Sharing my Deep Sea Fishing Experience
Capt. David Zsak
August 25, 2010
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sitting at the Bahia dock in Ft. Lauderdale, thinking about the Marlins I have seen caught in my 35 years of deep sea fishing, one hooked-up Marlin stands out for being extremely unusual.
Back in the early 80's I was fishing in the Bahamas at Walkers Cay in the B.B.C. Tournament on the Pacifier with owners, Marsha and Lenny Bierman, dear friends of mine. In the 25 years we have known each other, we have caught every species of billfish and fished every ocean in the world from the Great Barrier Reef to Mauritius to the Hannibal Bank in Panama.
While deep see fishing in this tournament off of Grand Cay, where there are undersea mountains which attract many Marlins due to all the bait fish and the planktons brought to the surface from the up dwelling currents, we witnessed a Blue Marlin hooked up and caught on a lure on the boat along side of us. It was not a large Blue Marlin, it weighed 346 lbs.
Monty Lopez, a marine biologist with the Tournament, was doing research on all the billfish brought back to the dock to determine the sex, age and condition of the fish. To Monty's amazement he found a 6 ft. White Marlin in the stomach of the Blue Marlin. The White Marlin was bent in half, like a horseshoe shape, and the "lit-up" tail of the White Marlin was still in the mouth of the Blue Marlin, not yet digested. Monty verified that the Blue Marlin had just eaten the White Marlin – this shows how aggressive a Blue Marlin can be – with a full stomach he still chased a lure! To all of our amazements, the rest of the skin of the White Marlin was eaten away from the acid of the Blue Marlin's stomach. The picture I took, which is included in this report, shows the White Marlin on top of the Blue Marlin and the digested condition of the White Marlin.
Currently, back home in Ft. Lauderdale, fishing has been good with us on the Happy Day Today with a mixed bag of fish. The early bite and late afternoon bite have taken place with the moon just full, in a range of 120 to 220 feet. King Fish have been running from 5- 12 lbs, caught on deep lines with plainers; Bonitas are being caught in the same depth and running anywhere from 6-15 lbs. I have been catching Wahoo's a little deeper, from 200-350 ft. Snapper fishing has been good on the local wrecks – we have 34 artificial wrecks in Broward County off of Ft. Lauderdale, (you can pick up a chart of any of these wrecks at any local tackle store). Mahi Mahi's have been caught further off shore (look for weed lines, floating debris and keep your eyes in the sky for the Man-of-War birds) and are running anywhere between 3-20 lbs. This past week there were two sword fish that were hooked up and caught in daytime sword fishing on the 48 line, weighing in at 400 lbs.
Shortly our mullet run will be coming down the beach in another month, followed by our sailfish. To check out more fishing reports and pictures, visit our website. Join us and enjoy a once-in-a-life-time experience – 954-439-8106 – www.topshotfishing.com
Fort Lauderdale Fishing Forecast:
Favorable winds for next week.
Target Species:
Deep Sea Fishing in Ft .Lauderdale
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