03-30-2003, 06:30 PM
[cool][font "Arial"][size 2]We encountered rough seas fishing Monday with the Dan Gabouer party at the Bonita reefs. We caught keeper sheepshead and mangrove snapper, and released small Spanish mackerel and grouper. There was lots of red tide around, and in places, we could see the actual algae blooms. We fished in rough seas at the Bonita reefs Tuesday with the Ann Ready party. We caught keeper triggerfish, and released small Spanish mackerel, grunts, and gag grouper. The red tide smell was especially bad in the bay, coming in, with the wind direction blowing it in, but that is predicted to subside soon. We had a slow bite in central Estero Bay Wednesday, fishing with Kip Alderman and friend, Mike. We caught and released small snook and mangrove snapper. The conditions in the bay have not been optimal recently, due to low tides, and the red tide likely did not help the situation. Thursday, we again listened to reports of 10 knot winds, but faced 15-20 knots with 5 foot seas at the Bonita reefs with Richard Heimlich and Jeff Kirk. We caught keeper sheepshead and Spanish mackerel, and released grouper shorts during the couple of hours that we braved it out there, before returning to the dock. The Elliot Serota party fished 9 miles off Naples beach with us Friday. We caught a keeper 25 inch king mackerel, nice Spanish mackerel to 25 inches, and keeper-sized mangrove snapper, triggerfish, grunts & porkfish, using live shrimp. There were some big swells on the way in, but the seas were way calmer than they had been earlier this week. Saturday was calm, so we headed out 21 miles off New Pass with Jim Ring. We caught fifteen king mackerel to 40 inches, kept two, and released the rest along with some gag and red grouper shorts. We also got a keeper gag at 22 inches, and lots of keeper-sized triggerfish, which we released. Another weather front kicked up seas to between 6 and 8 feet for Sunday and Monday, so we stayed in port. Find complete info and fish photo album at [/size][/font][url "http://www.fishbustercharters.com/"][font "Arial"][#0000ff][size 2]www.fishbustercharters.com[/size][/#0000ff][/font][/url]
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