Great Day Fishing on our Fort Lauderdale Fishing Charter
Capt. Rod Roydhouse
January 28, 2017
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
It started out slow but it quicly turned into a great trip. We left the dock at 8am and started off catching a bunch of small bonitos that we kept alive in our live bait well. We usually start the trip off this way to catch some fresh live baits to use later if the opportunity arises. We began trolling the reef in 100ft of water. We got a few small throw back kingfish and a few more little tunas trolling, but not much action and nothing big. 2 hours into the trip and nothing nice to show for it, we headed to the south where we heard from one of our other charter boats that a few fish were biting. When we got to the destination where the other boat was getting some hits on the troll, we almost immediately got a huge hit on our deep planer bait. It was a big bite and could only have been a smoker kingfish or wahoo bite because the monofilament got chopped off, meaning it was a toothy critter. Well that was enough of a indicator for us to put the live baits out and begin live baiting. Often we use trolling to find a good area where there are some bigger fish around, where we can put out our live bait spread.
This was a half day trip and we only had a little over an hour left to fish. Almost as soon as we put our first live bait out, we got an insta bite on the deep downrigger bait. It was a big kingfish, over 25 pounds. We put the baits back out and started slow bumping the boat around the area again. It wasn't but a few minutes that went by before we were hooked up again, with something big. It was on a spinning rod, so it took a long time to get in. When the fish got close to the boat, we could see the iridescent colors of blue, silver and and white stripes and we knew it was a big wahoo. Wahoo are famous for shaking the hooks when they get close to the boat. We inched the fish closer and closer until Randy, our deckhand, sunk the gaff into the belly of the wahoo and heaved him aboard. This was a 60+ pound wahoo, a monster for our area. We don't catch them that large very often, so this was a real treat for us to catch, especially on a slow day of fishing.
We only had a few minutes left to fish at this point, but the New Lattitude crew always fishes to the last possible second of the trip, you never know what might jump on the line and this area was hot. We didn't get a bite for a few minutes and it was time to head back home from our 4 hour trip. As we were reeling in our last bait, our highline, up pops a dorsal fin chasing the bait. It was a sailfish, another of our prized catches off Fort Lauderdale. This sailfish gobbled down the bait and was hooked up instantly. He started jumping and taking drag. We had to fight the fish into overtime as the fight lasted 1/2 hour, but we finally got the fish to the boat. What started out as a slow day of fishing with nothing in the box almost 2/3's into the trip, turned into a successful trip where we caught a sailfish, a huge wahoo and a smoker kingfish. What a day!
That's how fishing goes when you're fishing in Ft Lauderdale. You never know what's going to happen and you can make your day with a lucky find in a lucky second of time. There are some big fish biting this month, you just need to go out there and look for them... and a little luck never hurts. Tight lines and good fishing!
Capt. Rod Roydhouse
www.NewLattitude.com
954-707-2147
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