Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "Monday, 4/13/15, seas were predicted to be two feet or less, but NOAA definitely underestimated those. I fished with long-time customers Clement and Evelyn Wong, along with their son, Nathan and daughter-in-law, Joy. Seas were three feet or more, about 18 miles west of New Pass, and we actually cut the morning of fishing short, as a couple of anglers were feeling a bit seasick. The family managed to catch a few keepers, though, before we headed back to terra firma.They boxed a keeper-sized mangrove snapper, porkfish, and five grunts. We also had a goliath on that broke the line.

Tuesday morning, 4/14, there were some leftover swells from Monday’s unsettled weather, but it calmed down offshore, with no early rains, and I fished 19 miles west of New Pass with long-time customer, Robin Latham, his niece and her husband, Jolene and Andrew Davis, and family friend, Chris McFarland. The group kept the twenty largest of thirty-five keeper porgies to 17 inches, along with a few of the fifteen 13-inch and 14-inch grunts they caught. They also released four red grouper shorts to 18 inches, one lane snapper short, and lots of blue runners. Everything bit on live shrimp.

Angler Nick Neher with an 22-inch redfish, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.



Captain Dave with a 29-inch kingfish , caught on shrimp 23 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter (no one else wanted to hold this one for the photo!)


Carl and Sharon Simonin and son, Austin, along with friends, Gina and her son, Logan, fished 18 miles offshore with me Wednesday morning, 4/15, using live shrimp. The group caught fifteen nice porgies to 16 ½ inches, along with a half dozen good-sized grunts. They released ten red grouper shorts.



Frequent customers, Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonso, and Richard Arnett, fished 29 miles offshore with me on Thursday, 4/16. The guys wanted to fish for grouper, and we used shrimp and a few pinfish to catch a bunch of red grouper--forty in all--but they were short of keeper size, with a few of them only 1/4 to 1/8 inch short. We had fun catching and releasing, even if we didn't get to box any of them. The guys did get five keeper lane snapper and five porgies to keep, along with a 32-inch king mackerel. They released a three-foot sharpnose shark.



Friday, 4/17, seas were rougher than predicted and definitely choppier than they had been all week. I fished 18 miles west of New Pass with John Pear and three of his friends. The guys used live shrimp to catch twenty keeper lane snapper to 14 inches. They caught one keeper porgy before the dolphins showed up at our porgy spot, putting an end to adding any more porgies to the box! The guys released five red grouper shorts and lots of blue runners.





Saturday, 4/18, Donnie Miles, son-in-law, Orry Andrew, and friend, Brad Wheeler, fished the east wall of Estero Bay’s backwaters with me, from Mound Key to the Imperial River, using live shrimp. The guys released three redfish to 17 inches, along with three sheepshead to 14 inches, and eleven mangrove snapper. They kept four of the good-sized snapper for dinner."