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Fishing Report for Northern Miami-Dade County
Capt. Dave Kostyo
January 4, 2003
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Starting the Year Off With Tarpon
Lets kick off the new year with some evening tarpon fishing. Sounds good to me, and that is exactly what we did. Haulover Inlet is the place, live shrimp is the bait, Eagle Claw L190 5/0 circle hooks at the end of a 50# mono leader, 8 and 12 pound outfits while most of the fish are in the 30-50 pound range, and now all we need is for the tarpon to cooperate.
Thursday evening the fish were rolling in the middle of the Inlet just outside of the jetties. Mixed in with them were schools of LARGE jack crevalle. The combination of a very light SSE wind and an incoming tide gave us the conditions for perfect drifting. Marking a school of fish on the recorder, had us anticipating a rod or two bending over. There would be no disappointment and very quickly, we had a double header of the large jacks running in opposite directions. We lost one and released another measuring
28 1/2 inch. Next drift and the tarpon action started. Another drift and another tarpon, then they shut off. We moved down the beach and hook up again very quickly. As often happens when you are fishing the lighter tackle, a bigger fish crashes the party. We were in a battle with a very ornery tarpon of about 80#'s on 12# plug gear. After an hour in which it made numerous long runs, three heart stopping jumps, moved offshore from 15 to 25 feet of water, and too many dives under the boat to count, the fish was released.
Friday evening's forecast called for winds of 20-25 knots from the NW. In reality, we had NW 12-21 knot winds. In combination with an incoming tide, it gave us some of my favorite conditions for drifting across the mouth of the Inlet at Haulover. The air temperature dropped quickly after sunset. Water temperature was 73.5 F. We saw nor marked any fish and moved down the beach after making 4 drifts with no strikes. It was the right move and the 12# outfit was hooked up solid. We reset after releasing the fish and the waiting started again. No more strikes down the beach had me going back to the Inlet where we found another fish that took us through the bridge into the Bay. It turned out that the fish was hooked in the anal fin. Don't ask me how the circle hook did that. Another release and back out to reset again. The fish spread out last night and we ended the evening with the two tarpon releases.
Every evening between now and about mid June, whether it is Haulover Inlet, Government Cut, or the Bay, you can expect to have some outstanding tarpon fishing. Give me a call, lets schedule a trip and you can experience the thrills of catching a Silver King. It only takes one and you'll be hooked and become a tarpon addict.
Captain Dave
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