SW FL-Bonita Beach: Grouper, Snapper, Hogfish, Triggerfish

My first trip of this season with long-time customer and seasonal resident, Ron Musick, was on Thursday, October 2nd, our last chance to keep red grouper before the season for them closes. Ron was joined by Eddie Alfonso, and we headed out to about twenty-two miles west of New Pass. The guys landed two keeper red grouper at 20 inches and 21 inches, a keeper hogfish at 15 inches, four nice mangrove snapper all 14 to 15 inches, a dozen keeper lane snapper, and five 15-inch whitebone porgies. They released a lot of red grouper shorts, along with one smaller hogfish. Everything bit on live shrimp.

Long–time customer, Scott Saveraid, brought a few friends along to fish a catch-and-release trip offshore with me on Monday, 10/6. The guys wanted to battle a goliath grouper or two, plus fish for whatever else was biting. They caught and released a 100-pound goliath grouper, twenty-one mangrove snapper, six of which were keeper-size, a mess of Spanish mackerel between 23 and 24 inches, a 25-inch cobia, a 12-inch lane snapper, and a lot of blue runners. We were fishing 10-12 miles west of New Pass, using live shrimp and bait-fish.

Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonso, who fished with me the previous Thursday, fished again offshore on Tuesday, 10/7/14, ahead of a rainy depression headed our way. Fortunately, the rain on Tuesday was mostly inland, and we managed to stay dry. We fished with live shrimp, eighteen miles west of New Pass, where the guys caught two nice triggerfish keepers at 14 ½ to 15 inches, four keeper mangrove snapper 14-15 inches, a keeper lane snapper, a 15-inch whitebone porgy, and a mess of grunts. They also released a 50-pound goliath grouper, which bit a shrimp on a light spinning rod, making for a fun battle to the surface.

Ron Musick and Eddie Alfonso added three more people for their next fishing trip, which was on Friday, 10/10. Bob Mayer and his two sons, Mike and Brian, joined the group. Winds were a little stronger than predicted, but we did fine 18 miles west of New Pass, fishing with live shrimp. The guys caught and released seventeen red grouper, two of which would have been keepers had the season for those not recently closed. Those two were 21 and 22 inches. As for boxed fish, the group went home with four keeper porkfish, a brace of 15-inch mangrove snapper, a 14-inch grunt, and twenty-five whitebone porgies to 15 inches.

The photo shown is of angler, Ron Musick, with a 15-inch hogfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.


You can check out all of our shark and goliath grouper action videos at the following link.
fishing action videos