SUBJECT: SW FL-Bonita Beach: pompano, snapper, sheepshead, flounder

Submitted by Captain Dave Hanson (68.51.246.174) from FLORIDA on

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.