The offshore action continues to be outstanding with a variety of fish. Just to name a few, we've been catching sailfish, blackfin tuna, dolphin, kingfish, amberjack, barracuda, and bonito. Making the run well offshore and searching for dolphin is now worth the effort.
The tarpon action inshore continues to be good with fish in the 40 to 100 pound plus category.
Conditions: wind from ESE/S @ 2 – 11 knots. Light north current.
Oscar and Jacyn Damera got to see what happens when very light winds pick up a bit and ruffle a flat calm sea. Prior to the wind picking up some, there was almost no action except for 1 bonito. A little breeze and Jacyn hooked up to his first sailfish. The sail put on a great show and battle prior to being released. The baits went back out and almost immediately both Oscar and Jacyn were hooked up. This time it was a pair of large bonito. We had no further action and just enough time to make a drift or two for tarpon. The first drift produced no action. A quick move did the trick and the spinning rod doubled over as line screamed off the reel. By the time the rod was picked up and the fish made a jump, it threw the hook.
Conditions: wind from S @ 2 – 4 knots. Blue/green edge in 230 feet.
Brad Coren and I watched several sailfish free jumping ahead of us along a blue/green edge in 230 feet. We kept working the edge and doing some light live bait chumming and finally got our reward. The sailfish gave Brad all he wanted and was soon released. With no further action along the edge, we ran offshore and found plenty of large patches amongst scattered grass. We found several dolphin and a barracuda after working numerous patches.
Conditions: Wind from SSE @ 6 – 8 knots. Tide coming in and going out during the trip.
Chris Brackett wanted to catch a large tarpon. For numerous drifts, we watched tarpon rolling all around us. Finally we got some cooperation and we were off to the races. The tarpon's first run was easily 150 yards. Chris had the fish on that he was looking for. We took the tour of the area from shallow to deep, back to shallow, out deep again, back shallow, to the south, then the north, and back shallow again. During the fight, the fish ran toward another boat that was also tarpon fishing. The fish did this several times and each time the other boat moved so we could pass by them. A very big THANK YOU of appreciation to the anglers on that other boat. Chris finally got a good view of the fish he as battling and was amazed at its size. After a very long fight, the 130 pound tarpon still had enough energy to make one last short run and huge jump before being released. We made a move to the other side and it turned out to be the right one. On 4 drifts we hooked 3 more tarpon and landed 2 of them before Chris had enough and the trip came to an end.
Conditions: wind from E/SSE @ 6 – 12 knots. North current and blue water.
Michael Laskow and Tony Vanveen got the offshore portion of their trip in. We caught a sailfish, blackfin tuna weighing in at 24 pounds, and a kingfish as we watched the late afternoon thunderstorms moved over the tarpon grounds. The heavy rain and numerous lightning strikes had us cancelling the tarpon portion of the trip and heading back to TNT Marine Center.
Conditions: wind from NNW/SSE @ 1- 7 knots. Blue water edge starting in 650 feet.
Michael Richmond and 3 friends wanted some dolphin action. We ran offshore and soon found several weed lines and large patches. After working several lines, we finally found a few keeper and throw back dolphin. We kept working and found a few more. After 12 miles, the ocean became very clean and at 15 miles we turned back. I got a call from a friend who was also looking for dolphin. He was working three frigate birds and picking at a few dolphin. We ran to that area and started chasing the birds. Each time they came down we would pick up a few dolphin. At the trips end, we had caught 13 dolphin and kept 10.
Conditions: ESE/SSE @ 7 – 11 knots. North current and good blue water edge.
Steve Schuman, Steve Drazin, and Mark Alpert fished a late afternoon half day trip. This was Mark's first trip offshore and he was the angler when the rod went off. It took some work, however, we found what we were looking for. Mark was hooked up and the fish was fighting deep and hard. As it came into view, we saw what we were hoping for. The blackfin tuna weighed in at 23 pounds back at TNT Marine Center on the scale.
Conditions: NW/N @ 1 – 4 knots. No current and green water inside of 240 feet.
Steve Shuman, Steve Drazin, and Mark Alpert were back for another half day. The blue water edge in 240 feet produced nothing. I moved into the green water and set up a drift that was moving slightly offshore. In 190 feet I marked a fish on the recorder. About a minute later, the bottom rod doubled over and Mark was into a tough fight with what turned out to be a 60 pound amberjack. The baits went out and with no further action, I decided to make a move. As I was bringing in the mid-depth rod, it got hit and we caught and released a small blackfin tuna. At our final location of the morning, the conditions were still the same with no current and pea green water. With some heavy live bait chumming, we got a bite from a sailfish on one of the flatlines. Mark fought the fish in one of the wildest fights I seen in a very long time. The sailfish spent almost as much time above the water as it did below the water. It ran from one end of the boat to the other, then turned around and ran back again while tail walking and greyhounding. It ran out and then charged the boat. Some more jumps and head shakes and then more jumps. In the end, Mark released the fish and it was a great close to the trip.
Conditions: ESE/SSE @ 9 – 10 knots. Tide coming in and going out during the trip.
Brad Coren, Brad Kiassman, and John Seiverd had one thing in mind. Catch Brad Kiassman his first tarpon. On the first drift, the rod in front of John took off with a tarpon. He took the rod and the battle was on. The fish took us into the deep water and in to the fishing pier before being released. Two drifts later and this time Brad Kiassman was hooked up. His fish stayed in the shallower water and after a 20 minute fight it posed for a picture or two beside the boat before being released. A couple of drifts later and Brad Coren was hooked up. His fish was a stubborn one, however, Brad was more stubborn and he made quick work of getting the fish to the boat for a release. Final score for the evening was 3 for 3.
Conditions: ESE/S @ 14 – 21 knots. Tide incoming and outgoing during the trip.
Mike Harris and Andrew Martini experienced some blustery conditions during their evening tarpon trip. The final score for the evening was 1 for 2 and Andrew hung in there as long as he could while experiencing the syndromes of motion sickness.
Conditions: N/NE @ 10 – 17 knots. Tide was last of outgoing and first of incoming.
Britt Broadhurst and Bill Mulleax also experienced some blustery conditions. We hid from the wind as much as possible on the south side. Final score for the evening was 1 for 1.
Conditions: NE/E @ 5 – 10 knots. Blue water edge starting in 600 feet. North current well offshore and none inshore.
Mike Berla, Mike Ready, Brett Cardinal, and Scott Swickle fish a ¾ day trip mostly offshore for dolphin with a little time outside of the reef. We found weed lines and worked several of them before we found two keepers and a throw back. More weed lines and no action had us deciding to run inshore to finish the trip. On the way in, we found a pallet that held 5 dolphin. We caught them and continued on in. On our second drift, we got a chop off on a mono leader. I added a wire leader and put a bait back out. That rod got hit and we added a decent size kingfish to the fish box. Final score was 8 dolphin caught, keep 7, and 1 kingfish.
Conditions: SE/SSE @ 2 – 16 knots. Blue water edge in 650 feet. North current well offshore.
Nancy Thomas, Bill Scott, Joe Heldleston, and Pati Pistelli fished a ¾ day offshore trip for dolphin. Like all the previous dolphin trips, we found plenty of weed lines and large patches. We worked line and patch after line and patch before finally finding a lone dolphin to break the ice. We continued to push offshore and come across more weed lines and large patches 16 miles out. After working several of these lines and patches we got a fair size school of dolphin up to the boat. With a few in the box, we threw out another bait and this time a much larger fish ate. Pati started with the fish along with help from Joe. When the fish made a huge run, Joe took over and 10 minutes later, we had a 24 pound bull in the fish box. We continued to work more lines and had a few more fish eat our baits. We caught some and released some. Final count was 8 dolphin caught and 5 kept along with the larger dolphin. We had to work hard and cover a lot of ground to make the day a success.
Conditions: SSE/S @ 5 – 13 knots. Tide going out and coming in during the trip.
Ross, Eric, and Mike Machiela, along with Chad Wolters got their first experience with Government Cut tarpon. Chad hooked up first with a very feisty 40 pound tarpon. Next it was Eric with a 70 pound fish. Ross followed that with a 100 pound tarpon. Mike had his shot also, however, the tarpon wore through the leader and released itself before we could get the catch. Final score for the evening was 3 for 5.
There you have it. I'm caught up again with the action aboard Knot Nancy. June will continue to be a good month to fish for the variety of fish that the Miami area is known for. Hope to hear from you so we can get out and enjoy some fun fishing together.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
