Fishing Report for Ft. Lauderdale & Port Everglades

Capt. Cary Hanna
April 1, 2006
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report

Spring Season Starts off Great on New Lattitude!

Persistance pays off right now as the fishing has been a little slow but trophy size fish are making their way through. The weather hasn't let us get out as much as I would like to go Swordfishing but we managed a few trips on the 27th and 28th of March to go out Swordfishing with Kevin Kwak and his girlfriend TaMeeko from Claifornia. They flew in to Florida to specifically catch Swordfish with me so the pressure was on. 2 months ago they came down with the same goals but the weather was rough and we made it out only 1 night catching a Hammerhead Shark somewhere over 500 pounds. On Monday night we waited and waited for what seemed like hours but at 8:45pm came our bite and the fish ran like a nice fish. As the fish made his run we slowly increased the drag but our fish didn't pay attention to any of that and kept on going. Finally we get the drag in strike position and our fish is still moving. Kevin gets on his bucket harness and whips the fish in about 40 minutes or so. kevin finally reaches the swivel and thats my signal to grab the leader and get the fish to the boat. TaMeeko stands besides me holding the gaff so I can grab it when the fish is boatside. This fish wasn't happy, as I pulled him closer we could see him in the Swordlight swinging his bill side to side trying to fight his last moments. What an amazing site I will never forget. The gaff shot was hard as he just kept swinging that bill but we managed to stick him and haul him in the boat. The Swordfish was a good 70 inches which put him at 170 pounds.

We made it out the next night with Kevin and TaMeeko to put her on a fish this time. We had to wait a bit longer this time but we finally got tight on a fish around 10:30 pm and TaMeeko puts on the bucket harness and shows good skill on whipping this fish to the boat. Her fish was a little smaller at 52 inches but it was her first and a proud moment. Both of them got their bills mounted by RJ Boyle.

On the reef we managed a beautiful Sailfish, one of the biggest ones I have seen in a long time. Tom Dunn came down from Delaware to have some fun on the water. On our 1st drift we noticed Frigate birds working the water hard out deep of us. They were trying to eat Flyers as they were coming out of the water being chased from below. Those little critters can't win but they sure have a great defense mechanism for escaping their predators. We picked up our spread and moved the general area where the birds were working. I put out the first bait and left the bail open and started letting out the 2nd bait. Tom had his eyes working and noticed the line coming off the spool at a quicker pace. He closes the bail and gets tight right away and this fish is just ripping line off the reel so fast I had to stop what I was doing and start the boat and give chase even as we tightened up a bit on the drag. Within 30 minutes we had one of the biggest Sailfish I have seen in a long time. Overall length was about 80 or so inches and about 80 pounds. We released him successfully after getting a photo and my butt kicked as this fish scared me all up going nuts at the boat.

We have a Swordfishing trip this evening the 31st and I'm looking very much foward to it. Its a good time to go fishing as Spring starts to swing in full gear. Come on out and enjoy yourself!

Captain Cary Hanna

www.newlattitude.com

954-907-0967

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