Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "Monday morning, 4/24/17, winds were howling, as they had been for several days and, with small craft advisories offshore, the Stevens family, Mike & Michelle and young sons, Ryan and Jonah, traded offshore plans for a backwater trip in southern Estero Bay. The family used live shrimp to catch six sheepshead to 18 inches, along with a spadefish, two puffer fish (a southern spiny puffer and an oyster-cruncher puffer), and a 3-pound stingray.

Wednesday, 4/26, seas were choppier than predicted heading out of New Pass, but they did calm down later in the morning. Bruce Debuke treated his son and three grandsons to an excursion 17 miles offshore, where the family used cut-bait and squid to box two dozen keeper lane snapper and a few grunts. They released eleven red grouper shorts to 18 inches, and experienced two sharpnose shark battles before releasing one 35-inch and one 40-inch.

Friday, 4/28, though NOAA had predicted two-foot seas out to 60 miles, seas were much rougher than that at spots 22 and 24 miles west of New Pass, where I fished with Roland Ross and his friend, Doug. The lane snappers bit well on squid until the dolphin showed up, so we boxed a dozen lanes and moved on. The guys added a few 13-inch grunts to the box, and released five red grouper shorts, before calling it a morning."

1.) Angler Karen Bach with a 24-inch black drum, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.



2.) Angler Bill Hutchinson with an oversized, 29-inch, redfish, caught on shrimp and released in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.