Dave Hanson

Wednesday morning, 7/15, I headed out to fish fifteen to nineteen miles out of New Pass, with Paul and Debbie Szemplinski and their three children, Ryan, Audrey and Evelyn. We caught a bunch of yellowtail snapper, fifteen in all, but only one that we could keep at 18 inches. The spot that yielded the big one was overtaken by dolphin, which made catching more of the keepers impossible. We also kept five fourteen-inch whitebone porgies and released a bunch of silver porgies. We also got four keeper Spanish mackerel to 25 inches and released undersized mutton snapper, lane snapper, gag grouper to 18 inches and grunts. Interestingly, we caught and released a small bonefish that was ten inches long, an unusual catch around here (more commonly in the FL Keys), especially in the depths we were fishing. We used shrimp for everything.

Thursday morning, I fished offshore again, this time with Chuck Mitchell, Reita Martin, and three children. We caught three varieties of porgies and kept six of those, along with two keeper lane snapper and six Spanish mackerel to 28 inches. We released about 40 undersized yellowtail snapper, along with some gag and red grouper shorts and small triggerfish. We were fishing with live shrimp, in 44 feet out of New Pass.

Strangely, another bonefish bit our bait on Friday morning, about 15 miles offshore, where I fished with Bob and Kim Deering, their sons, Robert and Matthew, and father-son anglers Greg and Gavin Zarbock. Robert also caught a nice hogfish, 15 inches long, and the group caught a dozen keeper mangrove and lane snapper, porkfish, grunts and a mess of Spanish mackerel. We released lots of undersized snapper and grouper.

The photo shown is of angler, Florian Kordas, with a 19 1/2 inch mangrove snapper, caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.

Fish Species: snapper, mackerel, bonefish, grouper, triggerfish, porgies
Bait Used: live shrimp
Tackle Used: light spinning
Method Used: bottom fishing
Water Depth: 30-45 feet
Water Temperature: 95
Wind Direction: S-SW
Wind Speed: 5-10 knots
19.5 inch mangrove snapper
19.5 inch mangrove snapper


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Dave Hanson

About The Author: Captain Dave Hanson

Company: Fish Buster Charters

Area Reporting: Bonita Beach

Bio: Captain Dave Hanson is a native of southwest Florida. He has been fishing local waters since childhood, and has been fishing professionally for over fifteen years. He is Coast Guard licensed, and is a member in good standing of the Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce. He has been featured in several national fishing magazines, and he also appears weekly in the fishing reports sections of the Bonita, Ft. Myers, Ft. Myers Beach, and Naples, FL newspapers.

239-947-1688
Click Here For Past Fishing Reports by Captain Dave Hanson