Ok so its April fool's day no big deal right?
(WRONG) The first time I ever caught a mako shark was on the first of April. I had caught him fishing over a ship wreck. After showing off our catch to everyone at the dock and captains calling me about my catch I heard that when you catch one in a spot a lot of times there will be another one there. So the next day April 2nd I went back to the same wreck and before we could get all the baits in the water we got another one Hooked and I was Hooked on Mako fishing. Both of these fish were 9 foot long 340 pounds. So as you can manage I've got a soft spot in my heart about fishing on April fool's day.
The problem was we had no customers today and I was chumping at the bit to get out there.
Than at about 11:00 am a car pulled up with Tomas, Adam, Anna and Linn from Sweden looking for something to do. Well I had a great idea let's go fishing.
So off we went out to the reef and started out trolling to the north. We caught a few king fish and bonitos. Than we did a couple of deep drops trying to catch a grouper of maybe an amber jack. No luck doing deep drops so we decided to go back to trolling only now we were going to troll a little deeper outside of the reef to try to catch some dolphin fish. While we never did find any dolphin fish we did get a real nice bite on one of our deep lines. This fish was pulling a lot harder than a kingfish and we knew it was not a dolphin fish because it never jumped. Soon after hooking this fish we noticed he was doing a lot of head shaking and we thought that just maybe this was a Wahoo and once we got him close enough to the boat we got a good look at him. It turned out to be a nice Wahoo. Once he got even close to gaffing range Jay Jay let him have it and in the box he went. Nice shot Jay Jay.
What a great fun filled trip. We left our trolling gear out as we headed back toward the port when we were in 200 feet of water I pointed out this fin I seen just slowly moving to the south as we got closer Jay Jay yelled out that's a Mako. And sure enough it was and he was not shy of the boat in fact he stayed behind the boat for a good 2 minutes. Jay Jay fired out a king fish with 3 big hooks in it and we were sure we were about to get Hooked Up. Once we got the bait in front of him we slowly let the bait sink down and this 8 to 9 foot Mako just slowly followed it down. (RATS) never did get him to bite and never seen him again but what a cool sight to see.
Thomas thanks again and we'll see you again next year.
Its APRIL so come on down and be a part of some of the best fishing South Florida had to offer.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
April 2
Today we had some regular customers out for their annual fishing trip.
We had Jeff from Chicago, Richard from Alabama, Jeff from Boca and Zambrano from Fort Laudable Florida,
We started out trolling the reef and had to stay near the inlet because Jeff Johnson's plan had a flat tire. That's right a flat tire and his plan were not due to land at around 10:00am so when we got the call that he had landed we ran back in and picked up Jeff. We had already been trolling the reef and only caught a couple of kingfish so the decision was made to go off shore and try to find some dolphin fish. We trolled around off shore for a good 3 hours only catching one dolphin. So we decided to go back inside to try and catch Jeff his first sailfish.
We set out both of our kites with live baits suspended from them and we planned to wait it out and hope for the best. And that was just what we got. We seen a sailfish trying to eat our left long kite bait the same bait that Jeff Johnson had guessed would be the one to get bit.
Up popped this monster sailfish and we were Hooked Up. Jeff Snyder wasted no time jumping in the chair and the fight was on. It took Jeff a good 10 minutes to finally get his first sailfish to the boat. WAY TO GO JEFF. Jay Jay reached over and grabbed the sailfish by the bill and got the hook out of him and we watched him swam away in great shape/
I've got to say that we did not catch a lot on this trip but we all had such a great time talking and carrying on that the day just flew by and everyone had a great day of fishing.
Jeff, Jeff, Richard and Zambrano thank you guys so much for a fun day and can't wait till next year to come back around.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
April 3
Today we had a shared charter going out for a morning of deep sea fishing. We had Bill and Laurn from New Jersey and Paul and Jim from Penn.
We started out trolling the reef catching a few bonitos than we spent some time trolling in deeper water looking for some dolphin fish with no luck. We knew we were starting to run short on time so we decided to try one more trick and drop a live bait down about 220 feet down to the bottom hopping to catch a grouper or a big snapper.
Once we got the bait to the bottom it did not take long when all of a sudden the rod bent in half and line started peeling off the reel. We were Hooked Up and just in time. Bill jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 10 minutes but well worth the effort. Bill ended up catching a monster amber jack.
Way to go Bill. This was not a great day of catching but Billed saved the day with his catch and we all had a great day.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
April 4
Today we went out fishing with Joe and his son Joe from New Jersey And Tim and Rich from Chicago We started out trolling to the south on the reef looking for some kingfish or some bonitos. We never did find any king fish but we caught plenty of bonitos. Than we went off shore looking for some dolphin fish but never did find any. That's the thing about going off shore looking for dolphin fish most of the time if we find one we are going to find a school of them the problem is if we don't find them well that's not so good.
But all in all everyone had a good time and I guess we're going to have steak for dinner tonight (LOL)
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
April 6
Today we were fishing for a big fish we had Dean, Brent, Mickey and Noah aboard. We picked up some live baits from the bait boat went right out to 350 feet of water and set out both kite with 3 live baits suspended from them and one big dead bait also suspended from the kites. We also set out one big dead bait down about 150 feet down and one last one on the bottom.
Today the fish did not come easy for us it took a lot of waiting but just as we stopped looking at our deep rod it bent over and line was screaming of the reel. Thanks God we were3 Hooked Up. At this point we would have been happy with a goldfish or anything else we could get to bite. But this was not little goldfish this thing was just taking line off the reel at will.
It took a little help from everyone but after a good 35 minutes of back and forth we got this SEA MONSTER to the side of the boat. It was a big Hammer Head Shark.
WAY TO GO GUYS sorry it took so long for the bite.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
April 7
Ok let me set the stage for this fishing report. I want to start out by saying that I take a lot of pride in writing these reports and I know that I am the one of the few Captains that go ahead and write reports even when fishing is slow. So having said that this is NOT a fishing report where the fishing was slow but bear in mind that fishing trips like this one DON,T happen every time.
We got to the boat in the morning and were greeted by James and his son James, Bruce, Cody, John and Derrick. They were all from Lake Drison Michigan.
We started out by going to the bait boat and getting a bundle of live baits. Than we started trolling to the south on the reef hopping to catch some king fish and or some bonitos. We ended up catching a few bonitos and caught one nice dolphin fish. However we had heard on the VHF Radio that a few of the other boats were seeing some sailfish around. At this point we were way to the south almost of the coast of North Miami but we had a well full of live baits and decided to bring in all the trolling baits and set out our kites with the live baits suspended from them.
That was what we wanted to do but as we were trying to get the baits out we seen two sailfish fighting over one of our baits. We WERE Hooked Up. We could not believe how fast we got connected to a sailfish. I can't remember who fought the first sailfish but we caught him in 10 minutes and were eager to get the baits back out there. Once again we tried to get all of our baits out there with the same thing a pesty sailfish came along and start4ed eating our baits. This happen to us again and again and at the end of the day we ended up catching 5 sailfish a few bonitos and one nice dolphin fish.
Talk about a fun filled day we had such a great day that one of the guys I think John ended up fishing with us every day that he was in town.
Spring is here and so are the big sailfish the bigger dolphin fish are starting to show up and I know that the BIG HAMMER HEAD SHARKS will be here any day now. So give us a call and come down to Sunny South Florida and have a ball catching some of this BIG GAME.
Captain Taco Toll free (877) SEA-4344 or (954) 764-4344
April 9
Today we took out Bobby, Kimmy, Colleen and Jordan all from New York. As we were heading out toward the ocean Captain Mike on the Local Knowledge game me a call and said that there was a big school of blue fish right out in front of our inlet. So let everyone on the boat know that it looked like we might get some good fishing action right away.
Well I had no idea that this school of blue fish that Captain Mike was talking about was this big. I would say that it was as big as two foot ball fields put together.
As we got close to the school Captain Jay Jay started putting out the baits or should I say bait as in one. He could not get one bait all the way out where he was trying to get it before 3 to 7 fish were fighting over his bait.
Ok time to regroup we knew that we were going to catch about as many of these fish as we wanted and we also knew that they were going to eat just about anything we put out there.
We caught 2 or 3 of these 15 to 20 pound blue fish and then we decided to try something els. We wanted to see if we could get these fish to bite something else so we set out bare hooks with a 5 inch piece of red tape dangling behind it. The second we got the first one out there BAM we were Hooked Up. We had such a ball showing everyone how to set out the baits and hooking the fish. I don't know how many we caught we only kept 4. I wish we would have kept more than we did because we got 2 of them smoked and I've got to say they tasted great smoked.
Thanks again guys it was a ball fishing with you guys and looking forward to fishing with you again soon.
Spring is here and there is so much bait fish in town now that we know the big sharks are right behind them so give us a call and let's get you Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
April 10
Today we had the boys from South Jersey Jayson, Adam and Luke. These guys were just looking to have a few beers and catch a couple of fish. They had no idea that they would be having one of the best days out fishing of their life.
We knew we had clean blue water out front and we also knew we had a good north current and you put these together in April off the coast of Fort Lauderdale and that equals good fishing.
We went right out to 150 feet of water and set out both our kites with our live baits suspended from them and the trap was set. It did not take long till our first bite BAM a big splash by one of our kite baits and line was peeling off the reel at first we were thinking that it might be a sailfish the way it was peeling line off the reel but it never came up jumping. After about 5 minutes of reeling the fish in just as we were about to gaff the fish another one of our kite baits got hit and line was peeling off another reel. We were in a school of monster bonitos. These fish all weighed 18 to 20 pounds each. Talk about boomers these things were huge and while we were having a ball catching them but they were were eating all of our live baits as fast as we could get them out there. So we got a couple of them in the boat and quickly moved out to a little deeper water.
We got all the baits back out there and once again a big splash by one of our kite baits. We figured it was another bonito but much to our surprise this one came up jumping. A SAIL FISH just what we were looking for. It took about 15 minutes to get him to the side of the boat. We got a couple of quick pictures of him next to the boat and watched him swam away in great shape.
Once again we got our baits right back out and once again almost as soon as we got everything set back out there we got another bite. This one turned out to be a nice kingfish. As we were trying to get him in the boat we saw a sailfish chasing one of our baits. This time we knew what we had out there trying to eat the bait so we were not too worried about getting the kingfish in the boat and we were more concerned about hooking the sail fish. We hooked the sail fish and then got the king fish in the boat and about 15 minutes later we had our second sail fish next to the boat.
What an action packed morning of fishing. When it was all said and done we ended up catching a couple of big sailfish and we had a box full of king fish and bonitos.
Well my friends from South Jersey thanks again and we are looking forward to fishing you guys again soon.
If anyone out there reading these fishing reports are thinking about coming down to South Florida to do some fishing I'm here to tell you that now is the time. Weather is great Hotel rates are down and the fishing is as good as it gets so come on down and let's get you Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
April 11
Today we had Mick, Kim, Kelly and Jeff all from Seattle Washington out for a morning of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up
We started out doing a deep drop on one of the ship wrecks about 210 feet down. It took a little dragging our live bait around the wreck for a few minuets' but soon enough the rod bent over and we went ahead with the boat to drag the fish away from the wreck so he could not get us back into it. Mick jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 10 minutes but we finally got Mick's monster amber jack to the boat.
Ok now it was time for some top water live bait fishing. We set out 2 kites with 4 live baits suspended from them. The trap was set all we needed now was a big fish to eat our bait. We waited and waited for well over an hour. Just as we were going to bring in all the lines and go try the wreck fishing again we seen a sailfish coming in on one of our kite baits. (JUST IN TIME) Now it was Jeff's turn and he wasted no time jumping in the chair and the fight was on. This was a big sailfish and it was a good 20 minuets' till Jeff finally got his catch to the side of the boat. We got a couple quick pictures and watched his fish swam away in good shape to fight another day.
At this point we were not quite out of time but we surely did not have enough time to set out the kites again and since we were already getting ready to do anther deep drop we figured what the heck we would try one more drop. This time there was no waiting involved the second this bait got to the bottom we were Hooked Up. Once again Jeff jumped in the chair and we went ahead with the boat to get the fish away from the wreck. Jeff ended up reeling in this monster amber jack about 45 pounder. Way to go Jeff.
While we only caught 3 fish on this trip I've got to say that everyone of them were big fish and we all had a ball fishing aboard the Hooked Up
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
April 13
We started out this morning fishing with our regular guest the one and only Pete Pillone and his mom Barbra his sister Pam her husband Mike and unfortunately his other sister Paula stayed in her hotel room licking her wounds. Rumor has it that she had just a little too much to drink the night before and could not quit make it out of bed.
First thing we had in mind was to catch Barbra some fish to eat for dinner so we stopped at one of the ship wrecks and dropped a live bait down about 210 feet down to see what we could pull out of there. We had no current what so ever and we were slowly dragging this live bait all over the wreck. Finally just as we were about to give it up we got a bite. Barbra jumped in the chair as we pulled away from the wreck and the fight was on. This fish was fighting a little different than what we were expecting. It really was not fighting that hard to get back to the bottom like most of the fish we catch on the wreck do. And it seemed as if he was coming up toward the surface. When we finally got a little look at him we still could not figure out what it was we had on here. It turned out to be a blue fish. Never expected that!
Ok so no current so bottom fishing was going to be slow and we knew that what Pete really wanted to catch was a sail fish. So up went the kites with the live baits suspended from them and the trap was set. It took a bit of waiting but we got a bite on our left long kite bait and we knew this was no sail fish so Mike jumped in the chair and reeled in a nice kingfish. Soon after catching the kingfish we got another kingfish bite and this was Pam's fish.
We got our kite baits all back out there and here comes Pete's fish a sail fish and he was all over our right short kite bait. It took Pete 10 minutes to get his sail fish to the boat we got a couple of quick pictures of his fish and watched him swam away in great shape.
We had a little time left so we went to another bottom spot and this time we dropped what we call a chicken rig. It is 5 hooks in line with a weight at the bottom to try to catch Barbra some snappers for dinner. We did end up catching enough snappers for dinner and all in all it turned out to be the perfact fishing trip.
To the Pillones thanks again for a great time fishing with you guys and I hope Paula gets better soon (LOL)
Once we got back to the dock we cleaned the fish for Barbra and meet our afternoon charter. We had Yoni, Matt and Arin all from Baltimore. We decided to go kite fishing right back where we were when we caught Pete his sail fish earlier in the day and as luck would have it we made the right choise. We ended up catching 2 big king fish and one more sailfish. It was just one of those days where the fishing really was not that great but we just kept getting lucky. And you know what they say I,d rather be lucky than good any day. (LOL)
Give us a call and lets us show you a great day out on the water.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
April 14
Today was one of those days out fishing that we really had to work to catch anything. We had no current at all and the water was a dirty green. So we started out with Ian, Drew, Ken, Phil, Nate and Mike all from Michigan we trolled the reef all the way south of Holly Wood Fl without a bite so than we tried a couple of deep drops with no luck. It was time to go for it all or nothing so we set out our kites with live baits suspended from them and as it turned out we did the right thing we ended up catching a smoker king fish over 30 pounds.
As we got back to the dock and were talking with our afternoon charter we were telling them a bit about how our morning trip went and we thought our best bet was going to be kite fishing and hopping for the best.
So off we went with David and Carol from Mo and their good friends Bill, Leo, Carla and Fugi all of them from right down here in South Florida
We did not have many bites but we did manage to get the right bite. David finally got to catch his first sailfish and if you're not going to catch a lot this was the fish to catch.
David congratulations on your catch and we're looking forward to fishing you guys again same time next year.
To my readers I would love nothing more than to write these fishing reports about all the fish that were just jumping in the boat but in the real world every day of fishing is not always a great day of catching. I do take a lot of pride in the fish we catch but I also take a lot of pride in my reports. Having said that let me assure you that we always do our best to get our anglers the best catch possible and if the fishing is a little slow we'll try harder and tell a few extra jokes during our trip.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
April 15
Today we had a regular customer/friend of ours Pete from Staten Island New York along with his girl friend Jamie out for a bit of beer drinking and deep sea fishing.
Once again we have no current today and the water had that dirty green look to it and to top it off we have no wind what so ever so flying our kites is out of the question.
So we picked up some live goggle eyes at the bait boat but we still decided to stop and try to catch some live ballyhoo at the reef just outside of our inlet. At first we were glad that we had bought some live baits at the bait boat because it looked as if the baits we were trying to catch were not going to show up. But just we were about to give up trying to catch live ballyhoo they started to show up. It took way longer than we wanted to stay there trying but we ended up catching 9 live baits that we could slow troll since we did not have enough wind to fly our kites.
We went way to the north trying to find some cleaner water to fish in but the water looked the same up to the north. So we set 4 live ballyhoo out of the out riggers and sent one goggle eye down on the down rigger. We got hooked up into a nice dolphin fish but we pulled the hooks just behind the boat (RATS)
But from there it did not take long till our second bite. This bite came on the down rigger and turned out to be a big king fish. Ok skunk is out of the box we were starting to get a good feeling and sure enough here comes this sail fish and he was coming in hot on one of our live baits. Pete jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took Pete a good 15 minutes to finally get his sailfish next to the boat. We got a couple of quick pictures and watched him swam away in good shape.
Pete and Jamie thanks again as always it has been our pleasure fishing with you guys. See you again soon.
Captain Taco 9954) 764-4344
April 16
A few weeks ago I got a call from a Steve who wanted to send his dad and his friend out for a day of deep sea fishing on him. So this morning we got to the boat and were greeted by Marty and Steve Marty's friend from Lake Worth in Boynton Beach Florida. After talking to these guys for a couple of minutes we knew that they were no strangers to deep sea fishing and they knew what they wanted to try to catch. We decided to head straight off shore and try to find some dolphin fish. We ran for a good 5 miles where the water turned a deep blue and the current was going to the north at about 3 knots. Once we were in the blue water we slowed down the boat and set out our trolling baits. Things stated real well within 10 minutes of trolling we had a couple of dolphin fish in the boat but as we kept going further off shore we found ourselves back in green water. It turned out that we had some dirty water outside of us and there seemed to be no end to it. So we went back in a little closer to shore where we had found better water and kept trolling to the south. After a few hours of trolling and catching only a few dolphin fish out there we decided to try a few deep drops on some ship wrecks that were way out of the way and not many boats fish these wrecks. We had made a few drops on these wrecks with live baits but only got one bite and he had gotten away.
Ok time to switch things up a bit. We set out our trolling baits again only this time we were trolling on the reef and this turned out to be the right move. We ended up catching a box of king fish and bonitos and one black fin tuna.
Marty and Steve thanks again and looking forward to fishing you guys again soon.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
April 17
Today we started out with a 2 boat charter with 12 guys looking to spend the morning deep sea fishing. However after the night before a few of the guys well let's just say they were not feeling so good. Something to do with drinking and or staying out to late. Any way we ended up with just 5 guys going fishing on 2 different boats.
We ended up with Jim from Lake Mary Florida and Chad from Atlanta Ga. We picked up some live baits at the bait boat and went right to kite fishing. We got a shot at a sail fish right away but sorry to say he came up jumping and spit the hook on us. (RATS) We got our baits right back out there and got another bite. This time we managed to stay connected and caught a BIG king fish about 23 pounder. Once we got the baits out again we got hooked up with something that was just screaming the line off the reel. This one turned out to be a huge bummer bonito.
Once we got everything set out again we had a sail fish coming in on one of our kite baits and this guy was going to eat. Jim jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a good 25 minutes till Jim finally got his fish to the side of the boat. Way to go guys. The other boat caught a couple of small dolphin fish and a couple of king fish. I guess they beat us in numbers but we smoked them in size and quality.(LOL)
After having a few laughs with everyone at the dock it was time to load on our afternoon trip I like to call them the over the hill gang.
All these guys went to high school together and they try to get together once a year to spend a little time together and act like kids again.
I've got to say that when we take people out fishing it is not just fishing there is a lot of talking and entertaining evolved in a day out on the water. That was not the case this time these guys were talking and laughing so much that we could not get a word in. Witch was ok with us except for this one George the mouth from Boston. He decided to stay up on the fly bridge with me and see just how much he could bust my chops. The nice guys on the boat were Curtis from Water Town Mass, Ted from Dover Mass, John from New York and pat from Tampa Florida.
Fishing had been pretty good today and there had been a few sharks and a few sail fish around. But we were having a tough time getting the bite. Than when we finally did get a monster sail fish came up and ate our left short kite bait not more than 30 feet behind the boat . We watched him eat the bait and then this fish went absolutely nuts right behind the boat. I went ahead with the boat to try to help and get the line tight on him as quick as possible. But somehow our wire leader got kinked and we broke him off. (RATS AND DOUBLE RATS)
Ok this does not happen often but ok it happens and you can be sure that George the mouth sure let me know about it. We got all set up again and this time we added a big dead bonito to put down deep just to see if we could better our odds.
After we had been set back up for about 30 minutes or so we got this bite on our deep rod with the big dead bonito on the other end as bait. Good right? Not so good when this sea monster hit the bait like a freight train instead of the line coming off the tip of the rod over the roller this fish was pulling the rod off to the left and the line was not coming off the roller like it is supposed to and the line broke and the rod bounce back at us. (You could hear a pin drop except for O yea George the mouth)
He sure let us have it again and I could not believe the bad luck we were having. Ok now this was getting personal and we were not going in till we caught something BIG. Captain Greg fixed our deep rod again and put on another big dead bonito and sent it right back out there. After we were set back up again a few of the guys on the boat had said that they seen a big fin swimming out buy our kite baits. I never did see what they said they had seen but I do know that right after they said they had seen something our deep rod bent in half and this thing was taking line off the reel as if it was never going to stop. Curtis jumped in the chair and the fight was on. At first everyone was kind of busting his chops but after the first 35 to 40 minutes everyone was cheering him on even George the Mouth.
It took over an hour for Curtis to finally get his fish close to the boat but then it took off again. We got a look at him at that point and it was a MONSTER HAMMER HEAD SHARK. After another 10 to 15 minutes Curtis finally got the fish next to the boat for a quick measurement and a couple of quick pictures.
116 inches long we guessed the fish to weigh about 350 pounds WAY TO GO CURTIS.
As you can imagine we were all feeling a lot better now and believe it or not these guys did not bring one beer on board with them so we had to make a stop at the Marina to pick up some beers on the way in to celebrate.
Guys thanks again for a fishing trip I will remember for a long time. Even you George thanks for the laughs.
Fishing is getting better every day now so give us a call to get you out to do some deep sea fishing.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
April 18
Today we had Don from Philadelphia and his sons Jesse from Washington DC and Matt from Boston.
We went right out to 150 feet of water and set out our two kites with live goggle eyes suspended from them. The bite was kinda of slow so we waited for over an hour till we got our first bite. We got hooked Up into one of the biggest sailfish I've seen this year and this fish had no intentions of getting caught. This fish almost took all the line off the reel one time and then whenever we would get him close to the boat he kept trying to swam under the boat. This was one hell of a fight and Matt never let up at all it was a good 40 minuets' till the fish settled down enough for us to slide him into the boat for a couple of quick picture and a quick measurement to have a replica mount made of Matt's catch. After reviving the fish next to the boat for a few minutes he finally swam away.
After some high fiveing and hand shaking we got right back to it and set our baits back out there.
Captain Greg had seen something on our left long kite bait and I seen him pick up the rod and start feeding something.Then up came this big dolphin fish jumping all over the place. As luck would have it we were not catching a lot of fish but all the fish we were hooking were BIG.
This time Don jumped in the chair and the fight was on. As we were getting the dolphin fish close to the boat I was trying to get a few pictures of the fish in the water but that was not going to happen. I felt like I was cursed today all the fish were trying to swam under the boat. But after about 10 minutes Don finally got his fish with in gaffing range and Captain Greg got him in the boat.
Nice one a 18 pounder way to go Don.
No doubt Spring is here and so are the bigger sailfish and Dolphin fish so give us a call and lets get you Hooked Up
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
