Dave Hanson

Monday, 6/16, I fished central Estero Bay with Scott Heiss, his brother, Steve Heiss, their dad, Jerry Heiss, and Scott's ten-year-old son, Nicholas. We had a good morning of fishing with live shrimp along the tree lines. Nicholas caught the biggest redfish at 22 inches (see photo) and we caught two other keepers at 19 ½ inches and 20 inches. The group also caught seven keeper mangrove snapper and we released a 26 inch snook.

Paul Duguay and friends fished with me on Wednesday morning, seventeen miles southwest of New Pass. We kept about twenty-five porgies around 16 inches and released a good many more. We also caught about ten yellowtail snapper, but only one of those was a keeper, and a keeper mangrove snapper. We released gag grouper shorts to 19 inches and red grouper short to 18 inches.

Brian Rodgers and Rodney Poole fished the mangrove shoreline of Estero Bay with me on a mostly rainy Thursday morning. Brian got a 20 inch redfish on shrimp and the guys lost two larger ones that ran under the mangrove roots and broke off. They also caught six nice mangrove snapper, good-sized for the bay at 11 to 14 inches, along with two sheepshead 13 and 14 inches long.

The photo shown is of young angler, Nicholas, with a 22 inch redfish caught on shrimp on a recent inshore trip.

Fish Species: snapper, porgies, snook, redfish, sheepshead
Bait Used: live shrimp
Tackle Used: light spinning
Method Used: bottom fishing and tree lines-oyster bars bayside
Water Depth: 1-3 bayside; 15-30 feet gulfside
Water Temperature: 84
Wind Direction: S, SE; S,SW
Wind Speed: 5-10 knots
22 inch redfish
22 inch redfish


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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