I had to delay this report a few days due to a computer problem I had. The good news is that it's fixed, back up, and running again.
Offshore, the story is that there are still a variety of fish that continue to make for some great fishing. The variety include sailfish, cobia, dolphin, blackfin tuna, kingfish, bonito, and barracuda. All of these species can be caught either side drifting or back drifting with live bait on the kite, flatlines, mid-depth, or bottom rod. Conditions change daily so what you find at a certain depth on one day will be found at a completely different depth the next day. Those conditions can even change on an hourly basis and often do.
Inshore, tarpon still rule. With one exception, we've had to wait till it gets completely dark before the fish turn on. It's well worth the wait as the action comes on almost every drift after they turn on. Action with tarpon in the Bay has been fast and furious. You just have to have the right tide and be willing to move to other locations if they're not at your favorite spot on the evening that you go.
Jeff Weakley and Sam Hudson took advantage of both the outside and Bay tarpon action. We had some blustery wind conditions out of the ENE/E at 20 - 23 knots. It made no difference to the tarpon. When it got dark, they started blasting baits on the surface. We caught and released 2 out of 3 fish and moved into the Bay. It required searching on this evening to find the tarpon. At the fourth location, we hit the jack pot. We caught 2 out of 3 fish including one on fly before we called it an evening.
Cecil Milton along with Rex Barker, Danny Medina and David Medina had an action packed evening of tarpon action. It started off with lots of rolling fish before it got dark that would not eat. Patience paid off as soon as it got dark. Everyone got in on the action and on most every fish, the rod was passed around amongst the anglers so everyone could fight a tarpon. Throw in a mangrove snapper to add a small bit of variety. The last fish of the evening was the largest and most wild. It made plenty of jumps, smoked lots of line off the reel, and had several anglers completely exhausted.
Craig Keneipp and Mike Ellert also had to wait out the tarpon. Craig caught the first fish around 9:15 pm. Mike had to wait till the last drift of the evening before he got his chance. Both fish were caught and released.
John Perkins, his son Jonas, and friend Brad Coren had an action packed afternoon/evening trip. It started with Jonas catching a cobia on the bottom rod. Brad followed up with a sailfish on a flatline. John started off with a whole dolphin and ended up with half as a large barracuda got the other half. The barracuda were out of control that afternoon. Two were caught on the bottom rod along with 2 large bluerunners. One of the bluerunners was slashed by a barracuda. As dusk came on, we chummed heavily with live bait and had the blackfin tuna busting all around the boat. They ate everything except the baits we had on our hooks. We topped the trip off by making one drift for tarpon. John caught and released his first tarpon while Brad enjoyed watching him suffer every time the fish made another run away from the boat once John got the tarpon alongside. Brad experienced the never give up attitude of the tarpon on a previous trip.
Ed Donovan and Frank Tacopino each caught their tarpon after it got dark. The pattern has been the same for quite a while now.
Brian Bach, Tim Bach, and John Michael fished a 3/4 day trip. The wind was blowing from the NE/ENE @ 17 - 20 knots. We had beautiful blue water and a very light north current. Back drifting made for the most comfortable conditions. We had action on every drift during the trip on either the kite or flatline. It started with bonito, progressed to kingfish, moved on to blackfin tuna, and ended with sailfish.
Glenn Foden and his son Jesse got to experience the highs and frustrations that tarpon fishing can bring. On our second drift during the daytime, Glenn started things off with a beautiful 90 pound silver king. It gave us everything one can expect from a tarpon. After releasing that fish, Jesse got his chance on the very next drift. He was looking to catch his first tarpon. The fish made several jumps and pulled a lot of line off the reel. We gave chase and finally caught up to the fish. Once we got straight up and down on the fish, the hook pulled. Two drifts later, Jesse was hooked up again. This fish also made a few jumps, ran inshore to shallow water, then back out deeper. Everything going fine so far. We caught up once again and as soon as we got straight up and down on the fish, the hook pulled. Bummer!! The next drift, Glenn took the rod and the fish threw the hook on its first jump. With the tide being right for Bay fishing, we moved inside after getting no more shots after a couple of more drifts. In the Bay, the fish were hungry and cooperating. Jesse hooked up within minutes of putting out the bait. The fish made three jumps and threw the hook. Glenn hooked up with the same results. By now Jesse was determined to catch a tarpon. He had one more chance and it just wasn't to be on this evening. Hang in there Jesse, you'll get your tarpon next time and it'll be all the sweeter.
We're caught up again. I've got more trips scheduled both during the day and the evening. Action like this will continue throughout the rest of May and into June. July should bring some arm wrenching action with little tunny (bonito) as well as all the other species we are now catching. Call or email me to schedule your trip and get in on the fun and action.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net