Big snook, redfish, lanes, yellowtails, mangs: Bonita Beach,
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:39 pmI had planned to fish a lot more this past week, but several folks cancelled trips because they had heard negative things about the impact of red tide. By the end of the week, Hurricane Wilma was the problem, so I managed to get just a couple of trips in, one gulfside, and one bayside.
Wednesday, we tried fishing close-in, with 2-4 foot seas predicted offshore, but there was nothing worth catching as far out as 17 miles. We caught a mangrove snapper and some grunts, then decided to head out further to look for something better. We ended up fishing 28 miles west of New Pass, where we caught a dozen keeper lane snapper, and several keeper mangrove snapper. We released about fifty mangrove snapper that were just a quarter inch short of legal size. We also released lots of short yellowtails, as well as a black tip shark and a lemon shark, each about 4 foot long. We used live shrimp and cut pinfish for bait.
Thursday, I fished Estero Bay, by the channel toward Wiggins Pass. We caught a 33 inch snook (photo shown). It bit real light, and we thought we’d lost it, whenwhe saw the line swimming back toward us, set the hook, and reeled him in. We also released a 22 ½ inch snook and two smaller ones about 14 inches. We also caught a 23 inch redfish, and released five sheepshead, all on live shrimp.
Wednesday, we tried fishing close-in, with 2-4 foot seas predicted offshore, but there was nothing worth catching as far out as 17 miles. We caught a mangrove snapper and some grunts, then decided to head out further to look for something better. We ended up fishing 28 miles west of New Pass, where we caught a dozen keeper lane snapper, and several keeper mangrove snapper. We released about fifty mangrove snapper that were just a quarter inch short of legal size. We also released lots of short yellowtails, as well as a black tip shark and a lemon shark, each about 4 foot long. We used live shrimp and cut pinfish for bait.
Thursday, I fished Estero Bay, by the channel toward Wiggins Pass. We caught a 33 inch snook (photo shown). It bit real light, and we thought we’d lost it, whenwhe saw the line swimming back toward us, set the hook, and reeled him in. We also released a 22 ½ inch snook and two smaller ones about 14 inches. We also caught a 23 inch redfish, and released five sheepshead, all on live shrimp.
