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Aquatic Adventures Government Cut Tarpon Fishing & Fishing Reports 3/25/11

In this week's Aquatic Adventures we head out with Capt Dave Kostyo for some Tarpon Fishing action. One of the best hot spots for Tarpon is right inside South Beach's Goverment Cut. Tarpon is one of the most dynamic fish to catch and this day did not disappoint. Watch it here...

Thank you Capt Dave Kostyo for a great day of fishing! Please visit KnotNancy.com for more info...

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SeaSquared Charters - Middle Keys

The Vipond family doesn't encounter sharks too often back home in Ontario, but they got up close and personal with them during their Marathon Florida Keys vacation!

Guests of our good friends, Bob and Stacie Kidwell of Marathon, the Viponds chose to target sharks during their outing with SeaSquared Charters. Thanks to the warm winter we've had, my go-to shark spots are already producing nicely.

I hit one of my favorite spots bayside off Bahia Honda and put the special shark candy in the water. It took no time at all to have the lemon sharks swarming around the boat. We had a few on the hook and the kids managed to bring two to the boat, including one that I had tagged last September as part of the University of Miami's shark research program. Pretty cool to see this female lemon again and be reassured my pet sharks are back for the season!

Catch-and-release shark fishing is a ton of fun for anglers of all ages and abilities. Call 305-743-5305 to book your Florida Keys shark adventure with SeaSquared Charters today!

Capt. Chris & Christy Johnson, SeaSquared Charters, Marathon Florida Keys, 305.743.5305. Please visit SeaSquared-Charters.com MarathonFamilyFishing.com FloridaKeysSharkAdventures.com FloridaKeysSunsetCruise.com HookedOnMarathon.com

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SeaSqaured Charters - Middle Keys

We may have left an anchor behind, but we came back to the dock with a great catch of mangrove and yellowtail snapper.

Jason Reilly, from New Richmond WI, and Ryan Henze, from Galena IL, were scheduled to fish last week, but the strong winds kept us at the dock. Steve Compton, from Cumming GA, and Carl Caira, from Swampscott MA, were scheduled for their second trip of the weekend and were generous enough to invite Jason and Ryan along so they didn't miss out on some great Florida Keys fishing.

We returned to the reef to get in on more of the awesome snapper bite, and non-stop rod-bending prevailed for the next 3 and a half hours.

When it came time to pull the hook and head home, the reef was not letting us leave. We tried to no avail for an hour to free the anchor from the rugged bottom. With the afternoon group waiting at the dock, I made the decision to cut the anchor and have a diver friend retrieve it for me at a later date. With time spent splicing on the replacement anchor, we simply ran out of daylight to get the second group out. Thankfully, they were good sports and agreed to go the next day.

Back at the dock, Jason, Ryan, Carl and Steve enjoyed some cold adult beverages while I cleaned their 31 snappers, including flag yellowtails and 3- to 6-pound mangroves.

They split the fillets up among them with each taking nice bags of fresh Florida Keys snapper to enjoy. Steve, Carl and Carl's wife feasted on their catch at Porky's Bayside BBQ in Marathon.

Call 305.743.5305 to book your charter today!

Capt. Chris & Christy Johnson, SeaSquared Charters, Marathon Florida Keys, 305.743.5305. Please visit SeaSquared-Charters.com MarathonFamilyFishing.com FloridaKeysSharkAdventures.com FloridaKeysSunsetCruise.com HookedOnMarathon.com

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Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc.

Miami, Florida

Springtime Is Here And The Fishing Is Great!!

Good news for the offshore fisherman.  The kingfish have finally shown back up after a long absence.  Even more good news, dolphin (mahi-mahi) have made their Spring appearance.  Sailfish, blackfin tuna, and bonito have been steady most all winter.  Throw in the kingfish and dolphin and the Spring transition period has started.

Closer in to shore there has been decent action on Spanish mackerel.  The patches and shallow artificial reef areas produce numerous varieties of fish and fast action for very young anglers who don't have the patience to wait out the larger offshore fish.

At the Inlets and in the Bay, tarpon action has been good to outstanding.  The fish are getting larger and are now ranging from 30 – 120 pounds.  When the strike takes place, you just never know how big the fish will be.

Richard Reamer and Warren White had a one day layover between their flights to Brazil.  They didn't want to sit in a hotel room the entire time, so being the avid anglers that they are, they decided to go find out about Miami tarpon fishing.  The wind was howling from the ENE/E @ 24 – 29 knots.  The south side at Government Cut gave us the best protection from the wind.  The tarpon didn't mind the windy conditions.  We caught fish on our first three drifts on both live shrimp and the Berkley Powerbait Rattle Shrimp.  By the end of the evening, we went 4 for 5 on live shrimp and 1 for 2 on the rattle shrimp.

The next evening, the wind switched to the east @ 20 – 26 knots.  Rocky Taranto and Vinny DiMarco were enjoying a much needed break from the winter weather up north.  The tarpon that evening decided to vacate the area.  We worked very hard to produce Vinny's first tarpon for him.  The fish ate the rattle shrimp over the live shrimp.  Just goes to show you never know which bait they'll eat.

Kaven Gaudreau, Benoit St-Hilaire, and Maxime Blouin got into some good offshore action on their shortened trip.  We started off with a sailfish on the long kite bait, along with kingfish on both the bottom rod and downrigger.  After that fire drill, we added 2 dolphin to the fish box.  A little while later, the downrigger produced another kingfish.  The final fish was a sailfish that ate the short kite bait as I was moving back into shallower water.

Jerry Pressley picked on a large fish for his first tarpon.  Once again we had to do some hunting and searching to find them.  The 90 pound tarpon gave Jerry all he could ask for.  He was up to the challenge and was amazed at the power and strength of the big fish.  Once we got a DNA sample and released the fish, we set up another drift.  It didn't take long before we had an even larger fish on.  This time Jerry picked on a 120 pound fish.  The aerial show that this fish put on was one that no one should ever miss.  The jumps, leaps, greyhounding, and head shakes kept us shaking our heads in disbelief that a fish could do all that and still have plenty of strength and stamina left.

Chris Drouin fished for tarpon for the first time.  We started off with a gag grouper and bluerunner.  Then we got our reward and Chris caught and released his first tarpon.  We made a move to the Bay and found nothing there.  Back outside, once again Chris hooked up and added his second tarpon.  Both fish ate live shrimp.

Bob Lubin and Marcus Andrade started off slow on their tarpon trip and built momentum as the evening progressed.  The first fish of the evening was a lizardfish.  This was followed by two gag grouper as we worked our way up the food chain.  Next it was two tarpon hook ups within minutes of each other.  Both fish threw the hook on their first jump.  Finally, Marcus got a solid hook up and fought, caught , and released his first tarpon.

Gustavo Uscocovich and his son, Gustavo Jr. experienced an evening of tarpon fishing where persistence was the key to success.  Fishing outside of Government Cut, we watched loads of tarpon rolling around.  They definitely we just playing and not in a feeding mood.  We fished all three areas at the Cut and had three bluerunners to show for our efforts.  Our last resort was the Bay with very weak tide conditions.  About ten minutes after setting up, we had a 60 pound fish on.  A few minutes into the fight, the tarpon went ballistic and made 3 consecutive 6 foot high jumps.  The third one did the trick and we came back with a broken leader.  We had no more action at that spot.  We moved to another location and watched a fish consistently feeding in the same spot.  We cast live bait, artificial bait, and artificial/live bait combos to the area with no results.  Finally I had enough and we moved to another spot where we could see and cast baits to individual fish.  It took Gustavo a little while to get the hang of it, however, his persistence paid off and he caught and released his first tarpon.

There you have it, good action offshore and plenty of inshore action for tarpon.  Now it's up to you to give me a call or send me an email to book your trip and enjoy the outstanding action we have in Miami.

Captain Dave Kostyo

Knot Nancy Fishing Charters, Inc

305-965-9454

www.knotnancy.com

nkostyo@bellsouth.net

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