Another windy week began on Monday, 3/24. I fished in Estero Bay with Joe Goodall and seven-year-old son, Alex, Dave Bixby and Fred Irish. Alex has fished with me every year since he was about three years old, and he has turned out to be a full-fledged fishing enthusiast. We fished with live shrimp along the channel toward Wiggins Pass. Alex caught the biggest of four keeper sheepshead at 18 inches. He also released a 17 inch snook. Dave released a 25 inch cravalle jack. We also caught a 15 ½ inch trout and a keeper mangrove snapper, and released smaller sheepshead, jacks, ladyfish and a three-foot bonnethead shark.


Ross Christenson had been trying to get several sets of vacationing grandchildren out fishing for two weeks. Two dates had already cancelled due to weather and our final shot at a trip was Tuesday. With seas still kicked up and unsafe offshore, we opted for a catch-and-release backwater fishing trip with four of the Christenson grandchildren. Temperatures were in the forties when we headed out and a cold wind blew hard all morning. The tide was outgoing until it started coming in at the pass about 11:30 AM. The bay was extremely shallow. We saw several boats on the other side of the bridge waiting for the tide so they could head in. The water level was only about one foot behind Lely Barefoot Beach. Given those conditions, we were happy to have caught and released seven sheepshead (four of which were keeper-sized) and a ladyfish. We were thankful the kids were able to catch that many and also thankful that we were able to navigate back in without hitting bottom!

Friday morning, Tim & Angela Cavanaugh wanted to play it safe in the backwaters with their eight-year-old daughter, Leah, onboard. They fished, along with a family friend, using shrimp along the channel by Wiggins Pass. The water was clear as could be and we saw lots of sheepshead, but they were reluctant to bite. We ended up with three keepers to 16 inches and we released smaller sheepshead, snapper and a cravalle jack.

Saturday, I fished offshore again. Details and pic are posted in the offshore forunm report.