It's that time of year. Cold fronts come through and the wind picks up. That means the sailfish are biting and the dolphin are moving south.
Saturday (11/10) was a half day with Jean-Max, Vince, and Sebastian. Wind was from the N/NNW @ 10 - 18 knots. We bought bait from Lester's Live Bait at Haulover Inlet and started off the Twin Towers in 120 feet. The water was an ugly green with no current. When we reached 220 feet with no action, I decided to run offshore to find blue water. In 850 feet, we not only found the blue water and north current, we also found some great weed lines and large weed patches. Slow trolling along side the weed lines and patches with 2 flatlines had us hooked up with dolphin within a few minutes. Jean-Max and Sebastian did the honors. Out went the lines again and shortly we were hooked up again. This time, Vince got in on the action. Lines out again and I spotted a single tern working the surface by a larger patch. We reeled in, ran over to the bird, put out one line and immediately hooked up and had a school of dolphin up at the boat. The action was fast and furious for everyone. When the school finally moved on, it was time to straighten up a bit and head in. Everyone was all smiles as we headed back to TNT Marine Center. Final count was 13 fish caught, 12 kept (5 - 9 pounds), 1 released (undersized), and at least 8 missed hook ups or thrown hooks.
Tuesday (11/10) I helped my good friend Captain Gil Gutierrez with his charter while he is waiting for his new boat to be built. Bob Riendeau and Marissa Hogan were down from Connecticut on vacation. We caught bait at Government Cut and then headed offshore with the wind from the N/E @ 8 - 12 knots. We stopped just south of the Sea Buoy to slow troll baits for a few minutes in amongst some birds. With no hits and the water not looking great, we headed out in search of the blue/green edge. Gil spotted several birds working the surface very hard. They moved off quickly once we got into the area. We set up a drift and as we approached the edge in 365 feet, the kite produced a dolphin. Bob landed that fish and before he could hardly turn around, the bow flatline got hit. The fish moved off slowly at first and then picked up speed before jumping and showing itself. The sailfish then proceeded to put on a fabulous aerial show before dumping half the line off the reel. As we regained lost line, the sail decided to sound and fight deep. We worked it back up where it once again went to the air, dumped lots of line, and sounded again. This time it stayed down for only a short time. It finally gave in to the pressure that Bob was constantly putting on it and Gil was able to leader and bill the fish. Two quick pictures, remove the hook, and off the fish went to give another angler in the future the pleasure that Bob had just experienced by catching his first sailfish. By this time, Marissa had hung in there as long as she could and we headed back in for calmer water. CONGRATULATIONS Bob on your first sailfish and dolphin.
Friday (11/16) saw a cold front pass through our area. It brought with it so very heavy wind until late in the afternoon. With that in mind, Ed Kim and his friend Bob Kim (no relation) decided to try some very early season tarpon fishing to see if they might be in the winter time spots. The wind was NNW/NNE @ 11 - 17 knots. The plan was to start at Government Cut and work our way back to Haulover Inlet. Several drifts on the north side at Government had us only seeing some large marks on the recorder that could have been tarpon. On the south side, we saw lots of bait that showered when we turned on a side light. Next, we tried two Bay spots that normally would produce at least 1 strike. We did get a strike from a seatrout that was released. Finally we made one long drift down most of the tarpon hole at Haulover with no action.
Saturday (11/17) Ed and Bob were back for an offshore trip. We found pilchards in the Bay after some searching and several throws with the castnet. We added herring to the baitwell at Government and worked our way out to 400 feet. The wind was ENE/E @ 11 - 15 knots, the water was blue and the seas were a solid 4 - 6 on top of 5 - 6 foot swells. With the flat and downrigger lines out, I was about to launch the kite when the bow flatline took off and Ed was hooked up solid to a sailfish in 350. The fish ran straight offshore jumping and putting on a good aerial show. It then appeared that the line went slack. Ed started reeling frantically as the fish had changed directions and was headed back toward shore. He got caught up to the fish and moved quickly to the rear of the boat. He went back and forth across the stern several times and then the fish started a circling pattern before deciding to run south and offshore again. This time we caught up with the sail and got the leader well into the rod before it put on a burst of speed and ran out away from us again. With the catch made, it was time to try and get a picture of Ed's first sail. The fish, however, had other things in mind. As we started moving toward the fish again, it changed directions once again and ran straight back and under the boat before changing directions again and going back toward the engines. Ed stuck the rod in the water and moved with lightning speed back toward the engines to try and clear the line. Despite all his effort, the fish beat him and cut us off. We got the catch, but Ed will have to remember the mental picture till his next sail. We set back up and then the waiting began. We waited and waited and then waited some more. We chummed and chummed and chummed some more. We moved back south and out to 500 feet and waited and chummed some more. The bow flatline started to twitch a little and we had to change out a bait that got chopped in half behind the hook. When we reached 404 feet, the short kite bait got robbed and then the long kite bait took off. It was Bob's turn and he hooked and landed a 6 pound dolphin that had no friends following him. Two new kite baits were put out and shortly, the short bait got cut off by an unseen toothy critter. That was our final action until we were running in and came upon a flock of birds. We slow trolled a single bait for a few minutes and as the bait was being reeled in, a silver flash grabbed it. The hooked missed its mark and the leader had one small tooth make just above the knot.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
