I fished Tuesday in 35-40 feet off New Pass, where we caught four nice sheepshead to 20 inches, a hogfish, a mess of lane snapper, mangrove snapper, and released grouper shorts, using live shrimp and pinfish.
I fished Wednesday 36 miles off New Pass, west of Sanibel. We caught four limits of mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, and lots of porgies. We released gag grouper, red grouper and scamp shorts.
With a front predicted to kick up seas again Friday, Thursday was the “calm before the storm”—It was so calm on the gulf, with a slow tide, that fishing was a bit slow 17 miles off New Pass. We caught keeper mangrove snapper, whitebone porgies, porkfish, large triggerfish and a large white margate (a type of grunt), all on live shrimp.
The cold front brought high winds and seas back on Friday and Saturday, canceling my offshore plans. The photo attached is of a 15 inch hogfish, caught on live shrimp on a recent offshore trip.