Fishbuster Charters’ Captain Dave Hanson reported, “Tuesday morning, 7/30/13, I headed 22 miles off Naples with Brian Ritter and his daughter, Danni, joined by their friends Bill Sands and his daughter, Alissa. We used live shrimp to catch twenty keeper lane snapper along with one keeper yellowtail snapper at 14 inches. Danni used a pinfish to land a keeper red grouper at 24 inches. The group released lots of red grouper shorts and triggerfish shorts.
Above-Angler Ken Kardstadt with a 28-inch red grouper, one of four red grouper keepers caught on a grunt, 27 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
Top of page-Angler Kevin O'Hara with an 18 1/2 inch hogfish, one of two keeper hogs , caught on shrimp twenty miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
Wednesday morning, 7/31, Jeramie Sollman and his two sons, Tyler, age eleven, and Mitchell, age thirteen, fished a catch-and-release-trip with me at offshore spots ranging 17 to 22 miles off Naples, in depths of 36 to 45 feet. The trio caught two hogfish to 14 inches, ten mangrove snapper to 13 inches, thirty lane snapper to 14 inches, yellowtail shorts, seven 11-12-inch porgies, one gag grouper short at 18 inches, and a half dozen red grouper shorts to 19 ½ inches. They used shrimp for everything, except for the larger red grouper, which bit pinfish.
Carl and Christine Vellenga and seven-year-old son, Jake, fished about 13 miles west of New Pass with me on Thursday morning, 8/1. Seas weren’t as calm as they had been earlier in the week, so we didn’t venture too far offshore. The family used live shrimp to catch three Spanish mackerel to 24 inches and a 13-inch whitebone porgy. They released seven red grouper shorts to 17 inches and a 12-inch hogfish.
Saturday, 8/3, I had a great day of fishing with Dr. Alejandro Miranda Sousa, his parents, Raul and Carmen, Dr. Victor Luna, and Dr. Meir Daller and young son, Brenden. We fished 28 miles west of New Pass, using libve shrimp for all our catches, except for the groupers, which bit pinfish. The group caught six keeper red grouper, one measuring 21 inches, one at 23 1/2 inches, two at 24 inches, one at 26 1/2 inches, and one at 28 inches. They released twenty smaller red grouper to 19 7/8 inches. Added to the fish box were three 13-inch yellowtail snapper, two 13-inch mangrove snapper, a half-dozen whitebone porgies to 15 inches, , four 12-inch grunts, and ten 11-inch lane snapper out of the twenty-five keeper-sized lanes caught. Carmen battled a 4-foot sharp-nose shark, which she victoriously posed with, then released!"