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Fishing Report - Naples, Ft. Myers, Bonita Beach & Estero Bay
Capt. Dave Hanson
February 3, 2006
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
35 pound black drum: Bonita Beach, SW FL
The photo shown at right is of a the 35 pound black drum we caught offshore this past Monday.
Monday, I fished in 32 feet out of New Pass. Fishing was a little slow at first--we caught and released some snapper, grunts, and sheepshead. The action picked up when we landed a 35 pound black drum, which bit a live shrimp, and was quite a battle on 12 pound test! We photographed and released that one, then headed in ahead of the increasing winds.
We had hoped to fish offshore Tuesday, but with another cold front approaching, bringing high winds and rough seas, we changed our plans to fish in the backwater. Fishing was slow there, but we caught some keeper snapper, and released small sheepshead, and a 3 ½ pound cravalle jack.
Wednesday, I returned to the area where we caught the big black drum on Monday. At 47 degrees that morning, the air was chilly, and there were some rough seas first thing in the morning, left over from the front that passed through the day before. The bite was pretty slow, with water temperature cold, and with loads of bait fish on the bottom that ate our live shrimp. We caught keeper mangrove snapper, lane snapper and grunts.
Friday, just ahead of the next cold front, I fished the artificial reefs. Even close-in, in 18 feet, we had some four foot seas, with a stiff 20-25 knot wind all morning. We caught a nice sheepshead 19 inches long, and a 14 inch triggerfish. We also got one keeper pompano, and released two smaller ones, along with two baby goliath grouper and some small snapper, all on shrimp.
Saturday's forecast was dismal for boaters, so we stayed in port.
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