Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "For Craig Seacrest and family, it was a toss-up as to whether to fish offshore or in the backwaters on Thursday, 8/24. The threat of rain was a concern offshore, with its timing uncertain, and with its potential to rough up the seas. The bay was at a low, outgoing tide. The group decided to take their chances offshore. Early on, we hit some rain for a bit, and seas did get choppy. They calmed down a little, but not enough to get out as far as we’d have liked. We ended up fishing the reefs for a while, which were not real productive, then ventured out a little further to twelve miles west of New Pass. The bite was slow everywhere, and the family caught and released a few red grouper shorts, a mangrove snapper that was just short of legal size, some blue runners, and a few grunts. We saw a big shark, as well as a few turtles.
Newlyweds, Brian and Rachel Lavalle, fished southern Estero Bay’s backwaters with me on Tuesday, 8/29. I had feared that the influx of fresh water brought by the tropical disturbance that had hung over our area for days could interfere with the bite, but I was fortunately wrong. Using shrimp, the couple caught eight sheepshead, including six keepers: one at 14-inches, a couple at 15-inches, a couple at 16-inches, and one at 17-inches. They also caught a 20-inch keeper redfish.
Bob and Lisa Gatesy fished southern Estero Bay with me Thursday morning, 8/31. The fish were liking shrimp, and by 10:30 AM, the couple had already caught eight keeper sheepshead to 15 inches and two keeper redfish to 25 inches. They released three sheepshead shorts, and decided to call it a half-day a little early, in order to get out of the heat."