12-12-2005, 10:13 PM
The offshore fishing has picked up dramatically with each passing cold front. The only time the fishing has slowed down is while the wind has been in a westerly direction. There has been at least one day when the sailfishing has been off the scale. Most other days it has been steady. The dolphin are in their winter time mode. They'll come along while waiting for sailfish bites. Kingfish have been much easier to find than they were a few weeks ago. For the most part, they are being found in more of the winter time depths. There have been all sizes including a lot that are under the 24" fork length minimum. Remember to release all those under size fish. Spanish mackerel fishing continues to be excellent.
On the inshore tarpon scene, the fish are here and feeding. They are just not here in the numbers that they will be as we get further into December. It is still definitely worth the effort to fish for them.
We've been out twice this past week for tarpon. On Monday, Tim, Chris, Nick, and Mark took an evening off from the boat they work on to enjoy an evening out on the water. We fished the entire Haulover Tarpon Hole area and found the fish more toward the north end of the hole. We had 2 opportunities and caught 1 tarpon. When we got in close to the swim markers, we got ladyfish action.
On Tuesday evening, we worked the entire area again for tarpon. Despite having the perfect north south drift, the tarpon were no where to be found in the area. The rain moved in on us and then let up. We watched another rain storm bearing down on us. The highlights of the evening were the great conversation, the good eats, and knowing that we covered the entire area very thoroughly.
Ted, Yvonne, their son David, and Ted's brother Tom fished with me on Sunday. The fog was thick up until about 10 AM before it started burning off. We had the westerly type wind that I referred to earlier. Kingfish was our first goal. We started straight out from Haulover and got the first fish in 140' on the downrigger. David got to catch his first saltwater fish. Only Tom had done some saltwater fishing up in Alaska. This was everyone's first time on the Atlantic. Our next action came in the form of a bomber size bonito on a flatline and an arctic bonito on the deep rod. By the time the fog had lifted enough to see the shoreline, we were off 71st Street. Running down to the crooked range marker, we quickly caught a few dozen herring before heading out to the Cuban Hole area. We slow trolled a combination of herring and pilchards and once again got all our kingfish action on the downrigger. The action was consistent up till 11 AM. The remainder of the day, we tried offshore for dolphin and spent the last hour and a half sailfishing. Despite some heavy live chumming, the only thing we attracted were hungry birds. We covered the area from Haulover to Government Cut and found green water with no current. While running offshore, there was no color change edge. The water just gradually turned blue. All our kingfish action came in the 140' depth range on the downrigger. Everyone got in on the action and David even said he thought he wanted to be a guide when grows up. This trip once again proved what I've always said that family fishing is fun.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]
On the inshore tarpon scene, the fish are here and feeding. They are just not here in the numbers that they will be as we get further into December. It is still definitely worth the effort to fish for them.
We've been out twice this past week for tarpon. On Monday, Tim, Chris, Nick, and Mark took an evening off from the boat they work on to enjoy an evening out on the water. We fished the entire Haulover Tarpon Hole area and found the fish more toward the north end of the hole. We had 2 opportunities and caught 1 tarpon. When we got in close to the swim markers, we got ladyfish action.
On Tuesday evening, we worked the entire area again for tarpon. Despite having the perfect north south drift, the tarpon were no where to be found in the area. The rain moved in on us and then let up. We watched another rain storm bearing down on us. The highlights of the evening were the great conversation, the good eats, and knowing that we covered the entire area very thoroughly.
Ted, Yvonne, their son David, and Ted's brother Tom fished with me on Sunday. The fog was thick up until about 10 AM before it started burning off. We had the westerly type wind that I referred to earlier. Kingfish was our first goal. We started straight out from Haulover and got the first fish in 140' on the downrigger. David got to catch his first saltwater fish. Only Tom had done some saltwater fishing up in Alaska. This was everyone's first time on the Atlantic. Our next action came in the form of a bomber size bonito on a flatline and an arctic bonito on the deep rod. By the time the fog had lifted enough to see the shoreline, we were off 71st Street. Running down to the crooked range marker, we quickly caught a few dozen herring before heading out to the Cuban Hole area. We slow trolled a combination of herring and pilchards and once again got all our kingfish action on the downrigger. The action was consistent up till 11 AM. The remainder of the day, we tried offshore for dolphin and spent the last hour and a half sailfishing. Despite some heavy live chumming, the only thing we attracted were hungry birds. We covered the area from Haulover to Government Cut and found green water with no current. While running offshore, there was no color change edge. The water just gradually turned blue. All our kingfish action came in the 140' depth range on the downrigger. Everyone got in on the action and David even said he thought he wanted to be a guide when grows up. This trip once again proved what I've always said that family fishing is fun.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]