Fishbuster Charters’ Captain Dave Hanson reported,"Monday, 1/27, after several days of cancelled offshore trips and only a couple of tide-worthy inshore trips, we finally saw some nice offshore conditions. Winds were calm, seas were smooth, and temps were climbing back into our normal range. I headed out eighteen miles west of New Pass with Tim Brunkhorst, Todd Darland, Jeff Danner, and Jeff Holiday. The guys used live shrimp to catch five keeper sheepshead to 19 inches, a 15-inch hogfish, and a 17 1/2-inch mangrove snapper, and whitebone porgies to 15 inches. They released seven gag grouper to 21 inches and half a dozen red grouper to 18 inches.



Tuesday morning, 1/28, offshore conditions remained favorable, so I headed out 19 miles from New Pass with Brett and Mandy Ewig. We did have heavy fog for the first part of the morning, with visibility about 50 feet during our trip out (thank goodness for radar!) and about 150 foot visibility on either side of the boat, once anchored. Eventually, the sun burned the fog off, and it turned into a nice, mild morning. The couple caught a keeper red grouper at 20 ½ inches, four keeper sheepshead between 14 and 15 inches, a brace of 16-inch mangrove snappers, a brace of 16-inch whitebone porgies, and several grunts. They also caught and released two red grouper shorts, two 21-inch gag grouper, a hogfish that was ½ inch short of keeper-size, and five triggerfish shorts.

Wednesday morning, just ahead of yet another weather front, which brought rain and wind and cooler temperatures that afternoon, I fished inshore in the Hogue Channel area with Richard Pyper and Ronald Dupont. The guys used live shrimp to catch a 21-inch black drum, four keeper sheepshead to 14 inches, and three keeper mangrove snapper in the 11-to-12-inch range. They released ladyfish.

Thursday, 1/30, was a complete wash-out. It rained from the wee hours of Thursday morning into early Friday morning. I remained in port until Friday, when I fished inshore with Mike Connealy, his son-in-law, Brett Ewig, who had fished with me earlier in the week, and Rick Rosen. We had planned to head offshore, but with rain over the gulf from Naples to Port Charlotte, we changed plans and opted to fish inshore. We had good luck with sheepshead, using live shrimp in lower Hickory Bay.



The guys caught a dozen of them, six of which were keepers to 17 ½ inches. They released the shorts, along with a 13-inch black drum and a pair of ladyfish.
Alejandro Miranda-Sousa, George Mestas, Orlando Fernandez, Pedro Martin, and Nate Swan had planned to fish offshore with me all day Saturday, but NOAA’s predictions for more moisture over the gulf, with rain and heavy fog on Saturday caused them to make alternate plans. As it turned out, Saturday morning was minimally foggy, and the rain was scattered and light, so it was disappointing to have canceled a trip that day. I offered to take the guys on Super Bowl Sunday, and we settled on a little more than a half-day trip offshore, which allowed us to get out about 27 miles. The guys caught two keeper red grouper, one 22-inch on a squirrel-fish, and one 20 ½ inches on a live shrimp. They used shrimp to catch lots more red grouper, all of which were throw-backs. They added to the fish box one keeper lane snapper and twenty whitebone porgies to 16 inches."