01-12-2006, 01:30 PM
If you've ever wanted to catch a sailfish, now is the time to get out there and catch some. Sailfishing over the past several days has been off the scale. More on that later in this report. Throw in some decent kingfishing and add in some dolphin showing up and you have the makings for some good offshore fishing.
Inshore the tarpon fishing has been OK. We've been getting between 1 and 3 shots per evening in the Haulover area. The nice thing is that the fish
have been much bigger than is usual for this time of year. We still haven't seen any major shrimp runs on the evenings that I've been out at Haulover as
of yet. Just an occasional sprinkling.
We ended 2005 with brothers Tim and Mark Burrel going sailfishing for the first time. Fishing just south of the Monument Buoy in the afternoon, Tim caught and released his first sailfish slow trolling a live herring.
Max Dekelbaum and his neighbor Howard tarpon fished the evening of Jan 2nd. We went 2 for 3 on tarpon to 70 pounds at Haulover. Throw in a large jack
crevalle and a bonnethead shark and the evening was a success.
Jean-Max Garoute and his nephews Ignacio and Sebastian caught dolphin on the afternoon of Jan 4th.
Back to tarpon fishing at Haulover Inlet on the evening of Jan 5th. Jim Lefevre caught and released 1 large jack crevalle and went 0 for 1 on tarpon.
Jan 8th, Dan Kovasevic along with Bill and Peter combined to catch kingfish. We watched 1 sailfish swim up to a flatline bait, take a look at it and then
disappear.
Jan 9th was the off the wall sailfishing day for us. Keith Rollyson and his business associate Chris Dyer were on their first sailfish trip. We started
straight out from Government Cut in 290'. We put out 2 flatlines and before I could plug in the kite reel, we caught a small shark. Out went the flatlines again and this time I got the first kite bait out and Chris hooked up a sailfish on the flatline. We released that fish and within a minute of putting the flatlines out again it was Keith's turn to catch his first sailfish. While fighting Keith's fish, we saw several sailfish balling baits and throwing a bait into the mix had Chris hooked up again. One fish
went north and the other went south. Unfortunately the fish we had on a 12# spinning outfit spooled us and the line broke. After landing and releasing
Keith's fish, we ran back south and found a nice rip. While putting out the first flatline, I watched a sailfish chase and catch the bait. Keith hooked
the fish and off we went again. All these sailfish were large, mean, and ornery fish. They fought very hard and had a never give up attitude. The last sailfish of the day started off as a mystery fish that ran hard and stayed deep. It wore Chris out pretty good. When we finally found out that it was a sailfish, the mystery was solved as it was hooked in the tail with the circle hook. That's why it fought hard and deep. On the last drift of the day, we put a nice 6 pound dolphin in the fish box. The action was fast and furious most of the day and took place in the 240 - 280 foot depth range. Final count was 5 for 6 sailfish 1 for 2 dolphin and the small shark. We spent an average of about 30 - 35 minutes on each fish, with Chris' foul hooked sail taking over an hour to land and release.
Jim Lefevre broke his tarpon drought on the evening of Jan 10th. We went to Government Cut and fished the south side to hide from the east wind of 19 -
24 knots. It paid off for us with a tarpon on our first drift. We also tried several different bay spots and found no cooperative tarpon. We finished the evening by making one drift outside at Haulover with no results. With a 1 for 1 evening on tarpon we were very pleased considering the very windy conditions we fished in.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]
Inshore the tarpon fishing has been OK. We've been getting between 1 and 3 shots per evening in the Haulover area. The nice thing is that the fish
have been much bigger than is usual for this time of year. We still haven't seen any major shrimp runs on the evenings that I've been out at Haulover as
of yet. Just an occasional sprinkling.
We ended 2005 with brothers Tim and Mark Burrel going sailfishing for the first time. Fishing just south of the Monument Buoy in the afternoon, Tim caught and released his first sailfish slow trolling a live herring.
Max Dekelbaum and his neighbor Howard tarpon fished the evening of Jan 2nd. We went 2 for 3 on tarpon to 70 pounds at Haulover. Throw in a large jack
crevalle and a bonnethead shark and the evening was a success.
Jean-Max Garoute and his nephews Ignacio and Sebastian caught dolphin on the afternoon of Jan 4th.
Back to tarpon fishing at Haulover Inlet on the evening of Jan 5th. Jim Lefevre caught and released 1 large jack crevalle and went 0 for 1 on tarpon.
Jan 8th, Dan Kovasevic along with Bill and Peter combined to catch kingfish. We watched 1 sailfish swim up to a flatline bait, take a look at it and then
disappear.
Jan 9th was the off the wall sailfishing day for us. Keith Rollyson and his business associate Chris Dyer were on their first sailfish trip. We started
straight out from Government Cut in 290'. We put out 2 flatlines and before I could plug in the kite reel, we caught a small shark. Out went the flatlines again and this time I got the first kite bait out and Chris hooked up a sailfish on the flatline. We released that fish and within a minute of putting the flatlines out again it was Keith's turn to catch his first sailfish. While fighting Keith's fish, we saw several sailfish balling baits and throwing a bait into the mix had Chris hooked up again. One fish
went north and the other went south. Unfortunately the fish we had on a 12# spinning outfit spooled us and the line broke. After landing and releasing
Keith's fish, we ran back south and found a nice rip. While putting out the first flatline, I watched a sailfish chase and catch the bait. Keith hooked
the fish and off we went again. All these sailfish were large, mean, and ornery fish. They fought very hard and had a never give up attitude. The last sailfish of the day started off as a mystery fish that ran hard and stayed deep. It wore Chris out pretty good. When we finally found out that it was a sailfish, the mystery was solved as it was hooked in the tail with the circle hook. That's why it fought hard and deep. On the last drift of the day, we put a nice 6 pound dolphin in the fish box. The action was fast and furious most of the day and took place in the 240 - 280 foot depth range. Final count was 5 for 6 sailfish 1 for 2 dolphin and the small shark. We spent an average of about 30 - 35 minutes on each fish, with Chris' foul hooked sail taking over an hour to land and release.
Jim Lefevre broke his tarpon drought on the evening of Jan 10th. We went to Government Cut and fished the south side to hide from the east wind of 19 -
24 knots. It paid off for us with a tarpon on our first drift. We also tried several different bay spots and found no cooperative tarpon. We finished the evening by making one drift outside at Haulover with no results. With a 1 for 1 evening on tarpon we were very pleased considering the very windy conditions we fished in.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net
[signature]