A gorgeous sunny day here in South Florida Ft. Lauderdale. The wind was out of the east 3-6 mph, making for calm waters.

Tom Coyne, Sr., his son, Tom, Jr., and a guest, Fred, all from the west coast of South Florida decided to go on a 6 hour deep sea fishing charter here in Ft. Lauderdale. We started off getting a dozen baits and the plan was to go fly the kites for Sailfish, that being our main target. Looking at the wind, hoping it would increase in speed to fly the kites. Even with a 20 lb test kite line and an extra light wind kite, there still was not enough wind to fly the kite, so I decided to do the “old school” style Sailfishing. Back in the early 70’s, before the notoriety of kite fishing was established, our live baiting was done from the riggers with dredges for teasers. With no current and no wind, this was the only other productive way to hook up Sailfish. The spread was four Goggle Eyes, two of them very close to the dredge teasers, the other two were 50 feet behind them.

Working the wrecks again with no current, the wrecks will hold the bait fish and in return the pelagic fish will be there feeding. All of a sudden a Sailfish appears on the right dredge - his dorsal out of the water, checking out the dredge of Ballyhoo. With a blink of an eye, the right short rigger comes out, screaming off line as we were hooked up with the Sailfish. Being an experienced angler, Fred decided to fight his fish standing up. Suddenly, the left short rigger was down - it is a double header Sailfish!! Tom Jr. was hooked up on his first Sailfish. Both fish putting on a spectacular show, seeing the fish coming out of the water with the sun gleaming down on their neon bodies made for great picture taking. Fred was still fighting his fish. I looked down at Tom Jr. and his line went slack. Mitch, the mate, told Tom Jr. to wind faster, but it was too late, the fish spit the hook. “That’s all right, Tom - that always happens on your first Sailfish - the next one you will get.” I said. At that, Tom Sr. said the next fish was his. Fred brings his hooked up fish to the boat and pictures are flying. “Release the fish quickly”, I told Mitch - “let’s get back on the wreck and catch some more Sailfish.”


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Top Shot sportfishing, Fishing report 1-6 Ft Lauderdale-1.jpg
It is just a normal day here in sunny South Florida off of Ft. Lauderdale. Winds out of the east 7-12 mph, blue skies, temperature in the mid 70's, and it looks like a great day for deep sea fishing. Mr. Don Grove and son, Jack, from Texas chartered the Happy Day Today to start off the New Year with a deep sea fishing excursion in South Florida off of Ft. Lauderale.

Usually at this time of year, the large King Fish move into our area. The preferred method for catching a large King Fish, which are also called anacondas (an average King Fish is called a snake), is using live bait (Blue Runners, Goggle Eyes, Bonitas, Mullets, etc.) either from kites or from outriggers and using a stinger rig (a trailing hook) on the bait. King Fish are noted for chopping the baits in half and just leaving the head of the bait. Having the tailing hook increases your hook up ratio.

We started off by doing some trolling in 110-180 ft. off of South Florida's sea buoy in Ft. Lauderdale, using two deep rods with plainers, one with a 3 1/2 drom blue reflector spoon and the other with a pink sea witch with a Bonita strip, and Ballyhoos for surface baits. Catching the "snakes" average from 5-15 lbs. was fun for Jack to catch I told Mitch, our mate, "let's set up for some live baiting to catch a large Anaconda." After about 35 minutes of live baiting from the riggers, a missile shot out of the water on the long right outrigger. This large King Fish exited the water to a height of 15 ft. At that point the line screamed off the Shimano TLD25 reel. At first we thought it wasn't a King Fish, the way the fish was fighting was not normal - he stayed on the surface and acted just like a Sailfish would. Twenty minutes into the hook up, the fish was coming closer to the boat - I could see his colors flashing at a depth of 20 ft. down. I told Mitch, "It looks to me as if he is hooked in the side - be gentle wiring the fish in." As the Fish got closer to the boat, I could see that it was an Anaconda, which explained why the fish acted differently. After Mitch gaffed the fish and its razor teeth were exposed, Jack knew enough to stand back. Mitch smiled up at me and said, "The only hook in the fish is the trailing hook - that saved the day." It does not make any difference where you hook the fish as long as he is in the boat.

We headed back from our 4 hour deep sea fishing charter trip to the dock at Bahia Mar, in South Florida, Fort Lauderdale. This ends another successful and adventurous fishing excursion on the Happy Day Today with Captain Zsak.

Join us and enjoy a once-in-a-life-time experience – 954-439-8106 – www.topshotfishing.com

Top Shot Sport Fishing
Capt. Zsak
Fort Lauderdale
954-439-8106
dzsak@bbftlaud.com
http://www.topshotfishing.com