Fishbuster Charters’ Captain Dave Hanson reported,"As predicted, winds began picking up Sunday afternoon, and they grew stronger by Monday. Offshore fishing was nixed, with seas building to uncomfortable and eventually unsafe levels. So, Tom and Brenda Landrith and friend, Larry Baumgartner, fished inshore with me on a windy Monday morning, 4/7. We fished around the islands just inside New Pass. The trio used live shrimp to catch two nice redfish at 24 and 24 ½ inches. They released stingray and sail-cats, and were happy enough with the pair of keeper reds.

Tuesday morning, 4/8, it was even windier than Monday, and heavy rains were predicted to hit our area by about 1PM. I fished in lower Hickory Bay, just ahead of those rains, with two fifteen-year-old anglers, Clay Galagher and Devin Neuman. The boys used live shrimp to catch a keeper black drum at 19 inches and a 13-inch keeper sheepshead. They released a few shorts, including a 17-inch redfish and a 21-inch snook.

Wednesday, 4/9, winds howled all day, with near gale-force gusts, and even backwater fishing would have been more challenging than fun. I happened to have a cancellation for Thursday, so I advised my scheduled Wednesday trip to defer their excursion to Thursday morning, when winds were much calmer. John and Ann Piccolo and their two young sons, Connor and Justin, fished with me on Thursday in lower Hickory Bay’s backwaters, 4/10, where they used live shrimp to box eight keeper mangrove snapper to 12 inches, along with a 13 ½-inch sheepshead. The family released a half-dozen smaller snapper and a couple of stingray.
Friday, 4/11, I fished 28 miles offshore in calm seas with frequent fishers Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonso, and friend Mike Tobin. The lane snapper bite was on, and the guys caught twenty-four of those to 14 inches, along with fifteen keeper whitebone porgies and some grunts. We released some blue runners, and also put one of those on some heavier tackle, which caught a 50-inch-plus barracuda, estimated at 45 to 50 pounds.
We photographed and released it, after it wore out both me and Eddie!

Saturday morning, 4/12, was reserved for my grandson, Cody Hennessey, who turned eighteen yesterday. We headed out 28 miles west of New Pass in somewhat sloppy seas that calmed down a little later, and had a great six hours of fishing. Cody will be feeling the soreness in his arms tonight when he heads to his high school prom! We caught a 55-inch, 50-pound king mackerel on a blue runner, with no steel leader: That battle lasted about 40 minutes, and we photographed the beast and released it. But the big-game battles weren’t over; an 8 ½-foot hammerhead shark bit a spot-tail grunt we had on heavy mono leader (again, no steel) with a big circle-hook, which was rigged for grouper. Another 45-minute battle ensued, and we got the shark to the surface for photos and then released him. As for food fish, red grouper were biting spot-tail grunts too, and we caught three keeper red grouper at 21 ½ inches, 22 inches, and 27 ½ inches. We released numerous red grouper shorts. Using live shrimp, we added to the box six keeper lane snapper, five whitebone porgies to 15 inches, and a mess of grunts to 14 inches."