Let's start with the offshore action in the Haulover area. Loading the live well with pilchards has been a matter of making one or two throws with the castnet to black out your well. We've fished in the 80 – 250 foot range with the vast major of our action coming in the 90 – 110 foot area. It's been a mixed bag of sailfish, bonito, mutton snapper, cero mackerel, and small sharks. The key has been very heavy chumming and finding even a slight color change.
Richard Rusak and Jason Harris caught all of the above mentioned species except bonito on their half day trip. It was perfect kite flying weather with the wind from the ESE @ 16 – 20 knots. The downrigger scored the mutton as we slow trolled our baits. The initial run had us all thinking kingfish. It was a very nice surprise when we saw the pink color. When I pulled the fish up next to the boat, the hook pulled. It sat there not realizing it was free. I quickly pinned the fish up against the hull and threw it into the boat much to the surprise of both Richard and Jason. The cero came next on a flat line. The kite went up and this was the first time that Jason had done this type of fishing. The shark ate the short kite bait and Jason handled everything as if he'd been doing it for a long time. The sailfish came on our final drift of the morning. Jason saw a commotion on the short kite bait once again and this time Richard did a great job of coming tight on the fish. The show the sailfish put on was fantastic and after a 15 minute battle, we took pictures and sent the fish on its way.
For those who find the sea conditions too rough, the waters in the Bay are nice and calm. John Burrows and his grandson Luke Langston chose the calmer water on their trip. The wind was from the NE/ENE @ 17 – 19 knots. Luke doesn't do to well in rough seas. We went north to Dumfoundling Bay and had constant action all morning long. We started off trolling diving plugs while Luke chummed the waters with live pilchards. It didn't take long before we started seeing explosions on the surface as jack crevalle chased the baits against a seawall. We stopped trolling and put out live baits on 8# spinning outfits. The action was fast and furious. We worked the entire length of the seawall with the same results before moving out to the main Bay. There we started seeing tarpon rolling as we set up our drift. As is typical with that area, the tarpon ignored our baits. On the other hand, throw over a few live baits for chum and every rod got hit with jacks. During one of the blitzes, we caught a Spanish mackerel. That's how it went all morning long. Lots and lots of action to the point that Luke said his arm was sore from catching so many fish.
Take your choice, offshore or inshore, there's plenty of action to be had. Now it's up to you to give me a call or send me an email to book your trip and get in on the action.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
