked out some other spots and ended up with four Spanish mackerel, all 23-24 inches, four keeper yellowtail snapper, four keeper mangrove snapper, along with some grunts and whitebone porgies. We released undersized yellowtail, mangs, triggerfish, gags and red grouper.
That is it for this week—Slow season is upon us in SW FL. And near record heat is keeping even some locals indoors. We’ll have more to report over the next couple of weeks.
The photo shown is of angler, John France, with a 19 inch mutton snapper, caught on shrimp, on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 297
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 05, 2009 - 10:11 am: | |
Tuesday, 5/26, I fished central Estero Bay with Wayne Hawkins and his niece, Lauren Mullinax, both from Cumming, GA. We used live shrimp and popping corks to catch three keeper trout to 18 inches and release lots of smaller trout. We also caught two keeper sheepshead, and we released a 23 inch snook.
Wednesday morning, I headed out of New Pass to 43 feet to fish offshore with George Noonan and his two sons. We fished with shrimp, hoping to catch some nice mutton snapper, like I had last week. But the goliath grouper had other ideas and ate two of those before we could get them off the bottom. We managed to beat out the goliaths and keep a nice yellowtail, some porgies and grunts, and two king mackerel at 25 inches and 32 inches. We also caught and released a 25 pound goliath grouper, along with lots of mangrove and yellowtail snapper shorts, undersized gag grouper and smaller kingfish.
I headed offshore Saturday morning with Leon Mead and son, Spencer, but we only made it to the near-shore reefs because of three-to-four foot seas, even near-shore. We used shrimp to catch keeper mangrove snapper, grunts and Spanish mackerel, and we released grouper shorts, smaller mackerel and blue runners.
Fishing Estero Bay Sunday with Steve Vender and Shawn Hennessey yielded some decent trout to 19 inches. Steve fished with me a couple more times this week too, on Tuesday and Thursday.
Tuesday, 6/2, we headed offshore to 43 feet, about 20 miles west of New Pass. We caught three mutton snapper at 16 ½ inches, 18 inches and 19 ¾ inches. We lost another big one when it cut the line and also hooked a hogfish that got free about three feet from the boat. We also caught whitebone porgies and Spanish mackerel, and released triggerfish, grouper shorts, grunts and blue runners.
Thursday, we’d planned to head out for more muttons but the rain offshore kept us in the backwaters, where we caught a 24 ½ inch redfish, a 14 inch sheepshead and a few keeper mangrove snapper.
Backwaters fishing Friday morning with Dave Koenigsmark and his five-year-old son, Tyler, was good for three keeper trout, two at 18 ½ inches and one at 17 inches, on shrimp with popping corks. We also caught a few keeper mangrove snapper to 13 inches.
The photo shown is of angler, Gary Click, with a 23 inch trout, caught on shrimp, on a recent inshore trip.
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christopher Agardy (Redlaw3)
New member
Username: Redlaw3
Post Number: 2
Registered: 5-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 24, 2009 - 6:45 am: | |
Fished with the family and a few friends on Friday for the Day 2 of the Boca Grande Guides Association Invitational Tournament. The action was a little slower today, but we capitalized on the one bite we had, landing a decent(but not winning) tarpon about halfway through the outgoing tide. Savannah took 1st place with a 157 lb beauty and Boca Blue came on top of the release division with 8 releases over the 2 day period. The bite should continue to go off for tarpon and I will be back to the East Coast to fish on Wednesday. Check out the video at this link:
http://www.thedailyfishingreport.com/thedailyfishingreport/2009/05/522 09-day-2-tarpon-tourney-video.html
Here is a picture of the madness at the Pass!
[IMG]http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s10/redlaw3/DSC00011.jpg[/IMG] |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 296
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 23, 2009 - 12:23 pm: | |
Monday morning, 5/18, Tim Guthman and his six-year-old son, Tyler, had hoped to go fishing offshore. But the time-line on an approaching weather front was uncertain and had me concerned about rough seas offshore for the little guy so I recommended we fish the backwaters. We did well with shrimp in central Estero Bay, and Tyler caught a keeper redfish at 18 1/2 inches. We also caught four keeper trout to 19 1/2 inches, and we released a three-foot bonnethead shark, a three-pound crevalle jack, and undersized snapper, jack, snook and trout.
Wednesday morning, father and son anglers, Gary and Bryant Click, fished Estero Bay with me, having given up plans to fish offshore because of four-to-six foot seas out there. We had a very good morning of fishing in the central bay, using shrimp and popping corks. We caught three trout, two at 23 inches and one at 20 inches, and we released some smaller ones. We also got two keeper redfish at 21 inches and 23 ½ inches, two keeper mangrove snapper, a keeper sheepshead at 13 inches. We released two snook, 21 inches and 23 inches.
Gary and Bryant fished with me again Thursday morning, and we caught numerous trout, seven of which were keepers to 20 inches. We also caught a keeper redfish at 18 ½ inches and a keeper sheepshead at 14 inches. We again fished with shrimp and popping corks. Although the guys had hoped for one morning offshore and one in the backwaters, we ended up fishing both mornings in Estero Bay, due to high seas offshore.
After a rainy Friday, Saturday presented my first opportunity to fish offshore this week. Mack Wilson and son-in-law, John France, headed out 22 miles west of New Pass to fish in 45 feet. We did well with shrimp for snapper, and caught nine yellowtail to 14 inches, three mutton snapper, 16 ½, 17 ½ and 19 inches, and ten whitebone porgies to 15 inches. We released smaller porgies, along with undersized triggerfish and grouper.
The photo shown is of angler John Kakatsch, with a 19 inch sheepshead, caught on shrimp, earlier this month on an inshore trip. It was kind of a surprise to find this big of a sheepie in bay waters this late in the season.
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christopher Agardy (Redlaw3)
New member
Username: Redlaw3
Post Number: 1
Registered: 5-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 4:49 am: | |
After 3 days of bad weather and even worse fishing I finally have something to report! Went Kayaking in Boca Grande Thursday morning and I could'nt keep the snook off my topwater plug(skitterwalk). Ended up going 3/10 on some small snook that really put on a show for me as they tried to slam my topwater. All fish were caught on the rising tide in less than 3 feet of water. In the afternoon I fished with my dad, brother, Louis, and Capt. Mark Liberman aboard Mark's boat "Teal" for the Boca Grande Guides Association Tournament. We had a blast hooking Tarpon in the midst of the fleet at big pass, landing 2 out of 5 to keep us in the running for most releases. Hopefully Day 2 of fishing will yield a big, winning fish for us this afternoon! The crabs were running pretty good on the outgoing tide and the tarpon were eating just about anything we put down. Check out the videos at this link :
http://www.thedailyfishingreport.com/thedailyfishingreport/2009/05/521 09-boca-grande-tarpon-tournament-plus-snook.html
Here are some photos of us from last year's tournament aboard the same boat:
[IMG]http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s10/redlaw3/1725251.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s10/redlaw3/1725249-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s10/redlaw3/1725224.jpg[/IMG] |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 295
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 16, 2009 - 10:56 am: | |
Monday, 5/11, was one of those days that is bound to happen about three times a year and, fortunately, not more than that. The party for the gulf trip I had scheduled did not show up and did not call me or answer my calls. So, after purchasing the day's bait, I remained in port.
Tuesday, I headed out in calm seas with Todd & Bob Miller, Sherman Heazlitt, Cathy Moses and Bob Conrid to depths of 43 feet, out of New Pass. Todd caught a nice, 38 inch king mackerel, free-lining shrimp on the surface and rigged with a small piece of wire. We did the same to catch and release a three-foot sandbar shark. The group also caught four keeper yellowtail snapper to 15 ½ inches, a 14 ½ inch keeper mangrove snapper, seven keeper whitebone porgies to 14 inches and grunts. We released undersized triggerfish, blue runners and grouper shorts.
Wednesday, I fished central Estero Bay with Jim Kasik and friend, Jack. We caught three keeper mangrove snapper and a keeper whiting. We released crevalle jack and a small mutton snapper. One of the guys had a 23 inch redfish nearly boated, but it got broken off on an anchor line before he could boat it.
My next day out was Saturday morning, with Jerry Elliot and son, Greg. Predictions were for two to three foot seas and they were, in fact one to three foot out to five miles. But, as we ventured further out to about 43 feet, we had three to four footers with an occasional five. We fished with live shrimp and caught four yellowtail snapper, three of which were keepers to 14 inches. We also caught eight keeper whitebone porgies to 14 inches and a 20 inch Spanish mackerel. We released smaller yellowtail and porgies, triggerfish, porkfish and grouper shorts.
The photo shown is of angler Larry Jack, with a 12-pound kingfish, caught on a double-blue-runner-bait, on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 294
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 09, 2009 - 9:57 am: | |
Saturday morning, May 2nd, I fished Estero Bay with brothers, Steve and Howard Potash, and their wives, Loree and Bonnie. We caught three trout, two of which were keepers at 17 ½ inches, and we released two undersized snook and mangrove snapper.
A morning of catch and release fishing in Estero Bay with Paul Oleff on Monday yielded trout, Spanish mackerel and mangrove snapper, all on shrimp.
Tuesday morning, I was back in Estero Bay, this time with Bill Henry and John Kakatsh, fishing the oyster bars along the east wall of the bay. We caught a 19 inch sheepshead, kind of a surprise in the bay with the water so warm. We also caught and released a four-pound crevalle jack, two snook, 22 and 23 inches, and five trout.
Thursday, I headed offshore in calm seas with Mark and Angie Evans, Jeff and Richard Evans and Nicholas Quarterman. We caught some nice whitebone porgies to 20 inches, keeper mangrove snapper and keeper Spanish mackerel. We released red and gag grouper shorts and undersized triggerfish. The highlight of the trip for Mark was when we switched from light tackle and shrimp baits to heavy tackle with double blue runners—He and I hauled in a 400 pound goliath grouper, which we released boat-side after it put both of us on the floor of the boat, and looking more like a bar brawl than a fishing expedition!
A morning of fishing with Shawn Hennessey and Dave Johnson on Friday produced keeper mangrove snapper, triggerfish, Spanish mackerel and lots of red and gag grouper shorts, in about 45 feet out of New Pass, using live shrimp.
The photo shown is of angler Dan Bernardi, with a 19-inch pompano, caught on shrimp on a recent inshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 293
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 02, 2009 - 8:38 am: | |
Monday and Tuesday's winds and seas of 2-4 feet scared my anglers away. Wednesday, 4/29, I headed offshore to about 40 feet with John Holtman and three of his friends. Winds were easterly but still pretty strong and seas were hefty. The group caught a few dinner fish, including a lane snapper, Spanish mackerel and grunts, all on shrimp. We also released a dozen gag grouper shorts. We used heavy tackle and double-baited blue runners to catch and release a couple of goliath grouper, one about five foot long and one about 80 pounds. The goliaths got pretty thick out there and were chasing fish within five feet of the boat, as we competed with them for our catches.
Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonso fished with me Thursday, 28 miles west of New Pass. We used shrimp to catch two kingfish, one 32 inches and one 38 inches. We released grunts and gag grouper shorts. We switched to heavy tackle and blue runner baits, and caught and released two goliath grouper, each about 80 pounds. We also hooked one monster goliath, but he got away before we could get him to the surface.
Larry Jack fished with me Friday in 38 to 42 foot depths, out of New Pass. We caught a twelve-pound, 38 inch kingfish and some snapper between 13 and 14 inches, including three lanes, one mangrove and one yellowtail, along with some porgies. We released lots of gag grouper shorts, red grouper to 19 ½ inches and smaller mangrove and yellowtail snapper. We caught everything on shrimp, except the kingfish, which ate a blue runner.
The photo shown is of angler, Jerry Casey, with a pair of mangrove snapper, 17 inches and 18 inches, two of several caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 292
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 25, 2009 - 1:23 pm: | |
Monday morning, 4/20, after a previous week of high winds and seas, I made the mistake of believing the predictions for 2-3 foot seas near-shore, with winds calm first thing in the morning. I headed to the Wiggins five mile reef with Tom & Dawn Wolfe and their son, Jordan. About 9:30 AM the wind picked up to about 15 knots and the seas ahead of the weather front moving in kicked up to four and five feet. The fishing near-shore was almost as slow as it had been in the backwaters Saturday, but we managed four keeper mangrove snapper and a couple of grunts. We released red and gag grouper shorts and a couple of spadefish. Hopefully, this approaching front might be the last of the season and we can begin to get into some calm water and good summer-time fishing.
With rain and more wind moving in Monday night, I deferred Tuesday's offshore trip to Thursday, hoping for less wind and better conditions then. My party scheduled for Wednesday called to cancel Tuesday night because, with winds of 15 mph out of the N, NW, they didn't trust the forecast for 2-3 foot seas--they were probably distrustful with good cause, as the NOAA forecast has been dead-wrong all week.
Thursday—finally, the day we’ve been waiting for—calm seas all the way out to 38 miles and 65 feet, where I fished with Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonso and Richard Arnett. We caught a keeper red grouper and a variety of snapper, including three keeper yellowtail, a dozen keeper lanes and eight vermillion. We also caught five keeper porgies, to 17 inches. We released gag shorts, small kingfish, yellowtail shorts and a 3-foot sharpnose shark. We caught most of those on shrimp, but the grouper ate a pinfish.
Ryan Shick, two of his buddies, also named Ryan, and two other friends, Aubrey and Brad, were all in town for Ryan’s wedding this weekend, and fished offshore with me in 43 feet out of New Pass on Friday morning. We got the heavy tackle out and used blue runners as bait for the goliaths that were biting, and released three of those, one about 30 pounds, one about 80 pounds and one 5-foot long, whose weight I can’t even estimate, and who bit two blue runners on one hook. After that excitement and sore- arm action, we set our sites on some table-fare, baited with shrimp, and caught a 15 inch hogfish, a keeper yellowtail snapper, a few lane snapper, grunts and porgies. Waters were pretty calm once out past seven miles or so, but the winds were definitely picking up when we headed back in.
I thought Bill Newland and his two sons, Rich and Chris, might want to reconsider their gulf-trip for Saturday, and fish inshore instead. But the threesome wanted to get at least as far as the reefs, so we braved a small craft caution and seas of 3-5 feet. We handled the rough water okay, but we were bested out of one of my best fishing spots by nine dolphin. We ended up in 40 feet where we caught a dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, a yellowtail snapper and some porgies. We released red and gag grouper shorts, smaller snapper, blue runners and triggerfish.
The photo shown is of angler, Ron Musick, with a 23 inch gag grouper, caught on a pinfish on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 291
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 18, 2009 - 10:06 am: | |
Monday, 4/13, the winds kicked up again—a familiar story here for the past three weeks or so. With seas offshore building four to six feet, I recommended inshore-fishing for George Flanders and his son. The bay has been tough recently too because of muddy conditions in parts of it and grass that has blown in, but at least there are no rough seas to worry about there. We caught and released a couple of snook, sheepshead and mangrove snapper, fishing with shrimp along the tree-lines of the central bay.
Estero Bay was a little more productive, though still slow, Tuesday morning, when I fished with Mike and Norine Weber and their two young daughters, Christine and Julia. We caught a few keepers, including three mangrove snapper to 15 inches and a sheepshead. We released a couple of smaller sheepshead, crevalle jack and a small snook. Winds remained strong offshore, with small craft advisories in effect, so backwater fishing was the only game in town.
I was glad to hear forecasts of two-to-four foot seas on Wednesday. I headed to the near-shore reefs with Chuck Neumann and friends for a morning of fishing. Unfortunately, those seas were on top of a four-to-five foot swell left over from Tuesday night's stormy conditions. Fishing was only fair, and we managed four keeper mangrove snapper, a keeper trout, a keeper whiting and grunts, all on shrimp.
Thursday, we finally caught a break in the rough seas and had two-to-three feet mostly, even out to 65 feet, where I fished with Ron Musick, his son, Mike, and friends, Richard Arnett and Eddie Alfonso. We caught a keeper gag at 23 inches and also had the line cut by a bigger one, and released lots of gag shorts. We also caught keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, keeper yellowtail, keeper lane snapper and whitebone porgies. We were fishing with live shrimp and pinfish.
Friday, as winds picked up to about 20 knots again, I fished central Estero Bay with Jim Novy and three of his young children, Jimmy, Jordan and Jackie. The littlest Novy was still too small to go this year. The three who went had never been on a boat before and they had a great time catching mangrove snapper to 12 inches and releasing small snook. Jim caught the daddy-sized fish: a nice 25 inch redfish, on shrimp. (see photo)
What a difference a day makes. Conditions in Estero Bay were far from ideal Saturday morning, when I fished with Bill Keefer and friends. The winds were out of the north-northwest, the water was shallow, and the tide never came in. We fought wind, tide and boat traffic to catch and release a few snook and sheepshead. We had originally planned to fish offshore, but with small craft caution in effect, winds of 15 to 21 knots and seas of three-to-five feet beyond twenty miles, I wasn’t believing the two-to-three foot predictions for near-shore. So concluded another very windy week of fishing.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 290
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 11, 2009 - 10:32 am: | |
Just ahead of another cold-front predicted to come through our area Monday evening, Bill Oswald and his eight-year-old daughter, Grace, fished Estero Bay with me Monday morning, 4/6. We had some gusts of wind but nothing like the winds expected on Tuesday, and it was a generally pleasant and productive morning in the backwaters. We kept two sheepshead and six mangrove snapper and we released about an equal number of smaller ones. Grace was keeping score on the number of fish caught and proudly proclaimed herself the winner, with a total of nine.
Tuesday morning the winds that were promised became a reality. I had already cancelled an offshore trip for that day, given the predictions. I had tentatively scheduled a backwater trip, but with winds of 25-30 knots, fishing anywhere seemed more like an exercise in aggravation than anything pleasant, so I cancelled the backwater trip also and remained in port for the day.
After the front moved through and the winds shifted direction, Wednesday brought some shallow conditions in Estero Bay. Grassy, muddy waters made for some tough fishing that morning with Kevin Mathies, his young sons, Tony and Louie, and the boys’ grandfather, Louis. We managed quite a bit of catching but not a lot of keeping. We released seven undersized snapper, five crevalle jacks, two snook and a few sheepshead, and we caught two keeper whitings at 15 inches each.
Bill Oswald, who fished with his eight-year-old daughter in Estero Bay with me on Monday, fished the backwaters again with me on Thursday, this time with ten-year-old son, Will. We released mangrove snapper, cravalle jack, a 20 inch snook (see photo) and a big bat-ray, all on shrimp.
Friday, David Posz and ten-year-old son, Jacob, wanted to catch some table-fare, and I wasn’t sure Estero Bay would offer much of that—It had been tough fishing in the bay all week. Predictions of two-to-four foot seas close-in lured us to try the near-shore reefs. In reality, seas were four-to-five feet there, but we hung in there and caught five keeper mangrove snapper, an 18 inch bluefish and some grunts. We released ladyfish, red grouper shorts, two flounder that were just short of keeper size, and a moonfish.
Saturday, winds calmed and seas laid down for the first time all week, allowing me to get out about nineteen miles with Joe & Sue McCollough, daughter, Cynthia Day, and twin grand-daughters, Amanda and Lauren. We used live shrimp and caught keeper mangrove snapper to 18 inches, a 16 inch keeper hogfish, a dozen nice whitebone porgies, all around 15 inches, and some big grunts. We released a smaller hogfish, Spanish mackerel and grouper shorts.
The photos shown are of angler, Don Washa, with a porkfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip. (Porkfish are actually quite tasty and this one was pretty good-sized) and of young angler, Will Oswald with a 20 inch snook caught and released on inshore trip this week.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 289
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 04, 2009 - 9:31 am: | |
Monday, 3/30, looked like it might have to be an inshore day when I heard the marine forecast the night before. But by early morning, the forecast had changed and it was looking calm enough to head to the reefs. I fished there with Dave Kempston, his sons, Alex, Brennan and Connor, and Alex’s friend, Griffin. Using shrimp, we caught a dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 17 inches, most of them in the 14 to 17 inch range. We also kept five sheepshead, all about 15 inches. We almost had a red grouper, but he was just a bit short at 19 ½ inches so we had to release him, along with gag shorts, Spanish mackerel and blue runner.
Keith Erickson and friends fished central Estero Bay with me Tuesday morning. We almost had a couple of nice reds, but one broke off and we lost the other before we could boat him. We did catch a 17 inch sea trout, two keeper mangrove snapper and two keeper sheepshead for the box.
Wednesday morning was a tough call on gulf versus bay, with the time-line of this windy front uncertain. Jerry and Denise Demars and grandson, Jake, managed to get a morning of fishing at the reefs about 5 miles off Bonita Beach before it got too sloppy out there. We caught six keeper mangrove snapper, keeper Spanish mackerel, a 15 inch flounder and large grunts. We released under-sized triggerfish, grouper and sheepshead.
Decisions on fishing offshore were made easier on Thursday, when seas of three-to-five felt were predicted within twenty miles. I cancelled my offshore trip for that day. I did likewise on Friday, but ended up re-booking the morning for an inshore catch-and-release trip with Gary Mozina, his friend, Mike, and Mike’s eleven-year-old son, Eric. There was a stiff wind blowing all morning and the fishing wasn’t as good as it had been in the bay earlier this week. We released four sheepshead, a few mangrove snapper and ladyfish.
Saturday morning, seas were relatively calm but there was a good sized swell left over from the windy front, so I fished near-shore at the reefs with Rob Wessels, his daughter Sydney, son, Tanner, and friend, Kristi Whalen. We did well with live shrimp for snapper and sheepshead, ending up with fourteen keeper snapper to 15 inches and four sheepshead, all 17-18 inches.
The photo shown is of angler, Terry Vallely, with a 14 inch hogfish, caught on shrimp on a recent gulf trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 288
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 28, 2009 - 7:31 am: | |
With gusty winds and high seas Sunday morning, 3/22, Stuart Norris and Mike Holers took my recommendation to fish the backwaters. We fished central Estero Bay with live shrimp, where we caught a 23 inch black drum (see photo) and five keeper sheepshead. We released lots of smaller sheepshead and crevalle jack.
Eight-year-old angler, Alex Goodall has been fishing with me yearly since he was three years old. He, his dad, Joe, and two family friends, Dave Bixby and Fred Irish, fished Estero Bay with me Monday. Alex caught an 18 ½ inch trout, once again out-fishing the adults, as he usually does. The group also caught three keeper pompano, two keeper mangrove snapper and seven keeper sheepshead, all on live shrimp.
The winds were howling Tuesday morning but they were easterly and the close-in forecast was for two to three foot seas, even though it was much rougher than that well offshore. I headed out to the near-shore artificial reefs with Ron Musick, Richard Arnett, Richard’s grandson, Jack, and father-son anglers Larry and Mark Laudick. We caught fourteen keeper sheepshead to 18 inches, with Jack catching the largest of those. We also caught five keeper mangrove snapper and a couple of large grunts, all on shrimp. We released lots of grouper shorts.
Wednesday was another windy day and I encountered three-to-four foot seas even at the near-shore reefs, where I fished with Sandy Hook, sons-in-law Ryan Abbot and Matt Ball, and grandchildren Nathaniel Ball, age thirteen, and Emmit Ball, age ten. We caught a keeper sheepshead, a large grunt and five keeper Spanish mackerel, all about 20 inches, before we called it a morning and took a rough ride back in.
Thursday morning, we played it safe and stayed inshore as the winds continued to blow hard. Mike Curran and son, John, and father-son team, Don and Dan Bernardi fished central Estero Bay with me, using live shrimp. We caught an 18 inch trout, a19 inch pompano, three keeper sheepshead and a keeper mangrove snapper.
Friday morning, as yet another windy front roared through, I fished Estero Bay with Jeff Reichle and friend, warren. We caught four keeper-sized sheepshead to 15 inches and a 21 inch keeper redfish. We released two small snook at 18 inches and 22 inches.
I had planned to fish offshore Saturday, but seas were too rough. When the winds are this high, even back-bay fishing is challenging, so I scrapped Saturday’s fishing plans and remained in port.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 286
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 10:50 am: | |
What a treat Monday, 3/9 was offshore! For the first time in a very long time, seas were dead-calm and the fishing was good at the same time. I fished in 46 feet out of New Pass with brothers Mike & Paul Conneally and their friends, Rodney & Kass Bromm. Using live shrimp, we caught five nice mangrove snapper to 20 inches, none of them less than 15 inches. We also kept five of eight sheepshead we caught, to 19 inches, and a 15 inch whitebone porgie. We released silver porgies, porkfish, grunts, Spanish mackerel, red grouper shorts and gag grouper shorts to 21 inches. We had a big shark eat one of our fish and run off before I could identify what type of shark it was.
Seas were still calm Tuesday and allowed me to get out to 74 feet, about 37 miles out of New Pass with Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonso and Richard Arnett. We caught fourteen nice mangs to 17 ½ inches, five 17 inch whitebone porgies, a 15 inch triggerfish, a few large grunts and a 15 inch hogfish, all on shrimp. We released grouper shorts.
Wednesday, I fished about 20 miles out of New Pass in 43 feet with Sandy Hook, Sam Sayles, Doc Washa and Hank Lischer. We caught a 16 ½ inch mangrove snapper, a couple of 15 ½ inch whitebone porgies, porkfish and grunts, and we released lots of grouper shorts.
I fished Estero Bay, close to Wiggins Pass, on Thursday with Sherman Heazlitt, Todd Miller, Bob Miller and Mike Dash. We caught two keeper pompano, ten sheepshead, five of which were keepers to 17 inches, and we released a couple of small mangrove snapper and some ladyfish.
Calm waters offshore were again a treat on Friday, when I fished in 45 feet, 22 miles west of New Pass. And, Friday the thirteenth wasn’t at all unlucky for Gerry Casey, Terry Vallely, Bob Bellevielle, and Steve O’Connor. Baited with shrimp, we caught seven mangrove snapper to 18 inches, sheepshead to 15 ½ inches, porgies to 15 inches, a few big grunts, and a 14 inch hogfish. We released grouper shorts, porkfish and undersized triggerfish.
I ended this week of fishing offshore in 45 feet, fishing with Reiner Neumann, his son, Steve, and friends Vince and Dino Bacetta and Leo Adamo. We caught lots of mangrove snapper, four of them keepers, along with a half dozen good-sized whitebone porgies and three sheepshead to 16 inches, all on shrimp. We released smaller snapper, porkfish, triggerfish, Spanish mackerel and lots of grouper shorts. This week was one of the calmest full weeks offshore we have seen all season.
The photo shown is of six-year-old angler, Max Robson, with a 17 1/2 inch sheepshead, caught on shrimp on a recent trip that was his first on a boat.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 284
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2009 - 11:14 am: | |
Monday, 2/23 brought yet another windy start to this week. I headed out of new Pass with Jim Sistek, his son, Jim Jr., grandson and friend, Frank, in what was predicted to be two-to-three foot seas. We were barely out of the pass before we were contemplating turning back because of strong northerly winds and rough seas. But the wind calmed a little bit and allowed us to get to some live bottom in about 30 feet. We used live shrimp and caught eight keeper mangrove snapper, nine sheepshead to 20 inches, and some grunts. We also caught what would have been a keeper gag grouper, at 23 inches, but we had to release that one due to extended closed season. We also released lots of gag and red grouper shorts, porkfish, triggerfish and small snapper, along with a fourteen-pound goliath grouper and an eleven-pound bonito.
I delayed heading offshore by about an hour Tuesday, with Ron Musick, Dick Arnett and friends, Eddie, Larry & Bob, in order to give the winds a chance to decrease a little. The windy-morning, calmer-afternoon pattern of Monday was duplicated Tuesday. It was still pretty sloppy when we headed out, but we were able to get out from New Pass about 19 miles, where we caught keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, porgies and grunts. We released lots of grouper shorts and triggerfish.
Relief from rough seas came on Wednesday, when I fished inshore with Alene Haug, her son, Scott Kempfort, her mother, Carrie, and friends Doug & Cathy. We used live shrimp on oyster-bottom and caught five keeper sheepshead to 16 ½ inches. We released smaller sheepshead and snapper.
Fishing at the near-shore reefs off Bonita Beach Thursday with Ed & Margie Bock, we caught five nice sheepshead to 18 ½ inches, along with half a dozen keeper mangrove snapper. We released lots of smaller snapper and sheepshead, with an active bite all morning.
I fished central Estero Bay Friday with Joe Burgert, son Max, and friend, Jim Gunz. We caught six keeper sheepshead to 16 inches, along with a keeper mangrove snapper, and we released a 17 ¾ inch redfish, just ¼ inch lacking for keeper-size. We also released smaller sheepshead and crevalle jack.
Saturday morning, I fished 19 miles out of New Pass with Earl Meturfman and friends. We had lots of action all morning, but that included a lot of grouper and snapper shorts that we released. We ended up with two keeper mangrove snapper, three sheepshead to 18 inches, and whitebone porgies to 14 inches, all on live shrimp.
The photo shown is of angler, Ron Musick, with an 18 inch mangrove snapper, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 283
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 10:39 am: | |
With a small craft caution in effect Monday, I didn’t venture too far from shore with Ron Baldwin and friends. Seas were three feet even close-in at the three-mile reef and winds were twenty knots. We caught five keeper mangrove snapper and five keeper sheepshead and a few grunts.
Tuesday brought persistent winds, but their easterly direction made seas a little calmer than they were the day before, at least near-shore. I fished at the Wiggins Reef with Tom Batchelor, Lee Larsen, Bud Glazer and Steve Sidlik. We used live shrimp to bag eight sheepshead to 16 inches and a dozen keeper mangrove snapper. We released grouper, snapper and triggerfish shorts.
Andy Ungar, son Dave, and family friend, Tony Pastore fished with me Wednesday on a slow tide with no observable movement whatsoever. Those conditions made for a slow bite and we headed out farther to get into some fish, finally finding some about 29 miles out of New Pass. There, using live shrimp, we caught and released hundreds of red grouper shorts, some gag grouper, bluefish and amberjacks. We kept six lane snapper and a mangrove snapper, a 16 inch sheepshead and some good-sized grunts.
Thursday, I had planned to fish well offshore on a customer’s boat, but the timing on the weather-front predicted was unclear, and seas of three to five feet were predicted as the result of a windy front. I was afraid to risk running way out in the morning just to have seas get to rough to tolerate a little while later. So I made a judgment call to nix that trip. I ended up fishing in the backwaters of Estero Bay that morning with Jim Warner and son, Michael. We caught five sheepshead to 17 inches, a keeper flounder and a keeper mangrove snapper, all on shrimp.
Mike and Lea Conneally and friend, Bob Walz, fished on a windy Friday morning with me in Estero Bay, where we could avoid the rough seas predicted offshore for that day. We used live shrimp to catch four nice sheepshead to 17 inches and we released smaller sheepshead, along with a 20 inch snook, a 22 inch snook and a 17 ¾ inch redfish.
Saturday morning, seas were predicted to be two to three feet, but I encountered four footers all the way out to 19 miles from New Pass, where I fished with Pete Gonzales, his son, Tony, and friend, Norman Ayer. There was a stuff 20 knot wind early on, but things started to calm down later in the morning. We caught seven nice mangrove snapper to 18 inches, a 14 inch hogfish, four porkfish and a few grunts. We released triggerfish and dozens of red and gag grouper to 21 inches.
The photo shown is of angler, Dick Arnett, with a 17 inch porgie, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip. With more restrictive grouper regulations in place, many anglers have acquired a new respect for porgies—their meat makes for excellent table-fare.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 282
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2009 - 2:13 pm: | |
The easterly wind on Monday, 2/9, laid the seas down nicely well offshore in 45 feet out of New Pass, where I fished with Ward Wester and his dad, Loren. We caught a keeper 23 inch red grouper (red grouper are still in season-see photo), a keeper hogfish at 13 inches, seven nice mangrove snapper to 16 inches, some good-sized porgies, porkfish and grunts, all on shrimp. We also released a 2o inch true black grouper, along with gag and red grouper shorts.
Ron Musick, Dick Arnett and Eddie Alfonso fished with me, using live shrimp, 37 miles out of New Pass on Tuesday. We caught a 23 inch gag grouper, which we had to release due to new regulations, and making the third one caught and released in a week…frustrating, but we were compensated with a 17 inch keeper scamp grouper, a dozen mangrove snapper to 15 inches, seven porgies to 18 inches and several big grunts. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts, as well as twelve lesser amberjacks to 20 inches.
Mandy Conneally, boyfriend, Brian, and friend, Andy fished with me Wednesday, over live bottom fourteen miles west of New Pass, where winds and seas were building all morning, enough that we took a wave completely over the bow on the way in. But the morning was productive for snapper, with a dozen of those to fourteen inches, along with some large grunts and porkfish, all caught on shrimp. We released triggerfish and red and gag grouper shorts.
Thursday morning, seas were flat and the weather was perfect. I headed out of New Pass with Bob Graham, daughter Jennifer Ness, son-in-law, Ryan Ness and seven-year-old grandson, Graham Ness. As soon as we got to the pass, we were met with dense fog, but once that lifted, we had a good morning of fishing with live shrimp, about fourteen miles west of New Pass. We caught two keeper lane snapper, eight keeper mangrove snapper, and ten good-sized grunts. We released smaller snapper and grouper.
I had an unanticipated day off on Friday, due to a last minute cancellation that came in too late to allow me to rebook the day for someone else who wanted to fish this week. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen often, but it is a shame when it does, especially during peak-season.
Saturday, the morning looked good, without the fog that hung around most of Friday morning. But by 11:00AM, that fog was rolling backing. I was able to navigate out in clear skies, however, to about twenty miles off Bonita Beach with Garry Jacobson, son Chuck, grandson Grayson, and family friend, Tom Batchelor. We used shrimp to catch ten nice mangrove snapper keepers to 17 ½ inches, none smaller than 14 inches. We also caught three hogfish, two of which were keepers at 15 inches, and a few large porgies to 16 inches. We released grouper shorts, triggerfish and porkfish, before heading back to shore in thickening fog.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 281
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 7:57 am: | |
Monday, 2/2/09, I fished near-shore at the six-mile reefs off Bonita Beach with Larry Dahlstrom and friends. We debated a while over whether to go or not, with rain predicted to usher in our next cold front and with rough conditions to follow. But it looked as though we’d have a only a light drizzle at worst in the morning and that the worst weather would hold off until afternoon. We decided to head to the reefs, close in enough that we could make a quick run back for the dock, if necessary. We did, in fact, get that light drizzle we expected and seas were 3 foot or so even at the reefs, and building by the time we came in. But we did well with sheepshead, catching seven of those to 21 ¾ inches, along with three keeper mangrove snapper, all on shrimp. For the first time in a while, we caught two keeper-sized gag grouper in near-shore waters, each 24 inches, and both having to be released, due to new regulations that close gag season from February 1st through March 31st…so we shed a few tears and threw them back.
The winds and seas roared Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as the mercury slipped down into the thirties. The bay was pretty shallow on Friday, but I managed to find a few spots to fish with Leeds Hutchinson, son Bill, and grandchildren, Tim and Ruth-Ann. We caught a 16 inch trout, three keeper sheepshead and released twenty-five small snapper. Eleven-year-old Ruth-Ann was keeping a close count on her hook-ups and was proud to declare seventeen.
Saturday morning, I fished at the reefs off of Bonita Beach with Bob Colangelo and son, Peter Butcher, Frank Vayda and friends. The water temperature was only 59 degrees and the bite was kind of slow, not to mention the goliath grouper pests that tried to compete with us for fish. But we managed to catch five keeper sheepshead to 15 inches and we released a 26 inch snook that Peter caught on live shrimp. We also released a lot of small snapper.
The photo shown is of young angler, Max Shaffran, with a 17 inch sheepshead, caught on shrimp on a recent trip that was Max’s first ever fishing expedition.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 280
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 30, 2009 - 10:17 am: | |
Monday, 1/26/09, I fished offshore in 45 feet with Barry Pfleuger and friends. We caught fifteen nice mangrove snapper in the 14 to 16 inch range, two keeper pompano and a keeper hogfish. We released gag and red grouper shorts, porgies, triggerfish and a bluefish, all on live shrimp.
The snapper bite was on in 70 feet Tuesday, when I fished with Ron Musick and Dick Arnett. We caught twenty-one nice mangs to 18 inches, using shrimp. We tried some cut bait, but shrimp was definitely the bait that worked so we stuck with that. We also caught six large whitebone porgies to 17 inches and two 30 inch king mackerel. We released the mackerel, along with grouper shorts and a couple of small yellowtail snapper.
Even in shallower depths on Wednesday, the snapper bite was hot and the mangs were good-sized. Fishing with Bob Wojtowicz, his brother Stosh, and friends Bob Bradley and Mel Stuart in 44 feet, we caught seventeen mangs to 19 inches, along with whitebone porgies, grunts and porkfish. We released lots of red and gag grouper shorts.
Thursday’s snapper fishing with Bill story, Jim and Mark Martin, and friends Steve, Dave and Marv, was decent but didn’t yield as many big mangs as the trips earlier this week. We kept five of them to 16 inches and released smaller ones, along with some grouper shorts. We also caught porgies, sheepshead, porkfish and grunts, all on shrimp in about 43 feet.
Weather predictions for Friday included a small craft advisory, with another strong cold front approaching. Sure enough, it was raining by 9AM. Once again, the Gulf was too rough to fish and the bay too dry for at least Friday and Saturday.
The photo shown is of angler Bill Evans with a 28 inch gag grouper, caught on shrimp in 45 feet, on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter in January. Gag grouper are in closed season February 1st through March 31st so there won’t be many pics like this one for a while.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 279
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2009 - 8:25 am: | |
Monday, 1/12/09, I fished offshore in 43 feet with Ed & Margie Bock, who fish with me several times each winter. We departed in a dense morning fog, with visibility of about 200 feet (thank goodness for radar) and in very low tide conditions. We headed out of New Pass to 43 feet, where we used live shrimp to catch eight keeper mangrove snapper, all about 15 inches, and a 14 inch yellowtail snapper. We also kept six whitebone porgies that were all about 14 inches. We released smaller snapper, porgies, grunts, triggerfish and grouper shorts. We had one large grouper hooked, but not well enough—he got down in the rocks on bottom and came off.
Jerry Shaffran, wife Barb, and five and seven-year-old sons, Max and Jake, fished central Estero Bay with me on an overcast Tuesday morning that got progressively windier and chillier in advance of an approaching cold-front. The boys did very well catching sheepshead on shrimp, and we boated seven of those to 17 inches. We also caught two keeper mangrove snapper and a 16 inch trout. It was Max and Jake’s first introduction to fishing and I think they are now “hooked” for life!
The balance of the week consisted of nothing but cancelled trips. With two strong cold fronts kicking up winds and seas to not only unpleasant, but downright dangerous levels, offshore fishing was impossible. I had hoped to get Saturday’s party out in the bay but the high winds coming from the northeast literally sucked the water out of the bay. It was too shallow to even float the boat off the lift. So, I cancelled three trips and rescheduled one of them for Monday 1/19.
On Monday, 1/19, I thought I was going to have to cancel my rescheduled trip yet again, with three-to-five foot seas predicted near-shore and four-to-seven foot well offshore. But Dan Harper and Mott Wuttae are hardy anglers who decided they’d brave the conditions and see how far offshore we could get. We started out in three to fours but, in the big swells to come later, it was fives to sevens, in 45 feet out of New Pass. The snapper were biting our live shrimp, though, and we caught fourteen mangrove snapper to 19 inches, most of them in the 16 to 19 inch range. We also caught eight keeper lane snapper to 13 inches and three keeper sheepshead to 18 inches. We released grouper shorts and a small bluefish.
Tuesday’s forecast called for seas to 14 feet offshore, after yet another cold front moved through overnight Monday, with gale-force winds briefly and blustery winds to persist all day Tuesday. My scheduled anglers had their hearts set on fishing offshore, which was, of course, impossible, so they decided to cancel their trip, rather than fish the backwaters. It might have been tough even anchoring bayside in the winds we had Tuesday. Wednesday’s winds were predicted to be calmer but seas offshore remained treacherous and cold temperatures weren’t very appealing either. The temperature dropped even further on Thursday morning, which brought scattered frost to the area. So, even though seas had calmed to two-to-three feet by Thursday morning, the frost that was still on the boat by 9:30 that morning caused my anglers to re-think their fishing plans and cancel.
Friday, as a warming trend began, I fished in fairly calm seas with John Ballou in 43 feet out of New Pass, where we used live shrimp to catch six keeper lane snapper, three keeper mangrove snapper, a keeper hogfish and some whitebone porgies. We released a small bluefish, along with gag and red grouper shorts.
The photo shown is of angler John Reardon with a 19 inch mangrove snapper, caught on shrimp in 43 feet, on an offshore Fishbuster Charter the first week of January.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 278
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2009 - 12:50 pm: | |
Monday, 1/5/09, I fished offshore in 43 feet, to the north of New Pass with Alene Haug, Scott Kempfort, Loren Heintze and John Reardon. The snapper bite was hot all morning and we caught twenty-two of those to 19 inches, none of them smaller than 14 inches. We also caught a big whitebone porgie and a 14 inch hogfish. We were cut off twice by big king mackerel and we released some smaller mackerel, triggerfish, gag grouper to 21 inches and red grouper shorts.
Tuesday, seas began building mid-morning, in advance of a weather-front coming through, and we had 3-4 foot seas twenty miles out of New Pass, where I fished with Bill and Mike Evans. The somewhat rough seas were worth enduring, though—we were rewarded with a 28 inch gag grouper, caught on shrimp. That catch was a team effort, with Bill hooking it and Mike on the net. We also caught thirteen keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches and a large whitebone porgie. We released lots of smaller snapper, red and gag grouper shorts, small king mackerel and triggerfish.
Wednesday was a blustery, rainy day and I had to cancel my fishing plans. I had hoped for good conditions Thursday but, even though the sun was shining and the seas decreased to about 2-3 feet, those seas happened to be on top of a four-foot swell left over from the high seas of the previous day and night. I did not think my anglers would appreciate those conditions so I also cancelled Thursday’s trip.
Friday, I fished is somewhat sloppy conditions, but better than they had been for a couple of days. Vince Tomlinson and friend, John, fished with me in 44 feet out of New Pass, where we caught ten keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches and a keeper hogfish. We released lots of smaller mangs, porgies, triggerfish, bluefish and grouper shorts. We missed boating the biggest mangrove snapper when a shark bit it in half before we could reel it in—that one’s head measured about 8 inches so he was a pretty big fish.
Ron Musick, Dick Arnett and friends fished with me Saturday in 44 feet out of New Pass, where the snapper bite was still on pretty strong. We caught twenty nice mangs to 18 inches and a half dozen whitebone porgies, all about 14 inches, on live shrimp. We let smaller mangs and porgies go, along with grouper shorts, grunts, a small hogfish and a few small king mackerel.
The photo shown is of angler Sven Petersen with a 24 inch gag grouper, caught on a live shrimp on an offshore Fishbuster Charter 12/30/08.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 277
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 03, 2009 - 10:55 am: | |
Monday, 12/29, I fished in 44 feet off Naples with Tom Wolf and sons, Jordan and Patrick, and friend, Chris Coriddi. Using live shrimp, Tom caught a nice 23 inch keeper red grouper. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts, which provided steady action for us all morning. We also caught seven keeper snapper, including six mangs and one lane. We released lots of smaller mangs and a short mutton snapper. We also caught a nice whitebone porgie and a 25 inch king mackerel, which was the only keeper mackerel out of the three we landed.
Tuesday, I headed out New Pass to 47 feet with Sven and Corinna Petersen. We caught a keeper gag grouper at 24 inches and released about thirty more gag and red grouper that were just short of keeper-size. We also caught about 100 mangrove snapper but only two of those were keepers at 14 inches so we released the rest of them, along with grunts and a 30 pound goliath grouper. We also caught four 15 inch whitebone porgies, all on live shrimp.
Caitlin Froehlich, her dad, Toby, and her brother, Sam, fished with me Wednesday morning in 44 feet off Naples. We caught whitebone porgies to 15 inches and kept a half dozen of those, along with a 14 inch triggerfish, and a 16 inch yellowtail snapper. We released five king mackerel to 26 inches, gag grouper shorts, and a 30 pound goliath grouper.
New Year’s Day I was off the water for family happenings, but Friday, January 2nd found me fishing with Bob Sawyer, Don Stevenson and Katie Grote in 46 feet out of New Pass, where the winds and seas were kicked up once again but the fishing was good. We used shrimp to catch a mess of mangrove snapper and kept the largest eight of those, which were 15 and 16 inches. We also caught some large whitebone porgies and released lots of smaller snapper, grouper shorts, triggerfish and king mackerel.
I had planned to fish inshore in Estero Bay on Saturday with a nice couple but, unfortunately, the Mrs. came down with a stomach virus overnight Friday and they were forced to cancel at the last minute on Saturday morning. So I spent Saturday doing some maintenance. Weather-permitting, I will have a full week of fishing beginning Monday with lots to report next week.
The photo shown below is of angler Tom Wolf with a 23 inch red grouper, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 276
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008 - 10:10 am: | |
Monday, 12/15, on a cloudy morning in Estero Bay, I dodged a few rain sprinkles and fished with H.O. Brownback and Steve Aggunt. We did pretty well using live shrimp and caught five keeper-sheepshead to 16 inches and four keeper-mangrove snapper. We released smaller fish of both varieties.
The rest of the week was pretty slow, as is typical in the lull before the holiday rush. I fished Estero Bay again on Saturday, 12/20, with Robert Haller, his wife, and his parents. We used shrimp to catch two keeper sheepshead to 15 inches, six keeper mangrove snapper, a 15 inch keeper black drum and a 14 inch keeper pompano. We released a trout, which is currently out of season.
Monday, winds whipped in advance of a cold-front, but that didn’t bother us much fishing in lower Estero Bay. Bill Darkoch and his son, Justin, wanted to learn to fish the bay and scheduled a day of catch-and-release fishing. We used shrimp and released thirty sheepshead to 15 inches, twenty mangrove snapper, ladyfish and cravalle jack.
With a small craft advisory in effect through Tuesday morning, I called my Tuesday anglers Monday night to let them know it would be rough offshore. But this hardy group of six from IL weren’t about to give up on their fishing plans. So I suggested we try the near-shore reefs, where seas would at least be tolerable. Paul & Celeste Luctenberg, son John, daughter Lindsay, and Bobby & Janet Cordoba withstood three to four foot seas even at the reefs all morning. But we had a good time using live shrimp to catch eighteen keeper mangrove snapper, all eleven and twelve inches, three twelve-inch lane snapper, and keeper triggerfish. We released lots of gag grouper shorts to 19 inches.
Wednesday, Christmas Eve, I fished near-shore again, with winds still blowing pretty strong. Marshall and Connie Swain, their daughter Laura, and Laura’s fiancé, Ryan Shick, had a good time at the reefs catching snapper. We caught a dozen keeper lane snapper, eight keeper mangrove snapper to 12 inches, and a keeper triggerfish. We released gag grouper shorts to 21 inches (an inch less than legal-size) along with two goliath grouper estimated at 12 pounds and 17 pounds.
December 25th and 26th were reserved for family events and, when I got back to fishing on Saturday, 12/27, winds were feisty once again. The bay was very shallow and not a very good option, so Jerry Spetzler and son, Andy, fished with me at the near-shore reefs, where the bite was finicky all morning. We caught mostly throw-backs, which included gag grouper shorts to 21 inches and small sheepshead and triggerfish. We managed a couple of keeper mangrove snapper and a couple of grunts.
By the time I update this fishing report next weekend, I will be changing the dates to ’09 so happy New Year to all, in advance.
The photo shown below is of angler Marvin Griescke with a 22 inch white margate, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 275
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 8:55 am: | |
Another weather-front came through the area Sunday night, once again kicking up winds and seas. But, despite some choppy conditions, the fishing was good offshore Tuesday morning. I fished with Bill Story, Marvin Giescke and friends, Doc, Dave and Bernie, in 45 feet out of New Pass, using live shrimp. We caught twenty keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, five huge whitebone porgies to 18 inches, a 22 inch white margate and keeper triggerfish and porkfish. We released smaller triggerfish and lots of gags that were within ¼ inch of legal-size.
William Conklin, Dennis Baker and friends fished in 47 feet out of New Pass with me Wednesday. Winds were howling most of the day, but the worst of the next weather-front wasn’t on us yet. We had three to four foot seas most of the day. We did well with snapper again, catching nine keepers to 16 inches and releasing lots of smaller ones. We also caught a 20 inch pompano, a 14 inch hogfish, a couple keeper triggerfish, and also got into those big whitebone porgies again, catching eight of those to 17 inches. We used shrimp for all.
Thursday brought a new cold-front to the area, which was accompanied by steady rain and high winds. My planned inshore trip was rained out. The winds and rough seas persisted into Friday, and predictions for Saturday were somewhat better but still pretty rough offshore. I was concerned because I was scheduled to take a family fishing in the Gulf Saturday but, before the weather could officially cancel those plans, my clients called to say they were battling the flu and not coming down to visit this weekend. They were disappointed but I assured them that the weather would be far from ideal Saturday anyway—I hope that made them feel a little bit better. So, as it turns out, my four-trip week was reduced to two trips—I guess Mother Nature thought I needed a vacation.
The photo shown below is of angler Lynn Harned with a 17 inch mutton snapper, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 274
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 07, 2008 - 11:41 am: | |
A weather-front came through on Monday, 12/1, brought some rain, and left us with high winds and very rough seas. So Tuesday, Erwin and Millie Matusiak traded their offshore fishing plans for some backwater fishing in Estero Bay. We fished the shoreline with live shrimp and, while trying to stay sheltered from the cold north wind, we managed to catch seven keeper mangrove snapper and five nice sheepshead, the largest of which was 18 ½ inches. We also released a 16 inch redfish and a 20 inch snook.
Wednesday morning, I fished a catch-and-release trip, along the edges of Estero Bay with David Hellberg and son, Matt. We had steady action all morning and released twenty-five sheepshead to 15 inches and twenty-five mangrove snapper, ten of which were keeper-size. We also released two 20 inch snook.
Rick Szymanski and Al Ortenzo fished offshore with me Thursday in calm waters (finally!) west of New Pass in 46 feet. We limited out on big mangrove snapper, catching twenty of those to 18 ¼ inches. We released gag and red grouper just short of legal size and some triggerfish. These bigger snapper are great fun to catch and great eating too.
Friday morning brought calm seas of less than one foot so, once anglers George Flanders and Mark Lyda heard about the good snapper-bite offshore, they changed their original plans to fish the backwaters and headed out about twenty miles with me. We fished in 47 feet with live shrimp and caught seventeen mangrove snapper to 17 inches, one keeper mutton snapper at 16 ½ inches, five keeper lane snapper measuring 11 and 12 inches, and a few whitebone porgies. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts.
Leon Dargis and Bob Rose picked a great morning to fish offshore—it was smooth as glass Saturday morning in 47 feet, about 22 miles west of New Pass. We fished with live shrimp and caught our federal limit of twenty nice mangrove snapper (ten per angler), all between 14 and 18 inches. We released about thirty additional mangs. The big prize of the day was a keeper 23 inch true black grouper that weighed eight pounds. True blacks are a lot more unusual to catch around here than gag grouper are.
We had one gag grouper on the line too but, as we reeled it up, an eight-foot bull-shark bit it, leaving us with 18 inches of mangled gag grouper—I think it was a decent sized gag until the shark helped himself to more than his share. We also caught four keeper lane snapper to 13 inches, whitebone porgies to 14 inches, and released triggerfish and four mutton snapper up to 15 7/8 inches (just 1/8 inch short of keeper-size.) It was an excellent morning for offshore fishing.
The photo shown below is of angler Scott Kempfert with an 18 inch sheepshead, caught on a live shrimp on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 273
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 29, 2008 - 10:24 am: | |
Monday, 11/24, I fished with Jerry and Barb Rudan, from Wisconsin. They have been fishing with me for years and were looking forward to some good eating-fish. We managed that with two keeper gag grouper at 23 inches and 24 inches, eleven keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, and one 25 inch Spanish mackerel. We released lots of short gags. We used shrimp and sardines, with both the groupers caught on shrimp, in 49 feet 22 miles out of New Pass.
Alene Haug, son Scott Kempfert, daughter Amy Akerberg and granddaughter Erica Akerberg fished central Estero Bay with me on Tuesday morning. The big sheepshead that have moved into the backwaters for winter were biting well, and we caught five nice-sized keepers to 18 inches, along with a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper, all on live shrimp. We released cravalle jacks.
Wayne and Sue Detling, son, Tom, and daughter-in-law, Kelley, fished the reefs with me Wednesday morning. Despite weather forecasts calling for calm, two-foot seas, we fished in three-footers off the beach, with a swell rolling in from offshore. We came in a little early, in fact, due to rough conditions, after catching keeper mangrove snapper, grunts and sheepshead. We released gag grouper shorts to 19 inches and a couple of small flounder.
After a day off for the Thanksgiving holiday, Jim McCarthy, his daughter, Mead, and their friend, Dave, fished with me Friday in 48 feet about 20 miles west of New Pass. We used shrimp and sardines to catch twenty-two keeper mangrove snapper, a nice lane snapper and as few good-sized whitebone porgies. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts, along with one 21 inch true black grouper that was an inch short of legal size.
Saturday morning, as winds picked up in advance of our next cold front, I fished central Estero Bay with Vince Tomlinson, his son, Mike, his daughter, Katie, and Katie’s boyfriend, Joe Kavanagh. Baited with shrimp, we caught six keeper mangrove snapper and seven sheepshead to 16 inches.
The photo shown is of angler Thomas Sylvester with a 37 inch king mackerel, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 272
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 22, 2008 - 10:06 am: | |
Lynn Harned, Davis Jenkins, Bruce Welsh and Bob Wogtowicz had planned an offshore trip with me for Wednesday, 11/19, but a cold front that dropped temps to the lowest of the season that morning, accompanied by high winds and building seas, caused us to reschedule for Friday. We fished Friday morning, just ahead of the next cold-front’s arrival, in the calmer seas between fronts. We headed out of New Pass about 19 miles and used live shrimp to catch ten nice mangrove snapper to 15 inches, three mutton snappers to 17 inches mutton snapper, three king mackerel to 26 inches, a 22 inch Spanish mackerel, and keeper-sized triggerfish and whitebone porgies. The guys kept the mangs, one mutton and one king for table-fare and we released all the rest, along with lots of gag grouper shorts to 21 ½ inches.
I fished on a very windy Saturday morning in Estero Bay with Sue Esposito and her children, Joe, age ten, and Lisa, age twelve. We fished with live shrimp along the mangrove shoreline and oyster bars, staying as sheltered from the wind as possible, and had good success with sheepshead, catching five nice ones to 18 inches. We also caught nine keeper mangrove snapper and released lots of smaller snapper and sheepshead.
The photo shown is of angler Dave Kovach with a 21 1/2 inch red grouper and a triggerfish, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 271
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2008 - 11:28 am: | |
Monday morning, 11/10, I fished with Brad Hayes and his six-year-old son, Cameron in central Estero Bay, using live shrimp. We caught seven redfish, one of which was a keeper, and four sheepshead, including one keeper. We released the smaller reds and sheepshead, along with some small snapper and two snook to 24 inches.
Friday morning, I fished with Peder and Linda Engebretson and their friends, Dan and Lynn. We headed out of New Pass to about 40 feet, where we used live shrimp to catch two keeper yellowtail snapper at 14 inches each, two 14 inch keeper mangrove snapper, five large whitebone porgies and three large triggerfish, all about 14 inches. We released a half dozen small amber jacks to 18 inches, an 8 pound goliath grouper, two 23 inch kingfish and lots of red and gag grouper shorts.
The gulf was so flat Saturday morning it was hard to believe that seas were forecast to build to six to ten feet by Sunday, with the approach of a cold front. I fished in 40 feet out of New Pass with Thomas and Laura Sylvester. We used live shrimp to catch a 37 inch keeper king mackerel, one of three kings we caught, a 19 inch mutton snapper, keeper mangrove snapper and whitebone porgies. We released gag and red grouper shorts.
The photo shown is of angler Chester Yanik with a 17 inch mutton snapper and an 18 inch mangrove snapper, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 270
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 08, 2008 - 10:45 am: | |
Wednesday, 11/5, I fished with live shrimp in 37 feet out of New Pass with Bill & Chris Henry and friends. Seas were pretty calm at 1-2 feet most of the morning, though it was a little sloppy about the time we headed in, with a brisk N, NE wind blowing. We caught a dozen large whitebone porgies, all 15-16 inches and a mess of mangrove snapper to 13 inches. We kept ten of the snapper and released the rest. We also caught seven mutton snapper, but only one of those was keeper-size. We released grunts, porkfish and red and gag grouper shorts, and we were broken off twice by kingfish.
Thursday morning, I fished with Duane McCoy and his father-in-law, Larry Connell, again 37 miles west of New Pass. We caught a king mackerel keeper at 29 inches, nine mangrove snapper keepers to 13 inches, a keeper mutton snapper and three large triggerfish about 14 inches each. We released mangrove snapper shorts and gag and red grouper shorts.
Mike and Lea Connealy, Leah’s dad, Dick, and friend, Rob, fished with me Friday morning in calm seas twenty miles west of New Pass in about 48 feet. We used live shrimp to land fifteen mangrove snapper to 15 inches, a 17 inch keeper mutton snapper, a keeper red grouper at 22 inches, triggerfish and porgies. We released a three-foot sandbar shark, lots of red and gag grouper short and had another couple cut-offs by king mackerel.
Saturday morning I fished inshore with the Dillane family, Michael and Vicki, eleven-year-old daughter, Rachel, and eight-year-old son, Malcolm. We used live shrimp along the mangrove shorelines of Estero Bay and caught four nice sheepshead to 17 inches. We released smaller sheepshead, small snapper and a 20 inch snook.
The photo shown is of angler, Jim Basara, with a 19 inch yellowtail snapper, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 269
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 01, 2008 - 10:02 am: | |
Wednesday, 10/23, I fished the Bonita reefs with David Koenigsmark and Hubert Wright. Seas were predicted to build and we knew heading much further out than the reefs wasn’t likely to be too comfortable. The guys had just this day to fish, so we decided on the reefs about six miles from shore. Conditions got rougher as the morning progressed but we managed to bring home ten keeper mangrove snapper and a 14 inch sheepshead. We released additional mangs, grouper shorts, two small flounders and a three-foot barracuda. We used live shrimp for all.
In advance of a strong cold front, winds and seas kicked up Sunday and into mid-week. Offshore fishing was not an option in four to six foot seas, so Tom and Karen Gartland and their son, Danny, opted for some backwater fishing with me on Monday morning, 10/27. We fished central Estero Bay with live shrimp and caught three nice sheepshead to 17 inches and a keeper mangrove snapper. We released smaller sheepshead, along with three big stingray, one about ten pounds and two that were each about 30 pounds.
Offshore seas were a little scary Halloween morning so I fished central Estero Bay instead, with Greg Kosch and son, Alex. Winds stayed brisk all morning but we did fairly well along the tree-lines with live shrimp. We caught a 24 inch keeper redfish, three keeper sheepshead to 14 inches and a 16 inch pompano. We released smaller sheepshead and cravalle jack.
Saturday morning brought conditions similar to Friday’s and I fished the channel in Estero Bay with brothers Steve and Howard Potash and friend, Dennis. Winds were high and the tide was low but we caught a good number of fish. We ended up with five keeper sheepshead, out of about twenty caught, one keeper mangrove snapper, out of a dozen caught and a 14 inch flounder. We released the sheepshead and snapper shorts, along with a 17 ½ inch redfish that missed legal size by a half-inch.
The photo shown is of angler, Brad Bernardy, with a ten-pound bonito, caught on a live shrimp and released on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 268
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 13, 2008 - 5:06 pm: | |
Wednesday, 10/8, I fished the backwaters of central Estero Bay, along the mangrove shoreline, with Henry & Lois Wilson and friend, Harold Fleming. We used live shrimp to catch and release five redfish to 17 ½ inches, two snook, 22 inches and 24 inches, sheepshead that were just short of keeper-size and lots of undersized mangrove snapper. We also got a couple of keeper mangs.
Friday morning, Jack & Linda Heckel, their children and grandchildren, fished with me about 17 miles west of New Pass. We kept the kids busy all morning with lots of catch-and-release yellowtail snapper, lane snapper, mangrove snapper, about fifty red grouper shorts, a fifteen-pound goliath grouper, porkfish, triggerfish, porgies and grunts. The group also caught a half dozen keeper-sized lanes and mangs for dinner.
Saturday, I had a great day of snapper fishing with long-time customers, Chester Yanik, son Mark Yanik and friend, Jim Basara. We fished with live shrimp and sardines 37 miles out of New Pass in about 72 feet all day. By 1:00PM, we’d caught our federal limit of thirty mangrove snapper, all of which were in the 15-18 inch range, so we had to start releasing all the rest. We also caught nine nice yellowtail snapper to 19 inches and a keeper mutton snapper at 17 inches. We released porgies and grouper shorts.
Sunday morning, I fished with the reefs off Bonita with Dave & Anita Ballard, eleven-year-old son Ben, and seven-year-old daughter Lauren. We used shrimp to catch fifteen keeper mangrove snapper, grunts to 14 inches, and a keeper Spanish mackerel. We released a ten-pound goliath grouper.
Monday, the guys who fished offshore with me on Saturday, Chester and Mark Yanik and Jim Basara, had planned another offshore excursion. But, with winds kicked up to 20-25 knots and seas of 4-6 feet offshore, we changed plans and decided to fish central Estero Bay instead. We limited on redfish, with three keepers at 20 inches, 22 inches and 24 inches. We released another smaller red, along with ladyfish, mangrove snapper shorts, a couple of cravalle jacks and seven undersized snook to 23 inches. We also caught five nice sheepshead to 18 inches—everything on live shrimp.
The photo shown is of angler, Dennis Hill, with a 21 inch red grouper, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 267
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 05, 2008 - 11:42 am: | |
Jim Neswald and Kevin Mysliwiec fished with me in rough conditions Saturday morning, 10/4. Seas were much rougher than predicted but we headed out of New Pass to about 35 feet with a bait-well full of live shrimp. We caught nine keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, half a dozen whitebone porgies to 14 inches and a few Spanish mackerel to 26 inches. We released lots of red and gag grouper shorts and three undersized mutton snapper.
Sunday morning, I fished central Estero Bay with John Kelley, Chris McClutthy and Jim Horak. It was windy and the tide was dead-low, outgoing all day, making the fishing a little tough. But we caught three keeper mangrove snapper and a nice whiting and we released cravalle jacks, a 17 inch redfish and smaller whiting.
The photo shown is of angler, Amy McQueen, with a 16 inch mutton snapper, caught on a live shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
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Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 266
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008 - 3:18 pm: | |
We no sooner got rid of Tropical Storm Fay’s effects when Hurricane Gustav threatened the Gulf coast. We were again fortunate, much more so than the folks in New Orleans were…although, they too are counting their blessings after a small, last minute change in course saved them from the worst case scenario. But our offshore waters felt the effects even here in SW FL, with lots of wind, some rain, heavy surf and high seas. Fishing was not an option for another week or so, into the Labor Day weekend. Monday, skies cleared, but seas remained rough, even into Tuesday, 9/2, so I fished the backwaters Tuesday with Bill & Terry Major, their daughter and son-in-law. Fishing was fair in the bay but with so much fresh water, probably not as good as it would usually be this time of year. We released a 22 inch snook and sheepshead, all caught on live shrimp. Even live shrimp were in short supply, due to the shrimp boats being unable to get out in rough seas. But we had a good time catching and releasing.
And, a few more words to say about local fishing recently: "Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike, and slow-season! Although we were very fortunate to have few serious effects of the storms, they did disrupt fishing with their fringe effects that included gusty winds, high seas, rain and fresh water influx. Add to that mix the slowest of all seasons in SW Florida and the result doesn't add up to a lot of time on the water.
On the bright side, with October’s page nearly ready to be showing on the calendar, many of our seasonal residents have been calling to arrange fishing trips. This week, I finally have a few trips to report. After waiting for the winds and seas to clam down from a breezy start to the week, I fished Thursday, 9/25, with Roger & Donna Briehqcek. It was still pretty rough way offshore, but we managed to fish in about 40 feet out of New Pass, where it was a bit sloppy but tolerable. We caught five keeper mangrove snapper, a keeper lane snapper and a 23 inch Spanish mackerel there, and we released lots of gag and red grouper shorts, along with a small mutton snapper. We moved to a spot closer to the beach later in the morning, where we caught and released three oversized redfish, two measuring 28 inches and one 30 inches (see photo link below.) We used live shrimp for all.
The fishing was good again on Friday, when I fished with Jeffrey Frost and Brad Bernardy in selected spots from 5 to 18 miles west of New Pass. We caught a nice variety on live shrimp, including two redfish, one over-sized at 28 inches, which we released, and one keeper at 26 ¾ inches, nine Spanish mackerel to 26 inches, whitebone porgies, six keeper lane snapper to 12 inches, three keeper mangrove snapper and a keeper mutton snapper at 16 ½ inches. We released a four-foot sandbar shark, a ten-pound bonito, four undersized mutton snapper, some short yellowtail snapper and gag grouper shorts to 19 inches.
Seas were a little rougher Saturday, but Bill Newhard and Dave Kovach toughed it out for some excellent fishing. We headed out to about 36 miles west of New Pass with live shrimp and Spanish sardines. Dave caught a keeper 21 ½ inch red grouper and we released several more red grouper that were just short of keeper size. We also caught a 16 ½ inch keeper scamp grouper, eight keeper yellowtail snapper to 15 inches, a couple dozen keeper lane snapper, a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, triggerfish and a mess of grunts. We released three sharpnose sharks, all about 3 ½ feet long, along with lots of smaller mangs, yellowtail and grouper. We also saw three schools of peanut-dolphin (also called chicken-dolphin and mahi-mahi). Those were about 18 inches long and they surrounded the boat. We’d have loved to locate their daddies, but with no light due to cloud cover, we were unable to spot any larger ones. All in all, it was a great day of fishing.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/RogerBriehqcek-30in-red-rel.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 265
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008 - 11:26 am: | |
Monday, 8/18, as Tropical Storm Fay approached and the meteorologists speculated as to her course and strength, the winds began to pick up and the seas churned in that angry way that they do just before a storm. It was time to batten down the hatches…literally. We secured the boats and turned our attention toward securing our property. Fay passed over us in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday, with some pretty hefty wind-gusts of up to 65 mph. We were fortunate to maintain electrical power but thousands in our county and neighboring counties did not. Fay was a rainmaker too and flooding was reported in many areas. Lee County schools closed Tuesday, one day after beginning their new school-year, and Collier County, due to begin school Tuesday, deferred its opening. Needless to say, fishing was the last thing on anyone’s mind and Fay’s effects precluded fishing all of that week. Even the trip we had scheduled for Monday, 8/25, deferred until Tuesday, in order to allow the Gulf waters additional time to calm. Still, we feel blessed, fortunate to have dodged another potential bullet during this hurricane season.
On Tuesday, 8/26, first day offshore after the storm, I fished with Reiner and Lisa Neumann, their son, Steven, and uncle, Dennis Hill. We had a good morning of fishing with live shrimp in 35 feet out of New Pass, where we caught twenty keeper mangrove snapper (four limits) ranging in size from 12 to 15 inches, one keeper yellowtail snapper, a 14 inch keeper triggerfish, two Spanish mackerel keepers at 23 inches and 25 inches, and a keeper red grouper at 21 inches. We released two mutton snapper to 15 ¾ inches, just a quarter inch shy of keeper-size.
The photo shown ( link below) is of angler, Robert Dulberg, with a 28 ½ inch bull red, caught on shrimp and released on a recent inshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/RobertDuhlberg-28-5-red-rel.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 264
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 11:26 am: | |
After a little time away in the relatively cool N.C. mountains, I resumed fishing this Saturday, 7/26. I fished 14 to 17 miles west of New Pass with Marty Kimball and his three young daughters, Haley, Cheyeynne and Michaela. The girls had a lot of fun using live shrimp to catch and release a bunch of big ladyfish to 30 inches. We also caught a keeper lane snapper and released a few mutton snapper that were just short of keeper size, red grouper to 19 inches, gag grouper shorts, grunts and porgies.
Monday morning brought rain and I had to delay by about an hour and a half my fishing excursion with Deitnar and Andrea Binkowska, daughter Anna-Lena and young son, David. The Binkowskas were visiting from Germany and one thing David definitely wanted to do on his visit was to go fishing in the Gulf. We waited for the first round of storms to pass and there appeared to be a window for us to get some fishing done, but the weather was unsettled all morning and we couldn’t help but encounter a little more rain. Still, the group had fun at the reefs, about six miles offshore, fishing with live shrimp. We caught ten keeper mangrove snapper to 12 inches and released lots of red and gag grouper shorts. David also got to feel a few big fish on the line, but they broke off before he could reel them in.
Tuesday was another unsettled day so I stayed close-in again when I fished with Doug Grieble, his eight-year-old daughter, Cera, and Dennis Baker and his three children, Rhys, Logan and Seth. Cera managed, with a little help, to pull in a 27 inch gag grouper, definitely the catch of the day! (see photo) The group also caught ten nice mangrove snapper to 14 ½ inches, along with some grunts. We released four gag shorts, as well as three goliath grouper to about 35 pounds. We used shrimp for all except for the goliaths, which were caught on blue runners.
I had a good morning of inshore fishing Wednesday with Chris Columbo and son, Matt and Mark Tagano and son, Anthony. We fished with live shrimp in central Estero Bay. Chris caught a 24 inch redfish, then lost a larger one when it wrapped around the anchor line right by the boat. His young son, Matt, outdid him by half an inch with a 24 ½ inch red, and he also caught a 17 inch black drum. Anthony caught a big sheepshead at 19 inches, along with one smaller one, and Mark landed a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper.
Thursday, Jose Garcia and family and friends fished 17 miles west of New Pass with me. We did well with snapper and caught fourteen mangrove snapper to 15 inches, two keeper lane snapper and seven yellowtail snapper to 16 inches. We also caught two large grunts and released small snapper, gag grouper shorts and a twenty-pound goliath grouper.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/Cera-DougGrieble-27in-gag.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 262
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 05, 2008 - 2:35 pm: | |
Estero Bay offered a pretty good variety of fish for us on Monday morning, 6/30, when I fished with Jason and Callie Eubanks, Don Cruz and Paul Odele. We used live shrimp to catch a keeper sheepshead, a 21 inch keeper redfish and a bunch of keeper-sized mangrove snapper. We released all the mangs but four, and we were broken off by another slot red and by a big cravalle jack.
I was back in the bay Tuesday morning, with Tom Wolfe and young son, Jordan. We caught a nice redfish at 22 ½ inches (see photo) and lost another keeper-sized red when it snagged on some trees. We also caught a keeper mangrove snapper, which was big for a bay snapper at 14 inches. We released a couple dozen smaller snapper, along with three trout that were all around 14 inches, four snook to 16 inches, and a cravalle jack.
Jim & Lisa Roe, son Brendon, and friend Jerry Garland fished the reefs with me in 33 feet Wednesday morning and we managed to get half-day of fishing done before the rains came. We caught twenty nice- sized whitebone porgies and fifteen keeper mangrove snapper. We also got a 25 inch Spanish mackerel and two hogfish, one of which was keeper-sized at 14 inches. We released small yellowtail snapper and red grouper shorts to 19 inches. We had a cobia that was about fifty pounds hooked at one point, after he bit a fish we were reeling in—that fight lasted about fifteen minutes until the cobia finally spit the fish and took off.
Bill Brown and son, Greg, fished with me Friday morning until we got run in a little bit early by storms. Fishing with live shrimp about fourteen miles west of Big Carlos, we caught ten keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, porgies to 14 inches and Spanish mackerel to 25 inches. We released red grouper shorts and grunts.
Ethan & Kay Ware, along with children Malachai, Jack, Noah and Julia, celebrated the 4th of July with an offshore fishing excursion. We fished about 17 miles west of New Pass. Unlike the day before, there wasn’t much cloud cover and the water was crystal clear. We could see bottom in 38 feet. The bite was a little slower. We caught a keeper hogfish, whitebone porgies to 15 inches and grunts. We released triggerfish, a mangrove snapper that was just short of legal size for federal waters, a Spanish mackerel and red grouper shorts to 19 ½ inches.
Brian McGoldrick, Bill Justice and Todd Snapp fished central Estero Bay with me Saturday. Brian caught a nice 25 ½ inch redfish shortly after we anchored. He lost three more nice reds that came off their hooks. Bill caught a 24 ½ inch redfish and an 18 inch trout. Todd caught a keeper sheepshead at 15 inches and the group caught eight keeper mangrove snapper to 12 inches, all on shrimp.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/TomWolfe-22-5-red.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
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Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 261
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 27, 2008 - 9:21 am: | |
Fishing Saturday morning, 6/21, about 17 miles out of New Pass with Dan Slavenburg and friend, Ryan, we cast live shrimp to catch eight keeper mangrove snapper and a dozen whitebone porgies to 15 inches. We released lots of smaller mangs, short red grouper, yellowtail and an almaco jack.
Tuesday morning, I fished 14 miles west of New Pass with Mike and Norine Weber and Bill and Gail Carlson. We had lots of action and variety all morning, using live shrimp. Catches included three keeper hogfish, two at 13 inches and one at 14 inches, Spanish mackerel to 24 inches (we kept two and released three), ten whitebone porgies, of which we kept three, fifteen keeper mangrove snapper, and grunts. We released gag grouper shorts to 18 inches, red grouper to 19 inches, triggerfish, and a 15 inch mutton snapper.
Thursday, Greg Sommeski, sons Greg, Jr. and Louis, and friend Joe Morono fished with me about 17 miles offshore. We caught a mess of mangrove snapper, kept ten of those to 14 inches and released lots more, along with whitebone porgies to 15 inches. We released Spanish mackerel to 25 inches, along with gag and red grouper to 19 ½ inches, a 17 inch true black grouper and a 15 inch mutton snapper. We used live shrimp for all.
The photo shown is of angler Sarah Hobbe with a 16 inch hogfish caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/SarahHobbe-16in-hog.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 260
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 20, 2008 - 10:38 am: | |
Monday, 6/16, I fished central Estero Bay with Scott Heiss, his brother, Steve Heiss, their dad, Jerry Heiss, and Scott’s ten-year-old son, Nicholas. We had a good morning of fishing with live shrimp along the tree lines. Nicholas caught the biggest redfish at 22 inches (see photo) and we caught two other keepers at 19 ½ inches and 20 inches. The group also caught seven keeper mangrove snapper and we released a 26 inch snook.
Paul Duguay and friends fished with me on Wednesday morning, seventeen miles southwest of New Pass. We kept about twenty-five porgies around 16 inches and released a good many more. We also caught about ten yellowtail snapper, but only one of those was a keeper, and a keeper mangrove snapper. We released gag grouper shorts to 19 inches and red grouper short to 18 inches.
Brian Rodgers and Rodney Poole fished the mangrove shoreline of Estero Bay with me on a mostly rainy Thursday morning. Brian got a 20 inch redfish on shrimp and the guys lost two larger ones that ran under the mangrove roots and broke off. They also caught six nice mangrove snapper, good-sized for the bay at 11 to 14 inches, along with two sheepshead 13 and 14 inches long.
The photo shown is of young angler, Nicholas, with a 22 inch redfish caught on shrimp on a recent inshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/NicholasHeiss-22in-red.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 259
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 10:18 am: | |
In celebration of Harry’s birthday, brothers Grant and Harry Kurtz, along with friends Joe and Thais Allen, fished with me Monday morning, 6/9,seventeen miles west of New Pass. The Spanish mackerel bite was strong and we free-lined shrimp for those, kept nine to 27 inches, and released lots more, along with gag shorts and blue runners. We also caught whitebone porgies and two hogfish, one of which was a keeper at 14 ½ inches.
Wednesday, Van & Amy McQueen, daughter Danielle, son Peyton, Peyton’s friend Hayden Beach, and family friend Dan Neal fished with me about 17 miles out of New Pass. Amy caught a nice mutton snapper 16 inches long and the group caught a mess of Spanish mackerel to 27 inches and whitebone porgies. We released an undersized hogfish, gag and red grouper shorts, grunts and porgies, with plenty of action all morning.
Friday, fishing 26 miles west of New Pass with Dave and Carol Young, we used live shrimp to catch over a dozen keeper yellowtail snapper and we released about a half dozen smaller ones. I kept moving further offshore because we were competing with porpoise at most of my spots. We also caught some good sized whitebone porgies. We released small mangrove snapper and lots of red grouper shorts to 18 ½ inches. We also had quite a shark-fest, releasing at least fifteen sharpnose sharks, all around the three foot length.
I fished inshore Saturday morning in central Estero Bay with Jim Hammer, sons Cameron and Collin and friend, Erica Bensik. Thirty seconds after we anchored and dropped a few lines over, Jim hooked a big redfish but it ran under the trees, wrapped his line and got away. We caught another redfish keeper at twenty inches along with seven keeper mangrove snapper, all on shrimp.
The photo shown is of an 18 inch mangrove snapper caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/Chris%20Borger-18in-mang.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 258
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 06, 2008 - 12:38 pm: | |
I left Sunday morning, 6/1, for Key West, where six of us spent the night before taking off for the Tortugas on a boat we chartered. For once, I was the charter’s customer rather than the captain. Fishing that area has always been on my list of things to do but, in all these years, I had never managed to do it.
We all had visions of 25 pound groupers and huge mutton snapper like we had heard about from others who had fished the Tortugas, But when we hooked up with our captain, he informed us that bottom fishing hadn’t been so good lately and that our best bet was going to be trolling for dolphin (mahi). So we trolled by day and bottom fished at night. We left Key West about 12:30 in the afternoon on Monday, June 2nd. We began trolling about an hour later, and 45 minutes after that, we put lines out. Suddenly, a sailfish appeared on a flat line—I looked up and saw the bill of the sail fish—It had hit the wire in front of the lure, then kinked it and was gone. Fifteen minutes later, we had four take-downs with dolphin on all four lines. We continued to catch 30 inch-plus schoolies for about two hours, then we headed out to 2600 feet in search of granders. We trolled and picked up a few more smaller dolphin until about 8:30 PM, and ended up on the “Pill Box,” where we anchored in 70 feet about fifteen miles from the Marquesas. There, we caught some nice, twenty-inch yellowtail snapper and a few mangrove snapper and released a few short grouper.
At first light, after watching the sun rise over the Atlantic, we free-lined bait and fished for yellowtail, but we ended up with three cero mackerel instead, to 35 inches. We ate a quick breakfast and headed out deeper to troll in 35o feet. Fifteen minutes later, three lines went down, all with skipjack tunas. We trolled a couple more hours with little action. All of a sudden, a rigger knocked down on the port side of the boat—A 350 pound blue marlin was greyhounding toward the boat, screaming the line off the reel! Unfortunately, the fish was about six times faster than the boat we were in. Its bill wrapped the 80 lb. leader and snapped it (of course, it had hit one of the smaller reels.) Still, the sight of that marlin was a heart-pounding, once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us. That fish was just 30 yards off the side of the boat. It covered 200 feet in two leaps, completely out of the water, just like I have always seen on T.V.
We trolled along and ended up with a 25 pound bull dolphin as our biggest catch, but limits of quality dolphin from five to fifteen pounds were caught by all (photo below.) We elected to anchor up early, about 35 miles west of the Marquesas to indulge in a fresh fish dinner in calmer water where we could cook. Then we anchored up for another night of yellowtailing. We caught fifteen nice yellowtail and a few more mangroves and released lots of smaller keepers before the sharks closed in on us.
We were up Wednesday morning at first light again ready to troll but we awoke to squall-lines and rough conditions so we decided to start the five hour journey back to Key West, where about three hours of fish-cleaning awaited us. All in all, it was a great time with good friends, great fishing and an adventure to remember always.
With my feet planted on terra firma for a day, I was ready by Friday to resume my regular, local fishing. I fished the artificial reefs off Bonita Beach Friday morning with William Smith, son Walker, daughter Audrey and friend, Aaron Peets. We used shrimp at first to catch our table-fare—nine Spanish mackerel to 25 inches, and we released blue runners and cravalle jacks. Next, we baited with blue runners for some sport-fishing for goliath grouper. We released two of those, a 60-pounder caught by Walker and a 100-pounder caught by Aaron.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/Capt-Dave-mahi.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 257
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 01, 2008 - 9:46 am: | |
On a catch-and-release trip to the artificial reefs off Bonita Beach on Tuesday, 5/27, long-time customers Pat Fitzgerald and sons, Jimmy, Tommy and Peter, along with friend, Brendon, caught a smorgasbord of fish on live shrimp. We had steady action all morning, and released two keeper-sized pompano, lots of whitings, lots of gag grouper shorts to 19 ½ inches, seven keeper-sized flounder and lots of grunts and keeper-sized mangrove snapper. I don’t know how many fish we caught in all, but a couple of Pat’s young sons were keeping count of their catches and each had between 30 and 40.
Friday morning, fishing with Bill and Debby Wright in central Estero Bay, we caught two keeper redfish just under 20 inches and released a nice 26 inch snook (see photo) along with mangrove snapper, cravalle jack and a stingray. The snook ran the length of the boat and was a good fight on 8 pound test.
The other photo shown is of a 16 inch flounder caught on shrimp on a recent reef trip.
I am fishing the Dry Tortugas this week and hope to have some "Tortuga Tales" by my next post.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/BillWright-26in-snook-rel.JPG
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/MarkMiller-16in-flounder.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 256
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 - 11:39 am: | |
Monday morning, 5/19, I fished with Casey Serumba and friends in Estero Bay. We caught a couple of keeper snapper and released smaller snapper, a sheepshead and a snook. Casey had one nice red hooked but his drag was too loose, and once the red ran under the trees he was gone.
Tuesday, I fished with Marc Miller and Dave Ihle at the artificial reefs off Bonita Beach. We had a good morning of fishing, despite rough seas, with a 24 inch gag grouper (photo below) Dave landed after it bit a live blue runner, seven keeper mangrove snapper, and two flounder 16 inches and 12 inches that Mark landed on shrimp. We released blue runners and gag shorts and a 25 inch goliath grouper.
Brothers Greg and Dave Bauer and their wives, Helen and Kathy, fished Estero Bay with me on Wednesday, along the channel from Barefoot Beach to Wiggins Pass. We had originally planned to fish offshore, but after seeing the conditions Tuesday and noting the winds to be even worse Wednesday, we decided to stay inshore. Greg caught a keeper 20 inch redfish and we also got a keeper snapper and released small sheepshead.
The backwater was where I fished again on Thursday, this time with Tom Tomasheski and seven-year-old son, Tom, Jr. They had already been offshore on a head-boat and wanted to experience some quieter, more personal fishing so we fished Estero Bay with live shrimp and caught and released mangrove snapper, cravalle jack and ladyfish.
Roy Bumstead and Jimmy Egan headed offshore with me to 53 feet out of New Pass on Friday. We caught ten nice yellowtail snapper to 17 inches, whitebone porgies to 16 inches—we kept six of those and threw back a bunch more—and a few keeper lane snapper. We released six sharpnose sharks, all about three feet long. We also released some gag grouper shorts and at least 150 red grouper shorts to 19 ¾ inches.
Mark Miller and ten-year-old son, Jake, along with Mark’s mother, Jackie, fished Estero Bay with me Saturday morning. Using shrimp along the tree lines from Wiggins Pass to Barefoot beach, we limited on slot reds, with three of those all around 20 inches. We also caught ten keeper-sized mangrove snapper, of which we kept five. The tide was incoming and the bite pretty steady.
Sunday morning, a family group in town for a weekend wedding fished a catch-and-release trip with me about 17 miles west of New Pass. Jim Christ, son Bill, Bill’s uncle, John, and father-and-son team Brent and Chad Robinson collectively released about 80 fish with good variety including mangrove snapper, gag grouper, red grouper, grunts and whitebone porgies, all caught on live shrimp.
The other photo shown is of a slot–red caught on shrimp on a recent inshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/DaveIhle-24in-gag.JPG
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/RichStaubauch-slot-red-1.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 255
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 10:32 am: | |
Tuesday morning, 5/6, I fished Estero Bay with Paul and Rebecca Miller. The tide was slow coming in. We fished the tree lines, which is challenging, especially for novice anglers, and we lost one nice redfish that got tangled in the trees and broke the line. Rebecca caught a nice 14 inch sheepshead and we also caught a keeper mangrove snapper. We released smaller snapper and sheepshead.
Gary McDermott and friends fished the Gulf with me on Wednesday, in 38-46 feet out of New Pass, with live shrimp. We caught five hogfish, one of which was a beauty at about 18 inches but, unfortunately, a hungry barracuda bit that one off right at the head as we were reeling it in. We had one other keeper hog and released the other three. We also caught a keeper mangrove snapper and released nine others that were small, along with short red grouper. We caught a keeper triggerfish and eight pretty nice whitebone porgies, all in the two-to-three pound range.
Greg & Helen Bauer and Tara Barnes fished at the reefs with me on Thursday morning. It was too rough to get our much further than that, but we did okay reef-fishing, with a 12 inch flounder and some grunts for filleting. The rest of our catches were pure sport and included two goliath grouper at twenty pounds and thirty-five pounds and a forty-pound barracuda (see photo below). We released those, along with small snapper and gag grouper shorts. We caught the big guys on blue runners and the rest on shrimp.
John Keener and son, Chris, fished Estero Bay with me on a windy Monday morning, 5/12. We released two snook about 18 inches, sand bream, small snapper and a big redfish about 32 inches (see photo below). We were broken off by another bull red along the mangrove tree line.
Thursday, I fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with Ron Constantini and Rich Staubauch. We used live shrimp to catch three slot reds and lost two bull reds in the mangroves. We also released keeper-sized mangrove snapper, two undersized (and out-of-season) snook and a cravalle jack.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/GregBauer-capt-40lb-cuda.JPG
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/ChrisKeener-32in-red-rel.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 254
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 03, 2008 - 11:29 am: | |
Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonso fished with me Monday, 4/28, when we were hoping to beat the weather front predicted to arrive late Monday night. We had originally planned to fish on Tuesday but we rescheduled once we heard the forecast. Seas were predicted to be two-to-three feet offshore Monday but that wasn’t the case. About the only place that was true was in the bay! We only went out about 15 miles from New Pass and we came in short of a full-day, due to conditions. We managed two keeper mangrove snapper and eight whitebone porgies on shrimp, so at least there was stock for Ron’s freezer.
Tuesday, the winds were predicted to howl and the seas predicted to churn offshore. There was also a good chance of rain predicted and I remained in port.
Although NOAA predicted seas calmed to two to three feet, out to 20 miles for Wednesday, I was a little dubious, knowing it usually takes the Gulf longer to calm down after a couple days of rough seas. I checked with my scheduled anglers to see if they might prefer inshore fishing but they decided to try for near-shore, so I headed out with Louis Wolfe and friends to about 30 feet out of New Pass, where we encountered seas of three to five feet. We knew we could expect only worse if we headed further out. Later in the morning the seas did calm a little. We did the best we could, which was two keeper lane snapper, two keeper mangrove snapper, a 24 inch Spanish mackerel, a 14 inch pompano, and a half dozen whitebone porgies. We released grunts and grouper shorts.
Thursday, seas were 3-5 feet again and I didn’t venture out. By Friday, the forecast was for 2-3 foot seas within 20 miles again but I knew better. My two anglers, father and son team Terry and Mike Hopkins, wanted to give it a shot anyway so we headed out to 43 feet from New Pass, where we had three-to-fives all morning. When we headed in about 1:00, there were two to threes once we got to within 10 miles of shore. We fished with live shrimp and caught about 20 whitebone porgies to 15 inches. We kept seven of those, along with a 14 inch hogfish. We released the rest of the porgies, gag and red grouper shorts, triggerfish, blue runners and a three-foot sharpnose shark.
Saturday morning, brothers Steve and Howard Potash fished central Estero Bay with me on a decent tide. Baited with live shrimp, we caught three keeper redfish, two at 18 ¾ inches and one at 19 ½ inches, and a keeper mangrove snapper. We released small snapper, a ray and a 22 inch snook.
The photo-link shown is of a king mackerel, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/HarryKurtz-kingfish.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
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Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 253
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 11:17 am: | |
Monday, 4/21, I headed out from New Pass to 43 feet with Bill Story and friends. We caught a keeper hogfish, released a smaller one of those, and caught grunts, porgies and porkfish. A couple of the guys had good-sized gags hooked, but lost them in the rocks.
Tuesday, Ron Musick, Ron Allison, Justin Baker, Eddie Alfonso and Ray Vincent and I headed out to 26 miles out of New Pass to start, and ended up about 35 miles off Naples, fishing with live shrimp. We ended up with ten keeper yellowtail snapper and fifteen large whitebone porgies all around two pounds. We released more porgies, triggerfish and lots of gag and scamp grouper shorts.
Wednesday, in 43 feet out of New Pass, the winds picked up and made it a little sloppy, but it was an otherwise nice day on the water, with comfortable temperatures and low humidity. Anglers Tom Firth, his sister Wendy Borgman, and friends Brad Heckes and Fernando Morias caught three keeper mangrove snapper to 17 inches, grunts and large whitebone porgies on shrimp. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts to 19 inches, blue runners and triggerfish. We used a couple of blue runners on balloons to hook a couple nice kingfish, but both of them cut the line and broke off.
David & Janice Russell and their two young children fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with me on Thursday. The bite was slow but we released four snapper, five sheepshead and a spadefish during a morning of fishing with live shrimp.
Friday, Mike & Lea Connealy and daughter, Mandy, fished with me in 43 feet out of New Pass, where we caught mangrove snapper to 14 inches and whitebone porgies to 14 inches. We kept a few of those and released the rest, along with lots of gag shorts to 20 inches and red grouper shorts to 19 inches, grunts and porkfish.
Saturday morning I headed back out to 43 feet, this time with long-time customers Sandy and Rusty Hook, Rusty’s young son, Charlie, and family friend, Sam. We caught lots of porgies and grunts again and we lost a bonito when it wrapped around a crab-trap buoy after running out 165 yards of line. But young Charlie has the best fish story to tell: He had dropped a live shrimp over on a spinning rod with 17 pound test line. A small blue runner bit the shrimp and Charlie started to reel in. Just as he did that, along came Mr. 29-inch gag grouper to bite the blue runner, and Charlie ended up with a much bigger prize than he expected! With a little help from the captain, he landed that gag and was more than happy to be photographed with it!
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/capt-CharlieHook-29in-gag.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 252
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 7:58 pm: | |
Monday, 4/7, after a stormy night, seas were unsettled and it was pretty rough fishing with Tom Conrad, teenaged grandson Phil Conrad and Phil's friend, Peter Walspra. It was tough finding anything worthwhile to catch, with blue runners dominating the first three spots we fished. Finally, we managed to catch and release Spanish mackerel, a porgie, a 15 inch red grouper and a small goliath grouper. I was pretty disappointed with that, after the great fishing last week had delivered, but the boys had a great time catching the blue runners and I was glad we at least managed to catch a few other species, even if small. We saw a big kingfish at one point but he just wasn’t hungry, I guess, since he snubbed or bait.
Tuesday, Ron Musick, Hank Sherowski, Justin Baker and Bill Hoover fished with me in 45 feet out of New Pass. The wind was howling in the morning and we fished in three to four foot seas a good part of the day. We used shrimp and cut-bait and had a lot of kingfish action. We kept one of three kingfish we caught to 40 inches and lost about five more of them, including one that was over five foot long. Hank had that one boat-side when it rolled and pulled the hook, but we would have released him anyway so we at least had the thrill of the catch, though we’d have liked the courtesy of a photograph! We also caught a 32 inch Spanish mackerel and large whitebone porgies. We released triggerfish and lots of grouper shorts, along with blue runners.
Wednesday, seas were rough again and conditions were sloppy. All week long forecasts have called for two foot seas but nothing could be further from the truth. I fished with Marty Gmeiner, Bill Murphy and Dick Poterax. We had to stay fairly close-in, due to conditions, and fishing was tough. We caught some nice whitebone porgies, two keeper mangrove snapper, triggerfish and porkfish. We were bitten off once by a kingfish and we released red and gag grouper shorts to 20 inches, smaller snapper, grunts and lots of blue runners.
Peter Burtis and family fished with me on Thursday. Once again, it was a little too sloppy to get out too far, especially with small children on board. We fished a catch-and-release trip with shrimp in 33 feet at the artificial reefs off Bonita Beach, where the blue runners were once again thick. We also released a 20 inch bluefish, porgies, grunts and red grouper shorts.
Friday, fishing in 40 feet about 18 miles west of New Pass with Lyn Harned and friends Bob, Davis and Bob, we released another zillion blue runners, along with about fifty red grouper shorts, some gag shorts and grunts. We caught about two dozen porgies, two keeper mangrove snapper and a keeper yellowtail snapper, all on shrimp.
The kings were back when I fished with brothers Grant and Harry Kurtz and friend, Joe Tompkins on Saturday morning. Nineteen miles west of New Pass, we caught seven kingfish ranging 28 to 35 inches, kept four of those, and got broken off by a few more. We also caught a 28 inch Spanish mackerel, a keeper mangrove snapper and porgie, and we released grunts and blue runners. The kings seemed to like shrimp better than the blue runners this day.
The photo shown is of a pair of gag grouper, 22inches and 23 inches, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/BenGriggs-gags-22-23.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 251
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 7:40 am: | |
Monday morning, 3/31, the old familiar wind was back after a relatively calm weekend. With easterly winds it was still calm enough to fish near-shore at the artificial reefs. I did that with Brian and Marcia Wilson, daughters Nicole, ten, and Allison, 13, and Marcia’s dad, Bob. Brian caught a 15 inch hogfish, which is kind of unusual at the reefs. The group also caught five Spanish mackerel three of which were keepers, a keeper mangrove snapper and a couple of large grunts, all on shrimp. We released grouper shorts and blue runners and attracted a shark and a goliath with those blue runners as we reeled them in. We were broken off once by something large, most likely a goliath grouper.
Tuesday, my anglers, Jerry, Jill & Denise DeMars, Yvette-Gaff-Kleven, nine-year-old Jake Arnett, and sixteen-year-old Sarah Hobbe had planned to fish all day, but about noon, the light winds turned to 15-20 knot winds and the 2-3 foot seas turned into 3-4 footers out in 43 feet west of New Pass. We didn’t mind much because by that time we had caught plenty of nice fish and seen plenty of good action. As it turned out, the skies broke loose about an hour after we got in so missing the rain was another good reason for our early dockage. We caught two nice king mackerel, each between twenty and twenty-five pounds, using blue runners for bait. We weren’t fishing for kings initially, but when I released a blue runner behind the boat a big king skyrocketed out of the water to eat it, so I quickly rigged up some king poles and we caught the two nice ones. We also released a big king but he didn’t end up getting much of a reprieve because a ten-foot hammerhead shark got him as soon as we let him go—that was quite a sight to see! Young Jake also caught a keeper red grouper at 21 ½ inches and six pounds, and Sarah caught a nice 16 inch hogfish. The group also released lots of grouper shorts, small snapper, grunts, triggerfish, and porkfish. They kept a few large jolthead porgies, silver porgies and whitebone porgies. All but the kings were caught on live shrimp.
I headed back out to about 40 feet on Wednesday with Herb Guarascio and family. The action was a lot slower than it was the day before, but we did get one more kingfish about twenty pounds, caught on a blue runner. That fish tried to get back at me by flipping just the right way as I tried to remove the hook and hitting me in the chin...not sure who bled more, me or him! We also released gag and red grouper shorts and blue runners.
Thirty-five miles out of New Pass Thursday I had a pretty exciting and productive day of fishing with Bob Ericson and friends, Eric and Kent. We released a nine-foot bull shark and a seven-foot sandbar shark. We had sharks attack our catches numerous times and also were bitten off several times by big king mackerel. We also caught a couple of kingfish that were about 30 inches and released those. As for table-fare, we kept eight mangrove snapper to 16 inches, six yellowtail snapper to 17 inches and four large whitebone porgies to four pounds. We released lots more porgies. We caught everything on shrimp except for the kings and shark, which bit blue runners…well, the sharks bit whatever they wanted to!
Friday, that old familiar wind was back in our forecast and, though seas were forecast to be two to three feet near-shore, we had three to four foot seas at the close-in Bonita reefs, where I fished with Brookes Fishing Club friends, Jim Reed, Jack Kelly, Rich Cowen and Bill. Jim caught and released two goliath grouper, one about 15 pounds and one about 25 pounds. We also caught a 14 inch hogfish and a 14 inch flounder on shrimp. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts, small snapper and Spanish mackerel. We were also bitten off by a big barracuda.
Unfortunately, I had a last-minute cancellation from my Saturday anglers so I was unable to take advantage of the relatively calm winds we had Saturday morning.
The photo shown is of a 25 pound king mackerel, caught on a porgie on an offshore trip this past Tuesday.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/JakeArnett-capt-25lb-king.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 250
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 2:39 pm: | |
Another windy week began on Monday, 3/24. I fished in Estero Bay with Joe Goodall and seven-year-old son, Alex, Dave Bixby and Fred Irish. Alex has fished with me every year since he was about three years old, and he has turned out to be a full-fledged fishing enthusiast. We fished with live shrimp along the channel toward Wiggins Pass. Alex caught the biggest of four keeper sheepshead at 18 inches. He also released a 17 inch snook. Dave released a 25 inch cravalle jack. We also caught a 15 ½ inch trout and a keeper mangrove snapper, and released smaller sheepshead, jacks, ladyfish and a three-foot bonnethead shark.
Ross Christenson had been trying to get several sets of vacationing grandchildren out fishing for two weeks. Two dates had already cancelled due to weather and our final shot at a trip was Tuesday. With seas still kicked up and unsafe offshore, we opted for a catch-and-release backwater fishing trip with four of the Christenson grandchildren. Temperatures were in the forties when we headed out and a cold wind blew hard all morning. The tide was outgoing until it started coming in at the pass about 11:30 AM. The bay was extremely shallow. We saw several boats on the other side of the bridge waiting for the tide so they could head in. The water level was only about one foot behind Lely Barefoot Beach. Given those conditions, we were happy to have caught and released seven sheepshead (four of which were keeper-sized) and a ladyfish. We were thankful the kids were able to catch that many and also thankful that we were able to navigate back in without hitting bottom!
The Timbers family fished the artificial reefs off Bonita Beach with me on Wednesday, when seas were still pretty choppy in the morning. It calmed down some later in the morning. The group caught seven nice sheepshead, about 15 inches, as well as two keeper Spanish mackerel and two keeper mangrove snapper. They released blue runners and cravalle jacks.
Thursday morning seas were calmer than they have been in a while. I got out about 12 miles from New Pass with Stuart Norris and friend, Mike. We caught a 14 inch hogfish, a 15 inch sheepshead, Spanish mackerel to 20 inches, porgies, grunts and triggerfish, all on shrimp. We released gag and red grouper shorts.
Friday morning, Tim & Angela Cavanaugh wanted to play it safe in the backwaters with their eight-year-old daughter, Leah, onboard. They fished, along with a family friend, using shrimp along the channel by Wiggins Pass. The water was clear as could be and we saw lots of sheepshead, but they were reluctant to bite. We ended up with three keepers to 16 inches and we released smaller sheepshead, snapper and a cravalle jack.
Saturday, I fished a catch-and-release trip with Wayne & Nanon Foote, Dave & Dora Bush, Georgia Hulac and Diane Albright. We fished out to 35 feet, from New Pass, and used live shrimp. We caught seven yellowtail snapper, all around 15 inches, one 12 inch mangrove snapper, a 17 inch scamp grouper, large whitebone porgies, a small amberjack, blue runners and gag and red grouper to 19 inches. It was a beautiful day on the water without those gusty winds we have had lately.
The photo shown is of a 30 inch gag grouper, caught by angler Butch White on shrimp on an offshore trip before the windy fronts started to arrive.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/ButchWhite-30in-gag.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 249
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 10:32 am: | |
High winds were the theme on Monday, 3/17 so I stayed close in at the artificial reefs with Jay and Ellen Andreoletti. Still, we had three to four foot seas and it was choppy for the duration of our trip. We had a good morning of fishing, though, with live shrimp. We got into some cobia and released two of those at 30 inches and 31 inches. We lost one larger one too, after it ran the line out and broke off on bottom. We also caught four keeper mangrove snapper, a keeper sheepshead and a porkfish. We released gag grouper shorts. Overall, we had a productive and fun morning of fishing, despite the rough conditions.
Tuesday, winds blew even harder, seas got even rougher, and the bay remained bone-dry. I cancelled my fishing plans and hoped the wind might die down by Wednesday, but the wind howled all week long and Thursday morning also brought some rain along with the winds.
By Friday, the winds were still strong but at least they had shifted direction and the water level in the bay was better. Lee Larsen, son Kyle and friends Steve and Bud traded their gulf fishing plans for the backwaters. Lee caught a keeper redfish at 19 inches and we also got a pair of 13 inch sheepshead on shrimp. We released smaller sheepshead, snapper and cravalle jacks.
Saturday morning was the calmest we’d seen for a couple of weeks but there was a lot of rain out over the water. My anglers that day included a few young children and they didn’t want to risk wet weather so we ended up calling that trip, making the total week’s tally two out of six. This is not an unfamiliar story for the month of March but is nonetheless frustrating. There’s always next week…
The photo shown (click link below)is of a pretty 15 inch hogfish, caught by young angler Katie Koscher on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/KatieKoscher-15in-hog.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 248
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 9:45 am: | |
Monday, 3/10, seas were predicted to be calmer after a weekend of high winds and choppy conditions. With predictions for two to four foot seas offshore, we hoped for fairly calm seas close in at the three-mile and five-mile reefs off Bonita Beach, where I fished with Peter Kenney, Mark & Sue Auguster and their children, Mitchell, Alana and Regan. We weren’t so lucky—seas were three to four feet and building with a steady 15-20 knot wind. We hung tough and fished the reefs all morning, using live shrimp. We caught three keeper sheepshead to 16 inches and an 18 inch flounder. We released a 14 7/8 inch trout, just short of legal size, as well as small lane snapper.
Dan Howey and son, Chris, fished a shallow Estero Bay with me on Tuesday. We released sheepshead, cravalle jacks, ladyfish and whitings, fishing with shrimp along tree lines and potholes.
Wednesday, there were still some pretty good waves offshore, but it was a little calmer and allowed me to get out to about 27 feet with Tom Coleman, brother, Russ, and parents, Jim and Donna. We caught seven sheepshead to 15 inches, eight keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, two keeper lane snapper and seven Spanish mackerel in the 22 to 24 inch range. We released smaller lanes and mangs and we lost a gag grouper to a line break.
Thursday’s anglers, Ken Goretski, Paul Caruso, and friend, Tom, had originally planned to fish all day in Estero Bay but the tide was so slow it barely came in at all and the bay was shallow. We decided to come in at the half-day mark, after releasing two whiting, two cravalle jacks, five small mangrove snapper and a ladyfish.
Friday, seas were fairly calm until about mid-day. I fished at the near-shore reefs and out to 7½ miles with Ben Grigsby and his uncle, Ken O’Brian. We caught two keeper gag grouper at 22 inches and 23 inches, lost a bigger one when it came off the hook, and released lots of gag shorts and a 19 ½ inch red grouper. We also caught a 13 inch hogfish, and some porgies. We also released lots of blue runners.
Saturday the winds were back once again and with seas of three to five feet offshore, I cancelled my fishing trip and called it a week.
The photo shown is of a 17 inch mangrove snapper caught on shrimp by thirteen-year-old angler, Grayson Jacobson on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/GraysonJacobson-17in-mang.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 247
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 10:48 am: | |
NOAA has spoken and there will be no more fishing this weekend, so I might as well post the report for this week. Monday, 3/3, the winds were starting to kick up the seas again ahead of the next cold front so I fished near-shore with Rellan Monson, his wife and a friend. We caught seven nice sheepshead to 20 inches and had another one of those now frequent encounters with a monster-sized goliath grouper that ate one of the big sheepshead we had hooked. We also caught four Spanish mackerel to 23 inches and released lots of gag grouper shorts.
Tuesday, there were small craft advisories issued, with gusty winds and seas building to six to eight feet. I cancelled my fishing trip.
Wednesday, I fished with Roy Kelley and friends in Estero Bay, along the mangrove tree lines from Wiggins Pass to Barefoot Beach. We caught three keeper sheepshead all 15 to 18 inches and a 16 inch trout on shrimp. We released smaller sheepshead and trout, a 17 inch redfish, cravalle jacks and ladyfish. We lost a big red when it bit just after the small one did and broke off in the trees.
Thursday, skeptical about the calmer seas predicted offshore, Ed & Margie Bock and I decided to fish bayside. If seas were at all calmer it was to be temporary at best, just recovering from a rough weather front with a worse one on its approach. We fished with shrimp along tree lines and caught five keeper sheepshead to 18 inches along with three keeper mangrove snapper. We released cravalle jacks.
The big blow arrived overnight Thursday and with wind gusts of 35 mph and seas of 7-10 feet in the forecast, it wasn’t a good day for fishing anywhere. I cancelled my trips and will be spending the weekend on land.
The photo shown is of a goliath grouper, over six foot, released by angler Brian Distefano, caught when it bit a large sheepshead Brian was reeling in on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/Distefano-6ft-goliath.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 246
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 01, 2008 - 10:41 am: | |
Monday, 2/25, I fished with Mike and Lee Conneally, son Clint and Clint’s girlfriend, Anna. We fished the reefs off Bonita beach in calm seas, which was a pleasant change from the rough waters of last week. Using live shrimp, we caught five large sheepshead, but lost one to a seven-foot sandbar shark that Clint reeled in and lost another to a big goliath grouper that ate it boat-side. We also caught porkfish to add to the sheepshead so the Conneallys ended up with plenty of fish for dinner, even after feeding the shark-burglar.
Tuesday, with seas building offshore all day in advance of a strong cold front, Andy Ungar and Tony Pastore traded their gulf fishing plans for a morning of fishing in Estero Bay. We caught two fifteen inch sheepshead, an eighteen inch whiting, and released two cravalle jacks to three pounds and a 23 inch snook.
I cancelled my planned fishing trips Wednesday and Thursday, due to high seas offshore and low-tide, dry conditions in Estero Bay.
Friday morning, seas were predicted to be two to three feet offshore, but when I headed out with Larry Dahlburg and five of his friends, we had rough seas right out of the pass. We started out fishing with live shrimp at the reefs, where we caught nine nice sheepshead to 17 inches. When seas started calming down, we headed south and out a little further, where we caught three keeper mangrove snapper and released a dozen small snapper. We also caught a half dozen lane snapper to 11 inches and three Spanish mackerel to 24 inches before the blue runners moved in. we released lots of blue runners, along with triggerfish and gag grouper to 19 inches.
Saturday morning I returned to the reefs off Bonita Beach, this time with Carl Graham and Paul Long. We caught a 24 inch Spanish mackerel and a mess of sheepshead, kept three of the largest, and released the rest along with gag grouper shorts, smaller Spanish mackerel and blue runners. We had another encounter with a goliath that ate one of the big sheepshead as we were reeling in.
The photo shown is of anglers Margaret and Scott Danielak with a porgie and a trio of gag grouper caught on shrimp before grouper season closed, on an offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/Margaret-ScottDanielak-gag-trio-p orgie.JPG |
Captain Dave Hanson (Fishbuster)
New member
Username: Fishbuster
Post Number: 245
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 23, 2008 - 10:19 am: | |
I fished on a windy morning in Estero Bay Monday, 2/18, with Chuck and Steve Nebes. We worked our live shrimp along the channel from Wiggins Pass to Barefoot Beach on a catch-and-release trip that yielded two snook 20 and 22 inches, six keeper-sized mangrove snapper and sixteen sheepshead, ten of which were keeper-sized.
Tuesday there was a small craft advisory in effect until 9AM and seas were predicted to be choppy. My anglers included a few prone to seasickness, so they decided to cancel their plans to fish.
Wednesday I fished close in at the reefs off Bonita Beach, where it was still very sloppy for the first two hours of the morning, with seas of 3-4 feet. It calmed some by mid-morning and we ended up with five nice sheepshead, three Spanish mackerel a keeper mangrove snapper and grunts. We lost a couple of big sheepshead to the goliath grouper and actually saw a goliath eat one of those right under the boat.
Andy Unger, son David Unger, Tony Pastori, Jim Sistek and Bob Wilson headed out with me Thursday to fish in 39 to 45 feet of water out of New Pass. We had a good day of fishing, with a final tally of fourteen nice mangrove snapper to 17 inches, sheepshead to 18 inches, five hogfish including two keepers at 15 inches, Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, triggerfish and whitebone porgies. We caught and released a pair of 24 inch gag grouper and one 20 ½ inch red grouper, all of which are out of season in federal waters currently. I missed out on photos because of a dead camera battery, but I am hoping one of my anglers will send a few.
In 35 feet out of New Pass Friday, Emily Bowden, Bill Koscher, son Gary Koscher and Gary’s children, Katie and Kevin, caught a nice variety of fish on shrimp, that is, when we weren’t running from the dolphin. Every time we started getting lots of bites the dolphin showed up to spoil the fishing, but the kids enjoyed seeing the dolphin anyway. We ended up with a 15 inch hogfish, a few keeper mangrove snapper, a few keeper lane snapper, a 13 ½ inch triggerfish, porkfish and grunts. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts.
Saturday morning I headed out to about 25 feet, staying a little closer to shore because of the winds and higher seas offshore. I fished with Brad Clemons, Amanda McCrackin, Amanda’s parents John and Debbie McCrackin, and friends Kevin and Carrie Kelly. We released accumulative total of nearly 700 pounds of goliath grouper—one weighed close to 400 pounds and the other about 275 pounds, according to my estimates. Both bit large blue runners. For table-fare, we caught seven nice sheepshead, all 15 and 16 inches, on live shrimp. We released gag grouper shorts.
The photo shown is of angler Bob Carter with a pair of hogfish caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.
http://fishbustercharters.com/images/BobCarter-hogfish-pair.JPG |
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