For the past several days we have been experiencing some tough fishing conditions. By tough, I mean no current and green water out as far as 300 feet. Even those who have been running well offshore and dolphin fishing or deep dropping for swordfish have been having little to no success. The conditions have spread the fish out through a wide range of depths. Despite these tough conditions, there are still some sailfish, kingfish, and a few dolphin being caught. The sails have been found in as little as 40 feet and out as far as 320 feet and various depths in between. The same goes for the kingfish but over a range of 40 - 180 feet with most of the fish being found while using a downrigger or fishing on the bottom. This is Mother Natures' way of keeping everyone in line and not have anyone get to confident about always being able to catch anything they want. The conditions will eventually change and we'll get the good blue water and north current back in to the depths we like it in.
Friday (11/23) Jeff Godel along with his students Luke, Blake, and Travis fished a 3/4 day trip. We started by catching a good supply of pilchards in the Bay. Next, we added a healthy number of herring at Government Cut before heading out. The conditions we found were really bad. No current, green water, and wind from various directions ranging from W/SSE @ 0 - 7 knots had us slow trolling for most of the trip. We did try drifting and when we stopped in 125 feet, we stayed in 125'. We didn't move in, out, north, or south. Somehow we caught a kingfish on the downrigger (70' down) while sitting stationary as we attempted to drift. Also, the bottom rod had a herring cut in half behind the hook. We tried slow trolling bait on the downrigger over wrecks that have produced very well for me in the past. No action there either. We slow trolled from 110 feet out to 455 feet and back in to 110 feet while live chumming along the way. On our way out, we caught and released a small shark (220 feet). On the way in, we stepped up the live chumming and still couldn't raise a fish either on the surface or downrigger. The word up and down the line was pretty much the same for everyone. A sail here and there caught early, a kingfish or two, a few jacks, a couple of small dolphin. To say the trip was a tough one would be an under statement. What would tomorrow bring? We'd have to wait and see.
Saturday (11/24) we were greeted with light sprinkles as we left TNT Marine Center that continued until we got about half way to Government Cut. Carlos Ochoa and his son Anthony wanted to catch their first sailfish. We loaded up on herring at Government and ran south to start off the middle of Key Biscayne. Before we got out to start fishing, Anthony wasn't feeling to good, so I slow trolled rather than subject him to drifting. We had blue/green water and little current. The wind was E/ESE @ 9 - 12 knots. Just minutes after starting, in 140 feet, a flatline got hit and Carlos was fighting his first sailfish. He picked on a small one that ran and jumped just as good as its bigger friends. We released that fish and Anthony was feeling better until we started slow trolling again. We crossed over a wreck in 150 feet and when we got to 160, the downrigger produced a very small undersized kingfish that Anthony released. Things slowed down for a while after that. I tried drifting stern to so as to give the most comfortable drift. We started in 200 and when we got in to 118 feet, I started to reel in to reset another drift. A 5 pound dolphin inhaled the herring I was reeling in and it was destined to be dinner that evening. Anthony had hung in there as long as he could, so we decided to call it at a half day. For our last drift, I set up in 320 feet. The seas were a bit larger with some nice swells coming through. Live chumming attracted several terns who kept trying to catch out flatline baits. At 240 feet, I changed out all the baits for fresher ones. At 200 feet, one of the flatline rods started twitching and something picked up the bait. Carlos dropped back to the fish and then set the circle hook like he had been doing it all along. The fish came up shortly there after and we had our second sailfish on. This one was much bigger and ran much further and jumped twice as much as his smaller friend. About 20 minutes later, Anthony snapped a few pictures before we released the fish and then breathed a sigh of relief and we headed back in for calmer water.
It is hard to believe how quickly this year has passed by. Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is right around the corner. Speaking of the Holidays, don't forget that if you're looking for a gift for that hard to please angler in your life, give some thought to giving them a fishing trip Gift Certificate. Give me a call for details or to order one.
Sailfishing season has started and it won't be long before the winter tarpon season kicks in. Now is the time to book your trips so you'll get the dates you want. If you'd like to have a really good shot at catching both a sailfish and tarpon in the same day, you might want to consider an afternoon/evening combo trip. We start later in the day so you can sleep in and finish after dark so you'll get your best shot at catching some tarpon.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net