I fished with brothers Vinny and Bernie Avallone and families, over live bottom, in 40 feet out of New Pass on Monday. We had live shrimp and cut bait, but the fish were only interested in the shrimp. We caught keeper Spanish mackerel, along with twenty-three keeper snapper—mangroves and lanes—and triggerfish to 13 inches.
Tuesday, Jerry Shafran and I fished the tree lines in Estero Bay, along the channel close to Wiggins Pass. We caught a 20 inch redfish, a 13 inch sheepshead, and a keeper mangrove snapper.
Ernesto was the only one out on the water on Wednesday, and he pretty well messed up the fishing for Thursday too, with heavy rains in the morning, and unstable, windy conditions in the Gulf. On Friday, I headed out, ignoring my own instincts, and listening to the NOAA and local weather forecasters call for 2-3 foot seas. We took two four foot waves over the bow, before even getting out of the pass, and also encountered some rain. We about-faced, and decided to wait for a better day. Seasoned anglers know that the gulf doesn't calm down that quickly after a storm passes through, but sometimes optimism gets in the way!
Saturday, I was hoping the storms would hold off a while, when I headed out of New Pass with Mark Kusterer. We were targeting permit and cobia, about 30 miles out, with live shrimp and crabs in the bait well. We landed a 38 inch cobia, which put up a nice fight for Mark. We also caught some nice mangrove snapper to 15 inches. When the big black clouds started surrounding us, we were hoping the storm might blow over, but no such luck. Since it looked pretty ominous, we made a decision to outrun the storm, and come in.
The photo shown is of angler Greg Bedell, with a 24 pound permit, caught a couple of weeks ago on an offshore trip, with a live crab for bait.
