March 11, 2009
FISHING GONE WILD
That's right fishing gone wild. Sometimes being a charter boat Captain in Fort Lauderdale can be a tough job. Last week I got a call from a Monica and she told me that she had 11 friends down to visit her here in Fort Lauderdale and that they were looking to do a little deep sea fishing. Well I had no idea that what she meant was that she had 11 of her friends down for spring break.
We can only carry up to 6 passengers max per boat so we had to use the Hooked Up and the Local Knowledge.
I did not get the names of the 4 girls and the 2 guys on the Local knowledge but I did get the names of the 6 girls that were with us on the Hooked Up. We had Monica from South Florida, Emily from Colorado, and Kara, Mackenzie, Nancy, Christina all from Michigan.
We started out our trip by backing up to a ship that was anchored up in about 140 feet of water and threw a chum bag out over the side to see if we could get some bait fish to come up behind the boat. And man did they ever come up. We had so many blue runners and Speedos up that every time one of the girls would put a little piece of bait over the side the little bait fish would be hooked in less than a second. And then the screaming started every time they hooked into one I had to cover my ears because of all the screaming. After about 20 minutes of this not only did we have more than enough bait fish I had had enough of laughing so hard my stomach could not take it anymore. I made sure to give Captain Andy on the other boat a call so he could come over get into all the fish also.
Once we were done with the bait fishing we went over to a deep ship wreck and dropped one of these live baits down about 310 feet to the bottom. Once we got our bait down their it did not take long from there. Captain Jay Jay yelled at me to go ahead with the boat and we were Hooked Up. Christina jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took her about 10 minutes to finally reel in her fish. A nice almako jack and then the screaming started again. (Holy cow the lungs on these girls)
We got a few quick pictures and let everyone touch the fish and watched him swam back to the bottom in good shape.
Then we went another ship wreck and dropped down live bait and once again we were Hooked Up. (And the screaming started again) This time Monica (AKA the Polish Girl) jumped in the chair and the fight and the screaming was on. This fish was quite a bit bigger and took a lot longer to get to the boat. But like a true polish girl Monica hung in there and at last she got him to the boat. This was a big golden amber jack about a 30 pounder. Way to go Monica
At this point I noticed that Nancy who had been talking, screaming and singing a lot was not talking so much anymore. She was not even drinking any more so I figured she was a little sea sick. I kind of knew that the fishing was not the most important thing on this trip these girls just wanted to have fun. So I decided to do some trolling this way the boat would be moving and I figured Nancy (AKA Blondie) would feel better. We found ourselves trolling right next to the Local knowledge and they were all yelling and screaming back and forth between the boats.
Everyone was having a ball just drinking and laughing and no one was paying attention to the fishing rods except for Jay Jay. I looked down at him and noticed he was reeling one of the rods in. So I asked him what he was up to and he replied that he had a fish on. I yelled at the girls on the bow of the boat and asked who wants to reel in a fish. Well at this point Blondie was feeling a lot better and she jumped at the chance to reel one in. When she finally got her fish to the boat we could not believe it. A nice Wahoo. Nice going Blondie.
I'm sorry to say that I did not get any good pictures of the fish but I got some great shots of the (FISHING GONE WILD) for a better look at everyone having a ball go to photo gallery #6
Monica thanks again and looking forward to fishing with you again next month.
All you Spring Breakers come on down to Sunny Fort Lauderdale and let's get you Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954)764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
March 12
Today we started out fishing with Ed, Keith, Jenny and Katy all from Ohio. We started out dropping some live bait on some deep wrecks between 125 feet deep all the way to 310 feet deep. We had hit four different wrecks with no hits at all. We were just about to try some trolling when Captain Jay Jay suggested hitting one more wreck and thank god he did. We not only got Hooked Up but this thing was peeling line off the reel as if it was never going to stop.
We managed to drag the fish far enough from the wreck that he would not get us back into it and now we felt as though we had a chance at catching this thing. The problem was that we had changed our leader from a heavy monofilament leader to a light wire leader thinking we might catch a barracuda.
Either way Ed was going to fight this fish till the end no matter what it took. And he did a great job. We got his fish to the boat and it turned out to be a greater golden amber jack.
We may not have caught a lot but we did catch a nice one. Thanks again Ed and we are looking forward to fishing with you again tomorrow.
Captain Taco (954)764-4344
March 13
It is Friday the 13 and we are hoping for a lucky day of fishing. We had Ron, Brianna, and Irene from Indiana and Ed from Ohio. We were going right after big fish. Today was big or bust. We went out to 350 feet of water set out both of our kites with three live baits suspended from them and one big dead bait. We also set big dead bait about 150 feet down and a last one on the bottom. Now the trap was set and the wait began. It was kind of funny usually when we go for big or nothing we feel a lot of pressure we put on ourselves but this trip was a little different everyone knew what we were trying for and we all agreed to hang in there and hope for the lucky Friday the 13 to pay off for us.
All of a sudden out deep rod bent over and line was peeling off the reel. WE WERE HOOKED UP and this was a nice one. It was Ron's turn and he waited no time jumping in the chair. We had to clear some of the other lines because this fish was all over the place. It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 30 minutes and at last Ron got his Hammer Head Shark to the boat. We managed to get all the hooks out of the sharks mouth got a few quick pictures and a quick measurement to have a replica trophy made of Ron's fish and watched him swam away in great shape to fight another day.
Way to go guys and thanks again for a fun morning of fishing.
Sharks are here so give us a call and let's get you HOOKED UP
Captain Taco (954)764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
March 16
Today is kind of a special day on the Hooked Up. We've got our regular customer/friend George Lambert with his niece G and nephew Luke down from Milton MASS for a couple of days of deep sea fishing. George had some friends down fishing on one of the other charter boats and they had a little friendly competition on who would catch a shark first.
So we went out to 350 feet of water and set out our kites with 3 live baits suspended from them along with one big dead bait for shark. We also set one big dead bait down about 150 feet down along with one more big dead bait on the bottom.
The trap was set and the wait had begun. Conditions seemed perfect. We had clean blue water and just enough north current to get the scent of the dead baits out. We waited and waited and waited we just could not figure out why we had not had a bite the only thing we had going for us was that the other boat had not had a bite either.
Than we got lucky and caught a nice dolphin fish out of the kite and I had also heard that the other boat had lost all their shark baits to little fish pecking at them and they were now trying to catch more shark baits.
So we had a fish in the box and our competition was losing time trying to catch bait so moral was high and sometimes I really believe that moral can make all the difference.
Call it luck or whatever you like but all of a sudden out deep rod bent in half and line was peeling off the reel. (WE WERE HOOKED UP) G waited no time jumping in the chair and the fight was on.
I guess you would have to know G to know how tough of a lady she really is. HOWEVER about 20 minutes of this back and forth tug a war she got a little much needed help from her brother Luke and 20 minutes later they he was a big golden hammer head shark.
Usually we don't bring big game fish into the boat unless we are getting a measurement for a replica mount. This was the exception to the rule. We needed some good photos for the other guys on the other boat to see.
I was not out with everyone from both boats having drinks that night but I heard that G was letting all the guys have it about her catch and them not catching anything big.
I knew that we still had one more day of this little completion and that they would be out to get even so we were going to have to produce something nice.
The next day we set out with the same anglers with one extra joining our team we had Frankie also from MASS decided to jump ship mid way through the competition. Today we were going for it all or nothing.
We decided to troll our way out about 15 miles to where the bottom goes down to about 1850 feet down. Once we got there we brought in all of our trolling gear and set out our sword fish rod. We hooked a big squid on the end of the leader and down she went. We had done 3 drops with no luck and at last we got a hit. But that was it something had wacked our squid 3 times and then it just stopped.
While we never did get that sword fish we were looking for we caught a couple of black fin tunas and one hell of a great time trying. We knew that the other boat had spent their day trying to catch a shark and we figured we had gotten beaten today but much to our surprise they had also struck out.
We were going to give it another shot the following day but the weather took a turn for the worst and did not make it out the next day and we knew that George, Luke and G were heading back home.
However the day after that the team we had been fishing against decided to try their luck with us.
To read about that trip read out BLOGS on the 19th of March also for a better look at G, s shark go to photo gallery #6
We are having a ball fishing down here in Sunny South Florida so give us a call and let's get you Hooked Up
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
March 19
Today we had an interesting trip we took out deep sea fishing. We had Lou, Dave, Keith and Brain all from Lexington Mass. The funny part about this fishing trip is these are the guys we have been fishing against in our little mini fishing tournament. For two days now these guys have been trying to beat us against the hammer head shark that G had caught and was raging them about.
So off we went to 350 feet of water set out both of our kites with 3 live baits suspended from them and one dead bait also suspended from the kites. We also set one down about 150 feet down and last but not least one big dead bait on the bottom.
Now the trap was set and all that was left to do was wait for the bite. And these guys were good at that they have been waiting for two 8 hour trips without catching a shark. (LOL)
This time they did not have to wait long it only took about 20 minutes and our deep rod with the bait on the bottom bent over and we were Hooked Up. Lou jumped in the chair and the fight was on. This fish had no intentions of getting caught. It pulled off so much line that we were hoping that Lou would hang in there. It was a big back and forth tug a war for over 45 minutes but we were getting close and we were just dying to see what kind of sea monster was on the other end of the line. As we got closer and closer to the fish we could see him down there but we could not figure out what the heck we had on.
Finally the shark popped up and we got a good look at him but we still were not sure what kind of shark it was. After we got some great pictures of the shark I ran down to give Captain Jay Jay a hand to try to get the hooks out of the shark. However this fish was full of piss and vinegar and was thrashing all over the place. So we did manage to get 2 out of the 3 hooks out of him he got to keep one as a souvenir.
After looking at the shark real good and talking to some of the other Captains we decided it was an Atlantic Sharp Nose. This was the first one of these I've ever caught and I can tell you this was one mean shark.
Ok mission accomplished so we were off to try to catch everyone else a fish or two. So we brought in our kites and set out our planners and some top baits a trolled the reef. We caught a few kingfish trolling and a couple of black fin tunas for their dinner.
For a better look at these shark photos go to Photo Gallery #6
Lou and the rest of the gang thanks so much it was a blast and I am looking forward to our next fishing trip.
All different kinds of sharks are showing up and some sail fish and dolphin fish too. So give us a call and let's do some deep sea fishing off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344