Dave Hanson

In celebration of Harry's birthday, brothers Grant and Harry Kurtz, along with friends Joe and Thais Allen, fished with me Monday morning, 6/9,seventeen miles west of New Pass. The Spanish mackerel bite was strong and we free-lined shrimp for those, kept nine to 27 inches, and released lots more, along with gag shorts and blue runners. We also caught whitebone porgies and two hogfish, one of which was a keeper at 14 ' inches.

Wednesday, Van & Amy McQueen, daughter Danielle, son Peyton, Peyton's friend Hayden Beach, and family friend Dan Neal fished with me about 17 miles out of New Pass. Amy caught a nice mutton snapper 16 inches long and the group caught a mess of Spanish mackerel to 27 inches and whitebone porgies. We released an undersized hogfish, gag and red grouper shorts, grunts and porgies, with plenty of action all morning.

Friday, fishing 26 miles west of New Pass with Dave and Carol Young, we used live shrimp to catch over a dozen keeper yellowtail snapper and we released about a half dozen smaller ones. I kept moving further offshore because we were competing with porpoise at most of my spots. We also caught some good sized whitebone porgies. We released small mangrove snapper and lots of red grouper shorts to 18 ' inches. We also had quite a shark-fest, releasing at least fifteen sharpnose sharks, all around the three foot length.

I fished inshore Saturday morning in central Estero Bay with Jim Hammer, sons Cameron and Collin and friend, Erica Bensik. Thirty seconds after we anchored and dropped a few lines over, Jim hooked a big redfish but it ran under the trees, wrapped his line and got away. We caught another redfish keeper at twenty inches along with seven keeper mangrove snapper, all on shrimp.

The photo shown is of an 18 inch mangrove snapper caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.

Fish Species: hogfish, yellowtail, shark, mangrove snapper, mackerel,redfish
Bait Used: live shrimp
Tackle Used: light spinning
Method Used: bottom fishing and tree lines-oyster bars bayside
Water Depth: 1-3 bayside; 25-45 feet gulfside
Water Temperature: 84
Wind Direction: E, SE
Wind Speed: 5-10 knots



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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