Monday morning, I fished in 30 feet off Bonita Beach with Steve Theobold, Linda Miller, Buzz Moore and Steve Hanson. Fishing was decent when the tide was running good, and we caught keeper mangrove snapper and porgies, but once the tide slowed so did the catching. The water temperature was 90.7 degrees when I checked it boatside--who can blame the fish for being a little sluggish?
Tuesday, the Stachowski family, who fished with me last week at the near-shore reefs, fished with me once again, this time in the backwaters of Estero Bay where we caught sheepshead to 15 inches and released small snook, cravalle jacks and snapper. One angler nearly had a nice redfish, but after urging it out from under the trees, lost it a few feet from the boat.
Wednesday I fished Fish Trap Bay and Intrepid Waters with Mike Aiello, wife Barbara, eight-year-old daughter Jenna, and six-year-old daughter Alexa. It was the girls' first fishing adventure, and they were keeping score: Jenna caught thirty-four fish, mostly snappers and cravalle jacks, including a couple of keeper snappers. Alexa caught seventeen fish, including a keeper-sized sand bream. They were looking forward to eating their catches for dinner.
Bay fishing Thursday with Jim Randall and friends John, Jim and Glen was good for redfish and snapper. We fished Estero Bay north of the water tower and caught three keeper redfish, two at 19 1/2 inches and one at 20 inches. We also caught keeper mangrove snapper and released small sheepshead, all on live shrimp.
The photo shown is of angler Joyce Cherubino with a 15 inch sheepshead (and a couple of redfish in the background) caught on live shrimp in Estero Bay on a recent inshore trip.
