Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "Greg Haas and his dad, John Haas, fished near-shore with me on Monday, 12/14. There were some residual seas offshore, left over from a windy weekend, and winds were still blowing moderately hard Monday morning. But, even just 12 miles offshore, the guys did well with red grouper, all of which had to be released, due to closed season. Three of the four red grouper they caught bit on blue runners, and they were all would-be keeper-size, the largest at 25 inches. The guys also released a pair of 18-inch gag grouper and eight mangrove snapper shorts. They boxed a brace of 13-inch mangrove snapper shorts and two keeper lane snapper to 16 inches, all of which bit on shrimp.



Another near-shore trip went well on Tuesday, when I fished 14 miles west of New Pass with Brent Jones, Aaron Mead, John Rieckenberg, and Joe Miner. The group caught and released twenty red grouper, including six ranging from 20 inches to 24 inches. They boxed fifteen lane snapper to 13 inches and nine grunts to 12 inches. They released an 18-inch gag grouper, a 13-inch triggerfish and a 12-inch tripletail. The grouper bit on pinfish, and everything else ate live shrimp.



Friday morning, 12/18/15, just ahead of a cold front that was about to bring rain to the area, I headed into the backwaters of Estero Bay with the Lang family--Reese and Kara and their two young children, Nicholas, and Brooklyn. The Langs did not mind if rain cut their trip short, as they mostly wanted the kids to have a couple hours of fun on the water. Not only did they have fun, but the family caught a few nice keepers on live shrimp, over the couple of hours we fished the central bay. They boxed a 22 ½-inch redfish and three keeper sheepshead to 13 inches. They released a couple of sheepshead shorts, along with three stingray, the largest of which was about ten pounds. We returned to the dock just ahead of a short but heavy squall, so our timing was good!"

1.) Angler Annabelle McCalister with a 21-inch red grouper, caught on a baitfish and released, due to closed season, 20 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.



2.) Angler Marilyn Casper with a 24-inch red grouper, caught on a baitfish and released, due to closed season, 23 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.