March 18
Today we had Dan, Chris, Mark and Jeff all from Ontario Canada out for a morning of deep sea fishing off the coast of Ft Lauderdale
We went right out to 350 feet of water and set out both of our kites with 3 live goggle eyes (live bait) suspended from them and one big dead bonito also suspended from the kite. We also set out another dead bonito down about 150 feet down connected to a balloon as a bobber and last but not least, one more dead bonito set down on the bottom.
Shortly after setting out all the baits we had a bite on one of our live baits and it turned out to be a little dolphin fish. But lucky for the fish but not so lucky for us he managed to spit the hook right behind the boat. (RATS) But within 1 min we had another dolphin eating one of the other live bait and once again we were Hooked Up. This time the fish was not so lucky and we managed to get this one in the box.
Ok so now the score was even one 2 one. All of a sudden Captain J.J. noticed that our deep rod with the dead bait on the bottom was slack and we knew that we had a 5 pound weight at the other end. At first J.J. thought that maybe the boat had drifted in a little shallower and it was resting on the bottom. But after taking a quick look at our depth finder I assured him that was not the case. So it had to be that something had eaten our bait and was swimming up with it so I went ahead with the boat and sure enough line started screaming off the reel. (We Were Hooked Up) but what could it be.
Well it was going to be a while because this thing was just pelling line off the reel at will. After about 40 min J.J. said he could see something shinning down deep but we still had no idea what it was. Than all of a sudden this mako shark jetted across the water behind the boat and everything changed. Ok now we knew what we had on but we had no idea how well he was hooked and we also seen that he was all wrapped up in the leader. Every time Dan reeled his mako close enough for J.J. to grab the leader he would take off again. Finally after about the 4th time of grabbing the leader it seemed he was ready and J.J. reached out and got a big gaff into the mako and I ran down and got another gaff into him. We slid him in the boat and we were heroes for the day.
After some high fiving and a few handshakes we set our bait back out there only this time we were in 200 feet of water. It took a good 45 min till our next bite but it was the one we were looking for. A sailfish was dancing all over the surface and once again we were hooked up. But I am sorry to say that after a few jumps he managed to spit the hook.
Well sorry to say that we were out of time and we had our afternoon charter at the dock waiting for us.
Dan I would like to say NICE JOB on your fish.
As we pulled back to the dock we had Ryan Country Boy Wagner, Brandon, john and Jarred all from Lexington, Kentucky eager to try their luck at some deep sea fishing.
As you can imagine we went right back to the same bat channel and the same bat station and it turned out to be the right move.
Once again it was our bottom bait that got hit and once again line was peeling off the reel. This time it turned out to be a big sand bar shark. A sand bar shark had a mouth just like a bull shark and it also has the same attitude. Talk about one mean bad ass shark. The only thing we had going for us was that the fight lasted so long that both our angler and our catch were beat. We opened our tuna door and just slid him right in on the deck. We got a few pictures and a quick measurement to have a replica trophy made of him, and then we intended to just slide him right back out the door.
This was a great plan and everything was going well right up until one of the rocket scientists (I don't recall which one it was) wanted to just touch his tail.
Here's a little advice from the crew aboard the Hooked Up: if you've got a big shark calmly resting on your deck don't touch his tail. He went nuts and made a complete mess of the boat. We did manage to grab him right at the eye socket and pointed him toward the open door. We squirted the fresh water hose at him and he just swam out the door and was in great shape because he disappeared like a bullet.
Thanks again to all of our anglers today. Today was the kind of day that reminds me why I love fishing for a living.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
March 19
Today we had Rudi and his close friend and their kids out for a morning of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up. Today just catching and keeping the kids into it was what we were after and man did it ever turn out to be a fun morning of fishing. Everyone ended up catching fish. We trolled the reef and ended up catching a box full of bonitos a black fin tuna a one dolphin fish.
Thanks again guys had a ball and we're looking forward to fishing again soon.
CAPTAIN Taco (954) 764-4344
