Friday morning, 10/26, I fished Estero Bay along the channel between Lely Barefoot Beach and Wiggins Pass with John Keener, teenaged son, Chris, and Chris' friend, Mark. The tide was pretty low so I wasn't sure how productive the trip would be but we had steady action and caught a few keepers for the guys' dinner too. We caught four keeper sheepshead and released two smaller ones, four keeper mangrove snapper and released ten smaller ones, a keeper sand bream and we released an 18 inch snook.
Although Darryl Metzger and his dad, Paul, had planned to fish offshore with me Monday, we traded those plans for some inshore fishing because of six to eight foot seas offshore. Even in Estero Bay it was very windy and very dry by the time we came in at the half-day mark. We caught some dinner, though, with a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 12 inches. One of the guys lost a nice redfish when it got snagged on the edge of an oyster bar. We released an 18 inch snook, lots of mang shorts, sheepshead and cravalle jack, all caught on shrimp from Barefoot Beach to Wiggins Pass.
Wednesday, the winds were howling but the tide was pretty good in the bay, where I fished with Marshall Swain, Ron Baldwin and Jim Chisholm. Marshall caught two nice redfish on shrimp—one a little too nice, since it was an inch too big to keep at 28 inches. We released that one but Marshall soon followed up with a 23 inch keeper-sized red. We also caught two keeper sheepshead and a keeper mangrove snapper, and we released lots of smaller mangs and sheepshead.
Friday's winds decreased a little, but not enough to get offshore, with seas stirred up from the gusty week still ranging 3-6 feet. I fished a catch-and-release trip in Estero Bay with Peder and Linda Engebretson. We casted shrimp along mangrove shoreline and oyster bars from Barefoot Beach to Wiggins Pass and released a 24 inch redfish, a 22 inch red and two rat-reds about 17 inches. We also released a 14 inch sheepshead and a 16 inch sheepshead and a cravalle jack.
The photo shown is of angler Mark Kinsel and young sons Sammy and Jack with a 23 inch redfish caught on shrimp on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.
