It is definitely springtime!! If you have ever wanted to catch a large dolphin (mahi-mahi) now is the time you should be fishing or booking a trip. To say that we have been catching large dolphin would be an understatement. The large ones are here and they are hungry. Add to that some great sailfish action plus plenty of kingfish and that's why I say it is definitely springtime.
Monday (4/9), Eileen Clark, her son-in-law Matt Whitney and grandchildren, Olivia and Jacob had a great family fishing trip. The wind was SE/SSE @ 10 - 15 knots. The water was a beautiful blue with no current. That didn't seem to discourage the fish. The bottom rod drew first action with a small mutton snapper. It was just a bit short and got released. Next Olivia caught a kingfish off the downrigger. Every time we got in to 85 feet and started moving the kite baits back out to deeper water, one or both lines would get cut off by kingfish. In 180 feet, the bottom rod saw action again. This time it was a remora that was released. In 160 feet, both flatlines got hit and both Olivia and Jacob hung on as line disappeared off their reels at a very rapid pace. Olivia's dolphin came to the boat first. Matt's dolphin was larger and he fought the fish like a seasoned veteran. He won the battle after a 30 minute fight and we put a 34 pound dolphin in the box. The final action of the trip saw us amazed at how a kingfish can sky rocket a bait twice and miss the hooks even with a stinger rig.
Tuesday (4/10), Jack Campi, his wife Cheryl, daughter Erin and son Jack Jr (4 years old) fished a half day family trip. This was Jack Jr's first fishing trip. The wind today was SSE/S @ 9 - 13 knots. Once again today, we had no current. On our first drift, a schoolie size dolphin hit a flatline and Jack Jr along with some help from his Dad caught and released his first fish. Next, Erin caught a kingfish on the downrigger outfit. Jack Jr's second fish turned out to be a triggerfish that found the stinger hook on the downrigger rod. The final fish of the morning was caught on the downrigger outfit again, but this time we were slow trolling the baits. Dad held the rod and Jack Jr reeled with all his might before he got tired and asked for his sister to help finish catching the fish. Erin got a good workout before bringing the fish into gaff range. It joined the other kingfish in the fishbox. Jack Jr was the official bait catcher when we needed a bait from the livewell. Toward the end of the trip, he declared that he "liked fishing!!" His dad beamed and I could see the look in his eye that they were going to have lots of fishing adventures together.
Tuesday (4/10) afternoon, I had Bud Corbin and his wife Denise out for a late afternoon trip. Bait fishing at Government was the best I'd seen it for the past several days. Denise was a bait catching machine and out fished her husband about 3 to 1. With a full livewell, we headed straight out from Government and were greeted by wind from the SSE/S @ 10 - 14 knots, green water, and no current. We fished the full compliment of flatlines, downrigger, and kite baits. We chummed with live herring and pilchards. The highlight of the afternoon was 1 kingfish on the downrigger.
Thursday (4/12) was an afternoon/evening trip with Joel Sellers and his dad Laurence (83 years young). Bait fishing was tough! Finally at the 5th bait location, we got the bait up and picked away at them till we had a decent number of baits in the livewell. Today we started south of the Monument Buoy. We had a light north current with wind from the SE/S @ 5 - 14 knots. Within 3 minutes of putting the first bait on the downrigger, Laurence caught a kingfish. A couple of minutes after that, Joel caught another kingfish on the downrigger. The third kingfish took us a bit long to find. We then moved out and set up a drift starting in 200 feet. At about 180 feet, all three flatlines got hit. The lines were crossed with dolphin jumping and running. Laurence's line broke before we could untangle the mess. The other two lines appeared to be crossed and we worked frantically to try and clear them. It soon became apparent that they weren't crossed and that the 21 pound dolphin had eaten the baits on both lines and had 2 hooks in him. The dolphin soon joined the kingfish in the fishbox. After re-rigging all the lines, a sailfish ate the bait on the rod I was putting out and Laurence sat up front and together, we all helped him catch and released his first sailfish. With baits back out again, this time Joel's bait got hit and he caught and released a sailfish before it was time to go in and tarpon fish. The tarpon were playing hard to get and we called it an early evening, but not before we caught and released a bluefish.
Friday (4/13), Joel and Laurence were back for day two of the afternoon/evening combo trip. Laurence said his right arm was still a bit sore from the previous day's sailfish. I told him I'd try to even things out for him and get his left arm sore. We worked hard to get bait again, however, today we found it in Government Cut. We were back to no current today with a wind change to the ENE/E @ 8 - 13 knots. The kingfish were hungry this afternoon and the downrigger once again produced all except one fish. Laurence was ready at the downrigger because he knew it was going to give us plenty of action and he was right!! Every time we got in the 100 - 110 foot range we caught a kingfish. Final count on the kingfish was 5. Out deeper, we caught a couple of small brown sharks. We saw a free jumping sailfish in 230 feet and had one free jump about 50 feet from the boat in 110 feet. They only put on a show for us and ignored our baits. Time to tarpon fish. We made one drift and hooked a beautiful 80 pound fish that Laurence caught. This was his first tarpon also. He turned the rod over to his son to finish fighting the fish to get a few boatside pictures before I released the fish. It's never to late to get out and catch the fish of your dreams. Laurence did just that with his first sailfish and first tarpon at the young age of 83. Nice going Laurence!!
Saturday (4/14), Mike Shafer and his foster sons Harley Hayes and Ryan Carter saw action on another afternoon/evening combo trip. Bait once again required some searching and picking away at to get a decent number of baits. The wind picked up some today @ 13 - 20 knots from the SE. We had a light north current and had to go out to 400 feet to find the blue/green edge. With 2 flatline baits and the downrigger bait out, I was about to plug in the kite reel when a flatline took off. From the start, it was obvious that we had another decent size dolphin on. It made some great leaps, head thrashes, and sounded about a half dozen times. Through it all, Mike fought the fish like a pro. A totally exhausted dolphin came boatside and was put in the fishbox. That evening back at Spinnaker Marina it weighed in at 29 pounds. The next fish on Mike's wish list was a sailfish. We worked the kite baits and flatline baits back in to some shallower water and at 290 feet we had a sailfish come up and look at the short kite bait for a while before disappearing. We moved back to south of the Cuban Hole and set up for sails and kingfish. At 107 feet I started working all the baits back offshore. At 140 feet, the short kite bait and a flatline got hit at the same time. Mike took the kite bait reel and Harley got the flatline rod. Harley's fish was a 12 pound kingfish that joined the dolphin in the fishbox. Mike's fish was the sailfish he wanted. We caught the sail and got the pictures he wanted before releasing it to fight another day. Time for some tarpon fishing. Just like yesterday evening, we hooked a tarpon on our first drift. Ryan fought the fish and got the catch before turning the rod over to Harley so he could see how hard tarpon pull. We got the pictures and released the tarpon.
As you can see, the fishing action both offshore and inshore is good for big dolphin, good sailfish action, plenty of kingfish, and tarpon along with a few other assorted fish. Now's the time to get out there and get in on the good action. Send me an email @ nkostyo@bellsouth.net or call 305 965-9454 for details or to schedule your trip. The afternoon/evening combo trip is a great one for those who want the best of both worlds with both offshore (sailfish, kingfish, dolphin) and inshore (tarpon) fishing in one trip.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
