02-21-2002, 07:09 AM
Fishing in general continues to be up and down with perhaps the most consistency coming from tarpon. Here is a summary of how it has gone since my last report.<br> <br>2/13 - Evening tarpon fishing in the Bay had us seeing a limited number of fish with only 1 being cooperative enough to take a troll rite and shrimp combo. Moving out to the north side of Government Cut we made 3 drifts and caught one 80# tarpon.<br> <br>2/14 - Green water with no current offshore make us struggle during the afternoon. Moving out deeper didn't help either. We found a strong blue/green edge loaded with grass, boards, rope, buoys, and bamboo but no fish. After moving in to tarpon fish at dusk, a North wind @ 20 kicked up and made conditions nasty. Trying the south side improved the water, however, there were no fish there. A run to Haulover gave us better conditions, but still no fish.<br> <br>2/15 - Still had the same green water with no current until we got off Government Cut and the water cleared up with north current. This resulted in 2 sailfish and a cut off from a kingfish (does anyone remember that species?). Back out for an evening of tarpon fishing. Very fishable conditions this evening and a few cooperative fish gave us a 1 for 2 result.<br> <br>2/16 - EXCELLENT conditions!! Very sharp blue/green edge in 100' - 200' depending on what part of the coast you chose to fish. Like Thursday, it was loaded with everything except fish. Everyone I talked with was struggling. On days like this, with all the boats that are fishing, there will be a few who catch a decent fish or two. I did hear of a sailfish and dolphin being caught. Most boats struck out. We caught 1 large bonito and were happy for that.<br>Evening tarpon fishing came through and was the bright spot. The sundown bite was good giving us 2 fish, we landed and released an 80 pounder. After dark, we located some ladyfish and caught 2. Mixed in with the ladyfish was the third tarpon we had on and Michael made quick work of a 45# fish.<br> <br>2/17 - I spent the day at the Miami Boat Show with Whitewater Boats and tarpon fished in the evening again. A light NW/N wind gave us a very slow drift. Once again the sundown bite had us hooked up with the result of a thrown hook on the second jump. Another boat hooked up and their line got cut off on an unknown obstacle. A third boat hooked up with their fish throwing the hook also. Then things got very quite. I made a major move and on our second drift, we all heard and saw tarpon busting shrimp on the surface. Four adjustments to our drifts netted us no strikes. Finally, I found the right range on them. A hook up, a long run, a jump, and a thrown hook. Another drift, a solid (?) hook up with the fish moving to the deep water of the main channel. We had the fish coming up and the hook pulled. Another drift, another hook up, back in to the main channel and finally success. A lot of boat side pictures and Julie had caught her first tarpon.<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>