Sometimes a little luck can play a big part in fishing here in Fort Lauderdale as it did with this family from North Dakota today. Ron and Cheryl were here all the way from the north to visit their son Larry, who is going to school here and chose this morning to pull into our lot with the express purpose of fishing. They happened to find us at the dock and within minutes, we were off.
Now the fishing has been slow as of late. Warm weather has kept the fish from migrating and we have struggled on days just to catch a few fish for our guests. As we headed out, a few calls on the phone and radio told me things hadn?t changed and we had our work cut out for us.
Little if any current wasn?t helping the fishing on this absolutely beautiful day. Sunny skies, low 70?s temperatures, we talked and explained many things to these new comers about fishing, the ocean, all sorts of topics and time was passing as we had only one strike in a few hours? time.
Now this was on a Saturday, a day when it is nice like this, everyone is out in their boats. Anything found floating must have been fished more than once and that is exactly what I thought as we neared the end of our trip with nothing yet for son Larry in our box. This is when we came across a large branch floating just 2 miles from shore, an object that would normally hold fish if it hadn?t been fished by other boats.
As luck would have it? It was holding fish and out first pass caught us a Wahoo and 3 other hits. We came to find out that the other hits were also Wahoo and had cut our leader material. One small Wahoo in the box was a moral victory and though we were out of time, we made a few more passes. A Mahi-mahi jumped us this time and we got him almost to the boat when some seaweed got involved and released the fish a wee bit early. Another wahoo hit was had and Ron and Larry were having a blast. A small Silky shark was also caught, boated and released.
Another Wahoo was caught by Ron and with our gear cut to sheds by the sharp teeth of these fish, we headed home all smiles for the forthcoming lunch. And I can tell you, it was luck, pure and simple, that we stumbled on this branch and it hadn?t been hit by other boats. I mean it was after 1 in the afternoon.
So our enjoyable boat ride turned into a very enjoyable fishing trip with a little luck brought all the way from North Dakota. Now, if they could spare a few degrees of that -43 wind chill they left back home? Oh, never mind?
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Captain Steve Souther
Fort Lauderdale Fishing Off Shore
www.all-inclusivesportfishing.com
(954) 761-8202