SUBJECT: SW FL-Bonita Beach: More grouper,snapper offshore and inshore report

Submitted by Captain Dave Hanson (69.136.16.112) from FLORIDA on

Sunday morning, 1/13, I fished Estero Bay from Wiggins Pass to Barefoot Beach with Kip & Lisa Price and their two sons, Aden, eight, and Cooper, four. We were a little worried about the rain that was predicted for Sunday, but as it turned out, we stayed dry all morning. Our mission was to let the boys catch some saltwater fish, which is something they don’t get to do in their hone-town of Denver. Using live shrimp, both boys had fun catching and releasing a variety of species, including sheepshead to 15 inches, mangrove snapper, pompano, whiting and puffer-fish. They were intrigued with the teeth on the various species and Cooper was most excited about “the fish with the bat-teeth” (sheepshead.) All-in-all they had a great time and topped off their trip with some fresh Florida grapefruit, also quite a novelty!

With seas of 3-5 feet on Monday accompanying a cold front and continuing into mid-week, I stayed in port. Thursday was even worse, with both rain and wind, so it was Friday before I headed out again. I fished with Eric & Tricia Walters and Mike and Bobbie Paquette, Tricia’s parents. We headed out in a dense fog and stayed that way for a good part of the day. It took some extra time to get to our destination, get our bearings and anchor up. But we had good success about 17 miles west of New Pass. We caught four keeper gag grouper, the 22 inch one on shrimp, and then a 25 inch, 26 inch and 27 inch on squirrelfish and blue runners. We lost a huge gag, probably about 25 pounds, when he twisted, rolled over the leader, and jerked the hook. We also caught thirteen keeper mangrove snapper, all about 13 inches and a keeper lane snapper on shrimp. We released porkfish and whitebone porgies and dozens of 15 and 16 inch bluefish.

Fishing with me in Estero Bay Saturday, from Barefoot Beach to Wiggins Pass, Tom Einson, Chris Scutt and Dave Baines used live shrimp to catch a good variety of fish. We caught a keeper trout, two keeper sheepshead, a keeper mangrove snapper and a keeper whiting. We released smaller trout and ladyfish.