The sailfish, bonito, kingfish, and dolphin action continued to be very good this past week. If you hit the right stretch of water, the blackfin tuna has also been good. All this good action can be accredited to the strong north current that has been running at the 3.5 to 4 MPH rate. Take this into consideration when setting up your drifts. You can be way to the north in no time at all.
Tarpon action has been EXCELLENT so far this full moon cycle. Live crabs at Government Cut and shrimp in the Bay has been the ticket. The fish have been in the 50 pound and up category at the Cut and 30 - 50 pounds in the Bay.
Monday (5/8) afternoon was a 3 - 8 PM trip with John Pazienza and his friend Cliff. We ran to Bug Light to catch all the pilchards we wanted. The interesting thing about the bait was that it did not respond to chumming. We started in 160' half way between the Monument buoy and Fowey Light. The north current was running at 3.7 MPH and had the water a dark blue color. The first action had Cliff fighting a large bonito. While this was going on, John hooked up with an unknown fish on the kite. We released Cliff's bonito and John was beginning to make progress with his fish when the circle hook pulled. All the baits went back out and I threw in about a half dozen chummers. Within a few minutes, both flatlines got hit. The bow rod hooked up and the stern rod bait got dropped before the hook set. Both anglers tag teamed a sailfish and we reset. A few more chummers and this time it was the stern flatline that got the sailfish. Both anglers once again shared the rod and Cliff did the honors of releasing the sail. Another reset and this time the downrigger saw action. While John was fighting the kingfish, the short kite bait got hit and Cliff had the 3rd sailfish of the afternoon on. The king got released at boat side and after a good fight, the sail was also released. By the time we pulled in our lines at the end of the trip, we were just south of the Miami Sea Buoy. Final count was 3 sailfish (2/2 on flatlines & 1/1 on the kite), 1 bonito, 1 kingfish, 1 mystery fish, and 2 misses on the kite.
Wednesday (5/10) evening was on fire time for tarpon. We started at Government Cut with a tarpon on the first drift and by the time we went into the Bay we were 4 for 5 tarpon. Live crabs got us all the action. The wind was from the S @ 9 - 16 knots and the tide was roaring in. In the Bay, the hot action continued. The first fish got the best of us and cut us off on an obstruction. We got the next 3 in a row making us 3 for 4 in the Bay. Jim Lefevre and I got soaked twice from tarpon that exploded at boat side while I was attempting to grab the leader to release them. We also had a fish that ran to the side of the boat where I was trying to clear a line. It made an eight foot high cartwheeling jump about 20 feet from the boat that had me ducking to get out of the way of the main line. Tarpon fishing can get down right dangerous at times. Like all fishing trips, it seem to come to an end all too quickly. Final count was 7 for 9 tarpon.
Thursday (5/11) evening it was back to Government Cut and a tarpon on the first drift. Mark Rubert and his son Sam along with Sam's father-in-law, Rubin Lujo Sr and brother-in-law, Rubin Jr were spending some good quality time together. The Lujo's had never caught a tarpon before. Sam asked me to put Rubin Jr on a tarpon that was going to make him cry "uncle". Rubin Jr picked up the rod on the first fish and the fight was on. We took a tour of the south side at Government. Then the tarpon decided it wanted to tour the deep water of the main channel. It was a see saw battle back and forth with the tarpon beginning to get the upper hand. Everyone was giving moral support to Rubin. We came so close several times to getting the catch. The fish gulped air on 4 different occasions and got strong. Finally, Rubin had enough and Sam took over. It took Sam about 5 more minutes to get the tarpon back to the surface where we released the 75 pound fish. Rubin was exhausted and Sam gave me a thumbs up. The tarpon put up a great fight and Rubin Jr had a real appreciation for the power of a tarpon. By now, the wind had switched from the south to the SW it blew @ 17 - 21 knots during the course of the evening. The next drift had Rubin Sr hooked up. This time the 60 pound tarpon showed mercy on him by swimming in toward shallower water in front of Fisher Island. After releasing his fish, Dad had some good natured ribbing for his son about how quickly he caught his fish. Several drifts later, the third fish of the evening hooked up and ran the same way, toward shallower water. Rubin Jr was back on the rod again and this time we took the tour of the shallow waters up close to Fisher Island. Rubin won this battle with the 80 pound tarpon and it got released to give someone else the thrill of fighting a big hard fighting fish. Final count for this evening was 3 for 3 tarpon.
Friday (5/12) evening's tarpon trip was with Mike Little and his co-workers Tom and Randy. The action started slowly for us and we had to wait until the dusk period before we got our first hit. That fish won its freedom on its first jump by throwing the hook. The next drift, we hooked up solid. The fish made a tremendous run toward the jetties and under another boat. As that boat attempted to back away for us to pass through, the line got cut off by his props. The third time was the charm. Tom hooked up again and this time the fish made a mad dash for the shallow water in front of Fisher Island. Mike was taking action shots with his camera and it wasn't too long before the fish got its picture taken and was released. That was Tom's first tarpon and now it was Randy's turn to get his first tarpon also. The fish cooperated and Randy got hooked up on the next drift. His fish also ran toward Fisher Island. Mike was busy with the camera again and got a lot more action shots. The fish was released and both Tom and Randy now had their first tarpon under their belts. Things got quiet for the next few drifts. Then as if someone flipped a switch on, the tarpon started popping baits off the surface. The explosions on the surface are enough to get anyone excited. Then it happened. Both crab baits got hit and we were hooked up solid with a double header. It started with Tom and Mike, but Mike passed the rod off to Randy after a few minutes so he could keep taking pictures. Randy's fish was co-operating nicely by coming toward the boat. Tom's fish, however, was dumping line like crazy and the chase was on. The good thing was that once again both fish were moving toward Fisher Island instead of making a bee line for the main channel. Both anglers did several laps around the boat during the fight and Randy's fish got released first. Tom's fish was camera shy and kept running away. The fish was finally released, it actually released itself by wearing through the leader, after being officially caught numerous times. After a slow start, the evening ended with a 4 for 6 count.
Sunday (5/14) afternoon Alan Stewart and Stephen Irick were out for an offshore/tarpon combo trip. We loaded up on herring at Bug Light and ran out to just south of the Monument Buoy to make our first drift. The action started quickly with 2 bonito. Then the kingfish started biting on both the flatlines and the kite and with mono leaders, it was time to tie on new hooks. After another round of cut offs on the kite, I switched to a trace of #3 wire. We got the hit on the kite again and this time the circle hook failed to do the job. The next drift, a flat line got hit and up came a sailfish doing a chart wheeling jump and then slack line. The fish had wrapped itself in the leaders and when it fell back in the water, the leader broke. By now, I'm beginning to pull my hair out. The downrigger popped and we finally put a decent kingfish in the boat. All this action took place in 95 - 140 feet in blue/green water with no current. Before going inshore to tarpon fish, we made several quick drift at the Cuban Hole. One bait got hit on the downrigger and we came up with teeth marks in the herring. It was a quick run in to the tarpon area. I explained what to expect when the tarpon hit and on our first drift, the strike came. The fish made a short run, jumped, and threw the hook. About 30 seconds after reeling in the line, the other rod got hit and we were hooked up solid. Stephen had his hands full fighting the fish. It ran straight for the main channel and then flowed in with the tide. We toured both sides of the channel as we continued to follow the fish and move in. We got the catch, only to see the fish swim right back to the bottom with ease. Both Steve and Alan couldn't believe how hard the fish fought. By the time the fish released itself, we were in front of the Coast Guard Base. We reorganized ourselves and went back out to reset the baits. It took several drifts and a bit of hunting to find the next fish. We marked two fish on the recorder and 10 seconds later, it was Alan's turn to pull on an 80 pound tarpon. This fish did the run to shallow water move and it didn't take very long to get a real good look at the fish. The fish was released and Alan had caught his first tarpon. After some trying times offshore, we finished the trip on a very positive note by going 2 for 3 on tarpon.
Monday (5/15) we rescheduled our evening tarpon trip due to the thunderstorms and rainy weather that was moving through the area.
So that's it, once again we're caught up with the action that has been taking place aboard Knot Nancy. It only takes an email or phone call to schedule your trip and get in on this kind of action too.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell