Summertime offers a good variety on a wide range of fish that include sailfish, kingfish, dolphin, bonito, amberjack, barracuda, and mutton snapper. Many anglers say that they'd just as soon not fish during the summer. That's a big mistake as they're missing out on lots and lots of action. It can get so fast and furious that many times everyone on board is hooked up and dancing around one another to avoid tangling lines.
Summertime is when the downrigger and bottom outfits shine. For the most part, but not always, the most action will be seen using these two outfits. To cover the water column, however, put out flatline outfits as well as the downrigger and bottom outfits.
The Preusser Family spent a half day fishing before heading out on their cruise the following day. The action started almost immediately and continued on each drift of the morning. Everyone got in on the action as they battled with bonito and kingfish.
Fred and Eileen Clark along with her brother Stephen Berish and his wife Tina fished a ¾ day trip. At the end of the first drift, a flatline took off and Stephen was hooked up to a sailfish. It was fought and released and then the bonito action took off. The bottom rod produced a very nice mutton snapper as well as several bonito. By the end of the trip we had caught and released 7 bonito and 1 sailfish and had 1 mutton snapper in the fish box for dinner.
Joe and Fred Quin and Tony Zain were tired anglers after their ½ day trip. Every drift produced action ranging from a single fish to multiple hits. On this trip, most of the action came a bit shallower than is the norm for summertime. All three techniques worked well on this trip. Final tally was 12 bonito, 4 sharks, 1 amberjack, and 1 bluerunner caught and released, and 3 kingfish in the fish box.
Nicki DeVivo, Teah Hartley, Sunshine Zambrano, and Ann Evans fished a full day as part of Nicki's bachelorette party. At the end of the first drift, I decided to slow troll the baits back out to set up for another drift. Just as I got the boat turned offshore, the downrigger popped and Nicki was hooked up with her first sailfish. What a fantastic job of angling she did. It didn't take long before the fish was boat side. After releasing the fish, we set up a drift and the bottom rod got hit almost immediately. This time it was a kingfish. The next action was with bonito. The ripping north current had us running back south numerous times during the day. The downrigger produced another kingfish as well as several bonito. Everyone got in on the action. During one of the downrigger hook ups, Ann was fighting the fish and it got very heavy and then light. When we got the fish to the boat, it turned out to be a large mutton snapper that had been sharked. Needless to say, we only got the head. Everyone was disappointed. We had a shot at another sailfish, however, this one didn't want to play as it threw the hook on its first jump. Final tally was 1 for 2 on sailfish, 2 kingfish, 1 sharked mutton snapper, 8 bonito, and 1 remora. Congratulations Nicki!!
There you have it, summertime fishing at its best. Lots of action on a variety of fish. No need to put the tackle away and wait till later in the year. Give me a call or send me an email and book a date to get out and enjoy the fishing that the Miami area has to offer.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc
305-965-9454
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
