The action offshore for sailfish, kingfish, bonito, blackfin tuna, and an occasional dolphin remains good. Some days require patience and a bit of searching, however, it's worth the wait to get the action going.
Meanwhile, inshore for tarpon, the action has been very consistent. Most of the time you have to wait them out till dusk and after dark, but once the action starts, it's almost every drift there after.
Jerry Scala and his sons Nick and Jack fished an afternoon/evening combo trip. With the wind coming from the ENE/E @ 12 - 18 knots, it wasn't long before one of the boys succumb to the motion of the ocean, but not before catching a bonito. We moved inshore to calmer waters to fish for tarpon. The fish were rolling all around us and ignoring our baits. We ran in to Monty's for a bite to eat and came back out ready for some tarpon action. We weren't disappointed. We hooked up and Nick caught and released his first tarpon. Next it was Dad's turn. We hooked up again and this fish never quit running. After a 150 yard run, the line went slack and we reeled in a pulled hook.
John Riechard, Evan Rodriguez, and Ken Hudson sampled the evening tarpon action at Government Cut. The conditions called for using floats on the baits as we had little to no wind. One of the floats finally went down and it took some quick reeling to get the slack out and come tight on the tarpon. John fought the tarpon and it took us for a tour of the main ship channel. When we released the fish, he was amazed at its power, stamina, and how far we had traveled. The next drift had Evan hooked up and this fish took the same route to the main channel. We got the catch on this fish early in the fight and once it found the deep water, Evan kept the pressure up. The hook pulled and Evan was also amazed at how powerful the tarpon are. After the tide changed, we were treated to tarpon exploding on baits drifting out with the tide. A tarpon finally found our bait and John was hooked up again. This time it was a short fight as the fish threw the hook on its first jump. We ran into the Bay for the last part of the trip and it didn't take long before John got to experience what I call Gorilla Tarpon fishing. The fish ran straight at the boat and we got the catch. It then took a tour around the boat and under and over the anchor line twice before heading back to where we hooked up. It then made a mad dash down current as we started to chase it. It found some structure before we could clear past it and released itself. It was just another wild evening of tarpon fishing going 2 for 3 outside and 1 for 1 in the Bay.
Brian Jinks, Jose Perez, Rob Pearson, and Stewart Butin experienced some great afternoon/evening action. It started out very slow with a remora eating one of our kite baits. A move further south got us into the action. First it was Rob who caught a dolphin. Then it was Rob again who hooked up with a sailfish on the bow flatline. After a great fight, we released the fish and moved back in to set up again. While Stewart was trying to put the line in the release, it kept jumping out of his hand. Jose told him he had a fish on and he closed the bail and was hooked up with a sailfish. While we were fighting this sail, we all saw another sail swim up to the hooked fish. Brian threw out a bait and by the time I was ready to release Stewart's sail, Brian was hooked up. We released Brian's sail after a few pictures and then we caught a kingfish. All this action took place on the flatlines. As dusk approached, it was time to run in and do some tarpon fishing. On our second drift, Stewart hooked up with a mean and nasty tarpon that wasted no time heading straight for the main channel and deep water. The fight was so intense that Stewart had to give up the rod to Rob, but not before he got a legal catch. Rob fought the fish to get it up close for some pictures at boatside. The fish had other ideas and stayed deep except to come up and gulp air before heading back to the bottom of the channel. Rob kept the pressure up and the fish finally came along side for several pictures before I released it. We ran back out to set up again and it didn't take very long before Brian was hooked up with a much more cooperative fish. The 100 pound tarpon ran straight in toward Fisher Island and shallow water. We had the fish up several times and got the catch. We were working on getting better boatside pictures and the tarpon decided to head for parts unknown. It screamed line off the reel, jumped, and took more line. We were gaining back the line when it went slack and the tarpon had won its freedom. To sum it up, offshore we were 3 for 3 on sailfish with a dolphin, kingfish and remora. Inshore it was a 2 for 2 tarpon evening.
The action is still going like gang busters, so give me a call 305 965-9454 or email nkostyo@bellsouth.net to schedule your trip and be a part of it.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net