SW FL-Bonita Beach: March in Like a Lion; Plenty of Sheep

March definitely charged in like a lion on my first scheduled day of the month. Monday, 3/2, brought extremely rough conditions offshore with seas to fifteen feet. The tide in the backwaters was low, and it was cold and windy. I cancelled my fishing trip. Conditions were somewhat better Tuesday but still not good enough, with seas of three to five feet predicted, so I spent a second consecutive day in port.

Wednesday, the tide was a little better in the bay and I fished there on a catch-and-release trip with Chuck Nebes and his son, Steve. We released a dozen sheepshead to 15 inches, a small snook and an 18 inch trout, all on live shrimp.

Thursday, seas were predicted to be calm, with the wind shifting and coming from the east. But, it was rough in the morning, with a 20 knot wind blowing when I headed out of New Pass with Ron Musick and friends, Eddie, Alan and Hank. It calmed down in the afternoon to less than two foot seas. We caught a few keeper mangrove snapper, grunts and eight good-sized porgies. We released bluefish, triggerfish, gag and red grouper shorts, as well as smaller mangrove snapper and porgies.

Fishing central Estero Bay Friday with Ronald Haggin and his fifteen-year-old grandson, Johnny, we did well with sheepshead, catching ten of those to 18 inches and releasing lots of smaller ones, along with a crevalle jack. We also caught a 19½ inch pompano, all on shrimp.

Monty Robson, his son, Stu, and six-year-old grandson, Joe, fished Estero Bay with me Saturday morning. We again caught a lot of sheepshead, kept eight of those to 17 ½ inches and released the rest. We also caught a keeper redfish at 23 inches, on live shrimp.

The photo shown is of angler, Garry Jacobson, with a 15 inch hogfish (hog snapper), caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.