Fishing Fort Lauderdale on Happy Day Today with Capt. Zsak
Bob Smith, Sr. and Bob Jr., along with friends, Zachary and Justin Gulnac and Wayne Massey from Ontario, Canada and Long Island, NY, escaped the frigid, single-digit cold temperatures and came down to Fort Lauderdale FL to do some deep sea sport fishing aboard the Happy Day Today along with the Topshotfishing team. Winds were out of the east at 10 mph, temperatures in the mid 70's, and seas running 2-3 ft.
As the anglers boarded the boat, Bob, Jr. advised me that this fishing trip was a gift for his father, and he wanted to catch a large fish. We stopped to purchase a dozen live Goggle Eyes from T&T Bait located in the inlet in Fort Lauderdale. Fifteen minutes after leaving the dock, lines were in the water at our drop off, which is 120 ft. deep at the sea buoy in Fort Lauderdale. We started off trolling with two plainers down, one with a 3 ½ blue reflector drone spoon and on the other was a pink and blue sea witch in front of a double hook Bonito strip. For surface baits we went with two Ballyhoos and two Bonito strips.
There was very little current that day so I ventured a little further off shore, looking for a weed line or a rip to fish on. I ran across a floating log covered with barnacles, which is an indication that it has been floating in the ocean for quite some time. I made my first pass by the log, nothing happened. On the second try, I made my pass wider, and this time the pink and blue sea witch rod bent over. Rod tip bounced up and down, and I knew what was at the end of the line – a Wahoo – and Bob, Jr. was the angler, reeling in the Wahoo. I kept circling the log and Justin and Wayne, our other anglers, each caught a Wahoo. The next fish caught was a Mahi Mahi. From there we trolled to one of the wrecks located in 185 ft. of water. We set up two kites with two live Goggle Eyes from each kite, waiting for the arrival of a black shadow (Sailfish!!!). Our first strike was a 12 lb. Bonito on the right short and Justin was our angler. After resetting over the same wreck, to our amazement, here comes a Tiger Shark swimming lethargically fifty feet from the boat heading towards the right short Goggle Eye. As he swam right by the bait, he showed no interest and just swam away – we were surprised that he did not feed. Five minutes later, he made his second appearance and did the same thing, just swimming around the bait – he repeated this for the next twenty minutes. We fired out a Bonito slab from the kite, and he swam around it, but still no interest until we lifted the bait 6" out of the water – his head came out of the water and grabbed the bait – a sight to see – the fight was on. Bob, Sr. got in the fighting chair and brought the 99" Tiger Shark to the side of the boat for picture taking. At this time the Tiger Shark regurgitated a large bird – now we understood why the Tiger Shark was at first not feeding.
With Wahoo and Mahi Mahi on the menu for tonight, the anglers went into the a/c salon for the trip back to the dock at Bahia Mar 801 Seabreeze Blvd. Fort Lauderdale 33316.
For a successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter Fort Lauderdale FL for Sailfish, Shark, Bonito, Mackerel, Swordfish, Snapper, Wahoo, Tuna, Mahi Mahi and Grouper contact Captain Zsak. - 954-309-7457 or email us at tzsak@bellshouth.net Website: www.topshotfishing.com.
