Fishbuster Charters’ Captain Dave Hanson reported,"Monday, 11/25, high winds and rough seas cancelled out my planned offshore fishing trip. It was the beginning of a week of rough weather, including seas of up to 14 feet offshore. I was able to fish in the backwaters on Tuesday, 11/26, though. It was very windy, but the tide was up, making for favorable fishing conditions in Estero Bay. I fished with Al Tooley and his two sons, Jeff and Aiden. The guys did well, fishing with live shrimp. Catches included a 25-inch keeper redfish, an 18-inch keeper black drum, and five keeper sheepshead, two at 13 inches and three at 14 inches.

Wednesday, an even stronger weather front arrived on schedule, with rain, gusty winds and seas of 14 to 16 feet offshore. I rescheduled my trip planned for that day, deferring to Saturday.



Friday morning, the day after a day off the water for Thanksgiving with family, I fished again in Estero Bay and again in very windy conditions. Jack Glendenning, his son John, and two grandsons, Tommy and Jack Jr., fished with live shrimp and did pretty well with redfish and sheepshead. They caught a keeper red at 19 ½ inches, and released a 17-inch redfish. The boys caught sixteen sheepshead in all, four of which were keepers to 18 inches. Tommy also caught a 14-inch black drum, and the group released smaller drum, some ladyfish and a couple of stingrays.

As it turned out, Saturday's seas were no kinder to my deferred offshore trip than wednesday''s were. With seas offshore still three-to-five feet, we were forced to cancel for a second time."