Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "Mike Jansen and extended family members, Chris and his young son, Colton, and Matt and his young daughter, Lily, fished 19 miles west of New Pass with me on a pretty calm morning offshore on Monday, 3/11. The family had fun catching grunts on shrimp, and boxed over twenty of those, around 12 inches. They released a dozen red grouper shorts.
Sandy Mintz treated his grandson, Tyler Karkowski, to a catch-and-release, backwater fishing trip in southern Estero Bay on Tuesday, 3/12.They used live shrimp to catch and release an 18-inch snook, a crevalle jack, and five sheepshead to nearly 15 inches.
It was extremely windy on Wednesday, 3/13, and seas were predicted to be two-to-three feet close to shore, but I knew they would be rougher than that. Ian McKinnon and family said they didn’t mind braving rough seas, having fished many rough days on the Great Lakes. So, we headed out to seven miles over rocky bottom so the kids could have fun at least catching a mess of grunts. The used squid to catch twenty-two of those, which was plenty for fish tacos!
Thursday, 3/14, was way too rough to head offshore with my planned trip, and I remained in port. Friday morning, 3/15, winds were only slightly calmer, and there was light rain for a couple hours, but Mark Ginnard and friends decided to brave it offshore anyway. We couldn’t get out too far, due to rough seas, and our near-shore catches included grunts and blue runners—not a whole lot to brag about. But everyone had fun catching and releasing what was there, using squid for bait."
1.) Angler Barbara Claassen with an 16-inch mangrove snapper, caught on squid 31 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.
2.) Angler Dr. Meir Daller with a 50-inch, near 60-pound cobia caught on a baitfish 31 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.