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Fishing Report for Northern Miami-Dade County
Capt. Dave Kostyo
December 10, 2003
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
The fronts are coming through on a steady basis. It's the time of year when 3-5 foot or higher seas are the norm. Anything less is considered a calm day. Kingfish and sailfish with a few dolphin and an occasional tuna become the predominant and sought after species. Inshore, the tarpon will make its strong winter showing to feast on shrimp. The question is when will they make that showing?
On Monday (12/8), Jim Sebastiano and Paul Dana from the Bradenton, Florida area got to experience some good kingfish action. The wind was N/NW @ 9-17 mph. There was a roaring south current and green water. Our second drift off Government Cut produced a large remora. Not the greatest of starts, however, it got the skunk out of the boat. We moved north to the middle of the anchorage area where we found the fish. The bow rod got hit first, but after a brief fight the hook pulled. Next it was the downrigger with an 8# king. Another drift produced nothing, so we slow trolled out to 400'. The
results were 1 bait chopped in half and several other nervous baits. Back to the anchorage area and this time we slow trolled two flatlines and 1 on the downrigger. Steady action started almost immediately with Jim catching a 12# king, then Paul adding another 8# fish. We released another fish, pulled the hook on another, and had another knock the bait off. The last hit of the trip came on the downrigger and after an intense 15 minute battle, Paul landed his 20# king on a 12# spinning outfit. All our fish were caught on herring in the 75-105 foot range.
Monday evening (12/8) was a see if the tarpon are in yet trip. By now, the wind had switched to the E and picked up to 14-21 mph. The wind combined with the incoming tide had us flying in to Haulover Inlet. Moving down the beach slowed our drift dramatically. Usually at this time of year, the fish will average in the 30-50 pound range with an occasional larger one. Our one and only strike of the evening turned out to be the larger one. The 100# tarpon made a short run, jumped twice, made another short run, made a spectacular cart wheeling stretched out jump, and then threw the hook. After a couple of more drifts, we had enough rock and rolling and came in. We answered the question, YES there are tarpon on the beach. Now all that has to happen is for the wind to calm down some to allow us better conditions in which to catch the silver king.
Tuesday (12/9) was a big boat day. With the wind from the E @ 14-21 mph, it was to be a day of ones. After catching herring at Government Cut, it was off to the anchorage area to see if the kings were still cooperating. The first bait was put in the water at 1:00 pm. We caught one king. The next move was north to 88 street where we finally found some good north current. After the current pushed us north of Haulover, we ran back to 88 street and reset. The short kite bait got hit (105') and we fought and released a sailfish. While fighting the sail, we saw a large group of birds working a grassy area to our north. We ran to the area and added a large spanish mackerel. We tried trolling the dolphin juniors in the 150-400 foot range and caught and released 1 bonito. As the sun was setting, we called it a day and made the run back to Haulover Inlet.
Captain Dave
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