What makes a fishing charter fun here in Fort Lauderdale? Most people would answer FISH! But catching a fish is the excitement of fishing when the bite finally happens. Whether you're experienced or not there is much to enjoy while waiting for that fish to bite. Today we had one of each. Mike, a local from Sunny Isles had his brother Paul from the Chicago land area down for a visit. It was clear by meeting Mike he had done some extensive fishing. Paul, on the other hand, had done very little.
We had sat in the morning with no trip and the boats that had been out gave a grim outlook. Very little had been caught and fishing was tough. After 3 days of intermittent rain and the moon shining brightly at night, it was no wonder. Justin and I explained all this to Mike and he was fine with just enjoying a boat ride with his brother who he didn't get to see often.
So here we are, trolling around, talking, explaining why we do things this way and Mike telling us how they did things in this spot or that spot when… We caught a fish! It was just a Ramora, a shark sucker some people call them, but it was a fish and Paul got the call. After giving a little info on the fish, we released it and went back to fishing.
Another hit brought a nice sized Skipjack Tuna. This is when we found Mike didn't care to eat fish but Paul would love a fresh fish dinner. We were now 3 hours into our 4 hour trip and had added a small Barracuda and a Blue Runner bait fish. The fishing was great but the catching was very poor. Mike decided we needed another 2 hours on the trip so we kept talking and fishing.
Clouds built up and the sky became dark grey. And our poor catching began to change. Blackfin Tune started biting, we were catching one almost every pass. Ranging from 4 to maybe 10 lbs. We caught 4 or 5 rather quickly. And then the sun came out and the Tuna shut down but a small Mahi came by and really lit Mike's eyes up. "Boy, those are GOOD to eat" he told his brother. A few minutes later, we hit a group and 4 of our 5 lines were hooked to fish… All small keepers and all going into the box. We were ALL eating good tonight!
And before you knew it, our time was up and we had to head home. The sun was setting anyway. We ended up with 7 Blackfins, 5 Mahi-mahi, 1 Skipjack, 1 Kingfish and had released 2 Cudas, the Ramora and the Blue Runner.
And that is how you enjoy yourself and have fun on a fishing charter here in Fort Lauderdale. By experiencing the enjoyment of the boat ride, the scenery, being close to nature and out on the sea. And when that fish bites?
Well, now you have to work a bit.
Capt. Steve Souther
Fort Lauderdale Off Shore Fishing
www.fanntasticfishing.com
