• 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, "Strong winds persisted through the weekend. I fished inshore in southern Estero Bay on Sunday, 1/28, with Stan and Jean Dzedzy and their son and daughter-in-law, Dave and Debbie. The family used live shrimp to catch three keeper sand bream, a 15-inch drum, a 17-inch drum, and a 17-inch pompano. They released fifteen sheepshead shorts and two mangrove snapper shorts.


    Monday, 1/29, I awoke to light rain and fog, with another cold front expected to arrive over-night and into Tuesday. Seas were choppy first thing in the morning, and it remained misty after the fog lifted, but seas calmed a little by mid-morning. I began fishing at the near-shore reefs with Lee Larsens and his friends, Carey, Jerry, and Rick, but there was very little action there. So, as seas calmed down a bit, we ventured out further to about fifteen miles offshore. Fishing was tough everywhere, and I can’t recall the last time I saw such slow action at several of my typically productive spots. The guys used squid and cut-bait to catch and release two whitings, a few blue runners, one red grouper short, and a few grunts.


    With small craft advisories issued for Tuesday, 1/30, and predictions for seas of four-to-six feet, I canceled my planned offshore trip, which had already been rescheduled from the previous week’s rough weather!


    By Thursday, 2/1, seas were finally calm enough to get out about 23 miles west of New Pass, where I fished with frequent customers, Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonso. There were tons of little bait fish everywhere, and lots of undersized fish biting, but the guys were able to box some food-fish, consisting of three keeper lane snapper, a 13-inch mangrove snapper, two porgies, and a few nice-sized grunts. They released twenty-plus red grouper shorts and four mangrove snapper shorts. Everything bit on squid and cut-bait.


    Friday morning, 2/2, seas were calm when I fished a catch-and-release trip 19 miles west of New Pass with William Connors, Mike Connors, and friends Dan, Mark, and Pat. The guys used squid and cut bait to catch and release twenty-four red grouper shorts, a mess of grunts, and mangrove snapper to 16 inches.


    Winds picked up on Saturday, and we were back to choppy seas offshore, with a small craft advisory issued. So, Roman Jahnke and his dad, Tom, who were treating Roman’s son, Roarke, to a fishing trip for his tenth birthday, traded offshore plans for some inshore fishing on the flats of southern Estero Bay. The family used live shrimp to catch five keeper black drum to 16 inches, and they released ten sheepshead shorts, a crevalle jack, and two stingray that were each about three pounds."




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




    2.) Angler Steve McKey with a 15-inch sheepshead, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.
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