Lots of Outstanding Action Offshore and Inshore
Capt. Dave Kostyo
February 17, 2011
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
It's time to do some catching up with the fishing reports. Let's get straight to it.
Ed Carr, James Omdahl, and Charlie Vital got in on the great tarpon action that is taking place out of the Haulover Inlet. By the end of the 4 hour trip the score was anglers landed and released 4 of the 5 tarpon that we hooked up.
Ed, James, and Charlie were back the next morning for an offshore trip. Light wind from the NNW/N @ 6 – 12 knots and north current were a good combination. We caught and released 2 sailfish on the kite and added 5 dolphin (mahi-mahi) that swam by the boat.
William Tomlin and Gordon Hurd got in some tarpon fishing on a night when there was a shrimp run at Haulover. The result was landing and releasing 4 of the 8 tarpon that we hooked up. They also caught a bluefish to add a bit of variety.
William and Gordon fished an offshore trip the next morning. We had great conditions for flying the kite. With south current, the fishing action was very slow. We finally got a sailfish hookup. The fish gave us all the jumps, leaps, and surges while dumping plenty of line off the reel. We gave chase and were making good progress when the sail make its final two jumps. That did the trick as it released itself as the leader wore through.
Bob Hobbs and Debbie Moon saw slow action offshore by catching 1 yellowtail snapper. They more than made up for it during the tarpon portion of the trip. Final count for the evening was 4 for 5 tarpon caught and released.
The next day Bob and Debbie tried offshore again. We had no current and the action was extremely slow. The highlight of the trip was finding a large school of pinfish being balled by yellow jacks and one huge shark. Debbie hooked up one of the yellow jacks and had her hands full for a while before she got the upper hand and landed the fish.
Bob, Ken, and Ron Wegner combined to catch 3 bonito, 1 kingfish, 1 for 2 tarpon, and 1 bluefish during their afternoon/evening trip.
The 4 amigos caught 2 sailfish and 1 bonito on their trip. Both sailfish were caught on flatline baits. The one sailfish that came up on the kite bait simply crushed it and then swam off.
Debbie Currier caught a bluefish before getting one shot at a tarpon at Haulover. The fish stayed on for its first jump, however, during its second jump the hook was thrown.
Jim and Terry Lonczak topped off their cruise vacation with a day of sailfishing. The action started slow and then caught on fire. We had singles, a double, and a triple. At the end of the day, the final score was 5 for 7 sailfish caught and released.
Jerry Scala, Jay Bratschi, and Eric Pugh took advantage of the one shot that we had at tarpon during their evening trip. We marked plenty of tarpon on the recorder at Government Cut, however, they we just not in a feeding mood. We had a small window of good tide left to fish in the Bay. The first bait out got devoured almost instantly and Jay did battle with his first tarpon. The fish made several jumps, ran under the boat and jumped some more. We cleared the line and Jay successfully released a beautiful 50 pound tarpon.
Bill and Paul Braslawsce saw some outstanding sailfish action during their half day trip. It started with a double header. Both fish were caught and released. Then it was a double bonito. Along came a single sailfish and the final fish of the morning was another single. Of the 4 sailfish we caught and released, 2 of them came on the downrigger bait. Just goes to show, give them a variety of methods to choose from. You never know which bait the fish will eat.
Shawn Siman, Jocelyn Ring, and William Otterer fished on a day when we had what we considered perfect conditions for sailfish. The wind was from the N/NNW @ 17 – 20 knots and we had north current. Sounds like great conditions to see lots of tailing sailfish. The sailfish forgot to read the book. We saw action with 4 bonito and 1 kingfish.
Herb Conover, Colin Lefesty, and Bekky Herr had outstanding tarpon action at Government Cut and in the Bay. It stated with a Spanish mackerel along the beach. The during the dusk period we got the first tarpon. We had ideal conditions for Bay fishing so we ran in and set up. The action was fast and furious. By the end of the evening we had caught and released 5 of 6 tarpon using live shrimp and 1 tarpon on the Berkley Powerbait Rattle Shrimp. Bekky got the largest fish of the evening and Herb and Colin were wore out catching the other fish.
Jeff Berardelli and cameraman Kyle Hall had the pressure on me to shoot another of the Aquatic Adventures series shows for CBS4. Pressure because we were on a limited time constraint that wasn't during the most ideal time for tarpon. We left the dock at 3:00 pm and could only fish till 6:30 pm. We started on the north side at Government Cut. With no action and no fish rolling, we moved to the deep water of the main channel. We saw lots of fish rolling and marked plenty on the recorder. The fish were just not in a feeding mood. I made a small move to an area where the tide sweeps around a corner. That did the trick. We hooked up on the 12 pound spinning outfit. Jeff expertly fought the fish while Kyle got all the action including several great jumps. We released that fish and moved back to the area. The pressure was off. Any other fish would be a bonus. We hooked up again within a minute. This time, the fish jumped and threw the hook before Jeff could even get the rod out of the rod holder. A quick reset and the 12 pound spinner got hit again. This time the fish didn't fight like a tarpon. After several minutes we found out why. We had caught a beautiful legal size gag grouper. Since grouper season is closed, the fish was released. On the final drift before heading in, we hooked up again. This time to a large barracuda. We got our tarpon and a variety of other fish. I'll let everyone know when the show will air and also send out a link so you can go directly to the CBS4 website for those who are not local.
That brings me up to date. As you can see we've had many outstanding trips and a few that were a bit on the slow side. That's just fishing for everyone. Mother Nature keeps us humble by making us work very hard on some days to get some results.
In general, the action offshore has been good for sailfish. Inshore, the shrimp have been running on this full moon phase and the tarpon fishing has been outstanding.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
[email protected]
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