SW FL-Bonita Beach:Snapperfest and a Big 'Cuda

I was off the water for a while—slow season here means time to do yearly boat servicing and maintenance. I did get offshore Thursday, 9/24, with Frank Reid and son, Tim. Seas were calm on the beach but a little sloppy in 38 feet out of New Pass. We released mangrove and lane snapper, along with a 40-pound goliath grouper, before we headed in a little early to get out of the swells.

Friday, October 2nd, I headed offshore to 73 feet, 36 miles out of New Pass with Randy and Susan Weestrand. We caught a bunch of good-eating fish, including whitebone porgies to 19 inches, mangrove snapper to 14 inches, yellowtail snapper to 14 inches and keeper lane snapper. We released red grouper shorts, some of which were painfully close to legal size, along with a 50+ inch barracuda. We used live shrimp for all except the ‘cuda—That one cut off two of our fish, then grabbed a third one and got caught in the lip with a circle hook. (see photo)