The first signs of Fall have arrived. By that I mean that we finally had a two day run of mullet in the Haulover area. The mullet were being harassed by numerous tarpon as they exploded in the large schools of bait. Also, there have been some sporadic runs of spanish mackerel just outside the inlets.
Moving offshore, there are some dolphin migrating south and a few kingfish to be had. The large schools of kingfish have not yet made it down our way. Fishing baits down deep is still producing mutton snapper, yellowtail snapper along with kingfish and AJ's.
Ken Steinberg was bored with sitting around the pool and at the beach while his wife attended a business convention. Being an avid fisherman, he felt much better as we fished a 3/4 day trip offshore. We had no current and green water. We had to work hard and all our hits came on the downrigger and deep rod. Mutton snapper, yellowtail snapper, red grouper, and kingfish were our reward for fishing deep. The kite and flatlines saw no action. As we approached Haulover Inlet on our way in, we both saw schools of mullet getting blasted by tarpon. One throw of the castnet and we had more than ample bait. We kept several to slow troll and threw the rest back. This resulted in our chumming the tarpon up to our boat as we threw the mullet back in. We got our big reward when a 120# tarpon inhaled our mullet offering and Ken was hard into a battle with the giant fish. Ken countered every move the tarpon made with a move of his own that soon had the tarpon along side the boat and posing for several pictures. We revived the exhausted tarpon and sent it on its way to do battle again on another day. With a huge smile on his face, Ken said that he always wanted to catch a tarpon in Florida. Now he could check that species off his list.
John Burrows spent time with his grandsons Evan and Luke along with a friend Tyrone on a half day offshore trip. We loaded the livewell with pilchards on two throws of the castnet. We started just north of the Twins in 170'. While I was putting out the second flatline, it took off and we had a dolphin hooked up. Evan was up first and this was his first fishing trip and first fish ever. While Evan was busy with his fish, the other flatline hooked up and Tyrone added a second dolphin to the fishbox. We made a move to the south end of the Anchorage area where a flatline produced a throw back kingfish. Then the deep rod gave us a red grouper. Toward the end of the trip, I moved back north and out to 215'. The downrigger went down an extra 10' and before I could drop the bottom rod down, we were hooked up on the downrigger outfit. Luke got on the rod quickly and everything was going like it should until the line went slack. The fish bit though the wire leader. We continued drifting and more live chum went overboard. Two of the flatlines got hit and we hooked up solid on one. This time everything went as planned and Luke added a very nice kingfish to the fishbox. Back at TNT Marine Center, lots of pictures were taken and the jack crevalle and tarpon gave us a good show as I cleaned the dolphin and kingfish.
Fishing will only continue to improve as we get another cold front or two to come through our area and cool the water temperature down. Planning and booking your fishing trip now will insure that you get the date that you want, so give me a call or email me to get your trip scheduled. Great sailfishing and the winter tarpon run are just around the corner.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net