04-24-2002, 02:41 AM
Time to get caught up with the fishing reports.<br>April 19<br>An afternoon/evening trip that found us struggling for bait. The bait was all around us, just not eating our rigs. Finally got enough and headed offshore to find green water and no current. On our last two drifts before going in to tarpon fish, we caught a large bonito and a 15# kingfish. Tarpon fishing was generally quite slow. We were fortunate to hook and land a fish on two consecutive drifts. The first one was 70#'s and ate a shrimp. The next was 80#'s and took a crab.<br>April 20<br>Today was the annual MET Booster Banquet and Auction. This is our major fund raiser that allows the tournament to be free for everyone. A lot of work by everyone on the committee made the event a successful one. Thanks to all who attended.<br>April 21<br>Major mechanical problems on my customer's boat prevented us from leaving his dock. His mechanic is scheduled to arrive at 5 pm to get them engines running again.<br>April 22<br>Our morning trip started out with catching lots of pilchards. Once offshore, we found green water, south current, and no wind. Slow trolling the live bait was the key and the down rigger produced the strikes. A 10# kingfish provided some tasty fillets. A quick run out to the blue water to search for dolphin turned out to be frustrating. Nothing to fish to until we were on our way in. A small piece of bamboo held two fish. Both ate our baits and both proceeded to shake the hook.<br><br>This evening, the tarpon were rolling in large numbers on the south side of Government Cut. They definitely showed a preference for live crabs. As a warm up, we caught a 30" jack crevalle on our first drift. After it got dark, we had tarpon action on every drift. We landed and released 2 of the 5 fish that we hooked. The other 3 threw the hook on their first jump.<br>April 23<br>With his engines fixed, we looked forward to another day of fishing. A livewell full of pilchards was accomplished in short order. Running and gunning for dolphin was the goal. At the first board, we found two wahoo that looked at our baits, and then left. Six more pieces of wood and a large blue plastic barrel and we still did not have or see a dolphin. We decided to finish our day in hopes of catching a king or sail. In 110', we caught the kingfish. As we pulled in the last bait prior to going in, the sailfish chased it right up to the boat and we got the sailfish. An otherwise slow day ended on a great note.<br><br>Captain Dave Kostyo<br>Knot Nancy Fishing Charters<br>305 620-5896 Charter<br>305 732-2628 Beeper<br>www.rnfl.com/knotnancy<br>nkostyo@bellsouth.net<br><br>