Fishing is OUTSTANDING. There is no other way to put it. Whether you fish offshore or inshore, they are snapping. Offshore it's sailfish, kingfish, dolphin, and blackfin tuna. Inshore, the tarpon fishing is the best its been since the beginning of the season. I've have lots of trip by trip reports to get caught up on so lets get started.
Thursday (4/19) morning, Fred Buck and his friend Keith had come to Miami to strictly go fishing and get some down time away from their jobs. The wind was W/NW @ 11 - 15 knots. We started in the middle of the anchorage and found green water. The kingfish were snapping. We moved north to the Twin Towers area and found good blue water. The flatlines and downrigger produced kingfish and bonito, while the bottom rod gave us a mutton snapper.
Thursday (4/19) evening was a tarpon trip with Ted Wynne, Lee, and Liz. We got the bite we were looking for and the tarpon had other thoughts on its mind. It ran to the Cut and suddenly the hook pulled for no apparent reason. After that one shot, the bite turned off.
Friday (4/20), Fred and Keith were back for an afternoon/evening trip. During the offshore portion, we quickly caught 2 dolphin out in 840 feet. We had 2 other dolphin swim by the boat and show no interest in our baits. We moved in on the reef and then it got slow. We had no current and no other strikes. Inshore, we caught a large jack crevalle and then found the tarpon on the north side of Government Cut. The first fish jumped off on its second jump. The second fish hooked up solid and both anglers fought the fish.
On April 23 & 24, I took a few days off to be with Nancy while she attended a conference in Stuart. While she was at work, I fished with my good friend and tarpon enthusiast, Jim Lefevre. We had a blast catching snook, ladyfish, jack crevalle and bluefish.
Thursday (4/26) evening, Zac Grossman along with his friends Ira, Bruce, and Joe spent some good quality time together doing what they all love best. Fishing of course!! Bruce and Joe each caught and released their first tarpon. The fish were on the north side of Government again.
Friday (4/27) was an afternoon/evening trip with James Savopoulos and his friends Brian, John, and Rob. They've been fishing together for many many years. The wind was SE/SSE @ 9 - 13 knots. Put that together with a good north current and we had the perfect formula for some good fishing. First strike was a sailfish. Everything was going real good. The fish jumped, charged the boat, and dumped plenty of line. It went down wind of the boat and made another jump only to give us back our hook. Next, we caught a small dolphin that ate a kite bait. Then it was a nice 17 pound blackfin tuna on the kite. A sailfish crashed the long kite bait and it was caught and released. Then the kite produced yet again with another blackfin tuna of 24 pounds. The group had so much fun with all those fish, they decided to forego the tarpon portion of the trip and get some much need rest before heading down to the Keys the next morning.
Saturday morning (4/28), Harry Duncanson, his wife Carole, and daughter Shannon had some beautiful weather for their half day trip. The wind varied from W to SSE @ 0 - 5 knots. The current was ripping to the north. Before I could put out the second flatline, the first one got hit and we fought a mystery fish for about 5 minutes before it came unglued. The next action came with the downrigger. While fighting that fish, the flatline got hit and it was a sailfish. Carole got to watch it make one jump before throwing the hook. The downrigger fish was a nice kingfish. More slow trolling and the downrigger produced another kingfish. Then the action slowed down dramatically. A move to the north and some live bait chumming produced the last fish of the morning before it was time to head in. This time, the hook stayed in and we caught a large summer time size bonito.
Saturday afternoon (4/28) it was Nathan Benson and Chris. The ESE/S wind of 8 - 12 knots had me putting a helium balloon on the kite to make sure it would stay up. It was a good move as all our hits came on the kite. We had lots of hits, however, the hook ups were poor. We finally got the sailfish we were looking for and it turned out to be more than we bargained for. Despite using a circle hook, the fish was foul hooked at the base of the dorsal fin and the leader was wrapped around its body and through its mouth. It took a lot of pulling and chasing before we were able to free the fish. The next fish was a bonito and then everything shut down.
Sunday evening (4/29), Kent Jones and his 15 year old son, Spencer got to experience the tarpon fishing that they had read about and seen on TV. The east wind @ 7 - 9 knots gave us a perfect drift. The fish were rolling everywhere and we hooked up on the first drift. The fish wanted no part of us and headed straight for the deep water of the main channel with us in hot pursuit. First the fish moved in and then toward the north side of the deep water. Next, it tried to make its way to the pilings of the pier. Spencer pulled hard and got the fish's head turned so that it started heading out to sea. It hugged the north jetty till it got out past the red channel marker before it dashed back into the channel and to the south side. Here it went up into the shallower water and then back to the channel before heading back inshore. It found the chain on the green marker and released itself. We had the official catch several times and were trying to get a close up picture. The fish must have been camera shy and didn't want its picture taken. Back to the south side and we hooked another fish. That one was photographed and released. The we caught and released another tarpon. On the final drift of the evening, we got the double header. Both fish eventually made it to the deep water and both fish we released successfully. That had us finishing the evening at 5 for 5 and two very tired, exhausted, but very happy anglers.
Monday evening (4/30) Tim Gipe got in on the same hot tarpon action. The wind had picked up some to ENE/E @ 12 - 15 knots. The fish were rolling everywhere again. As soon as we got late in the dusk period, the action started and continued for most of the evening. Final total for the evening was 5 for 6 on fish in the 50 - 100 pound range.
Tuesday evening (5/1) Tim Gipe was out again. The wind this evening was NE @ 10 - 12 knots. As is often the case with tarpon, they don't stay in any one pattern for too long. This turned out to be the case this evening. Our first fish was during the day time. It ran straight for the Cut and then dropped over the edge into the deep water where the hook pulled. Next was during the late dusk period and this fish also ran straight for the Cut. We fought it for several minutes while it traveled from the south side to the north side. We were making good progress toward getting the fish up when once again the hook pulled. Finally on the next drift, we got a solid hook up and landed and released the fish. After resetting another drift, we noticed that the fish had stopped popping baits and everything had gotten quiet. So quiet that we ran over to the north side to check it out. Quiet there too. Back to the south side and we got a hit and hook up. The fish didn't fight like a typical tarpon. It wasn't. When it came into the spotlight, were saw a beautiful 25 1/2 inch permit. That's the way our evening ended.
We're now up to date and its time to get back to fishing tomorrow. Weather permitting, I have the next 15 days straight booked for either a day trip or evening tarpon trip. There are still days open toward the end of the month, so give me a call or email me and lets get together and take advantage of this great fishing action.
See you on the edge or at the Cut.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net