Great December Fishing in Fort Lauderdale
Capt. Mike Johnson
January 12, 2011
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fort Lauderdale Fishing
Dec 9
The morning of the ninth brought Greg, Bill, Paul, Howard, Duncan and Andre out with us to try their hand at some Fort Lauderdale Sail Fishing. We arranged for some goggle eyes through the local bait boat and steamed through the inlet, making a hard left and headed north. After a short run we launched the kites and deployed the baits. Into the first hour we had only heard of a couple of sails being caught. We were determined and chose to stick it out. We finally got our shot on the right long. The sailfish came into the spread in classic sailfish fashion with his dorsal fin up and bill penetrating up through the surface of the water as it took the helpless goggle eye. We came tight and Greg jumped in the chair to subdue the 7 foot fish. Twenty minutes later the fish was at the side of the boat for release and some pictures.
The 19th Brendan from Fort Lauderdale, Matt, Jack and Jason from New York shared the boat for a morning of Ft Lauderdale Sport Fishing. The group decided on doing some trolling and off we went. The day brought us 6 kings and a couple of mahi mahi.
On the 20th Peter and Trevor smacked down a nice 25lb kingfish on live bullet bonitas.
The 22nd Abel, Jerry, Noel, Amanda, Karen and Soren from Toronto put the hurting on the Spanish mackerel, the kingfish and the yellowtails good goin kids.
The 23rd was quite an interesting day of fishing in Fort Lauderdale. Robert and Jim from Florida were trolling with us when we got the most amazing bite on the short planer rod. Robert jumped in the chair and began the biggest fish battle of his life. Thirty minutes into the fight we had still not seen the fish. Robert began to tire and his dad jumped in the chair to finish the job. Another twenty minutes went by and we finally got a glimpse of a huge 400-500 pound manta ray that got fouled in the line. We were very careful with the ray and were able to get some great pictures and release the sea monster unharmed. We also caught a couple of small tunas and bonitas before heading in for the day, when I spotted something huge jumping in shallow water. As we headed for the splashing something didn't seem right and the closer we got the more I was astounded. It was a humpback whale slapping its pectoral fin against its body between gulps of air. We were able to get some great pics and videos without disturbing the beautiful giant. It was the first real whale ive ever seen in Florida waters.
Charter fishing fort Lauderdale on the 24th with us was Brendan from Fort Lauderdale who is a real regular now, Austin and Jim. Fishing was a little tough but we managed two cudas and a nice king.
The 26th was a productive fort Lauderdale fishing for Drew, Ray, John, Adrian and Ryan from New York. They caught four real nice mahi mahi and a big bonita.
Rob and Bruce from Ny caught a big beautiful sailfish on the 27th.
The 28th Brendan fished us again, this time he brought his nephews Kari and Patrick from New York who had never been on the ocean before let alone caught a fish. We put the kites up and before long had a sailfish on. Now I can't remember which kid jumped in the chair but they went to work on their first fish, a huge sailfish! We were doing great until the fish got about 50 feet from the boat and we had some trouble with the reel handle, Brendan took over and we finally caught the fish, awesome job guys. We set the kites out one more time and Brendan reeled in another sailfish. Can you say lucky!
Fort Lauderdale charter fishing with us on the 29th was Zane, Phil, Ace and Slim who wrangled up 5 kingfish and four bonitas. The 30th George, Sergio and Whitney had an exceptional day with a big amberjack, 7 kingfish and a Spanish mackerel.
Fort Lauderdale Fishing Forecast:
Look for the same action through January.
Target Species:
Sailfish
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