July 2
Well it is finally July and this is the time of the year that our reefs come alive with life.
We started out July fishing with Bruce, Yvette, Christopher, Jacob and T.J. from Baltimore and from Maryland. We started out trolling the reef with 3 baits on the surface and two baits on planner board down deep.
FISHING WAS GOOD it seemed as soon as we would get the lines back out another rod would get hit. It was pretty much none stop action the whole time we were trolling the reef.
At this point we had our limit of king fish and wanted to try our luck at some deep drops.
Once we got all of our trolling gear in we dropped a live bait down to the bottom just to see what might be hanging around the wreck. As it turned out Captain J.J. made the right choice. We ended up catching a nice mutton snapper for their dinner and T.J. got into a big fi8ght with a big amber jack. It was a big back and forth tug a war for over 15 min but at last T.J. wore down his fish and got him to the boat.
At the end of the trip we ended up with 10 king fish, 11 bonito's one mutton snapper and a big amber jack.
WAY TO GO GUYS
Guy's thanks again for a fun day of fishing.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) Sea-4344
July 3
Today we had a shared charter aboard the Hooked Up. We had a regular customer Greg from Baltimore and we had Earl and Joel from San Francisco California.
We started out trolling on the reef heading to the south toward a ship wreck off the coast of North Miami .Today fishing was good I mean very good. I am not sure how many bonitos and king fish we caught but I do know that we got our limit of kings in no time and we started throwing them back by 9:30 am and as far as bonitos I would say we caught about 1,000,000,000 (LOL) It was pretty much none stop action all the way down to the wreck we were heading to. Once we got to the wreck we caught a few smaller bonitos and set them out on big wire leaders.
Once we had our live baits out one of the rods bent over and line was just peeling off the reel. It was Greg's turn and he wasted no time grabbing the rod. It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 10 min till finally Greg word down his catch. It turned out to be a monster barracuda. Now Greg had caught a real nice barracuda earlier in the trip while we were trolling the reef but nothing like this one. Way to go Greg.
At this point we were a good 6 miles from our inlet so we decided to start heading back toward home. We trolled our way back and caught a few more kings and bonitos and Greg even managed to catch another nice barracuda but nothing like the one he had caught earlier.
As luck would have it we had a good north current and we had made it back quicker than we had thought and we did still have enough time left to try one more trick. So we set out a live bonito on the ledge right at our inlet and from there it did not take long. The rod was bent in half and line was peeling off. This time Earl jumped in the chair. It was a big back and forth fight for over 20 min but at last Earl wore down his fish a got a big spinner shark to the boat. J.J. was leaning over the side of the boat trying to cut the hooks free from the fish but I could see something bad was going to happen. He did manage to get 2 out of the 3 three hooks out and this shark before I called it and said that was enough I knew someone was going to get hurt and I did not think it was going to be the shark The shark got a new piece of jewelry as a bonus.
Guy's thanks so much for a fun morning of fishing and can you believe I get paid to do this. (What a Country) (LOL)
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
July 4
Today we started out Independence Day fishing with Lynn and Rachel from Chicago and Lee and Katie from Phoenix Arizona.
The last few days the reef has been full of life so we went right back to trolling the reef. And once again the king fish were snapping. We had our limit of kings in no time and also caught a big barracuda.
Talk about catching not fishing the kings and bonitos have just been snapping on the reef and the bigger barracudas are starting to show up on the wrecks so give us a call and let's get you HOOKED UP.
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
July 7
Today we had Mike and Dolores from Florida and we also had Dolores's parents Niche and Ana and her sister Vicky all here visiting from Argentina.
Today we were looking for action and just keep bending the rod. And that was just what we got. We trolled the reef with 3 lines on the surface a two lines down deep. The king fish and bonitos kept every one busy it was just one fish after another.
At one point we got hit on one of the planners and we figured it was just business as usual and Niche jumped in the chair. But no sooner than he got in the chair we knew this fish was different. This sail fish came out of the water dancing all over the surface for us. None of us were thinking sail fish but we all sure rose to the occasion. Once Niche got his fish next to the boat we got a few nice pictures and watched him swam away in great shape.
When it was all said and done we had our limit of kings 12 bonitos and one sail fish. Pretty killer morning of fishing. Thanks again guys and were looking forward to seeing you again soon.
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
July 8
I'm going to start out this report by saying that 9 out of 10 people we take out fishing tell us how lucky we are to be fishing for a living and 9 out of 10 times they are right BUT there is always that 10th trip that just really makes me scratch my head and wonder.
Today I'm not going to mention any names but we had 3 guys from Argentina out for a day of fun fishing in Sunny South Florida.
Things started out pretty much like that had the last few days. We were trolling the reef with our 3 baits on the surface and 2 baits down deep on planner boards. We were catching king fish and bonitos one after another and before we knew it we already had our limit of king fish which is 2 per person. But the bonitos were biting like mad dogs and everyone seemed to be having a ball but at this point we did have to start throwing back the kings because we already had our limit.
All of a sudden we got a bite on one of our deep lines but the fish missed the hook and as our mate Cove was reeling in the bait to change it. It got hit again and then again. At this point we could see the bait skipping across the surface and we seen this sail fish right behind it. It took one more swat at the bait and that was all Cove needed to hook the fish. Ok great we were Hooked Up with a sail fish and things just could not have looked better. It took about 10 min to finally get the fish to the side of the boat. Cove was holding the leader so everyone could get some pictures of the sail fish in the water without hurting the fish.
Here's where things took a turn for the worse. These guys did not speak English and Cove does not speak Spanish so I was trying to translate.
On the Hooked Up we do not bring game fish into the boat unless we need to get a measurement of the fish in order to have a replica mount made of the fish. We leader the fish along the side of the boat this makes for a much better picture and it also helps us release the fish with the least chance of hurting the fish. Due to the language barrier and all the excitement going on Cove reached over and gently brought the fish aboard for the guys to get a quick picture of their catch. Within 2 seconds Cove had the hook out of the fish a got the fish back in the water and released the fish in good shape.
Now these guys were all saying something to Cove but Cove could not make out what they were saying. Since I speak Spanish I had Cove come up on the bridge and drive the boat while I explained AGAIN to these guys that we do not kill game fish that they were not a good eating fish and we wanted these fish to be around tomorrow so others could get the chance of a life time to catch just like they had just done.
These guys proceeded to tell me how back in Argentina they killed them along with sharks and other big game fish. I told them that that was fine there but that was not how we do it here. And to make matters even worse yesterday while they were looking around for a boat to charter they had taken a picture of one of the other charter boats down the street from us with a big dead hammer head shark hanging there for a picture. Just killing BIG GAME for no reason.
Ok so you can see how this conversation was going and they were not budging on their point of view. I don't know how but I somehow kept my cool and told them that I was sorry for the misunderstanding. This was still not good enough for them they thought that I had ripped them off and that I was taking them for a boat ride and not a fishing trip. I asked them what about all the fish we had in the box? They did not want to talk about them they said they wanted that sailfish hanging at the dock for a picture.
BEST JOB IN THE WORLD most of the time but not so much this time.
They ended up cutting the trip off short and shorting me in the fare.
I just let it slide and told them to have a nice day.
I wonder if I handled this the right way. How would YOU have handled it?? And if you were a customer and I told you before the trip that we won't be killing any of the game fish would you still fish aboard the Hooked Up Write me your feed back at tacohookedup@aol.com
Well fishing is going off down here in South Florida so give us a call and let's get you Hooked Up
And yes we will clean all the good eating fish for you in fact we've got a outside restaurant-bar next to the boat that would be more than happy to cook up your catch for you.
Thanks for reading our fishing reports.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
July 9
Today we had the little gang from Texas out for a morning of deep sea fishing. We had Phillip, Traci, Mindy, Heath, Ethan and Jerry.
We started out on the reef trolling with our 3 baits on the surface and 2 down deep. We were catching king fish and a few bonitos. We had worked our way down to a ship wreck about 7 miles south of Port Everglades. Once we got to the wreck we tried to catch some little bonitos to put out as live bait. The little bonitos turned out to not be biting very well. We did manage to catch one but he died on us and we never did end up catching anything on the wreck.
It was time to start working our way back toward the dock so we set out our trolling gear and headed back. We did have a north current and we ended up getting back quicker than we had thought.
Since we still had a bit of time left we decided to try our luck at a deep ledge right next to our inlet and see if we could get lucky there. Once we got to the ledge our mate Mike (his first day on the boat) set out a couple of big blue runners and one dead bonito. It only took a couple of min till we had 2 big barracudas chasing our live baits around. Our live baits were so big and so fast that these barracudas could not catch them. Then all of a sudden a monster cubera snapper pilled all over one of our baits and we were hooked Up. I've never seen one of these fish around here and we were all pretty excited about having one on. But I sorry to say that this fish did not get to be a 30 to 40 pound snapper by being dumb and soon enough he cut us off on the ledge (RATS)
Ok we set the live baits right back out there and tried it again only this time the barracudas seemed to have left and nothing was trying our baits. Than just as we were about to wrap it up this shark came charging in on our bait. There was a big splash and than nothing he was gone.
Ok at this point we were running late for our afternoon trip and I had about enough of this missing fish so I called down to mike to wrap it up and lets head back in.
Just as Mike got the last bait in the boat I don't know what got into me but I said go ahead and send them back out one more time just to see what would happen. Well you can imagine Mike looked at me like I was nuts but all the same he put the baits back out there. All of a sudden here comes this shark again racing in on our dead bait. He had no problem catching this one and we were Hooked Up.
It only took about 7 to 8 min to get this big spinner shark to the boat but the battle was not done yet. The decision was made to get a measurement of this fish to have a replica mount made of this rocket ship of a shark. These things are so fast and so mean that getting him into the boat without killing him getting the hooks out and getting him back out of the boat with a mate that I had never fished with before was going to be special.
I've got to give Mike credit he got his butt kicked but he hung in there and we did finally get this pissed off fish into the boat. We managed to get 2 out of the 3 hooks out of him got a few pictures a measurement and then turned the fish around so that his head was pointed toward the tuna door was. We opened the tuna door and Mike threw a bucket of water on him and he went nuts and just swam right out the door.
Way to go guys what an exciting way to end a great day of fishing.
Every day fishing seems to be getting better down here in South Florida so give us a call and let's get you out fishing.
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
July 10
Today we had a shared charter with all different people from all different places from all different walks of life but by the end of the trip you would have thought everyone was related to each other. We simply had a ball fishing today.
We had Louis and his wife the third grade teacher from North Carolina Misses Bauer, We also had Anthony and his wife Lourdes also from North Carolina, Ian from Long Island and Mike from Virginia Beach
Today the reef was just so full of life that we hardly got a chance to rest. It was just one fish after another the king fish and bonitos were biting like mad dogs.
Guys I want to thank everyone aboard the hooked Up today for coming fishing with us and we really enjoyed having you guys with us.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
July 11
Today we fished with Chris the groom to be along with his dad Rob and his friends Alfredo, Alex, and Carlos all from South Florida
Everyone aboard seemed to be feeling a bit different today maybe it was because their body Chris was getting married or maybe it was due to their little bit of parting that went on the night before but for whatever reason it was it was easily cured with a bit of alcohol. Especially by Alfredo he must have been feeling the worse because not only could he put it down I think he had his glass trained because no matter where he set his glass down this thing just would not tip over. And I've got to say that I watched his glass the whole trip and I could not believe that the only place his drink ended up was in his stomach (LOL).
We started out trolling the reef loading the boat up with king fish and bonitos. I knew they really wanted some dolphin fish for dinner but there has not been any around for the past week or so. All the same I thought I would give it a shot so we headed off shore but after about 45 min of not catching anything we headed back in on the reef and once again we started catching kings and bonitos one after another.
Good luck Chris and thanks again to all of you guys for a fun morning of deep sea bonito fishing.
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
