Hot Action Offshore and Inshore, That Says It All!!
Capt. Dave Kostyo
May 11, 2010
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Time sure flies when you're fishing most each day. It's been hard to find the time to write a report and keep everyone up to date, so lets get down to it.
Offshore, when there is north current, the sailfishing has been outstanding. Throw in some very large kingfish, a few blackfin tuna, bonito, and mutton snapper on the bottom and you have the makings for a good day of fishing. When there is no current or south current, the kings, bonito, and muttons are still cooperating.
Inshore, its been tarpon, tarpon, and more tarpon. There are still some shrimp runs after dark and the fish can be seen blasting the surface as they feast. It doesn't take long before they find your bait and the action begins. We're seeing them roll around on the surface during the daylight hours in the late afternoon. With a few exceptions, they are not feeding until it gets totally dark. Then again on some evenings, they disappear when it gets dark. In the Bay, the action has been steady on the evenings when the shrimp run.
Bob Lubin, his son Bobby Junior and brother-in-law Tom McNulty experienced an evening of tarpon fishing that they will not soon forget. We had to wait the fish out till it got dark. Then the shrimp ran and the tarpon came calling. The conditions where a bit on the blustery side with wind from the east @ 17 - 24 knots, but that didn't make any difference to the tarpon. The next seven (7) drifts produced 6 tarpon and one (1) snook.
John Perillo had much calmer conditions in which to tarpon fish. The wind was W/WNW @ 12 - 17 knots. We had to work very hard this evening to get a reward. The squid were out in large numbers and they loved our shrimp offerings. Final result for the evening was 1 tarpon, 1 snook, 1 mangrove snapper, and 5 squid.
Larry, Lindsay, and Susie Maas saw action at Government Cut with Spanish mackerel. When it got dark and the tide changed, we moved into the Bay and capped off the evening with 3 of 6 tarpon that we hooked.
Matthew Springer and Scott Jenkins each got to fight a tarpon on their evening trip at Government Cut. As quickly as the tarpon turned on, they turned off after we caught and released the two fish.
William Tomlin fished a 3/4 day offshore trip. After all the evening trips, a daytime trip seemed out of sorts for me. William was very intrigued with the light line and size of hooks that we fish with. By the end of the trip, he was convinced to try lighter tackle and fish with a kite when he got back home. The final score on his trip was 2 dolphin weighing in at 12#'s, a 31# kingfish to go with 3 other kingfish.
Brother Walt and Mike Wilkowski and their friend Lenny Vadala and Pete Smith fished two evening tarpon trips. Pete was first up and caught and released his first tarpon. That fish came during the late dusk period. The fish then disappeared until the last drift. It was Lenny's turn and he did a great job of fighting a large ladyfish. Everyone laughed about that catch and decided that he would be first up the next evening.
The next night, Mike was standing next to the middle rod when it went off and Lenny told him to take it. We released that fish and now it was finally going to be Lenny's turn no matter which rod saw action. The next drift he got his chance. He grabbed the rod and was holding it behind the conventional reel and turning the handle with his right hand. I finally got his attention to hold the rod above the reel. In the process of moving his hand forward on the rod, he had the misfortune of knocking the drag lever into free spool and an instant birds nest occurred. I somehow managed to get part of it out and then the line came tight and the popping line disappointed everyone. We reset and got another chance for Lenny, however, this time the fish threw the hook on its first jump. Before all this action took place, we started the evening off with a just undersize red grouper.
Back to a day trip with Brad Coren. North current was our friend on this day as it was moving along at 2.5 mph. We started with a blackfin tuna, moved on to kingfish of 25#'s and 10#'s and during the course of the day added 5 bonito. We topped off the day with 2 sailfish on the kite and one on a flatline.
Stephanie Gordon, Ed Nader, and Carlos Arriaga had to wait the tarpon out till it got dark. The wait was well worth it as hits were coming on every drift. We had four shots and successfully released 2 fish. The wildest fish dumped 90% of the line off the reel as we were chasing after it.
Ron Walker, Pete Boylan, and Phil Collins also had to wait the fish out. They turned on late and continued to bite right up till we reeled our lines in at midnight. The fish had it in for us on this evening. We were getting 1 or 2 jumps out of most every fish and then they'd throw the hook. We did manage to catch and release one fish for each angler.
Fred, Rachel, and Brian Glauser went 1 for 2 during their evening tarpon trip. We had the rare daytime hit on the first drift and Rachel had a ball catching her first tarpon. Using 12# tackle made it all the more challenging and exciting. The next bite didn't come till after 9:00 PM.
The next morning, the same group saw action with a variety of fish on the offshore scene. All three anglers got in on the action. We had south current and there were no sailfish to be found. that didn't seem to matter as we had action throughout the day with 3 kingfish, 2 mutton snapper, a vermillion snapper, an amberjack and bonito.
Jeff, Bill, Bryan, and John Hofgard also had to wait out the tarpon. They never showed up outside the Inlet at Government Cut. They were however, in the Bay. The shrimp were running in large quantities and the tarpon action came fast and quick. As fast as it started, it shut off. We did manage to catch 2 tarpon before they shut down.
Kirk Olson, Drew Kristol, Cesar and Hector Suzarra had beautiful weather conditions for their half day trip. Very light wind and no to just a trickle of south current. We started off with quick action on kingfish. The end result was 2 pulled hooks and 3 baits chopped with no hook up. We moved to another area when the action slowed and immediately caught a king and bonito. Now with no current, we slow trolled baits and got a good hit on the downrigger. Drew fought the fish on 12# line for 45 minutes before he finally prevailed and we boated a 35# amberjack that was foul hooked.
Ken Lebar and his brother-in-law Mike Cassedy sampled the highs and lows of tarpon fishing at Government Cut. We started off with the low as we watched numerous fish rolling all around us and swimming under the boat and refusing to take our offerings. When it got totally dark, we moved to the other end of the spectrum as we did battle with a 100# tarpon. It was Ken's first ever tarpon and the fish ran straight for the deep water of the main channel. It was giving us a lazy man's fight until suddenly it came to life and then things got interesting. by the time we released the fish Ken was drenched in perspiration and his back was getting very stiff. The next drift it was Mike's turn and he picked on a much smaller fish that thought it was a big boy. It kept running under the boat and had Mike bent over for a good portion of the battle. He prevailed and the fish was release. On the next drift, we watched fish blasting shrimp off the surface to the south of us. The decision was made to call it an evening as each angler was well satisfied with their catch.
We are now up to date again. It's up to you now to give me a call or send me an email to schedule your trip for either tarpon or to fish offshore.
I've got to get ready for my next trip. I hear them tarpon calling me.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
[email protected]
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