Haulover to Government Report - Knot Nancy Fishing Charters

[Captain Dave Kostyo]

Spring time dolphin fishing is in full swing. Throw in some kingfish, add a sailfish or two and lets not forget that blackfin tuna are on the scene and you have the makings for some great spring time fishing.

Meanwhile, the tarpon continue to feed at Government Cut and in the Bay on a nightly basis. The shrimp have been running and the mullet have shown up. The only thing remaining is to figure out which of the three areas at Government, if not all of them, that the tarpon will bite best at on the night you're out. Just a few quick stats on the tarpon season thus far. We've had 157 shots at tarpon on 47 trips. That's an average of 3.3 fish per trip. Of the 157 shots, we've kept the hooks in and successfully landed and released 103 fish. That's a 65.6% catch rate.

Thursday (3/30) evening, Michael Goldberg and his friends Leon and Daniel sampled the tarpon fishing at Government. East winds @ 18 to 20 knots made it a bit bumpy, but very fishable. The fish were there and it was only a matter of time before they turned on. We had 5 shots this evening, including a double header. When everything was said and done, the fish won 3 times and we won twice.

Saturday (4/1) we did a mid-day trip with Cam Coleman and his girlfriend Jayme Grey. They had just returned from a 6 day cruise that morning and before heading home to Canada, they wanted to try some saltwater fishing for the first time. Jayme quickly got the hang of using the sabiki rig. She was out doing Cam till he got the hang of not setting up (must be a fresh water thing) on the bait. We loaded up on pilchards and headed out to 350' and got into the dolphin (mahi-mahi) almost immediately. With the school around the boat, it was fast and furious action. All the fish were released. Then the action was non-existent till the last drift. More dolphin showed up and started with the downrigger bait. All total, we caught and released 12 dolphin.

Sunday (4/2) I had the privilege of fishing with 3 generations of lady anglers. Eileen Clark (grandmother) was treating her granddaughter, Olivia age 11 to her first fishing trip on the Atlantic Ocean. Olivia's mother, Sharon, came along to capture all the action on video and camera. We had light wind (WNW/N @ 3 - 6 knots) and a beautiful sunny day. Our first stop was on a weedline in 780'. After 5 minutes of no action, I ran back in to 115' and set up. Bumping offshore, we found a nice edge in 140'. The downrigger got first action and Olivia, caught her first dolphin. Meanwhile, Eileen got its mate to eat a Kaplan jig and she caught a dolphin on her 6# outfit. At 160', Olivia caught two more dolphin and we missed the hook up on a few more. Olivia's final fish of the morning was a nice 12# kingfish that took her around the boat 1 1/2 times before I gaffed the fish up on the bow. During all this action, both mom and grandma were busy with the cameras capturing all the action.

Monday (4/3) James Sebasiano and his uncle, David were out for a half day of fishing. We had NW wind to begin with before it settled into a steady SE @ 6 knots. The current was smoking to the north @ 2.2 to 3.2 MPH. The first drift of the morning starting in the middle of the anchorage area produced nothing. While running back south, I spotted a dolphin flopping on the surface in a weedline in 200'. We watched the school of dolphin lazily swim up to our live bait and show little interest. One finally ate and his buddies followed him to the boat. I threw out the Kaplan jig and the dolphin beat each other up to be the first to grab it. James and David took turns catching and releasing dolphin till the fish lost interest and moved on. Working my way south, I spotted a large school of birds feeding just outside of the Miami Seabuoy in 130'. We hit the mother lode of feeding dolphin. Jigs and live bait both worked with this school, however, the fish didn't hang around for long. We got on them again for a second time and caught a few more. Then they disappeared. After trying several areas and depths ranging from 150 out to 350', I moved back north to 71st Street for the last drift of the morning. The downrigger finally got action in the form of a snake size kingfish. Meanwhile, I had thrown out the Kaplan jig and let it sink while setting the rod in the rod holder. After putting the kingfish in the fish box, the jig rod got hit and we released another kingfish at the boat. A flatline got hit and didn't hook up. The Kaplan jig got another strike and we pulled the hook after a brief fight. We got one more strike with the jig while working it back in for the final time. All the kingfish action took place in 135 - 150 feet. The final total for the morning was 11 dolphin caught, 6 released and 5 kept, 1 kingfish kept, 1 released, and pulled hooks on two others.

Captain Dave

[Shark Tagger]

Hi Captain Kostyo. What type of rig do you use for the tarpon fishing? Thanks

[Captain Dave Kostyo]

Shark Tagger, it's a very simple rig. Start by making a double line of 18 - 24 inches with your main line. To that, make a knot to knot connection with 12 - 15 feet of 50 pound line. Tie on an Eagle Claw 2004EL or P170 8/0 circle hook and you're ready to fish.