Sailfish Sighting! Red grouper, mangs, lanes, mutton snapper
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 1:22 pmFishing Monday 20 to 25 miles off Naples with Kurt & Jenni, Eric, Rachel & Alex Robinson, and friend, Devin Cegelis, we caught keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches, some nice keeper lane snapper, large whitebone porgies, and a 23 inch red grouper, all on live shrimp. We released lots of additional red and gag grouper that were not quite keeper size, along with two sharpnose sharks, each about 3 foot.
The Greg Devol party fished with me Tuesday, on a catch & release trip off Naples in 35 feet. We caught hogfish, triggerfish, Spanish mackerel and mangrove snapper.
The Beck family—Ron, Sharon, Bill, Sonia, Desi & Chase—fished with me Thursday, 28 miles off Naples, where we used live shrimp to catch keeper mangrove snapper, keeper lane snapper and grunts. One highlight of the trip was the siting of a sailfish: in all the years I have been fishing this area, I have never seen one of those. This one was circling, about 15 feet off the boat when I spotted him. I had a handful of shrimp ready to bait hooks with, so I threw them out toward him, and he flared his dorsal fin, and showed us his beautiful sail—Then he was gone. Recently, Cap't. Rick reported siting a wahoo in local waters too. These are pretty unusual in our area.
Friday, I fished with Dennis & Jamie Riddell and Jerry & Linda Steplars, 28 miles out of New Pass. We caught two 23 inch red grouper, and keeper lane and mutton snapper. We released two 3 foot sharpnose sharks and a 3 1/2 foot bonnet shark.
Saturday, on a catch & release trip with Dick Wilson and friends Albry and Jill, we braved some heavy rain and stormy seas for a while. We released mangrove snapper, porkfish, triggerfish, grunts and red grouper shorts. We also caught blue runners, which we used for bait to catch a 5 foot nurse shark, and we fought goliath grouper twice.
The Greg Devol party fished with me Tuesday, on a catch & release trip off Naples in 35 feet. We caught hogfish, triggerfish, Spanish mackerel and mangrove snapper.
The Beck family—Ron, Sharon, Bill, Sonia, Desi & Chase—fished with me Thursday, 28 miles off Naples, where we used live shrimp to catch keeper mangrove snapper, keeper lane snapper and grunts. One highlight of the trip was the siting of a sailfish: in all the years I have been fishing this area, I have never seen one of those. This one was circling, about 15 feet off the boat when I spotted him. I had a handful of shrimp ready to bait hooks with, so I threw them out toward him, and he flared his dorsal fin, and showed us his beautiful sail—Then he was gone. Recently, Cap't. Rick reported siting a wahoo in local waters too. These are pretty unusual in our area.
Friday, I fished with Dennis & Jamie Riddell and Jerry & Linda Steplars, 28 miles out of New Pass. We caught two 23 inch red grouper, and keeper lane and mutton snapper. We released two 3 foot sharpnose sharks and a 3 1/2 foot bonnet shark.
Saturday, on a catch & release trip with Dick Wilson and friends Albry and Jill, we braved some heavy rain and stormy seas for a while. We released mangrove snapper, porkfish, triggerfish, grunts and red grouper shorts. We also caught blue runners, which we used for bait to catch a 5 foot nurse shark, and we fought goliath grouper twice.