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Fishing Report for Northern Miami-Dade County
Capt. Dave Kostyo
March 27, 2003
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
March 26, 2003
Spring time dolphin fishing made a strong showing today. During this time of year, it is usually not necessary to make the long runs offshore that most anglers associate with dolphin fishing. All of our fish were caught in the 140-200 foot range. Except for the wind (ESE/SSE 7-17), the green water and no current were not exactly what one would call ideal dolphin conditions.
The live herring we used for bait ranged in size from small to large. The small ones were caught inside Haulover Inlet along the ICW. Within 10 minutes of putting out the baits, the downrigger popped and we had our first dolphin on. The school followed the hooked fish to the boat and Alex Szilagyi from England was amazed at the number, beautiful colors, and aggressiveness of the schoolie size dolphin. We kept several fish and I called a nearby boat over to get in on the action. Once they picked up the school, we moved back out to 200' to start another drift.
It didn't take long before we were back in action and we started releasing the fish we caught. I told Alex that the big one could come along at any time. Within minutes of my making that statement, we watched as a large dolphin hit the bait made two huge jumps and threw the hook. I quickly put out another bait and just as I closed the bail on the spinning outfit, the line came tight and this time the hook found its mark. Alex was out of breath by the time I added the 25# cow to the fishbox. Several more smaller fish were released and then the 15# bull found our bait. It also was added to the fishbox and from that point, we released the remainder of the fish we caught.
Next, Alex wanted to catch a bonito, so we moved in to the 70-110 foot range. We got cut off by a kingfish, and had two baits chopped in half by another king, however, we did not get the bonito bite before it was time to go in.
Tarpon fishing during the evening trip had us running back to Government Cut. SE wind of 12-19 mph gave us ideal drifting conditions. The fish were a bit slow to bite and our hookups were frustrating. The first fish threw the hook on its first jump. The second on its second jump. Finally the third one hooked up solid and we caught and released a 60# tarpon. It was getting late both in the evening and the tide, so we ran in to the Bay to try and find a few more fish. The first stop held one fish which we caught and released. The same for the second stop. At the third and fourth locations we saw no fish, so we called it a night and finished with a respectable 3 for 5 tarpon caught and released.
A quick reminder about fishing baits deep. Three times during the day trip, we got the action started with the deep bait. Always put a bait down deep. There will be days when all your action will take place deep and the surface baits will not be touched. It could make the difference between a slow day and a good one.
Captain Dave
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