SW FL-Bonita Beach: Grouper, Snapper, Hogfish, Trout & Goliath Fun

“No oil—No spoil
Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”

Monday morning, 9/20, I fished central Estero Bay with Joe & Donna Corso. The trout bite was active but most were short of keeper-size. We kept a 15-inch trout and released ten others. We also got two keeper-sized mangrove snapper, out of fifteen that we caught, and we released two 23-inch snook and a 16-inch redfish. Joe pulled a bit too hard and lost two nice reds under the trees, but we'll catch them next time!

Thursday morning, 9/30, after a couple of rainy days, I fished eighteen miles out of New Pass with long-time customer Pat Fitzgerald and his friends, Jimmy C. and Jimmy G. They wanted to feel the pull of a big fish, so we caught and released three goliath grouper to 50 pounds, using blue runners for bait. Then, we switched our attention to some table-fare and used live shrimp to catch four keeper yellowtail snapper, all 13 inches, five keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, a 25-inch Spanish mackerel, and two 14-inch whitebone porgies. We released lots of smaller fish of all those varieties.

Jason and Laura Faust, who were in Estero on their honeymoon, joined me for a morning of fishing Friday, October 1st. Seas were calming and were only two-to-three feet offshore, so we headed out to about 43 feet, where we caught a 23-inch red grouper, thirteen keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, a 13-inch hogfish, and Spanish mackerel to 25 inches. We used shrimp for all except the red grouper, which we caught on a blue runner. We also released three goliath grouper to 40 pounds, and had a generally fun morning of fishing in beautiful weather.

Mike Barnabee and his sons, Matt, Danny and Chris, along with another family member, Ben, headed out to about 43 feet to fish with me on a slightly sloppy Sunday morning. The winds were increased just enough to kick up the seas to two-to-four feet. The group had fun, though and caught a 13-inch hogfish, a few keeper mangrove and yellowtail snapper, and porgies. We also released a 25-pound goliath grouper.

Monday morning, 10/4, I fished a catch-and-release trip with Jim McCarty and his seven-year-old son, Alex. We used shrimp to catch and release fifteen fish in all, including two redfish, two snook, four trout, a ladyfish, and a half dozen mangrove snapper.

The photo shown is of angler, Jeanette Thron, with a 16 ½ inch hogfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.