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Ft Lauderdale Fishing/ Sailfish/ Dolphin
Capt. John Logan
January 10, 2012
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing for Sailfish and Dolphin has been very good lately off Ft. Lauderdale. A couple of mild cold fronts… err, cool fronts have Sailfish moving through our area and just a bit early. With today's weather, which started grey and cool, we had our hopes for a Sailfish as we headed out with Ralph and Jean from New Mexico.
Trying to buy live bait and finding none was available had us anchoring at the anchor balls just south of the port in hopes of catching some Ballyhoo. We weren't there long before the phone rang and Tim, our bait guy said he thought he could supply some "Gogs" for the kite, he had one more order to fill but it looked good. That made our day because the "Hoo's" were not coming.
With plans to attach a few Dolphin first, a couple of boats reported shots at Sailfish and we changed our plan and went straight to kite fishing. And it began very slow.
We fished for more than an hour before our first strike, a small shark about 2' in length. Very cool fish these little guys, a perfect specimen in miniature form. Don't be fooled by their size though, they hunt in packs and can still leave a very nasty bite, as our bait found out.
Setting back up a few Dolphin were caught and we had some fun with them as well. Taking some fish home was part of the plan.
But the Dolphin kept coming and eating the live bait, we only had a dozen and still hadn't seen our Sailfish.
Finally, just before noon, eyes hurting from staring at the glare that was now very present, Chris called up as he grabbed the rod. "It's him" he said, as he fed the fish. Winding down the rod and moving the boat ahead, we hooked the fish and the game was on as Jean got in the chair and settled in while Chris cleared the gear.
This fish went absolutely nuts running and jumping. We had to keep reminding jean to wind as she became enthralled at the show this fish put on. Finally, with the kites and other gear cleared, we were able to start regaining some line and going after Jean's fish.
It took about 25 minutes to get him to the boat. He was boated, photographed, measured and released. Jean and Ralph were both smiling and Chris and I were relieved that we finally got a shot at catching one of these. But our day was not over. We were out of bait so trolling was what we did.
The edge we had caught the Sail on was also holding Dolphin and some small Tuna. We continued catching fish here and there till it was time to go home.
Sailfish and Dolphin off Ft. Lauderdale, all 3 miles from shore. Not many places in the world that can provide that!
Target Species:
Sailfish, Shark, Dolphin, Tuna, Wahoo Kingfish, Bonito, Barracuda, Swordfish Marlin and more...
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