Fort Lauderdale fishing report for the charter boat "Happy Day Today" and Top Shot Sportfishing Charters.
All day 8-hour fishing charter out of Fort Lauderdale with Luke and Hailey. We caught a big Tiger Shark and released a Sailfish. A big cold front just passed the day before. The temperature was in the 60s and there was a north ww,esterly wind blowing. In South Florida, cold fronts can be very productive for fishing - it tends to get fish up feeding and moving into the current. Any time after a cold front passes, we start to see the numbers increasing for the amount of fish we are catching.
We started the morning trolling to the south heading into the current. We fished 4 surface lines and two deep planner lines. I like to spend a little time trolling, which gives me the chance to see exactly how fast the current is moving. Also, it gives us a good handle on the bait, surface action, bird action and, of course, we are always searching for the big one.
As we were trolling, the current started to pick up as we were getting deeper, plus, this is where the clean green water met with the electric blue water. As fishermen we say, “it looks fishy” and this spot certainly did. We then sent out two kites with four live baits and a fifth as a flat line. Kyle, the first mate, had rigged a whole Bonita and sent it down to the bottom with a circle hook rig. It took some time before we had the first strike. The Shark rod bent over, the line started peeling off the reel, and our angler did an excellent job. After a good fight, Kyle had a full-grown Tiger Shark on the wire. He wired the Tiger to the back of the transoms, and we cut the Tiger Shark free.
This entire time we were still kite fishing, which is the beauty of kite fishing, it allows the baits to continue to fish while fighting another species. I looked back and saw a Sailfish in the spread. Luke was the angler, and he fed the Sail some line then came tight hooking the fish. After a great fight we were able to remove the hook, take a quick picture then release the Sail. Great day fishing in Fort Lauderdale with a Tiger Shark and Sailfish release.
The following day we had a half day 4-hour Fort Lauderdale fishing charter with Patricia and her coworkers. We ran offshore Fort Lauderdale and set two kites with 4 kite baits. About an hour into the charter a Hammerhead Shark came swimming into the spread of baits. Now, due to the size of the Hammerhead Shark, we decided to pitch an 8/0 Penn with the proper cable circle hook rig. It didn’t take long until the Shark picked up on the scent of the dead bait. Just like that, we were hooked up!! After a great fight we used a pair of bolt cutters and cut the hook out of the Sharks mouth. Just like the day before, we were able to properly fish our kite spread while fighting the Shark. About an hour later, I saw a Sailfish come up on one of the kite baits, the mate fed the Sailfish then reeled tight, and we had him on!! The Sailfish put up a great fight with some epic jumps out of the water. We carefully brought the Sailfish into the boat, removed the hook and after a quick picture released the fish.
Joe from NY and his kids booked up for a deep-sea fishing charter from 1-5pm. We started the charter trolling in 100 feet of water then worked out to deeper water. As soon as we made our way out to 400 feet of water, we had a double header hook up with the planner rod and outrigger line. We were catching Black Fin Tunas and was a very consistent bite. We only kept the larger Tunas and released the smaller sized ones for good luck. Also mixed in with the Black Fin Tunas were some Skip Jack Tuna and Bonitas. At the end of the charter, we filleted some of the Tunas for Joe and the kids to take to a restaurant.
Tony and his group from Finland booked us for a half day morning fishing charter in Fort Lauderdale. The easterly wind was blowing with a small chop and clean blue water. We started the trip with catching live bullet Bonitas. They make excellent live baits and just about everything in the ocean feeds on them. The first mate put out a spread of 4 live bullets - one of my favorite baits to fish in Fort Lauderdale. Within a short amount of time, a Sailfish showed up and started feeding on one of the live bullets. After feeding the Sailfish, Tony started reeling tight and hooked the Sailfish. After a great battle, we were able to bring the Sail alongside the boat and up for a quick picture then released the fish. The overall measurement of the Sailfish was 101” which is a very big Atlantic Sailfish. Great job Tony.
Ron, Matt and John from Alaska booked us for an afternoon fishing charter. The ocean currents were still moving to the north, and the bait fish were up and feeding. We started the afternoon charter with catching bullets, and soon as we had a half dozen baits, the first mate put a spread - one high line, two rigger baits and a down rigger line is an extremely effective spread of live bullets. We slowly started pulling the live bait spread over the reef structure in 150' of water. A huge explosion on the surface and the high line started screaming off drag. I passed the rod down to Matt, and he started fighting this fish. This was a great battle on light tackle. After a long fight, a huge smoker King Mackerel was behind the boat. Kyle, the first mate, gaffed the King and in the boat. The King Mackerel measured out at 63".
If interested in booking a fishing charter in Fort Lauderdale contact Capt. Dave Zsak with Top Shot Sportfishing Charter at (954) 439-8106 or check out the website at www.topshotfishing.com
