Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "I don’t generally fish on Sundays but, having canceled several trips, due to rough conditions, I offered the calmer conditions on Sunday to the anglers who had been forced to cancel a trip that had been scheduled for Friday. So, Sunday, 2/8, I headed offshore with Gary Liesmann, Lenny White and Ted Davies. Seas were a little sloppy heading out, but calmed down nicely, as predicted, and we made it to 35 miles west of New Pass, where the guys fished with live shrimp. They caught and released thirty red grouper shorts to 19 ½ inches, along with two 23-inch gag grouper, which are currently out of season. Boxed fish included some huge porgies—ten of those were 19 to 19 1/2 inches—along with an 18-inch mangrove snapper and a 13-inch yellowtail snapper. The guys released about ten additional porgies that were slightly smaller than the ones they boxed.


Tuesday, 2/10, the winds from the cold front that arrived on the heels of the previous day’s rain were gusty, and seas were four to seven feet offshore. My fishing trip canceled, and hoped to reschedule form a better day.


Wednesday, 2/11, was moderately windy, much less so than the day before. But seas were in the three-to-four foot range offshore, too rough for Don Kalmey and friends, Jim and Bill, especially with Bill’s young grandson along. The tide in the back-bay was supposed to be incoming all morning, with high tide at noon, but we fished a very low tide that first started to come in around noon. The guys released a half dozen undersized sheepshead, caught on shrimp in lower Hickory Bay.


Thursday, 2/12, winds and seas were much calmer until late afternoon, so fishing in two-foot seas, 22 miles west of New Pass with frequent fishers Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonso, joined by friends, Fred, Kay, and Liz, was no problem. The ride back in, however, was a slow one, as winds picked up considerably by then. The group used live shrimp to catch four nice mangrove snapper to 14 inches, as well as a big lane snapper at 16 inches. They added to the box a dozen porgies to 14 inches, along with a few 13 and 14-inch grunts. They released fifteen red grouper shorts to 19 inches, along with an 8-foot sandbar shark that bit a bait-fish."




1.) Angler Jim Greene with an 16-inch mangrove snapper, caught on shrimp, 20 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.


2.) Angler Andy Hoadley with a 23-inch red grouper, caught on shrimp 20 miles west of New Pass a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.