10-31-2003, 05:14 PM
On Wednesday (10/29), the marine forecast painted a grim picture for the day. We decided to give it a try and stay out as long as we could based on how bad the sea conditions got. Luckily for us the timing of the arrival of the wind was off. We were able to stay out for the full day.
Starting on the reef in 80-180 feet just north of Haulover Inlet, the seas were about 2 feet. The water was dirty green with no current at all. With no action in this area, I moved south to the twin Towers. The conditions were the same in this area also. In 180 feet, we has a mystery fish knock a bait off the hook and ignore our other baits. After 15 more minutes with no other strikes, we ran to and edge in 300 feet. There the water turned from dirty green to clean green with a mixture of grasses forming a line. Out went the dolphin juniors as we trolled south. Just north of the anchorage we found a piece of bamboo and on the first pass by, two rods went off, both with blackfin tuna. The next pass got no strikes, so we pulled up to the bamboo to put out some live baits. Within 30 seconds, Bill Borkan was hooked up to a dolphin and the school of 50 fish followed their hooked buddy to the boat. The school stayed with us as we caught half a dozen fish in the 4-12 pound class before they moved on. Back on the troll, we found a large plastic pail that gave us another dolphin. More trolling and we got back into some more blackfin tuna and a skipjack tuna (released).
At about 2:30 pm, the wind began to pick up. There were lots of weedlines out to 700 feet and they produced a few more blackfin tuna. Moving back toward shore, in 450' we spotted a large group of terns and 3 frigate birds working the surface along another weedline. As soon as we got even with the birds, 3 rods went off with dolphin. A few came up to the boat with the hooked ones and a couple more were hooked with live bait. Finding the birds again got us a double hook up and then another blackfin tuna. The wind continued increasing and the seas had built to 3-5 with lots of white caps.
It was getting toward the end of the day, so I pointed the boat inshore once again and found another weedline in 350'. I turned north to troll up it for a few minutes and found the final board of the day. We watched as the fin of a dolphin sliced through the water and exploded on the junior. By now, the ever increasing wind had the seas up to about 6 feet.
All of our action took place in 305-700 feet of water, with the majority of action in the 305-450 range, between the Lotus range and the middle of the Anchorage area. The final totals for the day were 11 dolphin in the 4-12 pound class, 3 dolphin released, 1 skipjack tuna released, 5 blackfin tuna, and 1 mystery fish.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 732-2628 Beeper
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]
Starting on the reef in 80-180 feet just north of Haulover Inlet, the seas were about 2 feet. The water was dirty green with no current at all. With no action in this area, I moved south to the twin Towers. The conditions were the same in this area also. In 180 feet, we has a mystery fish knock a bait off the hook and ignore our other baits. After 15 more minutes with no other strikes, we ran to and edge in 300 feet. There the water turned from dirty green to clean green with a mixture of grasses forming a line. Out went the dolphin juniors as we trolled south. Just north of the anchorage we found a piece of bamboo and on the first pass by, two rods went off, both with blackfin tuna. The next pass got no strikes, so we pulled up to the bamboo to put out some live baits. Within 30 seconds, Bill Borkan was hooked up to a dolphin and the school of 50 fish followed their hooked buddy to the boat. The school stayed with us as we caught half a dozen fish in the 4-12 pound class before they moved on. Back on the troll, we found a large plastic pail that gave us another dolphin. More trolling and we got back into some more blackfin tuna and a skipjack tuna (released).
At about 2:30 pm, the wind began to pick up. There were lots of weedlines out to 700 feet and they produced a few more blackfin tuna. Moving back toward shore, in 450' we spotted a large group of terns and 3 frigate birds working the surface along another weedline. As soon as we got even with the birds, 3 rods went off with dolphin. A few came up to the boat with the hooked ones and a couple more were hooked with live bait. Finding the birds again got us a double hook up and then another blackfin tuna. The wind continued increasing and the seas had built to 3-5 with lots of white caps.
It was getting toward the end of the day, so I pointed the boat inshore once again and found another weedline in 350'. I turned north to troll up it for a few minutes and found the final board of the day. We watched as the fin of a dolphin sliced through the water and exploded on the junior. By now, the ever increasing wind had the seas up to about 6 feet.
All of our action took place in 305-700 feet of water, with the majority of action in the 305-450 range, between the Lotus range and the middle of the Anchorage area. The final totals for the day were 11 dolphin in the 4-12 pound class, 3 dolphin released, 1 skipjack tuna released, 5 blackfin tuna, and 1 mystery fish.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 732-2628 Beeper
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]