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Fishing Fort Lauderdale Sailfish Surprise Ending
Capt. John Logan
September 11, 2012
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing in Fort Lauderdale for Sailfish and Mahi-mahi had been great. Both species were abundant with the Mahi being good size, some super-sized. Sailfish, Tuna and some nice sized Kingfish were also in the mix. Then, one day a few days ago, it stopped. It just stopped like someone had flipped a switch and fishing became very tough to catch anything. But don't stop reading here, there's more.
Today we had Joe, his wife Heather and John on board and yes, fishing was again slow. We managed a couple of nice sized Kingfish and missed a few others, their bite has been less than aggressive with them being almost timid in trying a bait righter than attacking and eating it. When they either stopped biting or we had caught the last one, we decided to try a little live bait fishing.
Our first stop was south to try for live Ballyhoo. It didn't take long and a couple throws of the net and we were set. Chris re-arranged the rods to spinners and we set up out in 200' of water hoping to get lucky with a Tuna or Sail. Only 40 minutes of fishing time left…
Do you like a story with a happy ending? It's not often our guests get to see the bite when fishing this way but with the water so completely calm, any break in the surface would show activity. The bait began jumping from the water, the fin came up chasing the bait, the bill broke the surface and we had our strike. Just a moment later, we were reeling in all the other lines to chase down this fish.
Joe hadn't done a lot of this but did follow instructions well and got quite good at it in a short time. The fish was landed, measured, photographed and released. While his over-all length was 84", his short length was 67" (short length is measured from the tip of the lower jaw to the fork of the tail). Generally, there is a 19 to 22" difference in the short and long length of Sailfish. This fish had broken part of his bill off some time before and it had healed.
And it is this kind of excitement and surprise that can take that slow fishing day and turn it around into a great day at sea fishing off Fort Lauderdale for just about anything.
Target Species:
Sailfish, Shark, Tune, Dolphin, Wahoo, Marlin, Swordfish and more
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