The month of October brought several different varieties of fish into the Ft. Lauderdale area. On the morning of the 4th we fished with Russ, Shaun and Eric from Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia and everyone got into the action by catching several kingfish and then a really nice bull dolphin fish while we were trolling down the reef and then we switched to live bait in the kites and dead bait on the bottom and hooked into a giant amberjack. Our afternoon charter was with Gary from Cincinnati Ohio; we decided to do something different so we headed offshore to see what we could find. It took a little while but the time paid off and Gary brought in some dolphin fish and then a monster barracuda.
Finally the high winds and seas have gone and the Hooked Up crew is fishing again. We had 2 charters on the 6th; we started the morning fishing with Jim, Charlie and Chris from Texas and the fish were biting on the troll. These guys all got into the action landing bonito's, 6 kingfish, 3 barracudas and a jack, not a bad morning of fishing. Our afternoon charter was with Socks and Parksy and they wanted to go after something big so we set the live baits on top with the kites and dropped the dead baits on the bottom and set in for the wait. It didn't take to long before we got a bite and the guys did a catch and release of a blacktip shark and then to top that they also did a catch and release of a really nice sailfish! Way to Go! On the 8th the Hooked Up was joined by KC, Evan, and Brandon from NH. The seas were a little rough but these guys hung tough. Since it was rough we stayed close and trolled the reef and these guys brought in a couple of dolphin fish, 2 skipjacks and a barracuda and then we had a first for me, we caught a spinner shark while trolling, you just never know. On the 10th, Andrea from MA fished with the Hooked Up team. We started the day out trolling offshore for dolphin and were successful, Andrea brought in 3 nice sized ones. After discussing some options with Andrea we decided to head back closer to shore and try for a sailfish, Andrea had never caught one and wanted to give it a try. We set up with the live bait in the kites and it wasn't to long before we got the bite and Andrea was in the chair fighting a nice sailfish. The fight went on for quite a while but in the end the sailfish won, getting free right at the last. Good fishing Andrea, you will get him next trip.
On the 11th we were joined by Ryan, Matt and Han's all from California and all top sales men for Best Buy, these guys won a trip to Florida and a trip on a cruse ship. Nice Guys!! They decided to do some sportfishing while they were here and had their minds set on going off shore and trying to catch some dolphin so they could have a fish fry for dinner. So off we went further and further off shore. We did manage to catch a few nice dolphin but we never did find the mother load we were looking for. As the day went on I looked down at my GPS and I noticed that we had trolled all the way out to where we go at night when we go when we are sword fishing. I had heard that some guys were trying to catch sword fish in the day time and we had a couple of big frozen squid aboard so we all talked about trying this. Well this was going to be strictly experimental this was not something we were used to doing and the bottom of the ocean was just over 1,800 feet down. So we figured out a plan and this would definitely be a team effort. We figured that it would take forever to reel this back up. It took us over 10 min to get our bait to the bottom we did not want to drop it to fast worried that our bait would get all tangled up. It also took a little tricky boat handling because we had about 3 knots of current to the north at the same time we had about a 10 miles an hour wind out of the southeast. After a few min of motoring the boat around I found the right way to hold the boat to keep our line straight up and down. After I master the art of holding the boat in these conditions I decided to pop up a kite with a couple of live baits to one side and a another live bait straight out the back of the boat. Things were looking pretty good and we figured we had a good shot at catching some dolphin with these perfect live baits way out here. Well we had been fishing with all these baits out for about 20 min when Glen (the mate) noticed that our deep line had gone slack. At this point I was not sure if the weight had just laid on the bottom or if we actually had one on that was swimming up. So we decided to treat it as though it was a fish. So I told glen to start reeling as fast as he could and as soon as his arm was starting to let up the next gut was to start reeling and the same went for and so on. Well about 10 min into this reeling like crazy they thought that they could feel some weight but we still were not sure whether or not we were connected, After 10 more min of what we thought was the weight the line started screaming off the reel and now there was no doubt we did it we were connected and we felt pretty confident that this was the fish we were after.
Well you can image how excited we were and everyone started high fiving but this was no time to be celebrating we still had not seen what was one the other end of the line and we dam sure had not caught it yet. Well by now the guys were getting pretty tired and I just kept yelling down come on guys just a little bit more after about 15 min of this they were all looking at me like I was the enemy but they all knew that they had to keep going. FINALLY we got the lead up to the rod tip and glen quickly removed the lead. But it was not over yet we had to use a leader 120 feet long in order to drop the bait so far down and to not tangle it up. As soon as Glen got the leader in his hand the fish popped up and HOLLY COW there it was, a monster sword fish. I could see right away that the fish was hooked in the side of his body, not in the mouth, and that quick the hooked pulled out of the fish, DAM. The fish did stay on the surface for a few seconds and we got to get a good look at her and we estimated the fish between 200 and 300 hundred pounds. Well I know that this story seems to have a sad ending but you know all in all we were still thrilled we had tried something we'd never done before and it worked. You be sure that in the up coming blogs you will be getting another story similar to this one with a little different ending. To Matt, Ryan, Han's and Glen thanks for being a part of a fishing trip I will never forget. The afternoon of the 20th Matt, Terry, Adam and Jeff from Boston joined the Hooked Up crew and although fishing was slow then caught several kingfish while we were trolling and an amberjack when we did a live bait drop on one of the deep wrecks. After being in the boat yard from the 15th-19th getting some new equipment and a new paint job the Hooked Up was ready to fish again and we were joined by Andrew, Dale and Matt from Wisconsin. We had a successful first day back with these guys bringing in 7 kingfish and a few dolphins. It's great to be back in the water and fishing again. The Hooked Up crew fished with Rob, Erin, Jim and Heba from Ohio on the 22nd and let me tell you fishing was tough but this group hung in there and we did end up finding them a dolphin fish, and we are proud to have found that one! Sorry fishing was so slow today gang. On the 23rd the Hooked Up had an all day charter with Dan and Phil from West Virginia, Scott from Washington DC, John from Maryland, and Carlos and Stewart from North Carolina and unfortunately the fishing was still really slow. We started the trip out trolling and didn't snag anything but a few small kings so then we tried another tactic. We put live bait on the top with the kites and dead on the bottom and let me tell you it took forever but the gang saved the day when they caught a nice sailfish! On the 24th the Hooked Up was joined by the father and son team of J.J. and Sterling from New Orleans, Louisiana.
These 2 were a lot of fun to have on board and although the fishing was still slow we did find some dolphin and they each got to bring in one. Thanks for the trip guys and sorry fishing is so slow right now. The Hooked Up crew fished with Curtis and Silvia from Lakeland, Florida on the 26th. These 2 were interested in catching something big so we put some live bait on top of the water with the kites and dropped some dead bait on the bait and set in for the bite. Well, it took awhile but it finally came and they caught a really nice sailfish! The morning of the 27th Turo, Ari, Ville and Levanen from Finland fished with the Hooked Up team and had a really unique trip. We started out trolling and they caught a few dolphin fish then we had a first; we got hit on the high line and to everyone's surprise it was a swordfish! We could not believe it, awesome catch guys! A nice way to close out the month.
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