You can make a choice of offshore, inshore for tarpon, or a combination of both trips, you won't go wrong as the fish are hungry and biting.
The offshore action is featuring sailfish, kingfish, bonito, small blackfin tuna, and some dolphin (mahi-mahi).
Inshore the Silver King (tarpon) rules the inlets as well as some very hefty jack crevalle. When the tide is right, the Bay tarpon fishing has been excellent.
Bob Wegner, Tom Freed, and Al Buchholz took advantage of some evening tarpon fishing. We started by catching and releasing two large jack crevalle. We had another large jack crevalle on that beat us to one of the channel markers and proceeded to swim around it and cut us off. Then it was time for tarpon. The first tarpon gave Tom (his first tarpon) everything he could ask for and then some. After releasing that fish, it was Al's turn. His tarpon (first for Al) hit the Penn Spinfisher V 6500 size reel and put up a terrific fight in the shallower water.
Beverly and Chris Nichols had action both at the Inlet and in the Bay. The Inlet action cooled off some and when we finally got a tarpon to feed, it came off on the second jump. When the conditions got right, we moved into the Bay and that's when it got very exciting. I call it Gorilla Tarpon Fishing and they both found out why. Literally seconds after putting out the first bait, we had a hit. To sum up the next hour and a half, Beverly caught her first tarpon and said that was enough for her. Chris took the rest of the hits. The final tally was 3 for 8 tarpon. We had thrown hooks, broken tips on hooks, and one broken leader with fish in the 30 to 100 pound class.
The offshore trip with Brad Coren started off with a bang. Before I could put the kite up, the flatline got hit and Brad caught a sailfish that took us around the boat so many times that we were both getting dizzy from going in circles. The sailfish is the fastest fish in the ocean and this one proved it. Next, we missed two sailfish on the kite. They are very good at getting the bait off the hook and not getting caught. Then it was 2 bonito followed by a kingfish on the flatline. A strong storm cell to our offshore kicked the winds up and just like that the fish shut off.
It's back to evening tarpon fishing and then another offshore trip over the next several days. Check back and I'll post another report on my next day off.
In the meantime, remember that the dolphin and the large blackfin tuna are just around the corner. Tarpon action will continue to be steady. To take advantage of the fishing contact me to book a trip. My May calendar is filling in quickly and you don't want to miss out on the good action that May has to offer off the coast of Miami, Miami Beach, and Key Biscayne.
Capt. Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
