It's been a while since my last report and I've done lots of fishing. Generally the offshore has been very good. We continue to catch sailfish, kingfish, and dolphin. Inshore the tarpon have been easy on some evenings and play hard to get on others. With that said, lets get straight to the trip by trip action.
Tuesday (5/8) was an afternoon/evening trip with Mark Rubert, Casey, and Ken. The wind came from the south and west @ 9 - 24 knots. Offshore we had a south current and during the tarpon portion of the trip, we enjoyed the last of the outgoing and first of the incoming tide. Offshore we caught a couple of kingfish and a dolphin. The tarpon gave us one shot and the fish through the hook during a jump.
Wednesday (5/9) evening it was Tim Gipe needing to catch a tarpon on 12# line. The wind was WSW/W @ 17 - 21 knots and an outgoing tide all evening. We found the fish later in the evening and it wanted no part of us. We started on the north side, went to the main channel for a while, took a tour of the south side before coming back to the main channel, and then started heading back to where we hooked up on the north side. The final move by the tarpon was to reverse directions and head back toward the main channel. It came up to gulp air and that's when we got the leader and released the fish.
Thursday (5/10) was a 3/4 day trip with Joe Krzykwa. Once again we had south current with a SW/W wind @ 9 - 12 knots. We warmed up with a couple of bonito and finished with a sailfish that ate a kite bait.
Thursday (5/10) evening, Tim Gipe was trying for his second tarpon on 12#. Despite the WSW/W wind @ 17 - 20 knots, the drift was so slow that we had to use floats to keep the baits out of the bottom. We got the fish on that we needed. Everything was going great until some who will remain nameless decided to try and break the balloon off the main line. Needless to say the line parted and we missed the only opportunity we had that evening.
Friday (5/11) was a full day with Lee Chusak, his dad, Richard, and mom, Joan. Today we had no current to go along with a wind from the S/WNW @ 9 - 18 knots. We started by running offshore to look for dolphin. At our first stop, everyone caught a fish plus one, giving us four. We looked around some more and despite finding decent what we needed, the fish avoided us. With our first goal accomplished, we moved back inshore to try for a sailfish. While waiting for a sailfish, we caught 3 kingfish and that's how our day ended.
Friday (5/11) evening it was father and son time with Mark and Sam Rubert. The tide was outgoing all evening and the wind came from the WSW/W @ 14 - 23 knots. This was another evening where we needed floats to hold the baits out of the bottom. The fish were rolling and busting baits all around us. One finally found our bait and gave us a quick show before giving us back our hook. Then we got the solid hook up and Sam and Mark tag teamed the fish till I released it.
Saturday (5/12) was a 3/4 day trip with Angelo Tarantino, his son, Mike, and Joshua Taylor. We started off with some kite fishing. After no action on several drifts, the short kite bait finally got hit. It turned out to be a remora. With that, it was time to head offshore and do some dolphin fishing. The frigate birds put us on a weedline and fish in 700 feet. Every time we got up ahead of the diving birds, we'd pick off 1 or 2 fish. Joshua caught his first dolphin and then some. Angelo and Mike were having a blast catching fish. The day ended what seemed way to quickly. Final count was 10 dolphin and fresh fillets for the whole family at dinner.
Sunday (5/13) was a full day with Don Whisler and his long time fishing partners, Dave, Chris, and Steve. The wind was S/WNW @ 5 - 11 knots with a south current. We needed a helium balloon to fly the kite. The action started quickly with a bonito. Then we broke a line on another fish. A couple of flat line baits got cut off and then the downrigger started producing kingfish. The kite finally worked its magic and Don caught his first sailfish. The final fish of the day came on the downrigger and was a barracuda. To sum it up, we caught 3 kingfish, 1 bonito, 1 barracuda, 1 sailfish, and got cut off about 5 times. When I put wire on the flat lines, the strikes stopped coming.
Sunday (5/13) evening was Tim Gipe's last chance to get his second fish on 12#. SSW/WNW wind @ 10 - 15 knots and out going tide were the conditions this evening. Before dark, the fish were rolling everywhere. After dark, they started popping baits. Balloons were needed once again this evening. Our first strike never even bent the rod and resulted in the bait removed from the hook. The second strike was the one. It took about 15 minutes and Tim had his second fish on 12#.
Monday (5/14) was a 3/4 day with Eileen and Fred Clark. A combination of north current and wind from the NE/E @ 9 - 14 knots had the seas building. In 340' we found a weedline that produced a dolphin almost immediately. Eileen got 2 jumps out of the fish before it came unglued. Moving right back to the line, we hooked up again and this time we put a nice 8 pound mahi in the fish box. Next, we moved back in to try for kingfish. While putting out the second bait, it got hit and Fred added a kingfish to the box. The next drift, 2 pesky remora found our flat lines. A frigate bird put us on a beautiful 20# dolphin in 109'. When it came along side, Eileen decided she wanted to release the fish, which we did. Then in 113', Fred caught and released another nice size dolphin. The final fish of the day was a kingfish that ate the downrigger bait and it too was released by Eileen.
Monday (5/14) evening was a Bay tarpon trip. We only had to try one location. Despite the E/ENE wind of 19 - 24 knots and storms all around us, the water was quite calm. Normally the fish at this location are in the 30 - 50 pound range, however, this evening the bigger boys showed up. The first fish was a 70 pound fish that cooperated nicely by swimming out away from any structure. We got the catch before it decided to head south and after making its 4th jump, the hook pulled. The second fish came about 15 minutes later and this one wanted nothing to do with us. The 90 pound fish weaved us in and around some structure and somehow with the help of everyone, we passed the rod around and through the structure and the fish was still hooked up. We chased the fish down and it made it to the main channel. The fish was pulled up from the bottom and we had the catch. It made on final jump and once again the hook pulled. It always amazes me how after fighting a fish for 30 minutes with all the long runs and jumps that the fish somehow throws the hook.
Tuesday (5/15) the wind kicked up and we rescheduled our day trip to an evening tarpon fishing trip later in the week. That evening I did a seminar on afternoon/evening fishing at the Pompano Beach Offshore Anglers Club.
Wednesday (5/16) the wind and rain had us rescheduling our dolphin trip to a later date.
Thursday (5/17) was a 3/4 day with Lenny Wroblewski, his wife, Carol, daughter, Jenni, and Jenni's boyfriend, Pete Kudhl. Neither Jenni or Pete had caught a dolphin, so that was the first goal. We found a frigate bird beating the surface in 300 feet. Lenny caught a nice 12# dolphin to start the day. Following the frigate put us on more fish. This time, Jenni caught her first dolphin that weighed in at 15 1/2 pounds. Then it was Pete catching his first dolphin that gave him one whale of a fight. That one weighed in at 25 1/2 pounds. The frigate disappeared and I set up a drift to let the dolphin find us. Out went two flat lines and when I had the downrigger bait down to the 30 foot mark, it popped out of the clip and Carol added a 5 pound dolphin to the box. The wind from the NNW/NNE @ 10 - 14 knots with a north current had some decent swells coming through so after about 20 more minutes with no action, we moved in to some calmer water to look for kingfish and sailfish. So far, all the dolphin action had taken place in the 300 - 400 foot range. Our first action in on the reef came in 92 feet. The rod sitting in front of Lenny took off and when the fish came into view it was a cobia that had two friends with him. Before we could get a bait in front of wither fish, they swam off. The cobia weighed in at 23 pounds. As we neared the end of the trip, we started emptying our livewell. That did the trick and up came the sailfish that ate Lenny's flat line. After a quick picture, we released the fish and watched it swim off strongly.
Thursday (5/17) evening it was the Lee Chusak and his mom, Joan, and father, Richard. There trip on Tuesday was blown out with the weather and this was the make up trip. This evening's conditions were an incoming tide with wind from the NE/ENE @ 11 - 17 knots. The fish were rolling all around us for our first several drifts. The third drift had us hooked up to something that didn't appear to be a tarpon. Generally, the only other fish that would eat a crab would be a permit. That's exactly what it turned out to be and Lee caught his first permit. It was well after dark and we still couldn't get a tarpon to eat our bait, so a major move was in order. It turned out to be the right move and on our first drift after relocating, we had him on. Lee did a great job of fighting the fish and had the leader up in about 10 minutes. He wanted a boat side picture and that's when he learned how tough a fight with a tarpon can be. It took about 40 more minutes and lots of pulling before the 100 pound fish begrudgingly gave us a few opportunities to take its picture.
Friday (5/18) was a 3/4 day trip with Cesar Maradiaga, his daughter, Samantha, and cousins, Rafael Rosario and James Bonilla. The wind was W/SE @ 0 - 6 knots. There was no current. We started with some dolphin fishing. There were still some swells from yesterday's wind and it didn't take long before one of the cousins wasn't feeling too well. We moved back inshore to get out of the swells. Slow trolling two flat lines and the downrigger was the plan of attack. The downrigger did its job and Samantha caught a kingfish. We worked the depths of 110 - 160 feet and had action on the downrigger 4 more times. The flat lines got chopped off twice before we caught a kingfish on one of them. Final count of the trip was 6 kingfish and 3 rounds of motion sickness by one of the cousins.
Saturday (5/19) was a full day trip with Ron Bowerman, brother and sister, Jason and Jeanna Laytart, and Jason's wife, Jean. Dolphin was the goal. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful sea conditions with a WNW/ENE wind of 3 - 7 knots. On their drive over from the west coast, they ran into lots of fog and smoke. This added a bit of time to their drive and to make up for it, we bought bait. It turned out to be the right move. As we ran offshore, we found our friend the frigate bird in 400 feet and we were into dolphin almost instantly. We pulled quite a few fish from the school as the fish stuck around with their buddies much better than they have been. The frigate put us on fish 3 more times before it disappeared. Throughout the remainder of the day we found fish under almost every frigate bird or flock of terns. Sometimes we caught 1 or 2 and other times we'd catch a few more. Toward the end of the trip, the wind started to pick up as predicted. We set up close to the color change and got instant action from a few fish. Back at TNT Marine Center, we set up an assembly line to clean the fish and got the job done while feeding scraps to the jack crevalle and tarpon at the cleaning table.
That brings me up to date. Dolphin fishing has swung into high gear so when this wind calms down again the action should continue. The shallower water outside the reef is still producing kingfish and sailfish. The kings have appeared to be going into their summertime mode of hanging out in deeper water. This is the time of year when the downrigger and bottom rod will shine.
With the wind blowing hard for the past few days, I've had a few days off. I have several more trips scheduled for the remainder of the month along with several open days. The best dolphin fishing is yet to come, so give me a call and schedule your trip and don't forget that there are still plenty of tarpon around too.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
