They say that variety is the spice of life. This holds true for fishing also as the action has been steady for a variety of species. When the current picks up or when the wind puts a chop on the water, the action picks up. Without either of those conditions, it requires lots of searching and persistence to put together a nice catch. The surface water temperature is still slightly above 80 degrees, so it's still worth while putting a bait down on the bottom. As a matter of fact, with the exception of sailfish, all of the fish I've been catching have come on the bottom rig and a few on the downrigger.
Here's a recap of my two most recent trips. They were both fished in the area between the Twins and 71st Street in 100 to 225 feet of water. The majority of the action came in the 180 - 200 foot range.
Fernando Godinez, his father-in-law Larry Hofmann, Larry's 10 year old grandson, Lyndon Hofmann, and friend Robert Abramitis fished a 1/2 day in the afternoon. We loaded the livewell with pilchards and ran offshore starting in 160 feet. Our first action came on the bottom rod in the form of a kingfish. Lyndon had first honors and whipped the king in nothing flat. Moving out to 200 feet, the downrigger scored next with another kingfish. On the next drift, the bottom rod took off like crazy. Lyndon used all the strength he could muster to turn the handle. The fish kept taking line and soon he needed some help. While Robert was putting on a rod belt, I managed to turn the fish's head and get it coming up, at least temporarily. Robert took over and felt the power of the fish immediately. He kept up steady pressure as the fish slowly began to give in. Once we got the sinker to the surface, I grabbed the leader and finished pulling the 40# amberjack to the surface and put it in the fish box. We finished the trip with making a couple of drops on several wrecks. We had a goggle eye get crushed and spit out, however, we did not hook up.
Craig Liszt, Rich Rusak, and Pat Conway fished a 3/4 day trip. The main goal was to catch a sailfish and also catch a few fish to take home to eat. Bait was a bit more difficult on this trip, but we finally hit a good load of pilchards and off we went. The forecast of seas 2 feet or less turned out to be 2 - 4 feet. This actually worked out to our advantage and it put the fish in a much better feeding mood. After putting out the first two flatlines, we had a 25 foot whale shark swim up to the boat. What a beautiful enormous creature. Everyone had their cameras out and were snapping lots of pictures when I saw a cobia tagging along with the whale shark. It initially refused our bait. Meanwhile, the whale shark bumped the engines once and the side of the boat another time. It swam off and came back several times. On it's third return trip, the cobia ate a pilchard and we thought we were in for a battle. The fish just swam in circles next to the boat. I got a large gaff and stuck the fish pulling its tail out of the water. The fish went nuts and I held on. I yelled for another gaff and stuck the fish again and put the 35# cobia in the boat and into the fish box. What a great way to start the trip. All the lines were put back out and the bottom rod saw first action with a kingfish. Then it was another kingfish followed by a nice size mutton snapper and then a summer size bonito. The downrigger scored the third kingfish before we finally had a flatline get hit. It turned out to be a bluerunner. Along the way, we missed the hook up on two fish on the downrigger and one on the bottom rod. It was time to call it a day when a flatline got hit and it was the other fish we were looking for. The sailfish put on a spectacular aerial show and dumped lots of line off the reel while we pulled in all the other lines. We gave chase and slowly started winning the back and forth battle with the sail. It sounded twice during the fight before staying on the surface for the remainder of the fight. After several pictures, the fish was released to thrill another angler on another day.
The action is steady and every time the rod bends over, you never know what species of fish it will be. That's what makes fishing off Miami so great. And you never know what other great sights of nature that might come along.
Call 305 965-9454 or email nkostyo@bellsouth.net to schedule your trip to get in on the action. Also, don't forget to order your gift certificate for a charter trip. It'll be a gift that will be remembered for a very long time and you'll be thanked many times over.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
