Winds and seas got in the way of a few fishing excursions the week before last, but I managed to get offshore once. I took Wendy Woodall and Bob Baker on a combined sight-seeing and catch-and-release fishing trip last Thursday. At the reefs off Bonita Beach, we released triggerfish, mangrove snapper and a couple of small goliath groupers, all on live shrimp.
The winds blew hard all weekend, and subsided only slightly on Monday. Harry Stephenson and son, Mark, braved the 20 knot wind and seas of 3-4 feet to fish the reefs off Bonita Beach with me on Monday. We caught keeper lane snapper and triggerfish, and released three small goliath grouper, a 23 inch Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, and hundreds of baby gag grouper, fishing with live shrimp.
Tuesday brought rain and another windy front that kicked up seas for a few more days. I finally got back offshore on Friday, with Bruce Fields, son Jeff Fields, and friend Charlie Jones. We fished in 40 feet out of New Pass with live shrimp. We almost caught a keeper red grouper, as we released them to 19 inches. I hope that is a good sign for upcoming grouper fishing. We also caught Spanish mackerel to 23 inches, keeper lane snapper, mangrove snapper, triggerfish, porkfish, and whitebone porgies. We released a small goliath grouper.
Saturday, I fished Estero Bay on a catch-and-release trip with Tom Kovacs and friend, Mark. We fished potholes and oyster bars from Wiggins Pass to New Pass, on an outgoing tide, with live shrimp and artificials. The shrimp out-performed the artificials, and we released small redfish, snook, sand bream, mangrove snapper, and sheepshead.
The photo shown is of anglers Jay and Charlie Bridges, with a pair of 23 inch redfish, caught on a recent backwater trip in Estero Bay.
