Ft. Lauderdale charter fishing/ Daily Blog
Capt. John Logan
February 25, 2010
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Ft. Lauderdale Charter Fishing/ Daily Blog
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Sometimes Ft. Lauderdale fishing can be cruel. This morning, Tom and his wife Cindy showed up full of expectations as did the crew of the Marlin My Darlin. A recent cold front had passed, the day was beautiful and conditions perfect for Sailfish, Tom's life long dream to catch. He has charters many times usually taking other people with him and passing the rod to his friends when the "big one" hit. Today, it was HIS charter and his alone.
We hadn't been set up long with our kites out when our first Sail came along. Everything went beautifully and we hooked Tom's fish and the fight was on. A second fish appeared and ate. I'm not sure if we got the rod into Cindy's hands or not, but the fish jumped and was gone.
Clearing the gear we were set to go get Tom's fish. He had jumped a few times and was now less than 100' from the boat when he appeared to us for the last time, shook his head up out of the water and spit the hook. As soon as it happened, it was known by all that the fish was gone and we quickly reset and fished until the last possible moment before we had to close down for our afternoon trip.
The afternoon trip was a 3 boat group from Paper and Pulp. They had a Sailfish tournament between the 3 boats and we were off once again. The wind was failing and we desperately tried to keep the kites in the air, as this is the best way to attract and catch Sails. But in the end it resulted in failure and we had to resort to old, proven methods of trolling for fish.
We set our baits (and our secret weapon) out and began with a bang. A small Dolphin, about 4-5lbs was one with just one line in the water. It was just nice to have a fish on after fighting the kites for over an hour.
One of the boats had reported catching a Sail already and we were now in catch up mode. Trolling deep, we hooked a Blackfin Tuna and as we were reeling him in, the short right line came down but no fish. The mate, Tommy, had the rod up in his hand immediately and began his magic. Another strike but no hook up. Then another and this time we saw it was a Sailfish chasing our bait. After at least 10 more attempts, the fish finally committed to eat the bait and we hooked him.
After some pleasantries of deciding who would take the rod… I swear, these people were so polite, you'd think they were from the mid west, Charlie finally got the rod and began the battle. 20 minutes later, we had his 88" Sail in the boat for a picture and his release.
Please note in this picture the tired but happy face of Charlie, this stuff looks a lot easier on TV.
As for the tournament? The other boat had us on time but we had 3" more on our side. They never did tell us who won… LOL
Captain Steve
Ft. Lauderdale fishing (offshore)
Contact: www.all-inclusivesportfishing.com
Biz phone; 954-761-8202
Target Species:
Sailfish, Shark, Dolphin, Wahoo, Tuna, Kingfish, Swordfish
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