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December fishing on the Hooked Up

Capt. Taco Perez
December 29, 2008
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report

Dec 3
This morning we were met at the boat by Terri and Tina from Ohio and Jeff and Jermal from Atlanta.
Conditions seemed perfect for sail fishing today. We had blue water and a bit of north current so went right to it. We set out both of our kites with live baits suspended from them and started waiting. After a while of not seeing or even hearing of any of the other boats seeing any sailfish we decided to put down a couple of deep lines while we were waiting. And man did this pay off .It turned out that while the sailfish were not biting on the top of the water the bottom was full of life. We ended up with a box full of snappers and jacks.
While we never did see any sailfish today we sure had a ball fishing the bottom and a great dinner was had by all.
Captain Taco (877) SEA-4344
Dec 5 th
Today we had Jay, Charlie, Adam and last but not least Birthday boy Eric all from Atlanta Georgia out for a day of deep sea fishing for Eric's Big B Day.
We started out trolling down to the south looking to just put some fish in the box before going off shore looking for dolphin fish. We had no idea that trolling the reef was going to be so good but we were all happy about it. Trolling on the reef we ended up catching 6 big kingfish and 12 bonitos. By this point we were way down to the south of the coast of North Miami and the plan was to go off shore looking for dolphin fish and letting the Gulf Stream carry us back home. But before we went off shore we decided to try a couple of deep drops on a ship wreck that was close to us.
First we trolled live bait around the wreck on a down rigger just to see if any fish were over the wreck. BAM almost the second we got the bait down half way we were Hooked Up with a nice fish. It took a good 10 min before we finally got the monster barracuda next to the boat. We got a few quick pictures and watched him swim away in good shape.
We wanted to go off shore but wait just 1 more min we wanted to see what would happen if we sent a live bait all the way down to the bottom. And once again the second we hit bottom BAM again we were Hooked Up this time it turned out to be a big golden amber jack.
Ok that it guys we made our minds up we were going off shore and hope to find these good eating dolphin fish. I mean what the heck everything else we tried was working out so off shore we went.
I don't think we had the baits out 5 min when BAM we were cover up with dolphin fish. At one point our deep rod got hit and we were sure we had a big Wahoo on but it turned out to be a big skip jack tuna (also great eating)
We ended up with a BOX FULL of kings, dolphin, bonitos and 1 big skipjack tuna.
Eric we hoped you enjoyed your birthday fishing trip because I can tell you we sure did.
Thanks again guys for a great day and looking forward to fishing you guys again soon.
Captain Taco (954)764-4344
Dec 6
Today we got to the boat with no fishing trips schooled but within an hour after getting to the boat a car pulled up and needed to kill a couple of hours before getting on a plan. So off we went for just a couple hours to fish with Serge and Victoria. They were both from Russia but now lived in Ney York City.
We knew we had little time to try to produce some fish for these guys so we never did get to far from our inlet. However we did get out to a ship wreck just outside of our inlet and dropped a live bait down 210 feet and the second we hit the bottom the rod bent over and line was just screaming off the reel as if was never going to stop. But after a couple of min the line did stop coming off the reef and Serge started to gain some line back. It took a good 20 min before finally up popped this monster amber jack.
We were all pretty happy about catching this fish with such little time but by now time was running short so we ran for our inlet and put out a couple of live baits for the last 10 min we had to fish just for the heck of it. When BAM and BAM we seen 2 big splashes behind the boat and line was peeling off both reels at the same time. Now we had 2 nice fish on at the same time and not much time before we had to be back at the dock. We ended up backing down to the fish with the boat and caught both of them in less than 5 min. A big barracuda and a monster jack carvel.
That was some fast fishing and yes they caught their plane. Thanks again Serge and we are looking forward to fishing you again soon hopefully with a little more time to fish (LOL)
Captain Taco (877) SEA-4344
Dec 10 th
Today we set out on our fishing trip with Jeff and his 2 daughters Michel and Cristal from Jacksonville Florida. We started out trolling the reef looking for some king fish or some bonitos just trying to get some fish in the box before going off shore to look for some dolphin fish. As it turned out the reef was going off I mean the kings were biting good and it took no time before we had our limit of kingfish and all of them nice ones in the 10 to 12 pound range. We also managed to catch 3 big boomer bonitos. Ok so the pressure was off at least so I thought it was. While this Jeff was happy about catching kings he really wanted some dolphin fish for dinner.
I don't like leaving fish to find fish but this is what Jeff wanted. I had not heard of any dolphin fish being caught by any of the other boats but all the same off we went. We trolled for over an hour without a bite and my anglers were getting a little restless after all we caught the kings so fast I guess they figured that the dolphin would come just as easy. (NOT SO MUCH) And at this point we were starting to run a little low on time.
It seems that Jeff does a lot of fishing in the back waters in Jacksonville for reds, trout and flounders so he had a good idea about fishing but I was telling him how we really needed to find a weed line or some kind of floating piece of wood or anything floating out here and then we would have a good shot at finding some dolphin. As I was telling him about this I seen a bucket floating up ahead but I did not bother telling Jeff about it till we got right up to it. I told him hey look over there who knows maybe we'll find some fish here. No sooner did the words get out of my mouth every bait got hit at the same time. Jeff was in such a hurry to get back down stairs that he spilled his beer all over the place once he got down stairs he stepped right on Michel's brand new sun glasses.
So now we had 5 fish on at the same time one girl yelling at her dad about her glasses one Jeff that did not know which rod to grab first beer dripping down on top of everyone's head and a Captain laughing so hard that I almost fell out of my chair. (Description of Fishing) HOURS OF BOARDUM INTERRUPTED BY MOMETS OF PANIC AND CAYUS
When it was all said and done we got 9 dolphin fish in the box beer all over everyone and broken glasses all over the deck and one VERY HAPPY JEFF
That's all for today's trip but I've got to say today was one of the funniest trips I've had in a long time.
Jeff, Cristal and Michel thanks so much and we really are looking forward to fishing you guys again in March
Captain Taco (954)764-4344
Dec 13 th
Today we had Joel and Samantha from Tampa Florida spend the morning deep sea fishing with us. We started out by buying a dozen live baits from the bait boat. Our plan was to try to catch a sail fish but before sail fishing we trolled the reef looking for some king fish and bonitos to get some fish in the box before going after the big one. Trolling the reef was a bit slow but we did manage to catch 3 nice kingfish and one bonito.
After trolling the reef we went out to 200 feet of water and set out our kites with 4 live baits suspended from them and the trap was set. While waiting for a sail fish bite we seen a splash by one of our baits. We let the fish run with the bait for a few seconds and then locked up the reel came tight with the fish and out came a dolphin fish dancing all over the surface. Samantha waited no time jumping in the chair and we were Hooked Up. It only took a couple of min to catch this one. It was about a 6 pound dolphin fish. Not what we were looking for but Joel and Samantha were happy to have it.
After waiting another 45 min we finally got our shot as a matter a fact we got 2 shots at the same time. Once again we let the fish run with the bait for a few seconds came tight and this time two sailfish came out of the water jumping at the same time. What a blast watching both of these fish jumping around at the same time Joel's fish was running south and Samantha's fish went north. I'm sorry to say that after a couple of min Samantha's fish spit the hook and got away. But Joel still had his fish on and this was a hot fish. After about 25 min Joel finally got his fish to the boat we got a couple of quick pictures a quick measurement to have a replica mount mad of the fish and watched him swim away in great shape.
After our fishing trip we cleaned the dolphin fish for them and they went next door to this restaurant on the water right next to the boat and had them cook it up for them. They told me it was the best fish they had ever had.
Thanks again guys for a fun morning of fishing and Samantha we'll get your sail fish for you next month.
Captain Taco
toll free (877) SEA-4344
Dec 17 th
Today we set out on a 6 hour trip with Peter and his wife Sara from Denver Colorado. We made our stop at the live bait boat to pick up some live bait and off we went. We started out trolling the reef heading south toward Miami. We picked at the kingfish on our way down we ended up catching 4 kings but one of them was a 27 pounder. That's what we call a smoker. As we got further to the south we were getting close to a ship wreck so we brought in all the trolling rods and put out a couple of small rods with little jigs on them. We were trying to catch small bonitos to use for bait on the ship wreck. The little bonitos were hard to catch but we did manage to catch 2 and as it turned out that was all we needed. On our first drop to the bottom it took no more than 3 seconds and we were Hooked Up. We pulled away from the wreck fast to try to pull the fish away from the wreck before he got us caught up in it. It took Peter a good 20 min to finally drag up the huge golden amber jack. This fish had to weigh 40 pounds. We managed to get all the air out of the fishes belly and released him in great shape.
Ok now it was Sara's turn at the rod once again we dropped the live bonito down to the bottom on top of this ship wreck and once again the second it hit bottom we were Hooked Up. And once again we pulled away from the wreck trying to get the fish away from the wreck. Sara wasted no time jumping in the chair and we were Hooked Up. Only this time we were really Hooked Up the fish had made it back to the ship wreck and there was no getting him out of there. That the thing about fishing for these big fish on wrecks that the second you get hooked into them they are going to do all they can to get back in the wreck. Once they get back in it is almost imposable to get them out.
At this point we were about 7 miles south of our inlet and there was not a boat to be seen anywhere so we decided to fly our kites with the live baits we had gotten earlier suspended from them and see if we could catch a sail fish.
We were fishing with monofilament leaders and once we got all 4 baits out there the king fish started eating all of our baits. We were getting cut off left and right (RATS) so we brought everything in and switched over to wire leaders. Once we switched to wire leaders we could not get a bite. Talk about frustrating.
At this point we had a long ride back and we were out of time. We had already brought in our left kite and were working on bring in our last bait when out of nowhere popped up this monster sailfish and he wanted that last bait bad. We dropped the bait back to him and let him swim away with it for a few seconds came tight and we were Hooked Up.
Sara still had a bad taste in her mouth over losing that fish in the wreck earlier so she jumped in the chair and was ready for the battle. We had all the other baits out of the water and nothing to get in our way so we were able to go right after the fish. Sara got this sailfish to the boat in less than 7 min but we had a little problem we needed to get a measurement of the fish for Sara to have her replica mount made of her fish and this fish was still jumping all over next to the boat. So we backed the drag off a little and kept the boat moving ahead at a slow pace letting the fish just swim alongside the boat till he settled down. As the fish was swimming alongside the boat Captain Jay Jay reached down in the water with one end of the tape measure in his hand and graded the bill at the same time Peter took the other end of the tape measure and slid all the way back to the fishes tale 87 inches perfect and the hook was right in the corner of the mouth and came out easily. Too perfect I don't think the fish even knew we were taking the hook out. He swam away so nicely we got a couple of pictures of him swimming away.
Winter is here and the sails are starting to show up so give us a call and let's get you Hooked Up
Captain Taco (954)764-4344
Dec 20 th
This morning we set out for a morning of deep sea fishing with Jonnie and Ralf from Lacrosse Wisconsin Ana and Chris from St Paul Minnesota and Natalie and Lang from Maples Minnesota we started out trolling the reef for kings and bonitos We managed to catch a couple of kings and one bonito than we went to a ship wreck and dropped a live bait down to the bottom. At first we did not get a bite on the bottom but we slowly moved the bait around the wreck and all of a sudden BAM the rod bent over and we were Hooked Up. It took a good 15 mi n to drag this big amber jack up.
Thanks again guys for a fun morning of fishing.
Captain Taco toll free (877) SEA-4344
Today we had Alex, Andrew, Kyle, Jake and Sam all from South Florida out fishing with us. The goal was to try to catch some dolphin fish for dinner. But I first wanted to try to make sure we put some fish in the box before going off shore looking for dolphin fish. The thing about going off shore for dolphin is if we find one we are probably going to find a school of them together but if we don't find them than we don't any of them. And that was just the case today we started out on the reef and caught kingfish and bonitos but once we got off shore we never did find any weed lines or any debris floating however we did manage to catch one big barracuda.
Thanks again guys and looking forward to fishing with you again in June.
Captain Taco (954)764-4344
Dec 25 th
Dec 25 th
It is Christmas morning and Greg, David, Yegor and Vitaly all from Maryland are set to do some deep sea fishing off the coast of Ft Lauderdale.
The wind was blowing about 20 knots out of the North east and the seas are a bit choppy but all the same we've got our hops high. We decided the calmest way to fish today is to put out our kites and suspend live baits from them and just hold the boat into the waves.
Once we got our kites up and our baits all set it really was not that bad out there. The problem came once we got a bite I would have to move the boat around to catch the fish.; Our first bite was a nice dolphin and it was a little tough getting him to the boat but we did and I could see that a couple of the anglers stopped drinking their beers and were not talking quite as much so I knew we were going to get the word to go back in soon. So we hurried up and got the baits right back out there. It only took a few min till our next bite and it was a dolphin fish. Once again we got the baits out there quickly but by the time we got them out again we got the word so as we were bring all the baits in we got lucky and another dolphin jumped on there at the last second.
We did not fill the box but we got plenty of dolphin fish for everyone.
Thanks again guys and sorry about the weather.
Captain Taco (954)764-4344
Dec 27 th
Today we had some repeat customers Mark, Brett and Eli from Aventura Florida and they brought along Eric, Miles and Billy from Larchmont New York.
Ok now let me set the stage for this fishing trip. We are at the end of December which is a great time for fishing down here in South Florida. However there a couple of things that we need for good fishing one being time of year, weather conditions water color and last and by no means least current. For the last couple of days we've had everything we need for good fishing except one CURRENT we have had no current at all in on the reef. Now we know that the fish are around it has just been like pulling teeth to find them and everyday 2 or 3 of the fishing boats will find these sailfish but with no consistency to what depth of water they are traveling in. However the lucky few boats that do get the bite are seeing more than one fish at a time.
Having said all that we went out and set out our kites in 150 feet of water close to a buoy that seems to have a lot of bait fish hanging around it. We got all of our baits set out and even put out one extra just swimming around close to the boat. After about 2 hours of not getting a bite everyone was getting a bit restless and I was trying to get them to just hang in there. At this point I had ran out of jokes and things to talk about and things got pretty quite on the boat when all of a sudden I yelled down THERE HE IS on the right short kite bait right next to the boat. Captain Greg grabbed and started to hand me up another rod that had the free swimming bait on it. I yelled down what do you want me to do with this??
He yelled back there is another sailfish trying to eat that bait to. And then I see a third rod bend over just as the rod in my hand starts screaming off line. Holly Cow we've got 3 on at the same time or so I thought. It turned out that the fish Brett was fighting was the same fish his brother Eli was fighting. The same fish had eaten both baits. But the fish that Billy was fighting was for sure a different fish. There was a lot going on at the same time. Eli's leader broke but we still had his fish on Brett's line. As you can image this was going to take some time to get these 2 big sail fish to the boat and it did. It must have taken 30 min plus too finally get both of them to the boat for a couple of quick pictures and a quick measurement to have replica mounts made of their trophy catch.
Thanks so much for hanging in there guys.
For a better look at these photos go to my photo gallery#6
Winter is here and so are the sails so get out of the cold and come on down to sunny South Florida and let's get you Hooked Up
Captain Taco Toll free (877) SEA-4344 or local at (954)764-4344

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Forecast:

Winter is here and I,m sure this will be one of our best sailfish seasons we,ve had in a long time. More and more anglers are releasing thier sailfish after they are caught and I feel we are going to see a lot more sails this year.
Captain Taco

Target Species:

Sail fish, dolphin fish, king fish ECT

More Fishing Reports:

 

Hi my name is Taco and I run one of the best charter fishing boats down here in South Florida. WHY? Because I’ve been fishing the waters down here since 1969 and I started at the bottom and worked my way up the ladder. I know what it is like to read a web site and than once you get to boat things are not as you thought they would be. Not here I say it like it is. No surprises. I’ve got a 45 foot Hatteras with a big cock pit. Fully aircondishened and refrigerated. Big comfortable platform.

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Hooked Up sport fishing
3051 NE 48 Street APT 302
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
Phone: 954-764-4344
Alt. Phone: 954-608-7000
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