05-06-2002, 01:07 AM
Time once again to get caught up with the fishing reports. Saturday was a day of one fish per trip. Things changed for the better on Sunday.<br><br>May 4th<br>A half day in the morning aboard my customer's boat. Sandy and his son, Dave wanted to catch a sailfish. A good blue/green edge with a strong north current were just the conditions needed. The word up and down the line from Government Cut to Haulover was slow fishing. On the 4th drift, we got our reward when a sailfish ate our pilchard and Sandy was in a battle with his first sailfish. This fish did everything a sail is supposed to do and then some. It must have thought it was a marlin with the way it greyhounded away from us. We had a handicap as one of Sandy's engines would not crank. The fish stripped about 90% of the line from the reel on its first run before we started chasing it on one engine. After a 45 minute battle, we released the sail.<br><br>During the evening tarpon trip, no matter where I set up my drift, it seemed like the fish were always rolling about 100 feet to the north of me. The live crabs finally did the trick during the last part of the dusk period. Randy Wong from Washington, DC was watching as line was melting off the reel at an alarming rate. The 100 pound tarpon wanted no part of us. We would catch up to it and then the tarpon would take off on another sizzling run. It was a see saw battle for the first 15 minutes. Then the fish started gulping air on a fairly consistent basis. We got the catch and some OK pictures before the raspy jaw finally wore through the mono leader and the fish released itself.<br><br>May 5th<br><br>Today was ladies fishing day aboard Knot Nancy. Eileen Clark and her friends Sandy, Lisa, and Dana have been looking forward to this trip for quite awhile. The first goal was to catch Lisa her first dolphin. After loading the well with pilchards and herring, we headed offshore. Between 800 - 900 feet, we found a heavy concentration of scattered weed. It took some searching, however our slow trolled herring found us a 6# dolphin and Lisa made quick work of getting it to the boat. I set up a drift in the weeds and in about 20 minutes, the 15# plug outfit with the pilchard was hooked up to a 10# dolphin and it was Sandy's turn up. After about an hour with no action. We saw two hawks and followed them around for about 20 minutes. They were searching just like us and they found no fish either. It was time to hustle back inshore as a very good kingfish bite was taking place. In 119 feet, we watched as a kingfish sky rocketed our bait 3 times before knocking it off the hook. Next drift, the downrigger got hit as I was lowering it and it did not hook up. Finally, off Bear Cut, we caught a large bonito that gave Eileen a bit of a workout. Next a 10# kingfish on the plug outfit had Dana working hard to get it to the boat. Then an 8# king put Lisa through her paces again. During our last drift, we all watch as a sailfish was chasing the live chum. It did not find any of our hooked baits. And finally, Sandy caught and released a 10# barracuda. We caught enough fish so that everyone would have a few meals. Eileen will be back in a couple of weeks for another trip, Lisa is planning a July trip and Sandy and Dana are looking forward to next year when it will be ladies day again aboard Knot Nancy.<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>