• South West Florida Fishing Report

    Fishbuster Charters
    (239) 947-1688 http://fishbustercharters.com/Index.html fishbuster@comcast.net
  • Captain Dave Hanson is a native of southwest Florida. He has been fishing local waters since childhood, and has been fishing professionally for over fifteen years. He is Coast Guard licensed, and is a member in good standing of the Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce. He has been quoted and featured in several national fishing magazines, and he also appears weekly in the fishing reports sections of the local paper.

  • South West Florida Fishing Report

    Fishbuster Charters’ Captain Dave Hanson reported,"St. Patty's Day, Monday, 3/17, the leprechauns delivered some nasty weather. With winds and seas up to small craft advisory levels, and with probable rain on the way, I had to cancel my planned offshore trip and remain in port.

    Winds were still gusting to 25 knots Tuesday morning, 3/18, after a gusty day Monday and heavy rain overnight. The only good news was that the wind direction was beneficial for the tide in the backwaters, where I fished the island groups by Little Carlos Pass with Steve Davis, his son Matt, and his son-in-law Eric. Anchoring and casting is challenging in 25-knot winds, but the guys did well with sheepshead, catching five keepers to 14 inches and releasing some smaller ones. They also released some, shall we say, unusual catches—mostly caught by Steve, to whom we awarded the “trash-can slam” trophy: He managed to pull in a couple rays, a couple sail-cats, a baby goliath grouper, a humongous blue crab, a starfish, and a leopard toad-fish—all released a lot more quickly than we stopped our teasing!



    I fished inshore again on Wednesday, 3/19, not believing that the seas offshore would calm down so quickly, after days of high winds and disturbed weather. Doug and Ann Brady and their two teen daughters, McKenzie and Taylor, fished the islands by Little Carlos Pass, using live shrimp. Taylor got the catch-of-the-day, with a 19-inch keeper redfish. The group also caught an 11 ½-inch keeper mangrove snapper and a 14-inch keeper sheepshead. They released five smaller sheepshead, a couple of stingrays, and a couple of sail-cats.

    Thursday, 3/20, Gary Lovett and his friend, Bob, fished the backwaters with me. We timed our trip to coincide with optimal tide conditions, but it didn’t do us a lot of good. I fished in the same areas that had been productive for nice sheepshead, redfish, and black drum for the past several days, but the bite was slow and the water was muddy, with so much boat traffic in the bay. The guys released sheepshead and a couple of rays.

    Thursday, 3/20, Gary Mueller and his friend, Bob, fished the backwaters with me. We timed our trip to coincide with optimal tide conditions, but it didn’t do us a lot of good. I fished in the same areas that had been productive for nice sheepshead, redfish, and black drum for the past several days, but the bite was slow and the water was muddy, with so much boat traffic in the bay. The guys released sheepshead and a couple of rays.

    Friday, 3/21, it was calm enough to get offshore, and I headed out to spots between 18 and 20 miles with frequent customers, Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonso, Bob Meyer , and Richard Arnett. The guys used live shrimp for their many catches, which included three nice mangrove snapper that were all about 15 inches, three 11-inch lane snapper, six 13-inch whitebone porgies, five large grunts and an 18-inch Spanish mackerel. Gag grouper are currently out-of season, which was heart-breaking for this crew, since they caught three nice ones at 22 inches, 24 inches, and 28 inches. We released those, along with a dozen red grouper shorts to 18 ½ inches and three lizard fish to 18 inches.



    Saturday morning, 3/22, seas were a little choppy near the shore, but they were smooth 17 miles offshore, where I fished with Dr. Victor Luna, his six-year-old son Victor Jr., and friends Roberto Russi, Tom, Eric (with a c), and Erik (with a k). The group of six caught a brace of 14-inch sheepshead, a keeper porkfish, whitebone porgies, and grunts. But the catch-of-the-morning went to Dr. Luna, who reeled in a 48-inch king mackerel on light tackle. The group released smaller porgies, triggerfish shorts, and blue runners. In fact, it was a blue runner that caught the big kingfish. A couple of goliath grouper also got hooked, but broke off before they were reeled to the surface."
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