Offshore if you find a good edge and north current the fishing has been outstanding with sailfish, kingfish, a few dolphin (mahi-mahi), and mutton snapper. In the areas where there is no north current, it's been a struggle to put together a decent catch. Heavy chumming with live pilchards and chunking the dead ones with vastly improve your chances for success.
Moving in closer to shore and over the reef area, the Spanish and cero mackerel will please many anglers. This area as well as close to shore is teaming with ballyhoo.
Move in to the Inlets and along the beach and tarpon is king. The fish have been very cooperative and are in the 30 – 50 pound class. Live shrimp is doing the trick along with artificial shrimp baits.
Tim Moore fished a half day in the afternoon with wind from the SSW/SW @ 9 – 17 knots. Before heading offshore, with 4 throws of the castnet, we loaded the livewell with pilchards. Next we added herring to complete our bait catch. We found a good current edge in 150 feet off Bear Cut. The downrigger drew the first hit in the form of a nice 12 pound kingfish. As we drifted north with the aid of the current and wind, the edge kept pushing out deeper. We marked fish on the recorder between 100 – 110 feet down. The downrigger was lowered to 110 feet and as we crossed the edge in 205 feet, we got our reward in the form of another nice kingfish. This one weighed in at 15 pounds. We had no further action until we moved back south again to start another drift. By this time, the edge had pushed in to 130 feet. The downrigger scored again as we hit the 160' depth mark and a third kingfish of 14 pounds joined the others in the fish box. We had one bait get knocked off the long kite by an unknown species. A heavy squall line was pushing our way with the approach of a strong cold front and we decided to call it a day.
Josh Perkins, Chris Klein, and Jason Orrock took some time off from their business schedule to get in an evening of tarpon fishing. The wind was howling out of the NNW @ 22 – 27 knots. Being on the lee side of Miami Beach, we had a 2 foot ground swell which in combination with the NNW wind gave us a perfect drift down the beach. The action started with the first drift. We had something on the line and the hook pulled before we could identify it. The next drift we hooked and released our first tarpon. The next drift we hooked and released another tarpon. The next drift we hooked a tarpon, however, it threw the hook on its first jump. Then the action stopped for two drifts. We set up to cover a different area of water and the spinning rod with an artificial shrimp got hit. The fish ran off a good amount of line, jumped and gave us back our bait. We quickly put the bait back out and in about 20 seconds we were hooked up again, this time solidly, to another tarpon that ate the artificial shrimp. We released that tarpon after another good fight. Two more drifts with no hits and it was time to head back to TNT Marine Center. Final total for the evening was 2 for 3 on live shrimp and 1 for 2 on the artificial shrimp. The fish were in the 45 – 50 pound class and every got to land and release a fish.
That brings me up to date once again. The offshore fish is getting better and better. Tarpon fishing is in its full time winter mode. Time to book your sailfish or tarpon trip. Better yet, book what I call the best of both world's trip. Fish offshore in the afternoon and finish off the trip with tarpon fishing during the evening. It's hard to beat.
Send me an email or give me a call to book your trip.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net