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Fish Tales: Rough weather equals mixed catches

By CATHY COTTRILL (Contact)

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

On the waters, a bit of blustery weather kept fishing reports to a minimum around the holidays, but things seem to be picking up a bit now.

Fishbuster Charters' Capt. Dave Hanson fished the Wednesday after Christmas in Estero Bay due to rough waters offshore. Robert, Justin and Jeffrey Hooper fished with Hanson around New Pass, where they caught a couple of keeper sheepshead to 15½ inches, and released smaller sheepshead, a 19-inch snook, and ladyfish.

"As often happens right after a cold front, the fishing was a bit slow, but we were fortunate to get some bites and to catch a couple of keepers," said Hanson.

Thursday, he headed offshore about 11 miles from New Pass and fished in 35 feet with Craig Royal, son Dan, and two of Dan's friends, Eric and Jeff. They caught keeper mangrove and lane snapper, porgies, grunts and triggerfish, and released short gag grouper.

Friday morning seas were a bit rough at first, although they calmed down pretty quickly. With a 6-year-old angler on board, Hanson decided the near-shore reefs and other near-shore spots would be the safest, best option. He fished in 35 feet with Harry Stephenson, son-in-law, Mark Smith, and grandson Harry Smith. They used live shrimp to catch three limits of keeper mangrove snapper, all 13 to 15½ inches, and released a bunch more keepers. They also got keeper sheepshead and porgies, and released gag grouper to 21 inches and red groupers to 18 inches.

"I think there might have been a few bigger ones out there, because lines were broken twice by something larger in the rougher waters early in the morning," Hanson said.

After some down time to bring in the new year, Hanson headed offshore again on Jan. 2. Fishing with brothers Mark and Tony Kapala in 35 feet out of New Pass with live shrimp, they encountered some 4-foot seas early in the day, but waters later calmed to 2 and 3 feet. The group caught seven keeper mangrove snapper to 15 12 inches, keeper sheepshead, Spanish mackerel to 22 inches, and whitebone porgies. They released gag and red grouper shorts.

Thursday, Hanson fished with Dr. Boyd Bowden and friends in 38 feet out of New Pass. They caught keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, a 14-inch hogfish, Spanish mackerel, triggerfish and whitebone porgies, all on live shrimp. They released grouper shorts to 19 inches.

Friday, the winds were blowing again, but Hanson fished the backwaters, so he didn't have to deal with rough seas. John Windsor, his son John Jr., and friend Mark fished down toward Wiggins with Hanson with live shrimp, and they caught keeper mangrove snapper and released eight sheepshead.

Saturday, Hanson fished in 38 feet out of New Pass with Dean Stanton and son Dean Jr. The bite was kind of slow, but they caught some keeper (14-inch) mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel, porgies and triggerfish. They released grouper shorts to 18 inches. The water temperature was 74.5, which is pretty warm for this time of year. Usually, the water is colder this time of year, and brings the larger sheepshead and snapper in closer.

On their way in, they ran through thousands of dead mullet about 10 miles off Naples. "I'm not sure what might have caused that large of a kill," Hanson said.

Capt. Rob Modys of SoulMate Charters recently guided Paul Bradley and Tony Montana of Bonita Springs, along with Bill Rau of Scottsdale, Ariz., in Matlacha Pass. The group caught lots of ladyfish, four sheepshead to 4 pounds and one 30-inch redfish using shrimp on white quarter jig heads.

Modys fished in Pine Island Sound near Chino Island with Kevin and Amy Grimm of Michigan. The pair caught six redfish to 19 inches along with a mixed bag of Spanish mackerel, bluefish, sheepshead and four bonnethead sharks. All the fish were caught using live shrimp on small white bucktail jigs.

There's been quite a bit of action just off the Sanibel Lighthouse bar, Modys said, with lots of Spanish mackerel on the early incoming tide, along with a few pompano.

Capt. Ron Kowalyk said recent action included a good snook bite in Hendry Creek, the Estero River and the Imperial River. DOA Shrimp and other jerkbaits were easily the top picks. Reds were smacking Gulp Shrimp and DOA Shrimp and Powerbait Shrimp worked well too. Ladyfish, jacks, trout, pompano and flounder were actively feeding on the drifts in 3-6 feet of water. All manner of jigs and flies worked pretty well.

Pine Island Sound and Matlacha gave up numbers of rat reds, a few slot fish and numbers of mixed size snook. The trout drifts in San Carlos Bay were generous, but most of the fish were shorts.

"That's still a good sign, though, as stocks seem to be on a rebound," Kowalyk said. "The Caloosahatchee had good release snook action and loads of giant jacks that kept sporty fly guys in the fray. We are seeing some baby tarpon in the canals off the Caloosahatchee and the feeder creeks of the Estero Bay. Good stuff all around. Afternoon water temps were a fish-comfortable 70 plus degree range much of the week."

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.