Andrew Roydhouse

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long since my last fishing report. Well, the sailfish are here and they are biting. Been catching quite a few sailfish while kite fishing just outside the reef in 120-200' of water. When there isn't enough wind for kite fishing, we've been trolling the reef with rigged ballyhoos and catching them on the surface. This last Wednesday was an awesome day. We didn't have a charter that day so we just went fishing for ourselves. We were going to try some of our deep water shipwrecks (300-500') with the electric reels.

So on the way to our first spot I put out a few trolling baits just for fun. HAHA, we never dropped a single bait to the bottom that day. Caught a few schooly dolphin and then we found a floating bucket right on the current edge we were fishing along. We pulled up along side, threw a few 20# spinners with squids in the water expecting a small dolphin or something to eat, and to our great suprise 3 dolphin about 30 lbs. swam out and bit. It was the most fun on the ocean I've had in a while. Three dolphin all around 30 lbs. on spinners simultaneously. Of coarse they all went in different directions so we had to chase 'em down based on which guy had the most line on his reel left. It was a chaotic and thrilling fight. We got the first one in the boat, the fish went ballistic before we could club him. The other guys still fighting their fish were scrambling to get out of the way of the fish slapping into anything it could. Got the other 2 in the boat much better after the first experience. So we pitched a few squids and then some live runners next to the bucket after we found it again but no dolphin were left on it. They must have scattered when the 3 big ones dissapeared. I put out a couple double hooked ballyhoos on the deep baits and trolled around it a few times in case a wahoo or something was around. Had one nice fish on, but pulled the hook before we could see it. After that we just decided not to press a perfect day and went back to the barn for some rum and cokes while we cleaned the fish. We had a few other nice dolphin catches besides that this week but nothing quite as good. I saw Capt. Johann bring in 3 big Hammerheads this week so maybe they are showing up early this year. He told me he's been shark fishing with bottom baits while kite fishing and catching them, mostly in 400-500' of water. All his bites have been on the bottom he said.

Capt. Adam's Friday night swordfishing trip have been doing great too. I haven't heard what he caught last night yet but last week he caught 3 swordies and had 6 other bites. The same night as that trip there was a swordfish tournament and our 52' Hatterass caught 3 out of 7 swordfish, the largest was huge, estimated a little over 200 lbs. All in all the swordfishing has been going off lately. All summer its been good really. Our day trips on the drift boat have been good too. Afternoon has been better than the mornings. Morning trip has been a bit slow but I've been seeing them throw a lot of big kings on the dock on the afternoon runs, mostly in 160' directly on the bottom. Sportfishing boats aren't catching the kings very good trolling but they are still catching a few on the kites. Anyway, thats my report for this week. Hope to see ya out there with us.

Fish Species: shark swordfish dolphin mahi mahi sailfish
Bait Used: live and dead baits, squids and ballyhoo
Tackle Used:
Method Used: trolling drifting live baiting
Water Depth: 60-1000'
Water Temperature:
Wind Direction:
Wind Speed:



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Andrew Roydhouse

About The Author: Captain Andrew Roydhouse

Company: Fishing Headquarters

Area Reporting: Fort Lauderdale South Florida

Bio: I am a 3rd generation fisherman out here off Ft. Lauderdale and have been fishing proffessionally all my life. My company, Fishing Headquarters, runs daily drift fishing trips, sportfishing privae and shared charters, night time swordfishing trips, and any other type of fishing you would like to try.

954-527-3460
Click Here For Past Fishing Reports by Captain Andrew Roydhouse