January 2012 Fort Lauderdale Deep Sea Fishing
Charter Captains Blog
1-30-12 Ft.
Lauderdale fishing
charters / Sailfish
1-28-12 Fort Lauderdale Charter
Fishing/Sailfish
1-21-12
Ft. Lauderdale Fishing Trips /
Texans
1-18-12 Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing/
Sailfish are Snapping
1-13-12 Ft. Lauderdale Fishing Charter /
Mahi-Mahi
1-9-12 Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing report /
Wahoo
1-8-12 Fort Lauderdale Fishing Charters
1-7-12 Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Cruise
Ship Options
1-4-12 Ft Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Sailfish
1-3-12 Ft.
Lauderdale Fishing Charters / Bottom time
1-1-12
Fort
Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Fishing the Holidays
Jan 30
Ft.
Lauderdale fishing
charters / Sailfish
Our
Ft.
Lauderdale fishing
charters ( as expected for this time of year) are once again tending to
focus a little more on Sailfish. There are some Kingfish around with an
occasional larger one, but most still remain small. Several Wahoo have
hit the fish box with the largest around 20 pounds. We did try the Grey
Tiles again yesterday and they bit very well, but again smaller fish.
They are absolutely fantastic eating. Mahi-Mahi have been virtually non
existent. But Sailfishing is again on the upswing and the fish are big.
Pictured are Warren
(birthday), Chad,
and Greg with a couple of Sailfish flags. These two fish were released
at boatside without taking them out of the water. The interesting part
of this trip was we had three Sailfish bites and two of the three were
on live baits (Goggle Eyes) fished out of the outriggers while we had a
full spread of Goggle Eyes hanging from the kites. We catch a good
number of fish out of our riggers when kite fishing, but seldom do the
riggers out fish the Kites. Today they did.
Often
it is as simple as the rigger bait being in front of a passing Sail, as
we try to fish our rigger baits off to the side and away from the kite
baits to get a bite from a fish that might slip by otherwise. Our rigger
baits were very deep in the water column on this trip due to a very slow
north current, and we felt the fish were holding deeper than usual due
to cloudy water and that slower current. Kite baits when presented
properly are forced to struggle on the surface. That struggling bait
calls Sailfish in and up from a ways off as many of you know. For
whatever reason we got both the fish that ate those deeper rigger baits,
both big fat fish, and jumped off the smaller Sailfish of the trip on
the right short kite bait. Light tackle Sailfishing is fun and often
spectacular. They’re not the state fish by accident. With the
approaching cooler weather and NE winds in the forecast we will
certainly be leaning a little more towards these Sails as a go to fish
on our Ft. Lauderdale
fishing charters. 90 to 110
feet of water was the depth on this action, just a mile off the beach.
We’ll be hunting those Wahoo as well.
Jan 28 Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing/Sailfish
This year so far fishing for Sailfish off Fort
Lauderdale has not been normal for the charter boats or any others. Have
you noticed the mild winter so far? Even folks from the mid-west to
north-east have mentioned that it hasn’t been a bad winter and that
means little cool air has made it to south Florida and the Fort
Lauderdale area. And without that blast of cool air there has been
little reason for the Sailfish and others to move south. But we all know
Old Man Winter won’t let this continue all season and when those cold
winds blow the fish that are north of our location will be on their way.
J
Today we had two young heart surgeons from the
Detroit area. Will and Ben down for a continuing education seminar
decided to take one day and spend it aboard the Marlin My Darlin. With
it being late January, we should be almost done with that Sailfish push
but they haven’t arrived in numbers yet. And these boys were ready to
try for big fish, as most our customers are.
With a high speed lure out we were on our way to
try and catch bait when the rod sang out and we had our first fish of
the day on. Many fish have the ability to strike a bait being drug at 10
knots (12 mph) but usually it’s Wahoo that hit and this was no
exception. The fishing took quite a bit of line but Ben managed
beautifully and we landed a nice 18 lb. Wahoo. We really hadn’t started
fishing yet and already had one in the box. Cool…
We finally caught some bullet Bonitos and began
live baiting right away. A Kingfish cut one bait in half and was missed.
My high line bait was replaced and reset and shortly thereafter, another
strike, this time a Sailfish had chosen to eat. Will was up and in the
seat as we cleared lines and got to work. 86” once he was landed on
light tackle, his picture was taken as seen here and the fish was
released back to the sea.
This should be a normal occurrence each day this
time of year but it has been the exception lately rather than the rule.
We did raise two more Sails this trip, one broke the leader (we do use
light stuff to get the bite), the other simply jumped off after being
hooked for just a few minutes to Ben’s disappointment. They do that
sometimes, it keeps things fair.
J
We’re still expecting that big push of fish through
our area. And when it comes, it will be like removing a cork and
allowing things to flow south. Charter fishing will improve for Sailfish
in Fort Lauderdale shortly. February should be great!
Capt. Steve Souther
Fort
Lauderdale
Off Shore Fishing
www.all-inclusivesportfishing.com
(954) 761-8202
Jan 21 Ft. Lauderdale Fishing
Trips / Texans
We seem to get a good number of Texans on our Ft.
Lauderdale
fishing trips aboard Marlin My Darlin. We had the pleasure of fishing
with Brian, Rick, and their sons Trevor and Anthony last Tuesday. We had
a beautiful day with pleasant sea conditions and plenty of sun.
Good
clean water and a slight north current on the edge had us expecting a
lot of action, but it wasn’t to be as we struggled for most of the
morning along with the rest of the fleet to find some fish. Any fish.
Slim picking throughout the trip until close to the end. That’s Trevor
and Anthony with 1st mate Chris holding a beautiful Sailfish
that made it a morning to remember for the Texans by eating a frisky
live bait and putting up quite a struggle. We released him back into the
ocean as previously agreed and watched him swim away after a quick
measurement and a round of pictures.
Jan 18 Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Sailfish are
Snapping
Charter fishing off Fort Lauderdale this time of
year for Sailfish is not quite like the types of fishing and action we
have during the spring and summer months. Not that the action can’t be
rapid, it just usually isn’t. Normally there is a wait, sometimes for
quite a bit for that bite to come. But when it comes, boy do things
light up!
Our past week or so has been much like this. While
the number of fish we catch each trip is reduced from other times of the
year, the size and quality of that bite means spending a bit more time
in the chair fighting a BIG fish, like the Sailfish that are biting
right now.
J
We’ve been busy and my blogs have been slow in
coming. I apologize for that.
This week we had John and his 9 year old son
William aboard. They have a family tradition that at age 9, each child
gets a solo trip to what they would like to do, a sort of bucket list
for 9 year olds. William wanted to go fishing and for the first time in
his life, he held a rod and caught a few fish. Apparently, they repeat
this at age 15. William said he’d be back.
J
But most our trips have been had with the kites up
in search of Sailfish. This time of year, these fish travel through our
area heading south. Their movement is rapid and in order to get the
bite, you sometimes have to almost hit them in the head with a bait to
get them to notice. We had this just the other day, watching 2 fish swim
right by the boat completely oblivious to the buffet we had waiting for
them.
While fishing for Sails can seem boring as you wait
for the bite, all that goes away once the fish is on. In one instance,
we had Chad and his wife Rachael aboard on a company outing. One Sail
was caught and released and Chad was not the angler. So intent and
amazed at what he saw, he rebooked us the next day on a private charter
to target Sailfish and wouldn’t you know it? The first fish we see? It
was a shark. LOL
But this shark turned out to be a blessing in
disguise for traveling either with him or close by, were a few Sailfish.
We watched as the shark came in on a long bait. He
appeared to eat it, we saw the line jerking and fed him only a short
time. But there was what looked like a Sailfish there too. The line
began to run out, we pulled ahead to set the hook and almost instantly,
our line was slack with nothing. We assumed we had been cut off by the
shark’s teeth but had no time to investigate; a Sail had appeared at the
short bait and was eating.
We fed the fish as he continued running south
toward the boat and was almost even with us when we set the hook. As we
cleared the other lines, Chad found he had hooked the fish from hell. We
were down to 1/3 spool of line left by the time we could offer to help
him by moving the boat.
This fish seemed to have unlimited energy but Chad
followed directions well and soon needed no coaching. It took almost 40
minutes to land this fish for measurement and pictures. It then took us
another 10 to revive him to release him back into the sea.
Many of our trips lately have had this one or two
fish ending. Lots of first timers with a big fish on the line. Some had
an easy time of it like the fish Chad saw caught the day before. Others
were not so lucky as the battle seemed to be endless.
What will your battle be like charter fishing off
Fort Lauderdale for Sailfish?
Capt. Steve Souther
Fort
Lauderdale
Off Shore Fishing
www.all-inclusivesportfishing.com
(954) 761-8202
Jan 13 Ft. Lauderdale Fishing Charter / Mahi-Mahi
We headed offshore this morning with Chris, Eric
and Charlie. All were in town for Chris’s sons marriage. That is set for
tomorrow, so Chris had today set aside for a
Ft.
Lauderdale fishing
charter. We had a good ½ day trip today. Chris actually had reserved
three boats for the morning trip and a small wager was in place for the
best catch between the three sets of fishermen. On our way to the edge I
spoke with two Captains that had gotten off the dock earlier. Capt. Kent said he had been fishing the
inside reefs for over an hour without a single bite and Capt. Wally had
had only one bite fishing a wreck just above our inlet so that scratched
that option. I spoke to Chris (1st Mate) and we agreed to
look a little deeper. Blackfin Tuna have been in 200 to 300 feet so we
began hunting. No luck there. I could see a slight edge offshore to we
headed that way. I almost always try to fish into the current when
offshore as the current can run strong once you get out in the deeper
water because of the
Gulfstream’s
influence, and then you lose valuable time as you need to run home
because you ended up swept away and way up the line, instead of being
closer and probably being able to fish home. I began trolling south
(into the current) and shortly got jumped by some Mahi-Mahi. A fish near
the boat that wasn’t hooked took off to the south, which was up current.
It was logical to fish down current as we would intercept more fish as
they swam into the current and we could close the distance by fishing
down current. Hello big fuel bill for this trip (it’s just so cheap
nowdays), but it was the right thing to do. We ended the morning with
seven nice Mahi and a small Blackfin which was a really good catch today
as all charters struggled to find fish. Made a drop on two wrecks with
no bites. Zipped home at ten knots to cover the considerable ground
between where we were and the inlet due to fishing down the current with
the Wahoo spread out. No Wahoo for us or anybody else in the fleet
either. We will probably start out there tomorrow, as the reefs were
really quiet today.
Jan 9 Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing report / Wahoo
This morning we had a charter arranged by Greg and
Wendy Smith. With absolutely perfect Winter weather Capt. Kopper and 1st
mate Lawrence headed offshore with the Smiths aboard. By perfect weather
I mean blue skies, calm sea conditions, temperature close to 70 degrees,
with clear clean water and a slight current on the edge. We have been
catching Wahoo and Sailfish. Sailfish don’t really bite too well when we
have flat calm water (as a rule), and of course there are exceptions,
but today wasn’t one. But if you can locate an area where Wahoo are
holding they don’t typically mind the calm water at all and are quick to
take a bait.
Especially
when fished on a deep running line well below the surface. A short piece
of wire at the business end of a leader is a good addition when Wahoo
are in the area. That was the plan today and the end result was two
Wahoo for the Smiths. Two nice Blackfin Tina were also landed. A couple
of little fellows rounded out the morning’s catch (a Blackfin and a
Kingfish which was released). They can’t all be fatties. Pictured are
Greg and the ever smiling Lawrence with one of the Wahoo. If you like
Wahoo a Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing Charter over the next few days
should be in your cards. Good fishing for these fish right now.
Jan 8 Fort Lauderdale Fishing Charters
Our Fort Lauderdale Fishing Charter was a lot of
fun today. Grand Pop Richard and Grand Mom Lil purchased a fishing
charter as an Xmas gift for their son Frank, his wife Tina, and their
Grandson Josh. We had an absolutely beautiful day with one foot seas,
lots of sun and mild temperatures in the 70s. Postcard day for sure.
The day before there was a Sailfish bite for a short while and we
trolled a bit before we switched over to live baiting. We had caught a
few fish trolling but we missed the action on the Sails as they slowed
down and basically became invisible before we made the switch. Well we
started out trolling on this trip along the edges of the reef when the
cell phone rang and I was given a heads up that there were Sailfish 2
miles away and a couple had already been hooked.
Not
wanting to miss out again, we reeled up and moved up the line and into
the area holding the Sails and set out a spread of Goggle Eyes on the
kites. We got it right today ( with a little help from our friends and
AT&T ). Three Sails today on the Marlin My Darlin out of 5 bites in 140
feet of water. Often Sailfish on basically flat calm days can be
reserved and apprehensive when they bite and today was certainly that
type of day with the fish showing themselves in the spread, but slow to
take our baits, resulting in the pulled hooks on
two of the five fish. Richard and Lil’s son Frank had the biggest
one. Daughter in law Tina and Junior angler Josh had a Sail apiece as
well. All big fully grown fish. That is Josh hanging on for all he’s
worth with his Sail and 1st mate Chris for a quick picture
before release. No time to look up and smile on that fish. I took two
shots and this picture is as close as we came to capturing the look on
his face. Great kid and good people, and today I got it right.
Jan 7 Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Cruise Ship
Options
What would you do if you came to Fort Lauderdale to
board a cruise and had a day before the trip? Charter fishing might be
one option as it was for Tim, Paul, Brandon, Julie and Henry.
So we begin on a calm day with clear skies, you
know, Chamber of Commerce type stuff for Fort Lauderdale, trolling
around looking for a bite and where the fish might be when almost
immediately, one rod sings out.
There is nothing more exciting when charter fishing
than sitting and waiting and that first bite comes. While we initially
had no idea what it was that had struck, the way the line took off
certainly gave us a clue. Wahoo’s are notorious for this. Long initial
runs with plenty of speed. I honestly don’t remember who was in the
chair for this fish, I think it was Tim and as he battled our first fish
of the day, another strike came from a top bait. Chris grabbed the rod,
set the hook into the fish’s mouth and yelled “It’s HIM”! Even though
the fish had struck looking directly into the bright morning sun, Chris
had seen his sail, this Sailfish was taking line and fast. Paul jumped
in the chair as we got Tim’s Wahoo boated and cleared the lines so we
could go after this very hot fish.
At this point, I have to tell you just how helpless
you feel as you watch the line from the reel just disappear before your
eyes. The rod is bent, the line just keeps coming off and the size of
line left is reduced in a matter of seconds. Finally ready to chase this
fish down, you realize that all that line must be wound back onto the
spool and if you’re in the chair? It’s your job…
After about 10 minutes or so Paul was getting tired
and opted for his son Brandon to take over. The switch was made and new
fresh strength was on the rod now. You have to be careful at this point
not to pull too hard or the fish will escape. Brandon did an excellent
job of retrieving the rest of the line and after some jumps and a few
small runs, the fish was boat side for pictures and release. Nice job
boys…
We picked a few other fish, small Tuna I think and
it was like someone had flipped a switch. Nothing was biting and no
reports from the radio. We caught a few more small fish and then came
Henry’s turn. Another BIG run on a rod and another Wahoo twice the size
of the first. That’s the picture I chose for this report, Henry with his
first fish ever. We also caught a nice sized Kingfish before our time
was up and headed back to the dock.
At least we got Henry something to eat, he was
hungry from the time he stepped on board.
J
Charter fishing off Fort Lauderdale before a
cruise. You might get the ultimate free lunch!
Capt. Steve Souther
Fort
Lauderdale
Off Shore Fishing
www.all-inclusivesportfishing.com
(954) 761-8202
Jan 4 Ft Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Sailfish
Charter fishing in Ft. Lauderdale began the New
Year with some slow fishing and a deep cold front that passed through on
the 2nd as we anticipate the arrival of Sailfish migrating
through the area. Tuesday at sea was bitter cold as we fished John and
the boys back for another visit to our boat. Poised with a well full of
live bait, we waited, and waited… But to no avail. A sad trip, to say
the least, with huge disappointment from both guests and crew.
The following day with fished Harold and his son
Roland, the girls came along for good measure and immediately set up
shop inside the warm and toasty cabin. With lows at the coast of low
40’s, the high was to reach mid to high 60’s. You just have to love that
Florida sun.
J
We fished exactly as we had the day before,
venturing off shore a bit looking for current or an edge to fish to and
then back to the reef area trolling north. The radio cracked with the
announcement of a Sailfish hooked by another boat and we had our first
good strike of the day. A Sail appeared in our spread, knocked a bait
down and then left with no bite. While this may seem not a great ending,
it gave us hope and it wasn’t long before another strike pulled a bait
down. Again, a Sailfish was in our pattern, but he left the bait he had
come for only to come across my high line and after a bit of cat and
mouse, he was hooked and jumping.
I have to be honest in saying I am not used to
guests that know how to fish. We take many people out that have never
experienced fishing, much less big game fishing before. Within seconds
of Rolland taking the rod, I knew no coaching was needed as he expertly
and excellently handled the rod and the fish as we cleared our baits. I
never had to move the boat other than keeping the back pointed at the
fish and Rolland landed our first Sail for 2012 in tremendous form.
J
I’ve included a picture before releasing the fish.
A few more reports of Sails being seen had us
anxious to get the live baits out and we did just that shortly after the
release. Fish were popping up here and there in different depths but we
chose to stay close to the depth we caught and missed the first 2 of the
day in.
It took a bit but we soon were feeding another Sail
from the kite. Game on and Harold is just as good as Roland on the rod.
Again this fish was brought to a dead boat, no assistance from me, in
excellent form. He was released boat side and we set back up for the
next.
The radio had quieted and things slowed down but we
were not done. Another wait… Does this make me a professional waiter?
Drifting deeper a third Sailfish appeared and it was time for Harold’s
sister, who had never held a rod or caught a fish before, to try her
hand at this fishing thing.
With both Harold AND Rolland telling her what to
do, I saw no reason to put my 2 cents in and we eventually released our
third and last Sailfish for the day. While she was fighting the fish, I
asked her to keep winding but look at me so I could take a picture of
her in the fighting chair. She proved not all women can multi task and
when she stopped winding to turn around, both her brother and nephew
were screaming WIND! I guess that’s what I sound like from the bridge
some times.
J
Charter fishing for Sailfish in Ft. Lauderdale this
time of year? It’s starting to get good. It really is.
J
Capt. Steve Souther
Ft Lauderdale Off Shore Fishing
www.all-inclusivesportfishing.com
(954) 761-8202
Jan 3- Ft.
Lauderdale Fishing Charters / Bottom time
When the typical offshore approaches to landing our clients a good catch
slows down on a FT. Lauderdale Fishing Charter we often break out some
bottom fishing gear
and move to some structure and drop some baits down
to try the Groupers, Snappers and Tilefish (my favorite). Conditions
have to be right to have a good chance for success, those most
importantly being some current, but not too much, and fairly calm sea
conditions. We fish on the big deep water wrecks with heavy tackle so
that we have a good shot of stopping a bigger fish getting into the
wreck when hooked. When we target fish along the edges of wrecks, deep
or shallow we can tackle down, which means we can go with lighter rods,
reels and a lighter line with less water drag. You still have to pull
hard and stop the fish, but we get a little breathing room when
targeting fish on the fringe. Mutton Snappers love to hang out on the
“fringe” so to speak.
When trolling produced only a few Kings for Shawn
and Perry Capt. Kopper decided to head for a wreck. Those of you who
know Capt. Kopper know nobody
catches more fish on the fringe than he does, and his favorite target
when bumping the bottom on a lighter line is Mutton Snapper. Pictured
are a couple of really nice Mutton Snapper landed by Sean and Perry. The
Muttons that day were on the fringe as expected at a 230 foot wreck That
smiling man with Sean is none other that Lawrence, one of our mates, as
he gets ready to fillet some really excellent eating Snapper.
Jan 1 - Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Fishing the
Holidays
Charter fishing in Fort Lauderdale between
Christmas and New Year is always busy and this year has been no
different. So please accept my apology for only one blog/ fishing report
for this time period. We have been going nonstop!
Early in the week, fishing was better but the seas
were something to contend with. The fish seem to feed better when there
are a few waves and while fishing wasn’t great, it did suffice our
guests with some fish for the plate and a few big ones too.
The Mahi are still around but in reduced numbers.
We also had some limited Kingfish action as well. But one of the
disappointing parts of this week was the Sailfish action. We had a cold…
excuse me to our northern readers, a
cool front come through and
fishing actually slowed down a bit after it passed. This brought us to
mid-week and fishing became tough in all categories. This is not the
norm.
While we did struggle, we had some good catches
none the less, not in quantity but in quality. Sharks made a brief
appearance and a 8.5’ was captured by Sam and his dad Jeff. Another was
landed the same trip by Rory. I think I wrote about that already though.
Can you tell I’m tired? LOL
But what HAS been fun were the last few days. We’ve
had some great success catching Wahoo; the largest is pictured here with
Carlos. Carlos’s son was aboard and tried fighting this fish, but at age
7 he was a bit over matched. Once dad had landed the fish, 7 year old
Marcel informed me that his dad was the BEST fisherman ever. Would you
expect less from a son?
J
Charter fishing here in Fort Lauderdale has been
busy and slow but fishing is never poor. It only take one bite to change
the day.
Happy New Year to all.
Capt. Steve Souther
Fort
Lauderdale
Off Shore Fishing
www.all-inclusivesportfishing.com
(954) 761-8202
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