February - Billfish action!
Capt. David Ide
March 1, 2008
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
The sailfish are definitely out and about this week. A cold front passed through Tuesday night with temperatures reaching 59 degrees as our high, and the outcome was unbelievable. Several charter fleets in town were seeing double even triple header sails. Whether you were trolling, live-baiting or had kites soaring, you were almost guaranteed to catch a "sailing fish." Our best day had to of been Wednesday. We were 6 for 8 on the sailfish bite, caught a 50 lb golden amberjack on the wreck and fought a nice size hammerhead for over an hour. If fishing could only be like this all year round.
The bait has moved back in to Fort Lauderdale and brought the game sharks along with the sailfish. You can expect to catch Tiger sharks, Bull sharks, Mako sharks, Hammerhead sharks, Thresher sharks and Black Tips. Game sharks come in from the North to the South. The key to these bad boys is bomber sized bonito and king fish with three large hooks. We go out to about 350' of water and put a bait out of the kite. We then drop another bait in the middle of the water column at 150' of water. Last but not least, the bottom bait! The bottom bait is dropped all the way to the bottom (hence the name) at 350' of water. The spread is then out in the Gulf Stream current. Sharks are attracted to scent, so the longer you wait, the chance of catching a monster is more likely. This is a great way to get in on some game shark action.
Kite fishing and wreck fishing like never before!
We have been very successful in 100'-200' of water using live goggle eyes and thread fin herrings. These little guys have produced a great migration of sailfish along with some nice gaffer mahi-mahi.
The steel ship wrecks off of Fort Lauderdale range from 80-200 feet long, and run up and down the Florida coast. Fortunately, Fort Lauderdale houses a majority of these wrecks only about 2 miles offshore. Dropping on these wrecks is sort of like dropping in on their front door step. You either get a bite immediately or not at all. Around this time of year, we prefer to use 80 Shimanos, 200 lb test and a live bait on the end of a very long liter. Pin fish, bullets, speed o's and tinker mackerels make great bait if you like fresh snapper or grouper for dinner.
Hopefully this cold weather keeps up and the fishing will only get better!
Tight Lines,
Captain David Ide
Target Species:
Dolphin, wahoo, sharks, snapper, grouper, sailfish, swordfish
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