Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported,"After a chilly weekend, by Monday, 12/1, temperatures had warmed considerably, and morning lows were pleasant in the low sixties, reaching the low eighties by afternoon. Winds had calmed somewhat too, and with their easterly direction, seas were fairly calm twenty miles west of New Pass, where I fished with Mike and Bethany Lischer, Bethany’s sister, Allison, and the ladies’ dad, Donald. The group used live shrimp to catch thirty-four whitebone porgies, all measuring around 14 inches. They boxed ten of those and released the rest. They also caught fifteen 13-inch grunts, kept five of those, and released the rest. We also released twenty out-of-season red grouper to 25 inches, mostly caught on shrimp, except for the largest, which bit a blue runner.

Winds blew hard most of the week, and Friday brought some rain to the area. The next time I fished was Saturday morning, 12/6, in lower Hickory bay, on an inshore trip with Bob Eckle and friend, Ken. The guys used live shrimp to catch two keeper sheepshead, a 13-inch and a 16-inch. They released three sheepshead just under 12 inches, along with a redfish pup."

Angler Scott Erhardt with a 25-inch red grouper, caught on live shrimp and released and released 28 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.



Angler Dan Carey with a 21-inch black drum, caught on shrimp in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.