SW FL-Bonita Beach: Grouper, Snapper, Hogfish, Trout & Goliath Fun

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[size 2] “No oil—No spoil[/size]
[size 2]Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”[/size]
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[size 2]Monday morning, 9/20, I fished central Estero Bay with Joe & Donna Corso. The trout bite was active but most were short of keeper-size. We kept a 15-inch trout and released ten others. We also got two keeper-sized mangrove snapper, out of fifteen that we caught, and we released two 23-inch snook and a 16-inch redfish. Joe pulled a bit too hard and lost two nice reds under the trees, but we'll catch them next time![/size]
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[size 2]Thursday morning, 9/30, after a couple of rainy days, I fished eighteen miles out of New Pass with long-time customer Pat Fitzgerald and his friends, Jimmy C. and Jimmy G. They wanted to feel the pull of a big fish, so we caught and released three goliath grouper to 50 pounds, using blue runners for bait. Then, we switched our attention to some table-fare and used live shrimp to catch four keeper yellowtail snapper, all 13 inches, five keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, a 25-inch Spanish mackerel, and two 14-inch whitebone porgies. We released lots of smaller fish of all those varieties.[/size]
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[size 2]Jason and Laura Faust, who were in Estero on their honeymoon, joined me for a morning of fishing Friday, October 1st. Seas were calming and were only two-to-three feet offshore, so we headed out to about 43 feet, where we caught a 23-inch red grouper, thirteen keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches, a 13-inch hogfish, and Spanish mackerel to 25 inches. We used shrimp for all except the red grouper, which we caught on a blue runner. We also released three goliath grouper to 40 pounds, and had a generally fun morning of fishing in beautiful weather.[/size]
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[size 2]Mike Barnabee and his sons, Matt, Danny and Chris, along with another family member, Ben, headed out to about 43 feet to fish with me on a slightly sloppy Sunday morning. The winds were increased just enough to kick up the seas to two-to-four feet. The group had fun, though and caught a 13-inch hogfish, a few keeper mangrove and yellowtail snapper, and porgies. We also released a 25-pound goliath grouper. [/size]
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[size 2]Monday morning, 10/4, I fished a catch-and-release trip with Jim McCarty and his seven-year-old son, Alex. We used shrimp to catch and release fifteen fish in all, including two redfish, two snook, four trout, a ladyfish, and a half dozen mangrove snapper.[/size]

[size 2]The photo shown is of angler, Jeanette Thron, with a 16 ½ inch hogfish, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip. [/size]
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