Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "Monday, 5/11, seas were predicted to be two feet, but both winds and seas were higher than predicted 26 miles west of New Pass, where I fished with long-time, annual customers Doug and Wade Shepherd, father and son. We cut the planned full-day trip a little short, having caught plenty of fish and having had enough sloppy seas and heat by mid-afternoon. The guys caught three keeper red grouper, one at 22 inches, and a brace of 21-inchers. They released twenty red grouper shorts to 19 inches. They also caught eleven keeper lane snapper, and released lots of lane shorts. Everything bit on live shrimp.

Angler Bill Crockett with a 23-inch red grouper, caught on shrimp 23 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.


Tuesday morning, 5/12, Justin Padgett, Ty Cooper, Randy Parks, and Doug Winters headed out with me to 22 miles west of New Pass. The guys caught thirty red grouper, including a keeper at 23 inches, which bit on a bait-fish. The shorts, to 18 ½ inches, bit on shrimp. The guys also got twenty lane snapper keepers, and released several shorts.

Angler Brian Meyer with a 16-inch mangrove snapper, caught on shrimp 22 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.


Good friends, Alan Upin, Richard Gerstein, and Ed Blackman, fished the backwaters of central Estero Bay on a catch-and-release trip with me on Wednesday morning, 5/13. Using live shrimp, they released a 17 ¾-inch redfish, a dozen mangrove snapper including five would-be-keepers, and two stingray to ten pounds."