Incredible Mahi Mahi and wahoo Fishing
Capt. Mike Johnson
February 24, 2011
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fort Lauderdale Fishing has been off to a great start this month. Some hammerhead sharks and sailfish have been stealing the spotlight right up until the 5th when the blackfin tunas showed up from Palm Beach through Fort Lauderdale all the way past Miami. While most of these tunas were not the 20-30 #'s we are accustomed to seeing later in the spring, the 7-12 # (footballs) were still a lot of fun on the light tackle and great tasting on the table. Agrein and Tina from British Columbia and Canada joined Jason, Daria and Ricardo from Chicago on a split party we arranged with Fishing Headquarters. A big "bomber" bonita was the first to strike and Daria was first up, for her first fish ever she did GREAAT! Then the blackfin tunas began their assault and I lost count and order of who caught the next one and the next one and the next one and so on. Everyone caught a couple of fish and had a great time. Dale, Daryl, Derek,Anthony and Russell from Miami charter fished Fort Lauderdale with us on the 12th and they also did the blackfin boogie. In the afternoon, Casey, Luis, Lucas and Gonzo ganged up on the blackfins and a couple of skipjack tunas as well, nice day guys. Ron, Jose, Dorothy and Mark beat up the blackfins and skipjack tunas as well. On the 16th Ft. Lauderdale fishing slowed up a little. Don, Bob and John joined us for what we hoped to be another great day of sport fishing off Fort Lauderdale, but conditions had changed on us. We trolled inside on the reef looking for kings and bonitas and maybe a mahi mahi with no luck. We ventured offshore a little deeper out to 300-600 feet of water because we just knew the blackfin tunas and skipjacks were there. Unfortunately they were not so we moved back inside. As we continued fishing our fishing prayers were answered in the form of a sailfish on the right long rigger bait. The sailfish came up took a few swipes at the bait, turned on it and ate it. The rigger line came down hard and we were connected but after a quick run and a jump it was gone. We were just about to wrap it up when we finally got a kingfish, sorry about the slow fishing guys, next time. Lida, Ken, Cedric fished the Fort Lauderdale coast with us on the 18th and found some nice kingfish for their efforts.
The 19th
Fishing Fort Lauderdale today was excellent. Today we had Bryan Cambell from www.ultimaterodholders.com and the rest of the boys. We started off the day trolling and had some goggle eyes in the well in case we wanted to pop the kites up later in the trip. We never got the chance but boy did those gogs come in handy. We picked at a couple small blackfin tunas and a skipjack tuna or two. Then finally we moved offshore a little more because the reef fishing has been very slow. We got jumped by some mahi mahi in the 6-8 # range and caught two. A little while later we caught another two mahi's and a little later another two. Everyone was already quite happy because that's what they wanted to catch and despite it was a little early yet in the season we managed to find them. Then it slowed down for a little bit, we followed some birds and trolled by some small debris with no luck, when suddenly Richie (our Mate) spotted a big explosion just outside of us. I whipped the wheel around and got us in the immediate area when BAM a giant 35# Bull Mahi Mahi jumped the left short lure. The fight was on. Out of the corner of my eye I was pretty sure I saw another Large mahi. I passed a hook down from one of the spinners that were in the rocket launcher up on the bridge with me and Richie pinned on a goggle eye. I flipped it out and immediately hooked up with a 30# cow. We tossed out two more gogs and hooked up on them as well now we had four Giant Mahi Mahi from 25-40#'s on at once. What chaos. But it was great 3 of the 4 we caught on 20 # spin and the fourth we got on the 30 # trolling gear. Incredible guys, thanks again see us soon!
Charter fishing Fort Lauderdale was great for Jeff Jensen and Ron and Lisa. We caught a giant 50# WAHOO while trying to catch some blackfins we had spotted under some birds offshore. We did manage 1 blackfin and 1 skipjack tuna as well. Great Job!
Capt Mike
954.522.4773
www.fishlocalknowledge.com
Fort Lauderdale Fishing Forecast:
Look for more great mahi mahi fishing and wahoos the rest of this month throught the summer.
Target Species:
Mahi Mahi, Blackfin Tuna and Wahoo
More Fishing Reports:
