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Fish Tales

By CATHY COTTRILL (Contact)

Monday, April 23, 2007

Once again, gusty seas deterred fishing last week. The only correspondent we heard from was Capt. Dave Hanson, who ducked and dodged his way around big waves to get a few trips in last week.

Fishbuster Charters’ Capt. Dave Hanson returned from a long weekend family event hoping to fish offshore last Monday, but the winds that blew before he left were only worse on his return. With gusts to 40 mph and seas offshore at 10-12 feet, he had no choice but to cancel that day’s fishing trip.

Tuesday, his anglers said they wanted to give near-shore a try, despite predictions for increasing winds and seas.

"We headed out toward the reefs, and within 30 minutes, we had taken a wave over the bow,’’ said Hanson. "Seas were 3-5 feet. We reversed course and headed back to shore. The winds have been relentless so far this month.’’

It finally calmed enough on Wednesday to get offshore. Hanson fished out about 36 miles on a 250 heading from New Pass with Ron Musick and friend, Dick. They caught and released a 5-foot blacktip shark, and had what would have been three keeper red grouper, had the sharks not gotten all but the heads. That shark kept Ron fighting for a good long while. The group did manage to catch some eatin’ fish too, including a 16-inch mangrove snapper, keeper lane and yellowtail snapper, and Spanish mackerel. They released red grouper shorts to 19 inches.

"The sharks didn’t mess with those, but took all our keeper reds,’’ said Hanson.

Thursday, predictions were for 2- to 4-foot seas, but the winds blew over 20 knots all morning and seas ranged from 3 to nearly 6 feet. Hanson fished in 28-30 feet off Bonita Beach with Dr. Bob James, Bob James Jr. and Doug James. Fishing was tough in those seas, and they released a 21-inch gag grouper, a few grunts and porgies.

Hanson’s Friday anglers were driving in from Sarasota, and with seas predicted to persist into Friday and winds still strong Thursday evening, Hanson couldn’t guarantee good conditions, and they scrapped the trip.

Repetitious as it may be, the winds were blowing hard Saturday morning. Hanson’s anglers took his suggestion to fish Estero Bay. Peter Richards and his three young children, Marc, Danielle and Isabelle, fished with live shrimp in the area of Wiggins Pass. The kids had plenty of action and counted 16 hooked fish. Among those were four keeper mangrove snapper, a keeper sheepshead and a whiting. They released the rest of the catches, which included smaller sheepshead and a 13-inch trout.