Fishbuster Charters’ Captain Dave Hanson reported,"Monday morning, 3/31, it was a hard call on whether to fish offshore or inshore for the Frantz family--Mike and Sue, daughter Kim, and grandson Kevin. After many days of wind and high seas, predictions were for calmer conditions, with two-to three foot seas, but winds were still blowing pretty strong. The family had already fished one trip in the backwaters with me a few weeks ago and wanted to experience some gulf fishing. Another consideration was the low tide conditions in the bay. So we decided on the near-shore reefs. Even there, at three miles and six miles off the beach, conditions were sloppy in the early hours, and fishing was tough. It was the first time I had seen so many sail-cats at the reefs, perhaps because of the influx of fresh water with all the recent rain. The group caught and released several of those, along with some grunts, mangrove snapper shorts, and sheepshead to 12 inches.



Tuesday, 4/1, seas were calmer than they had been in a good while, and I got out 28 miles that April Fools’ Day with Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonso, and friend Wayne, along with Wayne’s son, Ryan. We had steady action all day, and the group caught a big yellowtail snapper at 17 inches, a 13-inch mangrove snapper, three keeper lane snapper, twenty porgies to 14 inches, and a 22-inch Spanish mackerel, all on shrimp. We could have caught more yellowtails, had it not been for the greedy goliath grouper that invaded our fishing hole! We used a blue runner for bait to catch and release a six-foot sandbar shark. The group also released twenty-five red grouper shorts.
Two father-son teams fished offshore, about 18 miles west of New Pass, with me on Wednesday morning, 4/2. The foursome, Rick and Matt Kuster and Scot and Cale Barnes, had a productive morning of fishing, boxing fifteen lane snapper keepers to 12 inches, two 13 ½-inch hogfish, grunts, porgies, and a 24-inch red grouper. They released fifteen red grouper shorts. All were caught on live shrimp, except the keeper red grouper, which bit a pinfish.
Thursday morning, 4/3, I fished on an outgoing tide in Estero Bay, by Horseshoe Key, with John and Toni Heinrich. The couple used live shrimp to catch two keeper sheepshead at 14 inches and 18 inches. They released smaller sheepshead, along with a 17 ½-inch redfish.
Friday, 4/4, I fished offshore, though seas were rougher than predicted. But my three hardy anglers, Tim Peterson, his son, Michael, and friend, Scott Hayes, didn’t mind the seas, and did well fishing with live shrimp 27 miles west of New Pass. The group caught a brace of keeper red grouper at 21 inches, and released numerous red grouper shorts, along with blue runners. Also added to the box were fifteen whitebone porgies to15 inches and two keeper lane snapper.
Saturday, 4/5, I headed offshore about 27 miles on a nice calm day, with Tom Anderson and his young sons, Chris and Ben. The guys used live shrimp to catch most everything, except for a 21-inch, keeper red grouper that bit a spot-tail grunt. They released twenty-five red grouper shorts to 19 inches, along with lots of blue runners. They also caught twenty keeper lane snapper to 13 inches and some large grunts, which they added to the box with the keeper grouper, and decided to release the rest of their catches, which included twenty whitebone porgies, and a 24-inch king mackerel."