04-22-2005, 03:33 PM
From windy to pleasant sea conditions, that's what April has been like for the past two weeks. Spring time is in the air and with it has come the early run of dolphin. The frigate birds will help make it easy to find them and the size has been from throw backs on up. Along with the dolphin, the sailfishing remains very good. When the wind picks up in the afternoon, so does the sailfishing. The kingfish action has been on and off OK.
Meanwhile, inshore the tarpon action has hit a lull. The fish don't stay in a trend to long, but so far they have held the 1 fish a night pattern for three days. I'm hoping that tonight will be the bust out one and they finally start acting right again. I'll keep you posted.
Lets get caught up with the daily fishing activities. The first report is rather old, however, it was the first decent day of kingfishing I had this spring.
Wednesday (4/13), myself and three other boats took out a convention group from Chicago for a half day of offshore fishing. We had a limited time frame so the plan was to find some rod bending action with kingfish. On this morning, the area about a 1/2 mile north of the Cuban Hole did not disappoint us. We caught several 10 - 12 pound kings, a bonito, and an ever pesky remora. All the action came off the downrigger fished 30' down. The S/SSW wind @ 16 - 20 knots was perfect for giving us a great drift.
Saturday (4/16) our trip was cancelled due to some very strong north wind conditions.
Tuesday (4/19) evening, it was tarpon fishing with Jim and Bill. This was my first tarpon trip in over a week. The conditions at Government were great, however, someone forgot to tell the tarpon. When the tide got right, we went inside and finally got a tarpon to eat our offering. With no further action inside, we made one final effort back outside with no results.
Wednesday (4/20) we did an afternoon/evening trip. The first part of the trip was for dolphin and sailfish. The boats who fished in the morning caught lots of large dolphin, kingfish, and some sails. The action slowed some in the afternoon, but we persisted and got our reward. We found a capsized dinghy in 120' that held a school of dolphin. We kept two and released several undersize fish. The birds were working a scattered weed area in 140' and we released several more undersized fish. On our last drift before heading in to tarpon fish, the sailfish showed up and Lloyd caught and released his first sail. The one fish trend continued with the tarpon fishing. The dusk period was the time and this time it was Juan Carlos who caught his first tarpon. The 70 pound fish gave him more than he bargained for, but now Juan Carlos is hooked on tarpon fishing. These fish have a way of doing that to anglers. After dark, the few fish that were rolling in the area disappeared and try as we did, there was no more action this evening.
Thursday (4/21) morning it was some more dolphin action. Lloyd and Doug picked a perfect weather day for this trip. The action came one at a time, but the result was the same. They each went home with plenty of dolphin fillets for several meals and it only took three fish. The highlight of the trip was the free jumping dolphin we spotted while relocating our drift. The 15 pound cow ran straight for the herring and Lloyd did a wonderful job of battling this beautiful fish. Doug had previously added two 6 pound schoolies to the fishbox.
Thursday (4/21) evening the tarpon continued their one fish trend. Tuesday evening, a crab did the trick. Wednesday evening, it was a shrimp. This evening, the tarpon ignored the sundown bite time frame and waited till it got completely dark before taking a crab. The 100 pound fish made a bee line for the deep water of the main channel. We got the leader several time, however, not before the fish made a surge at the surface and gulped air. The air gave the tarpon new found strength and it went straight back to the bottom. It was a group effort in catching this fish and the 3 anglers were extremely happy and excited.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]
Meanwhile, inshore the tarpon action has hit a lull. The fish don't stay in a trend to long, but so far they have held the 1 fish a night pattern for three days. I'm hoping that tonight will be the bust out one and they finally start acting right again. I'll keep you posted.
Lets get caught up with the daily fishing activities. The first report is rather old, however, it was the first decent day of kingfishing I had this spring.
Wednesday (4/13), myself and three other boats took out a convention group from Chicago for a half day of offshore fishing. We had a limited time frame so the plan was to find some rod bending action with kingfish. On this morning, the area about a 1/2 mile north of the Cuban Hole did not disappoint us. We caught several 10 - 12 pound kings, a bonito, and an ever pesky remora. All the action came off the downrigger fished 30' down. The S/SSW wind @ 16 - 20 knots was perfect for giving us a great drift.
Saturday (4/16) our trip was cancelled due to some very strong north wind conditions.
Tuesday (4/19) evening, it was tarpon fishing with Jim and Bill. This was my first tarpon trip in over a week. The conditions at Government were great, however, someone forgot to tell the tarpon. When the tide got right, we went inside and finally got a tarpon to eat our offering. With no further action inside, we made one final effort back outside with no results.
Wednesday (4/20) we did an afternoon/evening trip. The first part of the trip was for dolphin and sailfish. The boats who fished in the morning caught lots of large dolphin, kingfish, and some sails. The action slowed some in the afternoon, but we persisted and got our reward. We found a capsized dinghy in 120' that held a school of dolphin. We kept two and released several undersize fish. The birds were working a scattered weed area in 140' and we released several more undersized fish. On our last drift before heading in to tarpon fish, the sailfish showed up and Lloyd caught and released his first sail. The one fish trend continued with the tarpon fishing. The dusk period was the time and this time it was Juan Carlos who caught his first tarpon. The 70 pound fish gave him more than he bargained for, but now Juan Carlos is hooked on tarpon fishing. These fish have a way of doing that to anglers. After dark, the few fish that were rolling in the area disappeared and try as we did, there was no more action this evening.
Thursday (4/21) morning it was some more dolphin action. Lloyd and Doug picked a perfect weather day for this trip. The action came one at a time, but the result was the same. They each went home with plenty of dolphin fillets for several meals and it only took three fish. The highlight of the trip was the free jumping dolphin we spotted while relocating our drift. The 15 pound cow ran straight for the herring and Lloyd did a wonderful job of battling this beautiful fish. Doug had previously added two 6 pound schoolies to the fishbox.
Thursday (4/21) evening the tarpon continued their one fish trend. Tuesday evening, a crab did the trick. Wednesday evening, it was a shrimp. This evening, the tarpon ignored the sundown bite time frame and waited till it got completely dark before taking a crab. The 100 pound fish made a bee line for the deep water of the main channel. We got the leader several time, however, not before the fish made a surge at the surface and gulped air. The air gave the tarpon new found strength and it went straight back to the bottom. It was a group effort in catching this fish and the 3 anglers were extremely happy and excited.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]