Deep Sea Fishing in Ft.Lauderdale on Happy Day Today
Capt. David Zsak
January 1, 2011
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
It is just a normal day here in sunny South Florida off of Ft. Lauderdale. Winds out of the east 7-12 mph, blue skies, temperature in the mid 70's, and it looks like a great day for deep sea fishing. Mr. Don Grove and son, Jack, from Texas chartered the Happy Day Today to start off the New Year with a deep sea fishing excursion in South Florida off of Ft. Lauderale.
Usually at this time of year, the large King Fish move into our area. The preferred method for catching a large King Fish, which are also called anacondas (an average King Fish is called a snake), is using live bait (Blue Runners, Goggle Eyes, Bonitas, Mullets, etc.) either from kites or from outriggers and using a stinger rig (a trailing hook) on the bait. King Fish are noted for chopping the baits in half and just leaving the head of the bait. Having the tailing hook increases your hook up ratio.
We started off by doing some trolling in 110-180 ft. off of South Florida's sea buoy in Ft. Lauderdale, using two deep rods with plainers, one with a 3 1/2 drom blue reflector spoon and the other with a pink sea witch with a Bonita strip, and Ballyhoos for surface baits. Catching the "snakes" average from 5-15 lbs. was fun for Jack to catch I told Mitch, our mate, "let's set up for some live baiting to catch a large Anaconda." After about 35 minutes of live baiting from the riggers, a missile shot out of the water on the long right outrigger. This large King Fish exited the water to a height of 15 ft. At that point the line screamed off the Shimano TLD25 reel. At first we thought it wasn't a King Fish, the way the fish was fighting was not normal - he stayed on the surface and acted just like a Sailfish would. Twenty minutes into the hook up, the fish was coming closer to the boat - I could see his colors flashing at a depth of 20 ft. down. I told Mitch, "It looks to me as if he is hooked in the side - be gentle wiring the fish in." As the Fish got closer to the boat, I could see that it was an Anaconda, which explained why the fish acted differently. After Mitch gaffed the fish and its razor teeth were exposed, Jack knew enough to stand back. Mitch smiled up at me and said, "The only hook in the fish is the trailing hook - that saved the day." It does not make any difference where you hook the fish as long as he is in the boat.
We headed back from our 4 hour deep sea fishing charter trip to the dock at Bahia Mar, in South Florida, Fort Lauderdale. This ends another successful and adventurous fishing excursion on the Happy Day Today with Captain Zsak.
Join us and enjoy a once-in-a-life-time experience – 954-439-8106 – www.topshotfishing.com
Target Species:
King Fish
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