Naples, Ft. Myers, and Bonita Beach 08-15-12

Fishbuster Charters Captain Dave Hanson reported, “Monday, 8/6, I headed out to 35 feet to fish with Brian Woeste, Adam Bodkin and Tim Powers. The guys wanted to experience the thrill of big game, but also wanted some food fish.

We started out catching blue runners and Spanish mackerel for goliath grouper bait. The guys caught and released a 70-pound goliath grouper, which bit a blue runner. They lost a bigger one that broke the line before they could reel him to the surface. Next, we set about catching dinner-fish, using live shrimp for bait. The guys caught seven keeper lane snapper to 11 inches, a half-dozen whitebone porgies to 14 inches, and a half-dozen Spanish mackerel to 24 inches. They released undersized yellowtail and mangrove snappers, blue runners, grunts, and red grouper shorts to 18 inches. Seas were predicted to be calm, at one-to two feet, but we had some sloppy conditions and two-to-three foot seas, even relatively close-in, ahead of some rain showers that followed us back to shore.

Wednesday, 8/8, I fished in 45 feet, west of New Pass, with father-and-son team, Tim Miller and Tim Miller, Jr. We caught some blue runners and Spanish mackerels to use as bait for big-game, and the guys caught and released three goliath grouper, 50 pounds, 70 pounds, and 80 pounds. After some rest and recovery (those goliaths exhaust every muscle in an angler's body ;-) we baited with shrimp to catch a few dinner-fish, which included six keeper lane snapper and a few whitebone porgies. The guys also released a 40-inch sandbar shark and a two-foot cobia. At one point, there were five cobia schooling by the boat, but we only got the one to bite.

I had planned to fish on Saturday, 8/11, but we awoke to thunderstorms, and it was still raining by 11AM, so we bagged the trip.

The two photos shown are as follow:

1.) Angler, Dr. Meir Daller, with a 23 1/2-inch gag grouper, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore Fishbuster Charter.

2.) Angler Jalissa Reever, with a 15-inch sheepshead grouper caught on shrimp in Estero Bay on a recent inshore Fishbuster Charter."