06-30-2002, 03:52 AM
So lets get caught up with the fishing reports. Last Saturday and Sunday I was at Marco Island wade fishing. Saturday was almost a complete wash out as it rained most of the afternoon. Very windy conditions had the open Gulf stirred up and crashing waves on the beach made it difficult at best to try and fish. A couple of ladyfish and a jack filled in the slow day. Sunday, the winds were calm, the sun was shining and fishing drastically improved. At days end, 15 ladyfish, 4 seatrout, 2 snook, and 1 jack crevalle had been landed and released. Monday it was back to St. Lucie Inlet and snook fishing. The rain and lightning has us running for shelter for about 2 hours. After the weather cleared, we caught and released 6 fish to 31 inches, 1 gag grouper and a barracuda of about 25 pounds. Tuesday afternoon, I spent an hour giving lessons on twin engine outboard motor handling. Spinning, docking, and maneuvering were the main goals and were quickly learned. Friday, it was supposed to be a half day dolphin trip. We ran and ran and ran. The big find was a floating coconut. The birds we found were searching just like us. No one that I heard of found any dolphin. Back to the reef for 1 drift and no strikes. Slow trolling baits from 100 to 230 feet and down the blue/green edge produced no strikes. A run inshore and 3 barracudas made 3 anglers very happy. That brings us to Saturday. The seas picked up a bit and before we were through catching bait, one of the angler's was feeling the effects of motion sickness. Laying down helped and within ten minutes of putting out the baits, Travis Reitmayer from Wichita, Kansas was fighting his first sailfish. It turned out that the fish was foul hooked in the shoulder, so the fight lasted for about an hour. Seeking calmer water had us running inshore to Government Cut and barracuda fishing. They were very cooperative and out of a total of 8 strikes, we successfully caught two fish of 12 and 15 pounds.<br><br>In general, the fishing has been on the slow side. Dolphin fishing has been very disappointing. We are hoping that the bonito will show up in large numbers soon and that the dolphin will too.<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>