Mid-March Fishing Report - Miami, Florida
Capt. Dave Kostyo
March 14, 2017
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Time to come up for another breath of air and update the fishing activities.
Lets start when the wind was still blowing 30 knots.
A Saturday trip with Allen got rescheduled to an evening tarpon trip later in the week. More on that trip later in this post.
My Sunday trip with Mark turned into a 3 hour seminar on tackle, rigging, knots, and techniques that he can use as he just got a new boat.
Jon, Stacy, and Jim caught amberjack, yellow jack, red grouper, and dolphin/mahi on their halfdayfishingcharter.
Allen's rescheduled tarpon trip started off in the bay. The tarpon were definitely on that evening as the shrimp were running and I couldn't get more than one bait out for the first 4 fish. He got to experience the strength, power, and beauty of these amazing fish. Most of the fish either threw the hook on the second or third jump, or cut us off on an obstruction. By the time the bite slowed down, we managed to go 2 for 9 on tarpon in the 80 - 90 pound class.
We then moved outside to make three drifts before the end of the trip. We hooked up on two of the drifts and landed another 90 pound fish. Before I could release it, It took off as a shark was chasing it and after running a 100 yards of line off the reel, the leader broke. I hope the fish got away from the shark.
Brad, Gary, and Werner pulled on amberjack, gag grouper, bonito, and dolphin on their half day trip. It almost came to tag teaming the fish, but not quite.
During Michael and Ryan's evening tarpon trip, the action slowed down quite a bit. We found one on the outside and Ryan caught his first tarpon and it was the biggest fish he has ever caught. His buddy Michael said that he always catches the biggest fish he has ever caught when he takes him fishing. Went into the bay and once again the large tarpon won the battle by cutting us off on an obstruction.
Steve, Eddy, Ray, and Kaden did an afternoon/evening combo trip. Eagle eye Eddy spotted several sailfish tailing down the waves. The only problem was that they were far enough offshore of my bow that we couldn't get to them in time. That's the way it went with at least a half dozen more sails. Throw in the mahi that were to small to eat our baits and the small blackfin tuna and it seemed like more of an Eco-Tour. The downrigger finally popped and it turned out to be a sailfish that threw the hook on its second jump. Then a flat line hooked up to a bonito. Finally the bottom rod produced a very large amberjack that kept Ray busy for a while. The tarpon turned off completely on this night. Only marked one fish and no bites.
Then comes Day Light Saving Time and I lost an hours sleep before heading out with Cory, Ross, and Greg for a half day trip. Hook a sailfish on the bottom rod minutes after putting the first baits out. When the line rose to the surface and the fish showed itself, the hook pulled. Then the action slowed till we caught a bonito on the bottom rod. It slowed again until I said there was 5 minutes left in the trip. That's when we had several sailfish come into our chum and we hooked up two of them. We went round and round the boat going over and under each other and then closing the gape on one fish only to have it take off again. We got one fish to the boat and were taking a few picture when we heard "Oh no it's gone". The other fish made another long run and the hook pulled.
I'm now caught up and have had a day off. Time to bait fish tomorrow for my next trip. Can't wait to get back out there.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
[email protected]
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