Fishbuster Charters’ Captain Dave Hanson reported, “Monday morning, 8/12/13, father and son anglers Bruce and Mike Epstein fished with me 22 miles west of New Pass, where they used pinfish for grouper fishing and live shrimp for snappers. The guys did well, catching four keeper red grouper, one at 21 inches, two at 26 inches, and one at 27 inches. They also caught five keeper yellowtail snapper to 13 inches, a half dozen keeper mangrove snapper to 13 inches, and ten keeper lane snapper. They released lots of red grouper shorts and fifteen lane snapper shorts.


Above--Young angler Kevin O'Hara with a 25 1/2-inch gag grouper, caught on a pinfish on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.

Top right-- Angler Carmen Miranda-Sousa with a 4-foot sharp-nose shark, caught on shrimp twenty-eight miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.



Pat Cunningham had enough family members visiting to constitute a six-person trip offshore on Wednesday, 8/14/13. The family fished 22 miles west of New Pass, using live shrimp. Catches included twenty-five keeper lane snapper ,ten grunts, and a couple of whitebone porgies. The group released all but three of the grunts, along with red grouper shorts to 18 inches, blue runners and crevalle jacks.

Thursday morning, 8/15, with a few light sprinkles of rain falling, I fished inshore in Estero Bay with the Ponnozo family: Grandpa Jack, Dad John, eleven-year-old son Alex, and younger son, Jake. The guys were celebrating Jake’s eighth birthday with a catch-and-release trip. They used live shrimp to catch two keeper-sized redfish at 18 inches and 24 inches, six sheepshead to 15 inches, twenty mangrove snapper shorts, a 15-inch snook, a 13-inch black drum, and a two-pound stingray. They released all.

I had planned an offshore trip for Friday, but rain over the gulf and sloppy seas weren't the best of conditions for the family who had planned to go. They opted to defer their trip."