It's been windy weather and rough seas. Despite these conditions, the fishing both offshore and inshore has been very good.
Offshore, it's a mixed bag of dolphin (mahi-mahi), sailfish, small blackfin tuna, bonito, and small sharks.
Inshore, the water is calm despite the windy conditions. Between tarpon, snook, jack crevalle, barracuda, and mangrove snapper there is plenty of action to keep you busy.
The bait has been plentiful in North Biscayne Bay. It doesn't take long to load the livewell with pilchards.
Ed, Eugene, and Kwang Kim opted to fish the calm inshore waters as they knew they couldn't handle the offshore rough sea conditions. After loading the livewell with bait we headed north from Haulover. The first stop took some time and live chumming to get the fish going. It started with jack crevalle, progressed with snook, and finished with mangrove snapper. We moved on to the second stop and watched plenty of tarpon rolling all around us. The tarpon showed no interest whatsoever in our bait. Next I slow trolled a shoreline area that produced barracudas. We drifted a final area before dark and the jack crevalle had a field day with our baits. The action was steady and constant till we moved on in search of tarpon. The first tarpon location produced no strikes. A move to a second location did the trick. The first tarpon strike resulted in the fish making a 6' high leap and giving us our hook back. The second fish hooked up solid and Ed caught and released his first tarpon. By then the tide was too far gone and it was time to head in.
John Mazurek along with Drew and Hunter Racz got into some fast and hot dolphin action. Hunter said he had seen the shows on TV and he wanted to catch a dolphin. The west wind had me heading east till I found the blue/green color change in 1000'. It had a beautiful weedline on it that went north and south as far as the eye could see. Out went the live baits and 3 minutes later Hunter was fighting his first dolphin. With that fish in the box, we put out more baits and saw a frigate bird up ahead circling low to the water. We ran to that area and instantly had two then three fish on. Find the frigate bird again and put out baits and throw a few live chummers and back in the action again. Everyone caught fish and it was decided that we had enough when the sixteenth fish hit the box.
Brad Coren, Harold Coren, and Brad Kiassman braved the windy NE conditions. Our first drift gave us a dolphin and then a small shark. Then after several drifts with no action we moved about a mile to the north. The decision was made to call it a day. I said give it a minute more as I threw a net full of live chummers over. We instantly had a school of dolphin all around the boat. The fun began with everyone dancing around one another as the fish ran from one side of the boat to the other and the boat was rocking and rolling. The school moved on and we left one bait in the water while we started to wrap things up. It got hit and we had another small shark. We released the shark and put out another bait while we continued to make ready for the run in. Brad Coren got a hit and started to reel his bait in. Two sailfish followed it up. We threw a couple of chum baits out to keep the fish in the area while we hooked on two baits and tossed them out. One sailfish ate and then a second one ate. Both fish were hooked and both Brad's had a blast catching and releasing their fish. Final count was 2 sailfish, 8 dolphin, and 2 sharks.
Tom and Leslie Mohr also braved the windy NE conditions. We had steady action on all but two of our drifts. It started with dolphin, then sharks. The dolphin action continued and then more sharks. It ended with bonito and a blackfin tuna. The final count was 9 dolphin, 4 sharks, 1 blackfin tuna, and 1 bonito. Along the way we pulled the hook on several dolphin and also broke a main line. The dolphin were in the 5 – 12 pound class.
That sums it up. If you can handle rough sea conditions, the fishing is good. If those conditions are not for you, then fish inshore and still find good fishing. The windy weather won't last forever and the fishing will only get better, so now's the time to call and schedule your trip to get in on some fun fishing and take home some good eating fish also.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
