02-25-2006, 03:15 PM
Most of my trips over the past week have been in the evening time for tarpon. The action at Haulover Inlet was excellent through the end of last week. This week, the tarpon seem to have taken a vacation. The one report I heard from Government Cut was that action there was very slow also.
A few trips offshore had us finding dolphin coming through in singles and small schools. All of our action came in the 80 - 200 foot range. I've managed to avoid good conditions on the days I've been out and have had to battle with green water and no current conditions.
On Valentine's Day (2/14), Stan Schuham and his friend Mike along with Mike's son Will fished an afternoon/evening trip. The wind ranged from the N/ESE @ 8-15 knots. We had one very small dolphin eat a bait and it released itself close to the boat. At Government that evening, the shrimp ran on the incoming tide. Despite the 68.8 degree water temperature, we found two willing tarpon and both Will and Mike caught and released their first tarpon.
Wednesday evening (2/15) we fished Government Cut again. This time, the tarpon avoided us, however, Clint Jones did catch 2 spanish mackerel, 1 ladyfish, and 1 bluerunner. The report from Haulover was excellent action until it got dark and then all action stopped.
Thursday evening (2/16) we fished Haulover with Harold Dukenik and his business associates Doug, Spencer, and Scott. By now, the water temperature had warmed back up to the 72 degree level. An east wind @ 16-20 knots had me putting out the sea anchor to slow the drift down. That's what it took to get a bite and we had a double hook up. Doug and Spencer were both hooked up to 90 pound tarpon that put on a great show and tested both anglers tackle handling skills. We managed to catch and release both fish despite having to dance around each other and around the boat several times. We missed the hook up on the next drift and then Scott finished off the evening with a nice 60 pound tarpon that did lots of jumps and put on a great aerial show.
Friday morning (2/17) Frank Conley took his grandsons Chad and Brandon out to catch dolphin and kingfish. Brandon had the first shot in 80 feet straight out from Haulover. Unfortunately, the hook pulled on what appeared to be a decent size kingfish. Next, both boys hooked up with dolphin in 85 feet. Their buddies hung around just long enough for us to see them before taking off. We moved south and tried anchoring up for kingfish in 100 feet. Our baits swam around happy as could be and never even got nervous. Back to drifting, we caught another dolphin in 140 feet before the NNE/NE winds @ 9-13 knots took its toll on one of the boys and we came in.
Friday evening (2/17), we were the last boat to get out tarpon fishing. Very shortly after putting out the baits, Cyndi Silver was hooked up to her first tarpon and it was a dandy 100 pound fish that put on a good show. She hung in with the fish and got the catch. Glenn Hughes was trying to get some good tarpon shots and Cyndi keep battling the fish back to the boat till she was exhausted. Greg Devine took over and the fish still didn't want to give us a good photo opportunity. The leader finally parted and we reset to try for another. A couple of drifts later, Greg took his turn and this time the 50 pound fish was more cooperative and we got some excellent boat side shots. During both fights, Jess Chapman gave moral support to her sister and Greg as well as making sure they had plenty of liquid refreshments to quench their thirsts.
Saturday (2/18) I spent the day at Bass Pro Shops with Shakespeare/Pflueger and did a tarpon seminar as well as getting to talk with many people about fishing and fishing tackle.
Sunday (2/19) and Monday (2/20) I was at the Miami Boat Show with Whitewater Boats. The weather was fantastic and the crowds were good. I talked with many of my friends and customers and got to show the Whitewater28 to many people.
Thursday (2/23) evening it was back to Haulover Inlet. It seemed like a different ocean. There were no tarpon around to be seen, marked on a recorder, or hooked up. The action for the evening was 1 bluefish, 1 ladyfish, 1 jack crevalle, and 5 pesky squid that kept killing our baits.
Friday evening (2/24) we once again experienced the lack of tarpon at Haulover. Even the squid were missing this evening. Top it off with a huge rain storm moving in on the entire beach area and we decided to call it quits for the evening. We were all soaked to the bone and the rain got worse and the wind picked up dramatically as soon as we came through the bridge. Tim, Mark, Chris and I all decided that we had made a good decision.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]
A few trips offshore had us finding dolphin coming through in singles and small schools. All of our action came in the 80 - 200 foot range. I've managed to avoid good conditions on the days I've been out and have had to battle with green water and no current conditions.
On Valentine's Day (2/14), Stan Schuham and his friend Mike along with Mike's son Will fished an afternoon/evening trip. The wind ranged from the N/ESE @ 8-15 knots. We had one very small dolphin eat a bait and it released itself close to the boat. At Government that evening, the shrimp ran on the incoming tide. Despite the 68.8 degree water temperature, we found two willing tarpon and both Will and Mike caught and released their first tarpon.
Wednesday evening (2/15) we fished Government Cut again. This time, the tarpon avoided us, however, Clint Jones did catch 2 spanish mackerel, 1 ladyfish, and 1 bluerunner. The report from Haulover was excellent action until it got dark and then all action stopped.
Thursday evening (2/16) we fished Haulover with Harold Dukenik and his business associates Doug, Spencer, and Scott. By now, the water temperature had warmed back up to the 72 degree level. An east wind @ 16-20 knots had me putting out the sea anchor to slow the drift down. That's what it took to get a bite and we had a double hook up. Doug and Spencer were both hooked up to 90 pound tarpon that put on a great show and tested both anglers tackle handling skills. We managed to catch and release both fish despite having to dance around each other and around the boat several times. We missed the hook up on the next drift and then Scott finished off the evening with a nice 60 pound tarpon that did lots of jumps and put on a great aerial show.
Friday morning (2/17) Frank Conley took his grandsons Chad and Brandon out to catch dolphin and kingfish. Brandon had the first shot in 80 feet straight out from Haulover. Unfortunately, the hook pulled on what appeared to be a decent size kingfish. Next, both boys hooked up with dolphin in 85 feet. Their buddies hung around just long enough for us to see them before taking off. We moved south and tried anchoring up for kingfish in 100 feet. Our baits swam around happy as could be and never even got nervous. Back to drifting, we caught another dolphin in 140 feet before the NNE/NE winds @ 9-13 knots took its toll on one of the boys and we came in.
Friday evening (2/17), we were the last boat to get out tarpon fishing. Very shortly after putting out the baits, Cyndi Silver was hooked up to her first tarpon and it was a dandy 100 pound fish that put on a good show. She hung in with the fish and got the catch. Glenn Hughes was trying to get some good tarpon shots and Cyndi keep battling the fish back to the boat till she was exhausted. Greg Devine took over and the fish still didn't want to give us a good photo opportunity. The leader finally parted and we reset to try for another. A couple of drifts later, Greg took his turn and this time the 50 pound fish was more cooperative and we got some excellent boat side shots. During both fights, Jess Chapman gave moral support to her sister and Greg as well as making sure they had plenty of liquid refreshments to quench their thirsts.
Saturday (2/18) I spent the day at Bass Pro Shops with Shakespeare/Pflueger and did a tarpon seminar as well as getting to talk with many people about fishing and fishing tackle.
Sunday (2/19) and Monday (2/20) I was at the Miami Boat Show with Whitewater Boats. The weather was fantastic and the crowds were good. I talked with many of my friends and customers and got to show the Whitewater28 to many people.
Thursday (2/23) evening it was back to Haulover Inlet. It seemed like a different ocean. There were no tarpon around to be seen, marked on a recorder, or hooked up. The action for the evening was 1 bluefish, 1 ladyfish, 1 jack crevalle, and 5 pesky squid that kept killing our baits.
Friday evening (2/24) we once again experienced the lack of tarpon at Haulover. Even the squid were missing this evening. Top it off with a huge rain storm moving in on the entire beach area and we decided to call it quits for the evening. We were all soaked to the bone and the rain got worse and the wind picked up dramatically as soon as we came through the bridge. Tim, Mark, Chris and I all decided that we had made a good decision.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]