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Kings Here, Big Spanish, A Keeper Grouper, Permit: BonitaBch

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2003 11:49 am
by fishbuster
8) John Carmack and Bill Maslow fished Monday with us at the Bonita reefs. We caught sheepshead to 18 inches, Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, big porkfish & triggerfish, and lots of blue runners. We lost something big to a goliath grouper, but never got the big boy to bite. The Don Lewis party fished with us Tuesday, using live shrimp 8 miles off Bonita Beach. We again caught Spanish mackerel to 24 inches, sheepshead to 17 inches, porkfish, grunts, and a keeper mangrove snapper. The snapper have tapered off to very few the past several days, with Spanish mackerel now taking their place as the most abundant near-shore catch. Wednesday, the Fred Williams party fished the Bonita reefs with us, and caught Spanish mackerel to 26 inches, a 23 inch permit, sheepshead to 15 inches, and a keeper snapper and triggerfish. We had a great day of fishing Thursday with John Carmack and Bill Maslow again. We found the big mangrove snapper again, much further out, about 21 miles out New Pass. We caught about 35, and kept 3 limits of those to 18 inches. We also got a huge triggerfish, at 5 ½ pounds, a 35 inch king mackerel (first of the season), and a 34 inch Spanish mackerel, along with porgies and grunts, all on free-lined shrimp. We released gag grouper to 21 inches, just an inch short of legal, and red grouper to 19 ¾ inches, just ¼ inch short of legal size. The water was so clear we could see bottom in 45 feet. We spotted a school of thread herrings that was about ½ mile long and a quarter mile wide. The Bob Pumford party fished Friday with us, and we headed out New Pass again, as we did the day before. We caught eleven mangrove snapper to 16 inches, and released a bunch of smaller ones, along with lots of grouper shorts. We did catch one keeper red grouper, as well as lots of triggerfish and grunts. Saturday, the Celeste Enfante party fished the Bonita reefs with us, and we caught keeper Spanish mackerel and keeper sheepshead. The photo below is of angler Robert Flynn, with a pair of 18 inch mangrove snapper, caught on a recent Fishbuster Charter. Find complete info and fish photo album at www.fishbustercharters.com Image

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2003 9:52 pm
by RudyGomez
Welcome to the new Forum fishbuster and thanks for the report :D