Dr. R.J. Woods, wife, Martha, and nine year old son, John from Minnesota came to a spring vacation in sunny Fort Lauderdale FL. They chartered the Happy Day Today along with the Topshotfishing team to do some deep sea fishing off of Fort Lauderdale FL.
Our request from John was to catch a big fish. We stopped to purchase a dozen Goggle Eyes from T&T Bait in Port Everglades Fort Lauderdale, which would be used later in the charter. We started off trolling with two plainers down and four surface baits on the edge of the drop off which is 1.8 miles from shore in 120 ft. of water. Ten minutes into trolling I found a color change from a clean green, to a marble light blue to an indigo blue. This was a floating sign saying, "Fish Here". We put up two kites with two Goggle Eyes on each kite, one Goggle Eye from the rigger with a spin on lead.
Sailfish right long!!!! Dorsal out of the water and being very aggressive – he swallowed the live bait. The Sailfish immediately came out of the water, tail walking towards the boat – I had to respond by going ahead with the boat so he would not hit us. Two other lines got tangled with the Sailfish fishing line, so Jackson, our mate, had to move fast and got everything free within seconds. Nine year old John was the angler, and reminded me of my son's, David, first Sailfish at the age of seven. This little guy fought the fish like a true angler – thirty-five minutes later, Sailfish at the boat, pictures taken, and Sailfish released. Martha, his mom, said she would love to catch a Sailfish too, so back I went to the same exact area. By this time the water condition had changed – there was just a slight blend. We did the same set up and soon the Sailfish made his arrival. Left short – a black shadow appeared underneath the live Goggle Eye. This Sailfish needed a little coaching in eating the bait. Finally he grabbed the bait and off he went. Another spectacular show was put on by this pelagic Sailfish. Martha fought the fish, with John asking if his mom needed any help. The fish was brought to the side of the boat, pictures were taken and Sailfish set free to fight again.
This ends another successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter on the Happy Day Today with the Topshotfishing team and Captain Zsak out of Fort Lauderdale FL - 954-309-7457 – www.topshotfishing.com
