Last weekend’s chill persisted into Monday, 2/19. With temperatures in the thirties, and dead low tide in Estero Bay, I advised my scheduled bay anglers to bag their trip that day.
Tuesday, the seas finally calmed enough to allow an offshore excursion. I fished southwest of Sanibel in 33 feet with Lee Larsons, Bud Ganzer and Bob Wilkin. We caught ten keeper mangrove snapper to 15 inches, along with keeper lane snapper. But, the most exciting part of our day was when Lee hooked a black drum that weighed over 30 pounds—He fought that fish for about twenty minutes--no easy fight, but in the end, Lee won (see photo).
Wednesday, I fished Estero Bay, north of New Pass, with Keith Schlosser, his son Kyle, and Kyle's friend Alex Harris. We used live shrimp to catch a keeper trout and five keeper sheepshead, and released some smaller sheepshead and lots of ladyfish.
Fishing Thursday with Ron Musick and friends Dick, Larry, Andy and Bob, we had nice calm seas of 1-2 feet in the morning, but those seas increased to 3-4 feet by afternoon, and we had a rough ride back in. We did well, though, fishing in 36 feet southwest of Sanibel, where we caught twenty-nine nice mangrove snapper to 17 inches, and released gag and red grouper shorts, porgies, grunts, and smaller mangs.
There were rough seas again fishing Friday morning with Ed and Margie Bock, even though the seas were forecast to be only two-three feet. We had a stiff wind blowing all morning, but we hung in there and caught keeper mangrove snapper to 14 inches and keeper lane snapper. We released grouper shorts, porgies and grunts.
Saturday Dr. Boyd Bowden, daughter Emily and friend Ron decided to head offshore with me, despite some rough conditions. There were 3-4 foot seas early, so we decided to stick close-in and fish at the reefs off Bonita Beach. We did well with sheepshead, boating seven nice ones, three of which were all around 20 inches. We also got a few keeper mangrove snapper and a whiting. Seas calmed later in the morning, but will be kicking up again tomorrow as another weather front comes through.
Thanks--the sheepshead were nice today too--larger ones usually come in with winter season, and I have been waiting. Today we got some over 20 inches. Thos sheepshead are a hassle to clean, but worth it in taste.
The rough seas don't directly effect the number of fish caught--but it sure can make it uncomfortable for a lot of anglers, and with high winds usually accompanying those seas, it can make anchoring and staying on your spot difficult.
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