Fort Lauderdale fishing has been fairly consistent lately. Trolling the reef area has been producing Bonitos, a much sought after bait fish, in some good numbers. These fish are false Tuna's, also known as Little Tunnys. Their edibility is poor because of the dark red meat and strong fishy taste but they supply us with strip baits after we thin out the meat on the skin and cut them to shape. These baits provide us with most our trolling baits.
With Anita, her son Christian and his girlfriend Megan, Megan's brother Dillan and his girlfriend Chelsea (I think I got that all right… LOL), we were on our way for some fishing fun for a few hours. Seas were calm and the skies clear to allow our summer sun through today. Folks, I'm telling you, it's hot! No wind in the early hours of the morning and lake like conditions as far as waves.
Our first bite was a small Kingfish and as we circled around we found no more Kings but the Bonitos were biting pretty good. Anita just watched from the bridge as Christian and Dillon caught fish, while the girls were struggling to land one, they each lost a fish. Megan was taking it personally, Chelsea didn't seem to care.
But after some time and coaching from the now expert boyfriends, all had caught a few fish and we decided to try for something bigger. Just 1.5 miles from shore in 300' of water, we deployed our baits and waited. With no breeze from the boat moving on the troll, it became quite warm. Anita retreated to the deck for some sun while others ran to the AC in the cabin.
We had waited over an hour and no bite had come. It was time to go home and we were bringing in the baits. Out time was up and I was disappointed but… the surface bait came down. We could see the balloon we use for a bobber bouncing on the surface and when it finally began to run out line, we set the hook and came tight with a Hammerhead shark.
This is what we call a "Whistle bite"… Right at the whistle when it's time to go home. Christian, a big young man was huffing and puffing as the fish was having its way with him. It took 20 minutes for him to land this fish, which was now his biggest ever, replacing a 20 lbs. Catfish. We pulled this Shark up on the boat to remove the hook and take a few shots. I swear I was laughing so hard trying to get Megan to get close and into the picture… Christian wasn't moving from the chair. LOL
We headed home all happy and smiles as the moving boat had refreshed the breeze. Thes folks from Kentucky had a blast!
Keep em tight… Keep em on.
Captain Steve
