08-05-2002, 09:04 PM
The fishing pattern over the past several days has been very consistent. Kingfish have been biting up till about 10:30 am and the bonito have been the main attraction on the reef. The kings have been hitting live pilchards and herring and can be found from 90 - 200 feet. Most of the strikes we have been getting are on the downrigger. Everyone has their favorite depth when putting out their downrigger. I have tried as deep as 100' down, however, I have the most consistent action at 60'. This holds true for both the kings and bonito. The action on the bonito has been from 90 - 215 feet. Friday, we caught 1 king, 10 bonito, and then ran offshore looking for dolphin. We found 4 large boards, 1 pallet, and 2 very large pieces of bamboo. Finding these items would have any dolphin fisherman drooling and expecting to hit the mother load. The only problem is that there were no dolphin or wahoo around any of these items. That's the way dolphin fishing has been this year. Slow to put it mildly. We ran back in and finished the day by catching 4 barracuda in the 10 - 20 pound class. Sunday, we concentrated on kings and bonito for a 1/2 day. The end result was 2 kings (10 & 14 pounds) and 15 bonito. I heard of a couple of small dolphin being caught offshore, but for the most part a lot of people struck out. Monday, another 1/2 day on the reef. Two more kings caught, missed about 4 other strikes (3 on the downrigger and 1 flatline) and 10 bonito. It's been very hot, so remember to drink plenty of fluids. The perspiration really gets flowing when your fighting double and triple header bonitos on a steady basis.<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>