Red Grouper out New Pass: SW FL Fishbuster Dave
Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:13 pmMy offshore trips for Monday and Tuesday were cancelled, due to a weather front that brought rain, winds, and rough seas. Wednesday, happy to see the sun, I fished with Ron & Michelle Prestamer and family, in 27 feet off Naples. We released about twenty yellowtail snapper just short of keeper size, along with red grouper to 17 inches, and caught mangrove snapper, porkfish, and grunts. The porpoise were relentless out there—fun to watch, but an annoyance in terms of fishing.
Harold King, son Mark, and grandson Josh fished with me Thursday, 28 miles off New Pass in 58 feet. We started out using Spanish sardines, and caught a few keeper red grouper. The tide changed, and the bite slowed, and we started catching pinfish, squirrel fish, grunts, and tomtates, which we threw in the live well. We moved a couple hundred yards, re-anchored on another spot of hard bottom (with potholes, so it resembles Swiss cheese), and dropped our live bait over. We had no bites for a few minutes, so we pulled up the baits, cut them in half, and tried fishing with cut-bait. Using the head portions only, we got two more 25 inch grouper. They seemed to like the grunt heads best. We ended up catching our limit (new limits are two per angler), a total of six red grouper. We caught about 75 grouper in all out there, released the shorts, and had a lot of action and fun.
Friday, I headed back out 28 miles from New Pass with Don & Sandy Crossen and son, Brian. We caught a 25 inch red grouper, and released about 40 others which were just short of keeper size. We moved several times when the tide slacked off and the bite slowed. We re-anchored over bottom that had some higher rocks on it, and caught keeper mangrove snapper and triggerfish there. Later, we decided to see if any sharks were around, so we dropped a large piece of cut-bait over, and caught and released a six foot nurse shark.
I fished Saturday with Carl Graham and friend, Walt, 21 miles out New Pass, where we caught mangrove snapper and fifteen lane snapper.
Harold King, son Mark, and grandson Josh fished with me Thursday, 28 miles off New Pass in 58 feet. We started out using Spanish sardines, and caught a few keeper red grouper. The tide changed, and the bite slowed, and we started catching pinfish, squirrel fish, grunts, and tomtates, which we threw in the live well. We moved a couple hundred yards, re-anchored on another spot of hard bottom (with potholes, so it resembles Swiss cheese), and dropped our live bait over. We had no bites for a few minutes, so we pulled up the baits, cut them in half, and tried fishing with cut-bait. Using the head portions only, we got two more 25 inch grouper. They seemed to like the grunt heads best. We ended up catching our limit (new limits are two per angler), a total of six red grouper. We caught about 75 grouper in all out there, released the shorts, and had a lot of action and fun.
Friday, I headed back out 28 miles from New Pass with Don & Sandy Crossen and son, Brian. We caught a 25 inch red grouper, and released about 40 others which were just short of keeper size. We moved several times when the tide slacked off and the bite slowed. We re-anchored over bottom that had some higher rocks on it, and caught keeper mangrove snapper and triggerfish there. Later, we decided to see if any sharks were around, so we dropped a large piece of cut-bait over, and caught and released a six foot nurse shark.
I fished Saturday with Carl Graham and friend, Walt, 21 miles out New Pass, where we caught mangrove snapper and fifteen lane snapper.