Monday morning, 12/12, I fished in Estero Bay with Roy and Chris Mittman and Todd and Lynda Cohen. Fishing with live shrimp, the group caught fifteen sheepshead to 16 inches, and kept two of the four keeper-sized ones. They also caught a 17-inch pompano, and released a 15-inch black drum and an impressive, eight-pound crevalle jack.

A few days of rough seas intervened before I got out again, which was on Saturday morning, 12/17, with Bud Glanzer, son-in-law, Chris, and friends Alan Bronson and Dennis McGuire. Fishing with shrimp in 43 feet, out of New Pass, we caught a nice hogfish measuring 17 inches, a keeper triggerfish at 14 ½ inches, five keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, twenty-five whitebone porgies, and a mess of large grunts. The group released eight smaller triggerfish, five smaller mangs, fifteen of the porgies, and twenty of the grunts. They kept the rest for a family dinner. They also released lots of gag grouper to 20 inches and red grouper to 18 inches.

Monday morning, 12/19, I fished in the backwaters of Estero Bay with Larry Baumgartner, his son Chris, granddaughter, Madeline, and family friend, Walt Barney. The tide was a little on the low side, but we made the most of it, and were able to catch a 19 ½ inch pompano and three keeper sheepshead to 15 inches. The group released seventeen smaller sheepshead, a few crevalle jacks, a 24-inch snook, and a six-pound stingray. We used live shrimp for everything.

It was still choppy well offshore on Tuesday, so Frank Barry, brothers Tim and Zack Rivera, and friend, Steve Flower, decided to stay inshore and fish the Estero Bay flats, with live shrimp. The group broke my previous record by two on the number of redfish caught in one morning: twenty-two in all! Only one of those was legal to keep, at 19 1/2 inches, so we released the rest, along with crevalle jack, ladyfish, a small founder and a 20-pound stingray. We also caught three keeper sheepshead, all around 15 inches, and we released some smaller sheepshead.

Though seas were forecast earlier in the week to be calming down by Wednesday, such wasn’t the case as of the early morning forecast that day. The winds continued to blow pretty hard, and Rob & Tracy Wessels , their son, Tanner, and their daughter, Maddie, decided to fish the backwaters, on my recommendation. The family caught half a dozen redfish, one of which was a keeper at 19 inches. They also caught two keeper sheepshead. They released eight smaller sheepshead, an 18-inch gafftop sailcat, and four stingray, the largest of which was 18-to-20 pounds.

Thursday, I fished Estero Bay again. With the winds still brisk, I expected seas to be rougher than predicted offshore again, and with the fishing so good inshore, Shane and Erlene Smith, Robert Darr, and John Robb agreed to fish inside. The group did well with live shrimp. They caught two keeper pompano at 15 inches each, three keeper sheepshead to 17 inches, and a 19-inch keeper redfish. They released seven smaller sheepshead, two smaller redfish, and a 20+ pound stingray.

I finished off my pre-holiday week with a backwaters trip with Bob Potts and son, Trevor, Friday morning, 12/23/11. We fished the channel down toward Wiggins Pass, using live shrimp. We caught and released a 20-inch sea trout (sea trout are presently out-of-season.) The duo also caught two nice sheepshead, 15 inches and 17 inches, and they released twenty-five smaller sheepshead. They also caught two 16-inch pompano.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL !

Tuesday morning, 12/27, just ahead of a cold-front's approach, I fished Estero Bay with long-time customers, the Tomlinsons. Vince and Jenny, along with their son and daughter, Mike and Katie, had fun catching lots of sheepshead on live shrimp. Most were smaller than keeper size and were released, but the family kept one 13-inch sheepshead to go with a 15-inch whiting they caught, for dinner. Vince also caught a nice, 17-inch trout, which had to be released, since trout are out of season for another few days. The family also released some big sailcats, small snapper, and a 16-inch crevalle jack.

Wednesday morning began chilly, with about 48 degrees and a stiff wind. But, long-time customers Steve Spitzer and Jalissa Reever braved the chill to fish in Estero Bay with me. Jalissa also brought her son, Joe Tusing, along. The tide was dead-low most of the morning, but the trip did well anyway, using live shrimp to catch three keeper sheepshead, all in the 14-to-15-inch range, as well as a 16 ½-inch black drum and a  20-inch, keeper redfish. They released lots of smaller sheepshead, along with a puffer fish, a 6-pound crevalle jack, and a 20 ½-inch trout. Let’s hope these nice trout stick around for the opening of trout season on January 1st.

Thursday, I fished inshore again, this time with Len Salefia and friend, Jim. We caught lots of sheepshead to 17 ½ inches, two redfish, including one 18 ½-inch keeper, and a 19-inch black drum, all on shrimp. The guys kept the largest sheepshead and the black drum for a fish dinner, and released the rest.

Friday morning, seas were finally calm enough to get out to the near-shore reefs. I did so with Dick Driscoll, his son, Rich Driscoll, and grandson, Jack. They were joined by friend, Steve Calhoun and his two young daughters, Emma and Sadie. The group used live shrimp to catch two keeper pompano, 13 inches and 14 inches, three keeper sheepshead to 16 ½ inches, and a keeper flounder. They released lots of smaller sheepshead and a couple of gag grouper, along with lots of Atlantic barbs.

I finished out the year by fishing in Estero Bay with long-time customers Casey and Heather Miller and their two adorable little girls, Megan and Maren. We used live shrimp to catch two keeper mangrove snapper 12 inches long, a 14-inch flounder, and six nice sheepshead to 18 inches. The family released lots of smaller sheepshead, along with two snook to 24 inches, and a 20-inch trout, which missed being in-season by one day.

It looks like the beginning of the first week of 2012 is calling for a cold-front, with some high winds and seas...in fact, my offshore trip for Monday, 1/2/12, the first one for this new year, canceled, due to questionable timing on the front and small craft advisories in the gulf...and Tuesday's predicted low temp of 34 degrees scared my planned trip for that day into rescheduling for Friday, 1/6.

But we'll do the best we can to get out this coming week. Meanwhile, Happy New Year to all!

After two days of windy, rough, unusually cold weather, thanks to a strong cold-front, I finally got back out fishing on Wednesday morning, 1/4. It was still a chilly 35 degrees first thing that morning, and seas were residually rough offshore, so Andy Oliver and Pat O’Neil opted to leave later in the morning and to fish the bay, rather than the gulf. We fished Estero Bay, down toward Wiggins Pass, using live shrimp. The guys caught a 17-inch black drum and a 14 1/2-inch sheepshead, both of which they kept for dinner. They chose to release a 19 1/2-inch (keeper-sized) redfish, and they also released two 20-inch snook and a dozen smaller sheepshead.

Thursday, it was finally calm enough to head offshore, with two-to-three foot seas, so I headed out about fifteen miles with long time customer, Ron Musick and his usual crew of friends, Dick, Fred, Bill and Eddie. We fished with live shrimp in 38 feet off Naples. The guys caught two keeper mangrove snapper, fourteen keeper lane snapper, a half-dozen nice porgies, ten grunts, and two keeper sheepshead. They released lots of mangrove snapper shorts, smaller porgies, a porkfish, a small hogfish, and lots of red and gag grouper shorts.

Friday morning was still chilly, but it warmed up quickly, and soon it felt like SW FL again! Seas were calm, and I headed offshore about 19 ½ miles west of New Pass to fish with live shrimp in 43 feet. Tim Gustin, his son Chase, and friend, Clark McCloud, had been waiting since weather canceled their original plans to fish on Tuesday—It was worth the wait: The trio caught seventeen nice mangrove snapper to 17 ½ inches, four porkfish, a mess of porgies, and grunts. They released some yellowtail snapper shorts, and decided to release all their other catches except the mangrove snapper, as they had plenty of those. They reluctantly released a 23 ½ inch gag grouper, which ate a shrimp, as well as a beautiful 31 ½ inch gag that ate a porgy. Gag grouper are currently out-of season.

Saturday morning, I had an inshore trip with Sal Rodando and Bob Walker. We fished Estero Bay, using live shrimp. The tide was pretty slow so the fishing action wasn't stellar, but the guys managed to catch a couple keeper-sized sheepshead. They released a 17-inch redfish, lots of smaller sheepshead and snapper, and ladyfish.

My next day on the water, after the weekend, was Tuesday, 1/10/12, when I fished with Ron Musick and friends, Dick, Fred and Eddie, all of whom had fished with me the previous Thursday. We headed out to 45 feet, about 21 miles west of New Pass to look for some of those big mangrove snapper I had been catching out there last Friday. We didn’t find any quite that big, but we did catch a half- dozen keepers to 14 inches, and released a whole lot of smaller mangs. We also caught seven keeper lane snapper, and released lots of lane shorts. We kept seven nice porgies out of a mess of those caught, and we released a few short triggerfish, along with about forty red grouper to 19 ½ inches. We used live shrimp for all our catches.

Wednesday brought rain and gusty winds, as another weather front approached. I remained in port. But Thursday, I fished Estero Bay with Robin Latham and Chris Welch. We baited with live shrimp, and caught five keeper sheepshead to 17 ½ inches—a 17 ½ inch, a 17-inch, a 15-inch and a pair of 14-inch sheepies. The guys also caught two redfish, one of which was a keeper at 20 inches, and the other one 17 inches and released. We also caught two keeper mangrove snapper at 11 inches each.

Monday, 1/16, after a weekend of rough offshore conditions, seas were calming down, with a forecast for two-to-three foot seas out to twenty miles. It was rougher than that, but it was calm enough for my hardy anglers, Bud Glanzer, Lee Larsen, and Alan and Wendell Bronson, all long-time customers. We headed out of new Pass to about twelve miles, where we fished with live shrimp. We caught twenty-two sheepshead, twelve of which were nice keepers to 20 inches. We also caught eight keeper lane snapper. We released about a dozen smaller lanes, along with fifteen mangrove snapper shorts, a flounder, some small gag grouper, grunts and crevalle jacks.

Thursday, I headed out of New Pass with frequent customers Ron Musick and friends, Fred, Tom, Dick and Eddie, to 28 feet. The sheepshead, snapper and grouper were biting well. We used live shrimp to catch seventeen keeper sheepshead to 17 inches. We released eight smaller sheepshead. We also caught seven keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, one keeper lane snapper, a 17-inch flounder, and one keeper triggerfish. We released ten gag grouper to 21 inches, along with four red grouper shorts. We used live shrimp for all our catches.

Tuesday, my frequent customers, Ron Musick, Eddie Alfonse, Fred McNeal, Dick Arnett, and Bill Ryan fished with me, about 18 miles west of New Pass, using live shrimp. We caught too many grouper to count--reds and gags, but no keepers, with gags out of season and the reds short, to 18 inches. But the group caught eight nice mangrove snapper keepers to 16 inches, three keeper hogfish to 17 inches, a dozen nice whitebone porgies, seven keeper porkfish, and a mess of grunts.

Wednesday morning, Mike McDonald fished Estero Bay with me. He caught a 17-inch black drum, a 16-inch sea trout and two 15-inch sheepshead, all on live shrimp. We released eight smaller sheepshead.

Tony and Tim Rolli, and friend, Ken Boemer, had planned to fish offshore with me on Friday. But the weather forecast was promising trouble on Friday, with probable rain and high winds and seas. With nothing booked on Thursday, I recommended we change their fishing date to Thursday, which worked out well for them. The trio caught three keeper mangrove snapper to 16 inches, some nice whitebone porgies, all about 15 inches, a mess of grunts, and a keeper hogfish. The grouper action was great again, as it had been earlier in the week, and we released three gags to 24 inches that would have been keepers, if not for closed season. We also released numerous gag shorts to 21 inches and red grouper shorts, all 18 and 19 inches, along with some short sheepshead. We used shrimp for all, 19 miles west of New Pass.

Friday was as promised: rainy and windy and rough. I remained in port. By Saturday morning, seas had calmed enough for me to get out to the near-shore reefs off Bonita Beach, where I fished a catch-and-release trip with Scott Severaid, Brian Matlock, Tim Brunkorst, and Tom Thoms. We used live shrimp to catch a 28-inch, 11-pound gag grouper and five would-be-keeper sheepshead to 19 inches. We released those, along with lots of smaller sheepshead and mangrove snapper.

Wednesday morning began a little rough offshore, but quickly calmed down and was flat by afternoon. I fished about 20 miles west of New Pass with Kari Vilamaa, Gary Wilson, Paul Kikendall, and George Dyer. The group caught two keeper hogfish, 14 inches and 17 inches, along with five nice mangrove-snapper keepers to 17 inches, a 17-inch mutton snapper, two 15-inch sheepshead, eight nice-sized whitebone porgies, and a mess of large grunts, all on live shrimp. They released porkfish, triggerfish and yellowtail snapper shorts, along with about twenty-five grouper: Reds to 19 inches and gags to 21 inches.

I had high hopes of duplicating Thursday’s trip when I headed offshore Friday morning with long-time customer, Mike Connealy, and three of his friends, Darci Simonsen from North Dakota, Rob Young from Kentucky,and Dan Bauer from Wisconsin. But the weather had changed, with the winds kicked up to 15 to 20 knots, which made for some sloppy conditions. Fishing wasn’t nearly as productive as it had been Wednesday and Thursday. The foursome managed to catch a few keeper mangrove snapper and lane snapper, three keeper porkfish, and some grunts. All the porgies were smaller than they have been lately, so we released those, along with three gag grouper to 20 inches and two 18-inch red grouper. We tried to do some sport fishing, with blue runners as bait, but even the goliaths weren’t interested. We did get to see a turtle skillfully eat the bait off one of our hooks without getting hooked himself—whew!

Saturday morning, the winds were howling once again. I fished a catch-and-release trip inshore, in Estero Bay, with John Boulger, Jimmy Hessel and two of their friends. We  released ten sheepshead, a 24-inch ladyfish and a puffer fish.