SW FL-Bonita Beach: 400 lb. goliath whips two of us!

Saturday morning, May 2nd, I fished Estero Bay with brothers, Steve and Howard Potash, and their wives, Loree and Bonnie. We caught three trout, two of which were keepers at 17 ½ inches, and we released two undersized snook and mangrove snapper.

A morning of catch and release fishing in Estero Bay with Paul Oleff on Monday yielded trout, Spanish mackerel and mangrove snapper, all on shrimp.

Tuesday morning, I was back in Estero Bay, this time with Bill Henry and John Kakatsh, fishing the oyster bars along the east wall of the bay. We caught a 19 inch sheepshead, kind of a surprise in the bay with the water so warm. We also caught and released a four-pound crevalle jack, two snook, 22 and 23 inches, and five trout.

Thursday, I headed offshore in calm seas with Mark and Angie Evans, Jeff and Richard Evans and Nicholas Quarterman. We caught some nice whitebone porgies to 20 inches, keeper mangrove snapper and keeper Spanish mackerel. We released red and gag grouper shorts and undersized triggerfish. The highlight of the trip for Mark was when we switched from light tackle and shrimp baits to heavy tackle with double blue runners—He and I hauled in a 400 pound goliath grouper, which we released boat-side after it put both of us on the floor of the boat, and looking more like a bar brawl than a fishing expedition!

A morning of fishing with Shawn Hennessey and Dave Johnson on Friday produced keeper mangrove snapper, triggerfish, Spanish mackerel and lots of red and gag grouper shorts, in about 45 feet out of New Pass, using live shrimp.

The photo shown is of angler Dan Bernardi, with a 19-inch pompano, caught on shrimp on a recent inshore trip.