White Marlin, Sailfish & Mahi in Fort Lauderdale
Capt. David Ide
December 24, 2017
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
What a great past week it has been for our Sportfishing Charters here in Fort Lauderdale. Not only is the weather absolutely beautiful with calm seas and sunny skies, but we are also experiencing some very rare catches right now including white marlin and some big wahoo.
The morning have started out with a chill in the air and a very light breeze leaving the seas glassy. As we push away from the dock, we look forward to watch mother nature paints each day offshore. The picture is always different and the start of our winter season is officially under way.
Clearing the Port Everglades inlet puts us about 2 miles away from the fishing grounds. Did I mention we are the closest boat to the fishing in Fort Lauderdale? This gives our 4 hour trips much more fishing time than most of the fleet. As we break the 90 feet of water edge, we are looking for current, birds, weed lines, and debris to give away signs of fish in the area. It hasn't been taking long until a school of ballyhoo or flying fish goes under the boat, letting us know there are gamefish nearby.
As my mate sets out the lines, we have been hooking up quickly on kingfish from 10 to 20 pounds along with a plentiful bonita bite which make great fights and even better bait for our monster shark charters.
Check out this nice smoker going from the ocean right to the smoke house for excellent fish dip:
The limit on kingfish is 2 per person and with limits early in the am, I move on to deeper water to look for mahi. The past few days there has been a beautiful rip in about 400 feet of water with small terns feeding in the weed patches. From up in the tower I spot the mahi schools and ask our anglers to pitch live baits behind the boat. It wasn't long before we loaded up on some nice 5 to 10 pound mahi.
With a nice box of mahi and king mackerel, we still had about 2 hours left on our 6 hour sportfishing trip. I am hearing on the radio that there is a sailfish bite going on near the anchored cargo ships. These ships stay at anchor for weeks, even months on end and the bait fish congregate under them. It makes for great fishing and easy feeding for sailfish, white marlin, wahoo, jacks and much more!
I didn't have enough wind to get out the kites, so decided to troll around the ship using live baits that we caught earlier in the trip to see if anyone was home. It didn't take long to get our first bite, but unfortunately the fish got off. About 20 minutes later we had another fish on and got a good hook into her for a nice catch and release.
While not every trip can be as exciting as this one and there are no guarantees in fishing, we can guarantee that you will get an expert high level captain and mate that want to catch fish more than you do. We are passionate about putting you on fish and having fun while doing it.
We still have dates open here in the 2017 as we wrap up the year and we are booking out the winter and spring season of 2018. We are also still running the $550 special for 4 hours, so please give us a call if you are ready to go fishing.
Tight Lines,
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