keeper red grouper, goliaths,yellowtail,mangs, redfish:SWFL

[fishbuster]

I fished Tuesday in 45 feet out of New Pass. Shrimp were in short supply, after the stormy weekend, so we used frozen cut sardines, and did well with snapper. We caught fourteen mangrove snapper to 15 inches, along with keeper lane snapper and keeper three yellowtail. We almost had a big gag grouper, but a shark decided he deserved it more than we did, and bit it on the way up. We ended up with a grouper head that measured 17 inches from the top of its head to its dorsal fin. We also released a 2 foot remora, which was probably riding on the back of the shark that ate the grouper. We released lots of gag and red grouper shorts, and got broken off by a couple of bigger ones.

I fished with me Wednesday in 45 feet, in the same area I fished the day before. We used cut Spanish sardines again, and caught a nice variety of fish, including a keeper red grouper at 21 inches, keeper mangrove snapper to 13 inches, and two nice yellowtail, each 16 inches. A young angler onboard wanted to experience some big fish, so we used some smaller snapper as bait for goliaths, and released two of those, one at 60 pounds, and the other 150 pounds.

I fished Estero BayThursday, using shrimp and shiners around the oyster bars and trees. We caught a 19 inch keeper redfish, sheepshead, and sand bream. We released seven snook to 22 inches.

I fished in 45 feet off New Pass Saturday. Seas had picked up some, after a very calm week, and it was a little rough early in the morning. We used cut sardines to catch keeper mangrove snapper and grunts. We released short red and gag grouper to 19 inches, yellowtail shorts, and had our lines broken a few times by bigger fish.

The photo shown is of a 23 inch redfish, caught on a recent backwater trip.