SW FL-Bonita Beach: March in Like a Lion; Plenty of Sheep

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[size 2]March definitely charged in like a lion on my first scheduled day of the month. Monday, 3/2, brought extremely rough conditions offshore with seas to fifteen feet. The tide in the backwaters was low, and it was cold and windy. I cancelled my fishing trip. Conditions were somewhat better Tuesday but still not good enough, with seas of three to five feet predicted, so I spent a second consecutive day in port.[/size]
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[size 2]Wednesday, the tide was a little better in the bay and I fished there on a catch-and-release trip with Chuck Nebes and his son, Steve. We released a dozen sheepshead to 15 inches, a small snook and an 18 inch trout, all on live shrimp.[/size]
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[size 2]Thursday, seas were predicted to be calm, with the wind shifting and coming from the east. But, it was rough in the morning, with a 20 knot wind blowing when I headed out of New Pass with Ron Musick and friends, Eddie, Alan and Hank. It calmed down in the afternoon to less than two foot seas. We caught a few keeper mangrove snapper, grunts and eight good-sized porgies. We released bluefish, triggerfish, gag and red grouper shorts, as well as smaller mangrove snapper and porgies.[/size]
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[size 2]Fishing central Estero Bay Friday with Ronald Haggin and his fifteen-year-old grandson, Johnny, we did well with sheepshead, catching ten of those to 18 inches and releasing lots of smaller ones, along with a crevalle jack. We also caught a 19½ inch pompano, all on shrimp.[/size]
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[size 2]Monty Robson, his son, Stu, and six-year-old grandson, Joe, fished Estero Bay with me Saturday morning. We again caught a lot of sheepshead, kept eight of those to 17 ½ inches and released the rest. We also caught a keeper redfish at 23 inches, on live shrimp.[/size]
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[size 2]The photo shown is of angler, Garry Jacobson, with a 15 inch hogfish (hog snapper), caught on shrimp on a recent offshore trip.[/size]

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