It was still choppy nicely offshore on Tuesday, so Frank Barry, brothers Tim and Zack Rivera, and friend, Steve Flower, decided to remain inshore and fish the Estero Bay flats, with reside shrimp. The group broke my prior file by two on the number of redfish caught in 1 morning: 20-two in all! Only a single of these was legal to maintain, at 19 1/two inches, so we released the relaxation, along with crevalle jack, ladyfish, a small founder and a twenty-pound stingray. We also caught several keeper sheepshead, all about 15 inches, and we launched some scaled-down sheepshead.

However seas were forecast before in the week to be calming down by Wednesday, such wasn’t the circumstance as of the early morning forecast that day. The winds continued to blow rather challenging, and Rob &amp Tracy Wessels , their son, Tanner, and their daughter, Maddie, made the decision to fish the backwaters, on my recommendation. The household caught 50 percent a dozen redfish, 1 of which was a keeper at 19 inches. They also caught two keeper sheepshead. They released 8 smaller sheepshead, an eighteen-inch gafftop sailcat, and four stingray, the greatest of which was 18-to-twenty lbs.

I completed off my pre-vacation week with a backwaters journey with Bob Potts and son, Trevor, Friday morning, twelve/23/11. We fished the channel down towards Wiggins Pass, making use of dwell shrimp. We caught and released a twenty-inch sea trout (sea trout are presently out-of-time of year.) The duo also caught two great sheepshead, fifteen inches and 17 inches, and they released twenty-five smaller sheepshead. They also caught two 16-inch pompano.

Tuesday morning, twelve/27, just forward of a cold-front’s approach, I fished Estero Bay with long-time buyers, the Tomlinsons. Vince and Jenny, along with their son and daughter, Mike and Katie, had fun catching a lot of sheepshead on reside shrimp. Most ended up smaller sized than keeper size and were introduced, but the household kept 1 13-inch sheepshead to go with a 15-inch whiting they caught, for supper. Vince also caught a nice, 17-inch trout, which had to be released, since trout are out of period for an additional number of days. The household also unveiled some massive sailcats, little snapper, and a 16-inch crevalle jack.

Wednesday morning started chilly, with about 48 degrees and a stiff wind. But, prolonged-time consumers Steve Spitzer and Jalissa Reever braved the chill to fish in Estero Bay with me. Jalissa also brought her son, Joe Tusing, along. The tide was dead-very low most of the morning, but the journey did properly anyways, utilizing dwell shrimp to catch several keeper sheepshead, all in the 14-to-15-inch array, as well as a 16 ½-inch black drum and a twenty-inch, keeper redfish. They launched a lot of scaled-down sheepshead, along with a puffer fish, a 6-pound crevalle jack, and a 20 ½-inch trout. Let’s hope these good trout stick close to for the opening of trout time of year on January 1st.

Thursday, I fished inshore once again, this time with Len Salefia and pal, Jim. We caught plenty of sheepshead to 17 ½ inches, two redfish, which includes 1 eighteen ½-inch keeper, and a 19-inch black drum, all on shrimp. The men kept the largest sheepshead and the black drum for a fish supper, and unveiled the relaxation.

Friday morning, seas had been ultimately serene ample to get out to the near-shore reefs. I did so with Dick Driscoll, his son, Abundant Driscoll, and grandson, Jack. They ended up joined by friend, Steve Calhoun and his two youthful daughters, Emma and Sadie. The group utilized reside shrimp to catch two keeper pompano, thirteen inches and 14 inches, three keeper sheepshead to 16 ½ inches, and a keeper flounder. They introduced a lot of more compact sheepshead, along with lots of Atlantic barbs.

The new year commenced with predictions for an approaching cold-front…in reality, my offshore excursion for Monday, one/2/12 canceled, due to tiny craft advisories and questionable timing on the front’s arrival that early morning. And Tuesday’s predicted reduced temp of 34 degrees scared my Tuesday journey into rescheduling for Friday, 1/six. But we’ll do our finest to fish every time we can this coming week! Pleased New Year to all!

The picture proven is of angler, Joe Tusing, with a 20 ½-inch trout, caught on shrimp and introduced in Estero Bay on an inshore fishing journey the closing days of 2011. Had this trout been caught two days afterwards, trout time would have been re-opened and it would have gone in the fish cooler as an alternative of back into the bay!
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