05-28-2002, 07:30 PM
Today was my first day back after taking some time off to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Time has flown by and it seems like just yesterday that Nancy and I exchanged vows. I'm looking forward to the next 20 years.<br><br>The weather while I was gone was less than ideal, so it seems like I picked the right time for a break. The wind today was E/NE @ 15-20. Catching bait required stopping at two of the ocean side summer spots. We had a livewell full of pilchards and herring. We fished off the north end of Key Biscayne and all of our action took place in 70 - 150 feet of water. First thing in the morning, a frigate bird put us on a school of dolphin in 140 feet. My three anglers took 8 fish and had a ball catching them on 6, 8, 10, 12, & 20 pound tackle. Eileen wanted to catch a dolphin on her 6# spinning outfit, and the fish were the right size for her to have fun doing so. Her brother, Stephen caught his first couple of dolphin and was amazed at how colorful they were and how many were around the boat. Fred had a ball catching them on both spin and plug outfits. We chased several more frigate birds, however, they failed to put us on anymore fish. Trying deeper (300') water did not produce and strikes. Sliding in to less than 110' gave us all the bonito (little tunny) action we wanted. Double headers were the norm. Large barracudas were having a feast on the bonito. One chomp and half of Eileen's fish was gone. Stephen's fish was foul hooked and 2 barracudas left him with only the pec fins and a piece of belly strip between the fins where the fish was hooked. He could hardly believe how one second he was fighting a fish and the next there was nothing left. Meanwhile, Fred was getting all the action on video tape and camera. It's good to see that the dolphin action is becoming more consistent.<br><br>Back out for an evening of tarpon fishing with the winds forecasted at NE @ 10. What we fished in was NE @ 20-28 with rain storms rapidly blowing through. If you didn't have a sea anchor, then it was almost impossible to drift slow enough for the tarpon to find your bait. Jim's nephew Jim (didn't have any problem remembering names tonight) had never caught a tarpon and wasn't sure how well he would be able to take the sea conditions. On the third drift, he learned a lot about tarpon when a 130# fish gave him all he bargained for and then some. The good thing about this fish was that it did not go to the main channel. It released itself at boat side when it made a nice jump about 10 feet from the boat after a 20 minute battle. Jim was hooked on tarpon fishing and wanted to do it again. It took some searching, however, I found another fish (100#'s) and it was tarpon action again. After releasing the second fish, Jim was beginning to feel the effects of the sea conditions, so we called it a night. He is already planning on a reason to come back to Miami to do some more fishing for the mighty SILVER KING.<br><br>The tarpon are big and they'll be here through June. It is also good to see that the dolphin are starting to show up like they should. So, whether it is dolphin during the day, or tarpon during the evening, give me a call and lets go catch some.<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>