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Fish Tales: Fish 'schooling' this week too

By KEVIN JOHNSON (Contact)

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Schools are back in session, both on land and in the water.

As area students returned to classrooms last week, fishermen chalked up big catches in schools of their own. Capt. Dave Hanson and Capt. Ron Kowalyk each reported good action throughout the week.

• On Monday, Fishbuster Charters' Capt. Dave Hanson fished with Roger Meir and Roger's 15-year-old son, Phillip, from Switzerland, at the reefs off Bonita Beach.

They used live shrimp to catch Spanish mackerel to 26 inches, along with keeper mangrove and lane snapper.

Good catches continued Tuesday in 36 feet out of New Pass with Capt. Hanson, John, Matthew and Timmy Duritsh, Ryan Gabbard and Ben Smalley. The group caught a nice variety of fish, including 20 keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, two keeper yellowtail snapper, two hogfish, Spanish mackerel and a 10-pound little tunny.

Capt. Hanson returned to the reefs Wednesday on a catch-and-release trip with Pat Fitzgerald and his two young sons, Jimmy and Tommy.

Using live shrimp, they caught keeper-sized mangrove snapper, lane snapper (some nice ones to 14 inches), Spanish mackerel, triggerfish, porkfish, filefish and pompano. They released all, along with a five-pound goliath grouper, red grouper shorts, ladyfish and small yellowtail snapper.

On Thursday, Greg Bedell and Capt. Hanson ventured out 40 miles northwest from New Pass, stocked with live shrimp, squid and crabs for bait. They caught three permit on crabs and released the smallest of the three, in compliance with bag limits. They kept the 26 pounder, and the 24 pounder, and released the 15-pound permit. They also got a 28-pound, 49-inch cobia. They saw a half dozen more cobia, and had a big one almost spool us, before it broke off. They also caught keeper lane snapper and mangrove snapper on shrimp and squid. All in all, it was a very productive day offshore.

Capt. Hanson ran the wrecks on a catch-and-release trip with Jim Pike on Friday.

"We spotted a couple schools of permit, and had one hooked for a bit, but he scrubbed the wreck and broke the line," said Hanson. "We released a 4-foot lemon shark and keeper-sized mangrove snapper, fishing with live shrimp and crabs."

Special to the Banner

Angler Gregg Bedell with a 24-pound permit, one of three that he and Fishbuster Charters Capt. Dave Hanson caught offshore last Thursday.

• Capt. Ron Kowalyk reported good action in Estero Bay and the wayback areas off Henry Creek, Shangri-La Bay and the Imperial.

"You had to cover real estate though to find willing takers, snook, baby tarpon and lots of jacks filled the bill for fly guys," said Kowalyk. "There were early morning sightfishing opportunities around Hell Peckney Bay and that meant the first light bite on the strong outgoing tides. We found some reds up in San Carlos Bay and hooked several mid-to upper-slot fish on shrimp and jigs rigs, lots of work though. There was a fair snook bite in the passes with big redfish running out of the bays on the early morning outgoing tides, big pinfish were the top bait weighted tight to the bottom."

• From Kowalyk's Captain's Corner:

The long rod, 7-foot-6 to 8-foot-6, came into play this week as we hunted down the tailing red fish and big sheepies. The longer than usual sticks provided the extra leverage needed to pitch the relatively light offering to the edges of the small pods of tailers.

Casts of 80 to 100 feet were the norm as the fish were very skittish in the shallow, clear, very warm waters. Reels with the tall spools, fully loaded with 10-to 17-pound braided small diameter line and lighter than usual shock leaders of 20-to 25-pound test fluorocarbon helped generate the extra long accurate casts needed to score.

Lightly weighted live shrimp, Gulp Shrimp and Power bait shrimp were all options that worked. Simple hook setups using a circle or kahled hook laced through the nose of the soft plastics and burying the hook point back into the head of the lure made for a weedless offering. Weedless gold spoons tipped with brightly colored curly tails also drew some strikes.

Lure and bait placement concentrated of the potholes and hard bottom patches whenever possible, allowing a cleaner, clearer shot for fish and fisherman alike. This patterns is tough but can be very rewarding when you successfully complete the stalking and experience the powerful take and accompanying run.

These fish tend to be of the upper slot variety.

Submissions to Fish Tales should be made by noon each Monday. Contact Cathy Cottrill at 213-6031 or by e-mail at cccottrill@bonitanews.com. Her fax number is 213-6099.