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More Fishing and Boating

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• Seaworthy: Start the season right

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Anglers dodged red tide and more foul weather days to have another week of semi-successful fishing.

Fishbuster Charters Capt. Dave Hanson headed out about 65 miles with Gregg Bedell on his boat last Monday to fish the Stoney Point wreck.

"We used squid, sardines, and shiners, and it was a pretty exciting day out there," said Hanson. "We caught a 15 pound African pompano, a 7 pound mutton snapper, and a 2-foot rainbow runner. We kept a dozen vermilion snapper, and six lane snapper, releasing numerous others.

When the mutton snapper hit our bait, a big barracuda bit the mutton's tail. I grabbed the landing net to capture the mutton, and in doing so, I hit the cuda, which let go of the snapper. A huge amberjack, about 4 feet long and about 60 pounds, swam straight into the net after the mutton. I wrestled with the amberjack, but he broke right through the bottom of the net, and swam off.

Without the cudas there, it could have been an even more productive trip, but it was definitely fun and exciting. We ended up with about half of an African pompano, our portion weighing 6 pounds, and all but the tail of a mutton snapper, which weighed over 4 pounds."

Sue Tacktill and son Jim Hovanec would have been game for offshore fishing Wednesday, had it not been for the band of rain offshore that threatened boaters with lightning and stormy conditions. Hanson opted for fishing Estero Bay, but red tide conditions made for tough fishing there also. Hanson netted some shiners twice, but each time, they died immediately after being placed in the live well. They fished at various spots in the bay, including behind Fort Myers Beach, where they saw lots of dead fish.

"We had fun anyway, and released small snook, mangrove snapper to 10 inches, black drum, and a stingray," said Hanson.

With rough, rainy weather offshore again on Thursday, Walt Abbott and son Matthew decided to fish the bay with Hanson. They headed a different direction, away from where Hanson encountered the lingering red tide the day before. It rained most of the morning, but without lightning and storm conditions, they were able to stay out. They spotted numerous tarpon, but they weren't biting, so the group ended up releasing small snook and calling it a day.

Friday, Hanson fished with Bob Rogers and Jeff Slavacorn in 30 to 45 feet out of New Pass, using live shrimp and shiners. They were harassed by the dolphin, so they had to move around a bit, but they caught a nice variety of keeper mangrove snapper, lane snapper, triggerfish, and Spanish mackerel to 25 inches, and released a 40-inch lemon shark and a 5 pound goliath grouper. They were broken off four times by some bigger fish, but never got to see what they were.

Kevin Ackerman and friends Joe and Jeff, fished with Hanson Saturday in 30 feet out of New Pass. They used live shrimp to catch a dozen keeper Spanish mackerel and half a dozen keeper mangrove snapper. They released a 30 pound goliath grouper, small kingfish and triggerfish."

Capt. Alex Dolinski trailered the boat over to Fort Lauderdale Saturday, where he fished with Lt. Mike Wesley of the Bonita Springs Fire Department, his son Mike and Dolinski's wife, Brenda. They trolled for mahi, boating three nice ones on light tackle.

Sunday, Dolinski fished with Tim Newcomb and his son Ben. They ran out of Fort Myers Beach to 80 feet of water, working the bait pods, trolling ballyhoo and Mann stretch lures. They caught six nice Bonito and several kingfish. The largest fish, a 49-inch king, was caught by 10-year-old Ben, who could not have been more excited, because this was his largest fish ever.

"It was a great day for the father and son team to have together," said Dolinski.

Capt. Ron Kowalyk said the weather cooperated last weekend and there were numerous opportunities to get offshore and into the backbay. Bites ranged from fair to good.

"The red tide was hanging around in both venues in nasty patches, but you could work around it," he said. "There were reports from the beach of grouper and snapper bites at 20 to 40 plus miles out. We found a good bite in good action in Matlacha Pass, Henry Creek and Hell Peckney Bay."

Pine Island Sound remained a bit stained with dead fish and patches of sour red tide water, but it is letting up, he said. A favorable northeast wind and some two-tide days will dilute and push the stuff out of the backwaters. There were good bites in the major passes. Kowalyk caught snook, reds and sharks at Big Carlos and Redfish Pass.

Submissions to Fish Tales should be made by noon each Monday. Contact Cathy Cottrill at 213-6031 or by e-mail at cccottrill@bonitanews.com. Her fax number is 213-6099.