June 17
Ok so we have been shut down for a much engine repair that has been a long time coming but at last our engine is fixed and we seem to still have the sword fish fever. So it just so happens that our of our most regular customers Clark and his wife Whitney are in town and we really wanted to show them a real treat. They seem to always charter the boat for 4 hour trips and we have never had the chance to try to get a big sword fish with them so this time we are going for it.
Clark and one of my Captains Greg also do a lot of fishing on the west coast of Florida out of Everglades City and they have a couple of guides that they use when they are over there. They have been using Captain (In Sian Wayne) of Fish Hunt Charters (239) 269-3602 and Captain Joe from Show and Tell Charters (Don't have his # however his web site is easy to find)
I have fished on the west coast with these guys and I've got to say that if you like fishing in shallow water for snook, red fish, tarpon, Jew fish and just about anything else you want to catch over there it truly can be a none stop action place to fish. Just make sure you have a party of three anglers or less or else you will need 2 boats. And remember to bring a hat suntan lotion and plenty to drink and be ready for what they call a full day and I do mean a full day both times I fished with In Sian Wayne I had to tell him that's enough can we go in now? And if you are real nice to him he might bring you back within 9 to 11 hours.
Ok so enough about them let's get back to our fishing trip that Clark and Whitney invited Wayne and Joe and Joe's son Connor to join us on.
So off we went trolling at 8 knots going 17 miles off shore. Once we got to the sword fish spot in came all the trolling gear and out went our squid and down she went all the way to the bottom 1500 down.
Once we got the bait down we threw out ballyhoo and just drifted it way back behind the boat. After a good 10 min without a bite we decided to bring it up just to make sure it got down without getting tangled. While it did make it down without getting tangled we did not even know it but someone down there took a swat at it and the squid was cut in half. Ok no big deal we knew we were in the right spot. So we picked up and ran about a quarter mile to the south so we could try to get the bait down in the same spot. So once again down went our bait and out went the ballyhoo. Just about the same time we hit bottom the rod bent just a bit and we were Hooked Up. As we were reeling it up it seemed this fish could pull out drag whenever he wanted to and then would just keep coming up with us. All of a sudden the ballyhoo that we had forgotten about at this point got hit and line started screaming off the reel. Holy cow what to do? We seen this BIG dolphin fish about 35 pounds come up jumping and we knew we had a sword fish on our deep line. This dolphin fish was just too big to just cut the line and deal with what we had come out for in the first place. So we figured since we had 5 guys on the boat that fish for a living that we could somehow manhandle this dolphin at the boat so as to not allow him to get tangle in our other line with the sword fish was connected to. I've got to say that I would not have wanted to be this dolphin behind this boat today. It took about 2 seconds and this fish was out of the water and in the fish box before he even knew he was hooked. Connor nice job getting him to the boat so fast and J.J. nice gaff job and as for Wayne nice job closing the lid on him so fast.
Ok so back to our sword fish up popped the lead and J.J. cut it off it less than a second and just as Captain Greg graded the leader he said that he had just felt one of the hooks pull and 1 second later he was gone (RATS)
We never did get to see how big this one was because the leader was straight down and it is over 120 feet long. What a heart breaker but that fishing and we will be back.
Guys thanks again for a great fun day of fishing and we will see you guys again next week.
Summer is here and so are some of the bigger dolphin fish so give us a call and lets go fishing aboard the Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
June 18
Today we had a bunch of crazy nuts down here in South Florida to celebrate there friend Jim getting married. Jim now lives down here in South Florida along with his friends Jayson the EAR, Steve, Mike and Eric the Long Beach Boomer who still lives in New York.
We started out trolling the reef with 2 lines down deep and three on top and today it was the right choice to make. We were picking at the bonitos and kingfish pretty good all morning and before we knew it we had a box full of king fish. Once we got way down to the South almost off the coast of Miami we decided to try dropping a live bait down deep on a wreck just to see if we could catch a big grouper or some other kind of bottom dwelling sea creature. We had little to no current so I really did not think this was going to pan out for us but since we were all the way down here what the heck. We dropped a couple of times with no bites so it was time to decide what else to try. I thought going off shore looking for dolphin fish might be our best bet but Captain J.J. thought we might have a better shot at catching a shark around all these wrecks. We were going to make a $100 dollar bet but I did not feel right about taking J.J.'s money and man am I glad we did not bet because I would not have been taking J.J.'s money he would have been taking mine. It took about 30 min of waiting but all at once we seen our balloon with a shark bait on the other end go down and we were Hooked Up It was Jim's party so he jumped in the chair and the fight was on. This fish was not coming to the boat so easy in fact it took Jim over 30 min to finally get him to the side of the boat. It turned out to be a 200 to 230 pound bull shark hooked in the side. Way to go Jim Buy the way we got the fish next to the boat and using the gaff J.J. got all the hooks out of the fish. If you look closely at this picture the gaff is not in the fish he was using the gaff to get all the hooks out of the fish. Nice job J.J.
Good luck Jim and guys thanks again for a fun day of fishing.
Fishing is getting better every day so give us a call and let's get you Hooked Up
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
June 19
Today I had a couple of friends that I have been friends with since the early 70s I had Peter from Ft Lauderdale and Barb who now lives up by Daytona Beach Florida and she brought along her boyfriend Kurt from Deland Florida.
The fish we were looking for today would be dolphin fish so we could all have a big fish fry. So we headed off shore trolling 5 lines on the surface a one down about 45 feet deep for any Wahoo's that we might run across.
Once we got about 6 miles off shore I seen a big weed patch and hopes were high. But as we were getting close to this weed patch Captain Greg yelled out to me and asked if I could see anything behind his left short bait. No sooner than the words came out of his mouth up came this sail fish and he was not leaving till he got something to eat. He made one last pass at the bait and that was all that Greg was waiting for. We were Hooked Up. We tried to get Barb to jump in the chair but she said that there would be no chair for her. She was going to fight this one standing up. (Way to Go Barb). The fish peeled off half a spool of line and started dancing all over the surface for us. What a show this fish seemed to be in the air more than in the water. At this point the boat had slid right into the middle of the weed patch that we were heading for and Barb's line had weed all over her line between her and the fish. She finally got her fish to the side of the boat. We got a couple of quick pictures and watched her fish swim away in great shape.
We went right back to dolphin hunting but never did find any so we headed back into the reef to catch Kurt a king fish. We later found out the reason we had caught Barb a sail fish was because she brought her lucky marble along with her. Ok Barb it was the Marble!! What Ever (LOL)
Guys thanks for bring back all the memories lov ya.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 toll free (877) SEA-4344
June 20
Ok the last couple of weeks have been filled with ups and downs fishing and it seems like our luck has finally taking a turn for the better. I'm sure that if Barb from yesterday's trip were writing this fishing report she would say that it was her lucky marble that changed our luck but for whatever reason I'm just glad that things have turned around for us.
Yesterday things started looking a bit better but today we were on fire. It seemed we could do no wrong and all this happen on a day when fishing really was not all that great for any of the other boats.
We set out on our fishing trip with Brent and Debbie from Leesburg Florida and their friends Tom and Laurie also from Leesburg Florida.
We were going to be out fishing all day so we knew we had plenty of time to try a few different types of fishing. So we started out trolling the reef with two lines down deep on planner boards and three on the surface. For those of you that don't know how the planners boards work let me explain it a bit. We attach the planner to a fishing rod with a long leader behind it (about 60 feet long) so when our angler reels in their fish they can only reel till the planner gets to the tip of the rod. At this point the deck hand grabs the leader and hand lines in the rest.( Not on the trip!!) Debbie would have no part of that and she hand lined every fish that came in on the planner and there was a bunch.
While trolling we ended up catching a box full of kingfish and two black fin tunas.
Ok so now that we had plenty of fish in the box it was time to go for the big one. We set out both our kites with live goggle eyes suspended from them. We also set out a shark bait on a balloon just under the surface and way back behind the boat. We also set out one bait about 150 feet down and our last bait was set down on the bottom 350 deep. So at this point we had everything out there except the kitchen sink.
We waited and waited and just as we were starting to lose hope Captain Greg jumped up and said there he is on our balloon set way back behind the boat. I went ahead with the boat the rod bent over and we were Hooked Up.
Brent jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a big back and forth tug a war for over 25 min but at last Brent finally wore down his fish and got him to the side of the boat. It was a big hammer head shark. We Sid his catch into the boat to get a quick measurement , a couple of quick pictures and even managed to get all the hooks out of him before sliding him back out the door and watched him swam away in great shape. Nice Catch and perfect release.
Ok at this point we found ourselves in about 450 feet of water and we noticed a nice blue edge of blue water had moved in so we decided to just slide our kites right back out and see what might be cursing down this edge.
It did not take long before we seen our right long kite bait running for his life and sure enough we were hooked up again. This time Tom jumped in the chair and ended up catching a big barracuda.
Things were looking good so we just stayed right there and then all of a sudden without any warning a big sail fish popped up on our short right kite bait and again we were Hooked Up.
Ok now it was time to find out if Debbie really reeled like a girl (LOL) she jumped in the chair and there was nothing girly about the way she reeled her fish in. It took about 15 min but she got her first sail fish to the boat. We got a couple of pictures and watched him swim away in great shape.
Way to go Debbie and what a way to end a great day of deep sea fishing.
Brent, Debbie, Tom and Laurie thanks soooo much for a great fun day and we are looking forward to our next trip. Bear in mind this is a tough one to top.
Summer is here and so are the fish so give us a call and let's have a ball fishing aboard the Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
June 21
Today we had a boat full of people from Florida and they wanted eating fish.
We had Jordan, David, Taylor, Sheryl and Bob. They guys were counting on a fish fry at the end of the day. So we started out with king fishing on the reef and it paid off for us in a big way. Before we knew it we had our limit of king fish. So we knew that what they really wanted was some dolphin fish so we ran off shore and started the hunt for a weed line or any kind of debris we could find in the water. After a good hour of trying to find dolphin on a Sunday with great weather we knew that there had to be at least 100 other boats doing the same thing and it was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.
We threw in the towel on trying to find dolphin fish and decided to hit some of the ship wrecks down deep.
Talk about making the right choice we ended up catching 20 snappers, 5 jacks, 2 porgies, 5 trigger fish and a 20 pound grouper to boot.
Guys sorry about the dolphin fishing but I can tell you that I would take a grouper over dolphin fish any day of the week. Hope you guys had a great fish fry and we are looking forward to our next trip.
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344
June 22
Today I've got good news and I've got bad news. The good news is fishing was as good as it gets the bad news is we did not have our camera aboard to take any pictures.
We had Travis and Bob both who work for the sheriff's dept out for a few hours of fishing. We picked up some live baits from the live bait boat and went out to 150 feet of water. We set out both of our kites with live baits suspended from them and started to wait for the bite.
I've got to say that today there was not too much waiting going on we had pretty much none stop action. We were catching king fish and bonitos and plenty of them when all of a sudden a sailfish popped up and we were Hooked up Travis jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took about 15 min to reel him to the boat. Ok one down and one to go. We got our baits right back out there and no sooner than we got the baits set back out there here comes another sailfish. This sailfish spit the hook and got away but soon after that here comes anther one and this one was hooked up and now Bob jumped in the chair and his fight began. It also took bob a good 15 min to get his sail fish to the boat. What a day of fishing!!! You just can't ask for more than that in a 4 hour trip.
Guy's thanks again for a real fun morning of fishing and we'll see you again soon.
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
