Ft.Lauderdale coastal fishing report

[Hannaman]

The month of June kept the morning waters as calm as it could ever be. The early start has been the way to get the best bites. We usually start between 6:30 or 7:00 am the latest if your serious about getting on a good amount of fish. The storms futunately come around like clockwork. By 3pm they start rolling in from the southwest. I find it quite tranquil to watch as long as I'm back at the docks. My wife and I went to North Carolina last week and they have the same weather paterns with beautiful skies all day and rain all night.

For June our main fish were Kingfish and Bonito in the 10-15 pound class. If your a skilled angler I can put you over some shipwrecks while you drop down a live bait, I need to be at the helm keeping the boat on top of the wreck. We have been successful with some Groupers and Amberjacks and a few large fish that rocked us up. As soon as you feel the slightest pull you have to start cranking the reel to get them off the bottom. If your not fast they find a hole to get into and you will never get them out.

Yellowtails and Muttons are biting well in the early mornings. We need to anchor up and chum and they will come. They are great to fight on light tackle and are some of the best eating.

Swordfishing has been alot of fun. Most nights we are getting a later start due to the storms, but as soon as they pass we can make the run out. We didn't catch any record fish but we still had a great time while we were out. The Darkside of the Moon Swordfish tournament was June 25th. I was on vacation and sorry I didn't get to fish it. A nice fish was weighed in at 209 pounds and a few others up to 137 pounds.

Lets see what July has in store for us. When the bait shows up in good numbers so will the good fish. The last report I read the bait was holding to our north. We should see them making there way south very soon. Last July on our boat we were catching a fish with every bait in the well and running out of bait well before the trip was over. Read my archived report from last summer... http://cyberangler.com/reports/fl/hanna/ August 9, 2004.

Last July was also when a record Swordfish was caught out of Ft. Lauderdale weighing 422 pounds out of a center console with only 2 guys. I hope we can beat that record this summer. With some strategic planning and good rigging we can make it happen.

Till next tide,
Captain Cary Hanna
www.newlattitude.com