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Fishing Report for Northern Miami-Dade County
Capt. Dave Kostyo
June 4, 2003
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Offshore, the blue/green edge has been in as close as 85' and the current has been off the scale. When you put these two factors together, it means good sailfishing. Despite these good conditions, the word on the dolphin season has been a bit disappointing so far. Yes, there have been some good moments, however, in general there has been no consistency.
Meanwhile inshore, the tarpon are still here and are reliable. They are feeding on crabs and the south side of Government Cut has been the place. It is getting very close to the time when they will be moving out of the area.
Here is the day by day action aboard Knot Nancy.
Saturday (5/31) evening I had the pleasure of fishing with Mike and Ann Little and their two children, Ashley (14 years old) and Will (9 years old). By our third drift, the sun had set and Ann was hooked up to a 110# tarpon. The battle took us the entire length of Fisher Island from the Government Cut jetties to the jetties at the southern end of the island with the fish spending most of its time in about 2-3 feet of water. We released the fish and immediately set up to try and catch a fish for Ashley. Two drifts later, she was hooked to a 90# (her personal best to date) fish. She handled the tackle like a pro and quickly showed the fish who was "Boss". Next it was Will's turn. The next drift had us chasing a tarpon that was fast heading for the deep water of the ship channel. We got there first and everything seemed to be under control when the line went slack. The tarpon had bit throw the leader. We didn't get any other bites that evening. You might ask where Mike was during all these battles? He was busy with winding in the other baits, helping with putting on rod belts, taking pictures, and giving moral encouragement to everyone. Family fishing is FUN, there is no doubt about it.
Sunday (6/1) was a day aboard the big boat. We caught pilchards at Haulover Inlet and had to search to the north to find some herring. We started out in 400' and it didn't take long before we had a sailfish on. When we had no more action out deep, I moved back inshore and started just south of Haulover Inlet. Before I could put out all three baits, we had another sailfish. And that is the way the remainder of the day went. Fishing from the Sheraton Bal Harbor north to the Newport Pier in 110-120 feet, we had a total of 9 sailfish strikes and saw two free jumpers by days end. It sounds like a wonderful day of fishing and it was, however, we only landed three of the fish. The others threw the bait most of the time before Bill could get to the rod. In baseball, a .333 average would get a player a large contract. In fishing it means you had a tough day. Maybe tomorrow would be better.
Monday (6/2) the pilchard fishing at Haulover was better and search as we might, we could find no herring. The current was once again off the scale, so we started in close. We had no action and Bill wanted to try for some dolphin, so offshore we went in search of the needle in the haystack. We found a frigate bird searching, a medium size board, a giant size board, lots and lots of scattered grass and no fish. The final disappointment was when we found half a palm tree trunk with the root ball attached and no dolphin to be found. We ran down to the anchorage and had two sailfish bites in 106'. We pulled the hook on the first when we were within 20' of catching it. The second threw the bait because the hook had turned in it. Between the two sails, we had a lot of fun catching 4 bonito. We got cut off by a kingfish as we were using straight mono leaders and we avoided the afternoon rain storms. Despite our bad luck, it was certainly better than the three days of trolling for marlin.
Tuesday (6/3) evening we were back at tarpon fishing. Our goal was to catch a tarpon. Size or number didn't matter. One would be just fine. It took till about 9 pm, however, the tarpon finally ate our crab and the fight was on. Twenty minutes later we had the pictures we needed and our goal was accomplished.
On Saturday and Sunday June 14 &15, I'll be doing a seminar as part of the FishStock, The Total Saltwater Experience. This extravaganza is presented by Sportfishing Magazine. The place is the American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd. There'll be lots of activities and exhibits and seminars all day long, so mark your calendars and come on by.
Captain Dave
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