Fishbuster Charters' Captain Dave Hanson reported, "Wednesday, 9/14, Jim and Liz Llewellyn fished the Gulf with me. We had planned to head out about 20 miles, based upon the NOAA report of two-foot seas. But, once we got out a way, we knew that prediction was incorrect. Seas were rough, and we ventured no further than the reefs off Naples. We were also keeping an eye on a rain storm that had been predicted to move northeast, but was instead lingering over the coastline. So we fished in the driest, least rough location to be found, using squid. The couple released three red grouper shorts, a blue runner, and a 20-inch ladyfish. At one point, a goliath grouper bit on a fish being reeled in, but it was on light tackle and snapped the line. They also caught a trio of 13-inch grunts.



Thursday morning, 9/15, Michael Arnero and his girlfriend, Karen Tirella, fished Estero Bay’s backwaters with me, along the islands east of New Pass, using live shrimp. The couple caught two keeper redfish at 19 inches and 20 inches and three keeper mangrove snapper. One big red and one big snook got caught under the bushes and got away from Karen. But she did catch and release a 19-inch snook.



Joe Hogue, son Adam Hogue, and friend, Dave Piper, fished 35 miles west of New Pass with me on Saturday, using squid for bait. The guys caught two keeper red grouper at 22 inches and 23 inches, and also boxed three keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches and three yellowtail snapper to 15 inches, along with four porgies and a dozen grunts in the 13 to 14-inch range. They released lots and lots of red grouper shorts to 19 ½ inches, along with a few mangrove and yellowtail shorts. They also released a 30-inch sharpnose shark. Either goliath grouper or shark ate and ran with a couple of fish, but the guys ended up with plenty in the cooler."


1.) Young angler Xavier Wallace with a 22-inch red grouper, caught on a baitfish 20 miles west of New Pass on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.



2.) Young angler Billy Griffin with an 18-inch snook, caught on shrimp and released in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter.