I fished Estero Bay Tuesday, by the channel, with Todd Kempfert and young son, Nick. We caught and released three Spanish mackerel, all 22-23 inches, five small snook, and ladyfish, using live shrimp and shiners.
By Wednesday, we were back to too much wind—Predictions were for 5-10 knots, with 2-3 foot seas, but we fished in 15 –20 knots, with 4-5 foot seas, 32 miles out New Pass. Tybe Larson, Jeff Sandeen, Dean Pauly, and Larry Vigliotti used live shrimp and other live bait that I netted to catch keeper lane and mangrove snapper, and a 25 inch king mackerel. One angler had a larger kingfish hooked, but lost it. We released gag grouper shorts and a 40 inch lemon shark.
Thursday, it was calmer, and I fished 17 miles off Naples with Marlin, Dan & Brett Cunningham. We caught some nice fish on live shrimp and pinfish. We got some larger mangrove snapper, at about 16 inches, a couple of yellowtail to 14 inches, keeper lane snapper, Spanish mackerel to 21 inches, triggerfish and grunts. We released gag grouper to 19 inches and red grouper to 18 inches. We also released three goliath grouper.
Friday, I fished with Jeff Holzinger and friends Kathy & Margie, 25 miles off Naples, with live shrimp. We caught a keeper cobia at 35 inches, some nice mangrove snapper, and porkfish. We released a smaller, 28 inch cobia, a 3 foot lemon shark, and grouper shorts.
