• South West Florida Fishing Report - FL

    Fishbuster Charters
    (239) 947-1688 http://fishbustercharters.com/Index.html fishbuster@comcast.net
  • Captain Dave Hanson is a native of southwest Florida. He has been fishing local waters since childhood, and has been fishing professionally for over fifteen years. He is Coast Guard licensed, and is a member in good standing of the Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce. He has been quoted and featured in several national fishing magazines, and he also appears weekly in the fishing reports sections of the local paper.

  • South West Florida Fishing Report - FL

    Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "After Christmas-eve and Christmas Day off the water, I fished on 12/26 in southern Estero Bay, with Mike Rohrbacher and his grandsons, Mike and Matthew. The family used shrimp on a challenging outgoing tide to catch a 13-inch keeper sheepshead, while releasing at least a dozen short ones. They also caught a 14-inch black drum, and released a 15-inch redfish and a two-pound stingray.


    Tina Taylor took five young anglers with her on an offshore trip with me on Wednesday, 12/27. The group fished in spots ranging from 17 to 22 miles west of New Pass, using cut-bait and squid. They caught and released two dozen red grouper shorts to 18 inches, and they boxed seventeen lane snapper keepers to 13 inches, along with a few grunts.


    Bob Eckle, his sons, Nick and Jason, and their friends, Tyler and Brenna, fished 22 miles offshore with me on Thursday, 12/28. They used squid and cut-bait to release twenty-four red grouper shorts, along with a three-foot remora. They boxed a couple dozen lane snappers to 15 inches.


    Peter Halunen and his son, Clayton, joined by niece and nephew Johnny and Emily, fished 22 miles west of New Pass with me in choppy seas on Friday morning, 12/29. We had heavy fog to contend with early on, followed by some choppy conditions, but the group toughed it out, and used squid and cut-bait to catch and release twenty-five red grouper shorts and nine mangrove snapper that were just short of the 12-inch legal size for federal waters. They did box some food-fish, though, consisting of sixteen lane snapper to 14 inches, along with a mess of grunts.


    As 2017 was drawing to a close, I had hoped that the good fishing weather we had over Christmas week would hold steady. But on Saturday, 12/30/17, when I fished with Rich Driscoll, Sr. and Rich Jr., joined by son Jack and his cousin, Sadie, sea conditions changed by about mid-day, and got progressively choppier, as the winds changed direction and picked up speed. We had made it out 22 miles from New Pass, and the group used squid and cut-bait to catch and release nearly forty red grouper shorts, along with a few puffer-fish. They had a couple of good battles with shark also, but never got them boat-side, since they broke the line before that could happen. The family boxed a few food-fish, including three keeper lane snapper, some grunts, and a porgy."


    1.) Angler Kevin Scully with a mutton snapper, caught on squid and released 19 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.


    2.) Angler Stuhlmiller with a 16-inch black drum, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.
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