WOW!! Time flies when you're having fun. It seems like just yesterday that I wrote my last report. We've had some great weather conditions with the wind ranging from 2 - 27 knots. The fish have been very cooperative both offshore and inshore. The main players are sailfish, kingfish, dolphin, bonito, and tarpon.
Michael Chera and his son, Ray spent some great quality time together on their half day trip. The main criteria was calm sea conditions and a few fish, species didn't matter. They picked the right day for both. The wind was NW/N @ 5 - 13 knots. We slow trolled live pilchards in the 60 - 75 foot range and were rewarded with 2 kingfish. Then we noticed the bird and surface activity. Large schools of bonito were creating a commotion on the calm surface. Out went the Kaplan jigs at a high speed troll and the action got crazy. We didn't have to move very far before we had plenty of action for the remainder of the trip. To sum it up, Ray reached the point where he was tired of reeling in fish. His dad was loving the doubleheader action. The fish were everywhere from 50 - 220 feet. Final count was 14 bonito and 2 kingfish.
The next trip was one of the very rare occasions when you'll see Nancy on the boat. We took a Bay cruise as part of celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary.
Nick and Joy Dilegge experienced tarpon fishing for the first time on a 6 hour evening trip. This couple are avid anglers who both hunt and fish together. The friendly competition between then gets very serious. The wind was ENE/E @ 14 - 20 knots. Hiding behind the south jetty at Government Cut gave us fairly calm conditions until the wind switched to the east and picked up. We started off slow with Joy catching a grunt and then a mangrove snapper. She won the first fish and most fish categories of their friendly contest. Next, Nick hooked up with his first tarpon. The fish kept taking us further and further offshore and the waves got larger and larger as the fish made it's way toward the outgoing tide of the main channel. Nick did a great job of whipping the fish before it made the very rough water of the main channel. After releasing the fish, they were both impressed with how hard and how much power the tarpon has. The next stop was the Bay. It took 5 minutes and Joy had her chance at catching a tarpon. The fish came along side very quickly and Nick made a comment about this fish not fighting very much. Wrong thing to say about a tarpon. It exploded and it was another 10 minutes before Joy's fish came back to the boat and was released. This is where it gets good with their competition. Her fish was slightly smaller than Nick's so he had the biggest fish so far. She still had the first and most. Back outside along the beach and the tarpon took some revenge. We had 3 more bites and all three gave us back our hook after several jumps.
The next evening it was Nick and Joy Dilegge again and the competition continued. The wind this evening was E/SE @ 8 - 17 knots. This was to be a carbon copy of last night as far as tarpon go. Joy started thing off with a giant porcupine fish. Next, she caught a tarpon along the beach. Back to the Bay and Nick hooked up 5 minutes after putting out the baits. This fish turned out to be the largest of the tarpon that we would catch and release. We took a tour of the area and when we released the fish, they both were amazed at how far we had traveled. Next, we netted about 2 dozen shrimp as they were making a great run and were everywhere. With no more action inside, it was back to the outside. The water was a lot rougher now, but the tarpon didn't mind. We had 3 more shots and the last one was hooked solid. It made a bee line for the deep water of the main channel with us in hot pursuit. Joy was doing everything she could to hold on and Nick had a good grip on her as the waves were very high in the Cut. We got Joy into a more comfortable position sitting on the leaning post. The battle raged back and forth with the tarpon spending most of the time near the bottom of the channel. Finally after several dashes under the boat, the tarpon made a major run underneath us and the line rubbed under the boat and broke. Joy was both disappointed and relieved at the same time. Disappointed that she didn't catch the fish, but very relieved that we could get out of the rough water. Final total for this evening was 1 for 4 along the beach and 1 for 1 in the Bay. Joy caught the first and most fish and Nick caught the largest. They are now both hooked on tarpon fishing.
Zac Grossman, John Kauffman, and Ira Drogin fished an afternoon/evening trip. The wind started off very light at SSE @ 2 knots and built a switched around to west @ 18 knots. We had no current and green ugly water conditions. All of our action came on the downrigger and bottom rods in the form of 2 kingfish and 1 AJ. Moving inshore to tarpon fish we started of with a small red grouper and bluerunner. Next it was 1 tarpon before we moved inside to the Bay. We got our chance and the fish was hooked solid and right alongside the boat before it dove under and came up jumping on the opposite. That's when we parted ways. We saw no more action for the remainder of the trip.
Ron Galley and his sons, Jake and Mitch also did an afternoon/evening trip. This time we had perfect conditions. A strong north current and wind from the E @10 - 15 knots. It took a bit of searching to find bait, however, once we found it, the action was fast and furious with herring. We put out our spread of baits and it didn't take long for the action to start. It kept everyone busy and before we ran in to tarpon fish, we were 2 for 2 on sailfish from the kite, 1 for 2 on sailfish from the flatlines, 0 for 1 on sailfish from the downrigger, 3 dolphin from the kite and flatlines, and a 20# kingfish from the kite. Moving inshore, we hooked up on our second drift and every thing was going find until the fish dropped over the edge into the main channel. That's when the hook pulled and that's how we ended the evening. Everyone caught they're first sailfish and Dad beamed with joy as he watched his sons catch theirs.
Then the wind started howling and we rescheduled a trip and had to cancel a trip. It was steady wind from the E @ 22 - 27 knots.
Fred Buck and his son Bailey shifted their tarpon trip so we could take advantage of the tides to fish the Bay. That had us fishing from 11 pm - 3 am. The wind was from the E @ 24 - 27 knots with higher gusts. We saw no action at the first two spots. The third spot had too much wind to fish it properly, so it was off to the fourth spot and pay dirt. We finished the evening with 1 for 2 tarpon and a pesky squid eating our bait.
That's it for now. We're once again caught up and getting ready for some more action aboard Knot Nancy. Call or email to schedule your trip and get in on the fun.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
