Offshore has been a mixed bag that includes blackfin tuna, kingfish, bonito, sailfish, and amberjack. There have been a few dolphin (mahi-mahi) caught, however, for the most part fishing for them has been very disappointing. That could change any day now, so for those whose favorite fish is dolphin, you just need to hang in there.
Inshore, the shining star is still tarpon. There have been some very mild shrimp runs and the tarpon have not been missing out on them. The fish for the most part are in the 30 – 100 pound class with a few larger ones mixed in. When the tide is right, the Bay has been producing lots of 30 – 80 pound fish. It's gorilla tarpon fishing at its best.
Camilo Vasquez, Sebastian Cuartas, Camilo Trujillo, and Federico Restropo combined to catch 2 of the 4 tarpon we hooked up as well as a keeper mutton snapper and a small blacktip shark.
Sean McLaughlin, Tony Mendoza, Scott Edenfield, and Chris Parente landed 1 of the 3 tarpon hooked along with 2 lane snappers.
Drew Townes, Tim Ivy, Greg Pennell, and Harrison Pennell fought and landed 3 of 4 tarpon hooked along with a Spanish mackerel and ladyfish. The featured angler was Harrison Pennell who caught his first tarpon and helped his Dad, Greg land his.
Tom, Cynthia, and Chris Shalls, along with Berry Windham caught kingfish, blackfin tuna, and dolphin on their half day offshore trip.
Stephen and Bill Wilson, and Jeff Kuhn caught blackfin tuna, dolphin, bonito, and amberjack on their offshore trip. One of the blackfins was attacked by a barracuda who got the better half of the tuna.
Ron and Judy Galley fished an afternoon/evening combo. During the afternoon portion of the trip, the blackfins co-operated nicely and we caught 6 of them along with one bonito that was mixed in. The evening portion of the trip had us landing 1 of the 2 tarpon hooked along with yellowtail snapper and bluerunners.
Jon Reedy and Jay Evans saw gorilla tarpon fishing in the Bay at its best. We visited 3 different locations and all but 1 produced action with tarpon in the 25 – 80 pound class. The first location had both anglers dancing around the boat fighting very hard pulling and active fish. When the action stopped we were 3 for 4. We saw a fish at the next stop, however, it disappeared before we could get a bait to it. The third location was holding plenty of active feeding fish. We were able to sight cast to these fish and the first time Jay had one grab his bait it took him by surprise. I only wish I could have taken a picture of his face when the tarpon tried to pull the rod out of his hand. The look on his face and his verbal comments were priceless. Jon hooked his fish that stayed on for several jumps, lots of splashing, and line pulling before it threw the hook. Jay's second time around had him more ready for what was about to happen. He set the hook numerous times and the fish took off for parts unknown. When it made its first jump the fish was 100 yards out from where we hooked it. Jay was once again surprised at how far the fish had run. We chased the fish down and after 10 minutes of hard pulling and lots of jumps, we released his fish. That made us 1 for 3 at the third location and 4 for 7 final total for the evening.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net