The tarpon action has been outstanding! That's the best way to describe it. Add in the fact that the shrimp have finally been making the runs like they should and that means the tarpon action is even better. Each time the rod bends over severely from a tarpon strike, you could be fighting a fish that weighs in anywhere from 30 - 100 pounds. Don't be fooled into thinking that a 30 pound fish is a push over. While they don't have quite the stamina of a 100 pound fish, they do jump a lot more and have the same don't ever give up attitude of there bigger brothers and sisters.
Government Cut is the place where all this action is taking place. It started with Jeff Blum and his three friends catching a couple of fish in the deep water. There was lots of good natured joking going on during this trip as 2 of the group had never fished before let alone catch a tarpon.
Things then got real crazy with Josh Klinghagen and David Booth. Within 2 minutes of putting out the first bait, we were hooked up and the fish made a dash for the deep water. That fish was finally released after a great battle and two drifts later we had a double header on for a brief period of time. We caught 1 of the 2 fish. The next drift produced a single. A few drifts later, it was another single. And we finished the evening with yet another single. Total count was 4 for 5 and two extremely happy anglers.
Rocky Taranto, Bryan Gallagher, and Randy Fisher were the next anglers to test their angling skills with tarpon. The first fish of the evening threw the hook on its second jump. After that, every fish hooked up solid. The bonus was that the shrimp ran and the group got the added treat of seeing lots of tarpon blasting the shrimp as they fulfilled there appetites. Once this started happening, it was a strike on almost every drift. Final count for the evening was 4 for 5.
The next evening, the same group was back for more. This time the fish started feeding in the deep water where we got 3 strikes in a row in less than 3 minutes after putting the baits out. These fish were bigger with the largest fish weighing in at 100 pound. It gave us fits for a while as it stayed in the deep water the entire time. When the tide changed, the shrimp ran again and the tarpon moved to the same place they were the night before. They also starting blasting shrimp off the surface again. Add two more tarpon before it was time to call it an evening and that made us 5 for 5. The final drift of the evening produced a bonus 15 pound snook.
Offshore, the action hasn't been quite as good, however, we have still managed to catch a few sailfish. For the most part with all the NW wind we've been having there has been little to no current and green water. The sailfish have been spread out over a wind range of water depth. We've caught fish anywhere from 115 to 448 feet. Faye Vincent got her sail to eat a kite bait while we were taking pictures and releasing Sharon Whitney's AJ. Charly Bates caught his first fish in 178 feet after an earlier strike in 115 feet resulted in the fish spitting the hook when it came up jumping. Brad Coren's sail was out in 448 feet. We saw lots of birds working an area and we ran out to investigate. We put out two flatline baits that I slow trolled. We got a good strike and thought it might be a skipjack tuna until the fish swam past us as it headed south. The sail finally figured out that something wasn't quite right and then proceeded to put on one fantastic jumping show for us.
Kingfishing has been very slow and we've only managed to find one king in the last week of fishing. The bottom rod has been producing legal size red grouper. With the current rules in effect, they were released after venting the fish so they could swim back down to the bottom, which they did immediately.
That brings us up to date once again. I've got more tarpon trips and offshore trips planned so check back for my next report. Even better, if you'd like to be a part of the report, give me a call 305 965-9454 or email nkostyo@bellsouth.net to set up your trip. The tarpon fishing only keeps getting better and the offshore fishing will drastically improve when the north current works its way back in closer.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net