Andrew Roydhouse

We didn't have a charter today in the afternoon, so we decided to head out there and do a little bottom fishing just for fun. My uncle Brad and his son were here in town for a couple days so we took them out there to do a little bottom fishing and catch them some fish they could take home for dinner. The weather was nasty, kind of choppy and it was rainy all over. I like the rainy weather though; the fish really seem to bite well on overcast days.

Once we were out there, we went directly to the shipwrecks to do a little bottom fishing. The snappers were chewing and as soon as we'd hit the bottom, we had a few snappers on the line. Every drop we made, every single hook we had on our rig either had a snapper on it, or the bait was chewed off. While we were catching all the vermillion snappers, we had a couple nice mahi mahi swim up on us. It was a good thing I got a couple pitch bait spinners ready earlier in the day. As soon as the captain spotted them, I had 2 baits in the water and immediately 2 dolphin fish on. Nice sized ones too, like 10-15 pounders. On spinning tackle, it took us a little while to catch them. The fish box was starting to look pretty colorful at this point.

A few more drops and we got hooked into this big golden amberjack. My cousin Jason got to catch this one, his first, and it about broke his back fighting it up. A brutal fight and on stand up gear no less. We were only out a couple hours, but we had plenty of fish so we headed for home. I threw out a few little surface baits since we were headed back anyway and we hooked into and caught a couple mackerel, a cero and king. It was a good day of fishing and we caught a lot of different species out there. The fishing is good right now off South Florida so get out there if you can.

Fish Species: snapper, amberjack, dolphin and kingfish
Bait Used: squid
Tackle Used: 20-50# Penn Reels
Method Used: Bottom fishing
Water Depth: 200-300'
Water Temperature: 90's
Wind Direction: North East
Wind Speed: 20 knots
Good Bottom fishing off Fort Lauderdale
Good Bottom fishing off Fort Lauderdale


Do you want to leave a comment? Login or register now to leave a comment.


No comments so far

Andrew Roydhouse

About The Author: Captain Andrew Roydhouse

Company: Fishing Headquarters

Area Reporting: Fort Lauderdale South Florida

Bio: I am a 3rd generation fisherman out here off Ft. Lauderdale and have been fishing proffessionally all my life. My company, Fishing Headquarters, runs daily drift fishing trips, sportfishing privae and shared charters, night time swordfishing trips, and any other type of fishing you would like to try.

954-527-3460
Click Here For Past Fishing Reports by Captain Andrew Roydhouse