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Fishing Report - Naples, Ft. Myers, Bonita Beach & Estero Bay
Capt. Dave Hanson
March 16, 2007
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sheepshead everywhere! Spanish too--Where's the kings? Bonita beach, SW FL report
Monday, 3/12, I fished with Jon and Rebecca Marty and Rebecca’s parents, Larry and Diane, in 45-48 feet northwest of New Pass. We caught plenty of good eating fish for the group, using live shrimp to lure keeper sheepshead, Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, triggerfish, grunts and porgies.
Tuesday, I fished some different spots with Louis Wolfe and friends, in about 30 feet, off Wiggins Pass. There were loads of small bait fish and blue runners everywhere, and I was hoping they might be predicting the arrival of the king mackerel, but no such luck yet. We did catch a dozen Spanish mackerel to 22 inches, sheepshead and grunts, and we released small gags.
I fished a windy Wednesday morning with Ralph and Kristen Daby, in Estero Bay, around Big Carlos Pass. We kept five pretty nice sheepshead to 15 inches and a mangrove snapper, and released lots of smaller ones. We also caught keeper Spanish mackerel in the pass, all on live shrimp.
Seas started building on Thursday, in advance of a cold front approaching. Brothers Bob and Eric Erickson and their dad, Kent, had planned to fish a full-day, but we took the first wave over the bow by noon, and decided we’d head in about 12:30. We did well with keeper sheepshead—a dozen of those to 20 inches, along with Spanish mackerel to 245 inches. We released smaller sheepshead and triggerfish, in 38 feet, off of Sanibel.
It was a good day for bay fishing Friday. The rains predicted never arrived here—they seemed to hit mostly south of us. In fact, the weather front brought higher than normal tides in the bay, which worked in our behalf. I loaded up on live shrimp, and headed out for a morning of fishing with Joe Goodall and his six year old son, Alex, Dave Bixby and Charlie Cinader. We fished up toward New Pass, and caught a bunch of nice sheepshead, keeping eleven of those to 15 inches. We also got a keeper redfish at 18 ½ inches, and released a 22 inch snook, along with the rest of the sheepshead.
The weather front doesn’t look like it will pay off so well for my anglers planning to fish offshore Saturday. With high winds and seas, and small craft advisories, we will likely have to cancel that trip.
The photo shown is of angler Kathy Yatteau, with a 17 inch sheepshead, caught on live shrimp, on a recent offshore trip.
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