It's time for another update, so let's get right to it.
We'll start with dolphin (mahi-mahi) fishing. As everyone in this area knows, we've had a very poor season since the beginning of June. So bad that it's just not been worth even running out to look with the hopes that you might find a few dolphin. With that said, there is a bit of encouraging news. This past week, I spoke with two friends who took the plunge and found some action. One angler had to go 20 miles out and another found action at 12 miles, although he found nothing on the previous day. It's still on the hit or miss side, however, for those who like to catch and eat or release these colorful acrobatic fish, then it's just a matter of getting lucky and finding the right conditions.
For the most consistent action, it's still fishing the 100 - 200 foot range for kingfish, bonito, barracuda, AJ's, and a few sailfish. Fishing around the various wrecks and in the 80 - 100 foot range has been producing mutton snapper and yellowtail snapper. The current that was almost none existent has been running to the north at between
2 - 3.5 MPH. The water temperature is still in the very high 80's so action at the surface has been on the slow side. Most all the action aboard Knot Nancy has been on the bottom rod and mid-depth rod.
Captain Gil Gutierrez and I went out for a half day of fun fishing just to get out on the water. We found plenty of action with mangrove snapper.
Richard Killen and Miguel Rivera had a half day of steady action. It started off with several bonito that had both of them dancing around one another as they chased their fish around the boat. Then the bottom rod produced a kingfish. This was followed by a very large porgy that a barracuda decided to sample almost half of. The final fish of the trip was an AJ that had Richard working hard to get up to the surface before we released it.
Dave Avila was celebrating his birthday with his girlfriend, Vicki Konya, and friends Harold Rondan and Derrel Hurst. The mid-depth rod with the break away sinker produced the only action of the trip. We were in 150' off the middle of the Anchorage Area. Dave had his first sailfish on the line and it put on a spectacular show. Everything that you have ever seen a sailfish do was done by this fish. In the end, Dave won the battle and the sailfish earned its release after a few quick pictures.
Gee Scruggs and his sons, Michael and Anthony got a taste of the fishing and a good dose of South Florida stormy weather. We started with a red grouper and then got rained on. The sun came out and we got more rain. Running south got us into better weather for a while. The action improved some with the mid-depth rod catching a kingfish in 120' just north of the Cuban Hole. Then we had some rare action on a flatline. After a couple of minutes, the hook pulled so that fish will remain a mystery. Then it was back to mid-depth action again in the same depth in the form of another kingfish. After putting the second king in the fish box, that's when the skies turn an ominous black and started closing in on us with plenty of lightning and thunder. A quick decision was made that everyone had caught a fish and we didn't want to get caught in this bad thunderstorm, so we made a quick dash back to Haulover Inlet and then to TNT Marine Center with the storm right on our heels.
Javier Andrade loves to fish and he was sharing his passion with his girlfriend Yaner Figuero. This was Yaner's first fishing trip offshore. The wind had kicked up higher than was predicted. The 13 - 15 knot winds had the seas just a bit on the sloppy side. We started just south of the Twins in 140'. Both the bottom and mid-depth rods got hit just seconds apart from one another. The bottom rod gave us a nice mutton snapper. The mid-depth rod didn't hook up. That was OK with Yaner as the motion of the ocean was fast taking its toll on her. She hung in there and on the next drift, we got another mutton on the bottom rod and this time the mid-depth rod hooked up solid with a kingfish. By now, Yaner was in full blown motion sickness mode. She was still hanging in and said it was OK to do another drift. That next drift produced a very nice 15# kingfish on the mid-depth rod. At the end of the drift, the bottom rod gave us a fat yellowtail snapper. It was all Yaner could take, so we called it a morning and ran back to calmer water and solid ground back at TNT Marine Center. All of our action came in the 80 - 110 foot range.
That brings me up to date. It's easy to see that the mid-depth and bottom rods are getting all the action. We'll continue with this type of action until we get our Fall mullet run that should take place in late September to early October. It's hard to predict the exact date and how long the run will last. If you're fortunate enough to be out on those days, the action can be outstanding for snook, tarpon, jack crevalle, and sharks as they blast the schools of mullet that are migrating south along the beach. The winter sailfish and tarpon seasons are right around the corner, so now's a good time to start thinking about some dates and get your trips scheduled. The tarpon action normally is in full swing by mid to late December and the fronts that will start coming through our area during that time will get the sailfish going big time.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
