Captain Dave Hanson's Page

I had planned to fish everyday of Thanksgiving week, but by Wednesday, 11/24, it was raining in advance of a cold front that kicked up seas to 5-7 feet offshore on Friday. The next time I got to fish, after Tuesday, was on Saturday morning, 11/28, a…

John Landis and Bud King had one day to fish before heading back north, and they had hoped for a day offshore. But, with the remnants of the weather stirred up by Tropical Storm Ida meeting an approaching cold-front, the Gulf was out of the question…

Bill Story and friends, Mike, Dave, Jim, Marvin and Ed picked a nice calm morning to fish offshore with me on Tuesday, 10/28. We headed out of New Pass about eighteen miles and fished in 43 feet with live shrimp. The guys were after pan-fish for a f…

Seasonal business is just beginning to pick up around here, though most of the recently reserved dates are for later this month and into next. I did get offshore Saturday, 10/10 with long-time customers Jerry and Barb Rudan, from Wisconsin. We heade…

I was off the water for a while—slow season here means time to do yearly boat servicing and maintenance. I did get offshore Thursday, 9/24, with Frank Reid and son, Tim. Seas were calm on the beach but a little sloppy in 38 feet out of New Pass. We…

The bay was good fishing on Friday morning, 9/4, when I fished a catch-and-release trip with father-son anglers Dennis and Mike Page. Mike hooked a bull red at the edge of the trees and fought that until it broke free in the mangrove roots. We also…

Monday morning, 8/31, I fished in 45 feet, out of New Pass, with Mike & Denise VanHorn. We fished for goliaths first, while the couple had their best energy--Good thing because Denise hooked one that was most likely over 300 pounds. Mike followed u…

It's that time of year when fishing trips are spaced more sparsely. Add to that a three-day hiatus in celebration of a wedding anniversary and the net result is just a couple of days on the water this week. Tuesday morning, 8/25, I headed out of…

Saturday morning, 8/15, I fished with Greg Sommesi and family at the reefs off Bonita Beach. With a 70% chance of rain predicted and seas beyond 20 miles at 3-5 feet, we decided the near-shore reefs might be our best bet, especially with three youn…

Wednesday morning, I fished about 17 miles west of New Pass with Harry and Melanie McDaniel and their daughter, Molly. We had steady action, which helped compensate for some pretty rough seas as we were on the storm-fringe much of the morning. We us…

Monday morning was a little rainy in Estero Bay, but I puddle-jumped with anglers Gary Haupt and Mike Kidwell and it paid off. Gary landed a 32 inch, approximate twenty-pound black drum, on shrimp (see photo.) He was tempted to keep it, but decided…

Wednesday morning, 7/15, I headed out to fish fifteen to nineteen miles out of New Pass, with Paul and Debbie Szemplinski and their three children, Ryan, Audrey and Evelyn. We caught a bunch of yellowtail snapper, fifteen in all, but only one that w…

Slow season is here for sure. Seasonal residents have fled our heat and humidity until October and the economy is not producing our usual number of summer vacationers this year. On top of that, a low pressure system that hung over our area for sever…

This week was challenging in terms of weather, for sure. Monday morning, 6/22, was the best weather of the week. I fished Estero Bay with the Matt Stanford family, including Matt, his wife, their two young children and the children’s grandfather. W…

Hot, hot, hot! Air and water temps are unbelievably hot this week. Tuesday morning, 6/16, I fished with Larry Battiste and his young son, Lorenzo, in Estero Bay. We used live shrimp to catch seven keeper mangrove snapper and a 14 inch sheepshead. W…

Monday morning, 6/8, I fished Estero Bay with Steve Sepan, his son, Ron, and his young grandson, Logan. We used live shrimp to catch two keeper sheepshead to 15 inches and a keeper redfish at 18 1/2 inches. We released small mangrove snapper, trout…