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Fishing Report for Ft. Lauderdale & Port Everglades
Capt. Cary Hanna
January 4, 2004
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Swordfishing beats the Sailfishing
Over the past week the fishing has been pretty good with a nice Kingfish bite to the south and a good Sailfish bite to the north of the Port Everglades cut. The Sails ate our kite baits with Goggle eyes and the Kingfish were hitting large Pilchard baits. The fishing lasted for a good while since our last cold front. Another front is coming our way on Tuesday and should increase the fish bite even more. I heard reports of a hot Sailfish bite in Stewart which means there are still more of them to come our way as they head south to follow the warmer water temps they prefer.
We boldly ventured out on Saturday night to go Swordfishing as the winds were supposed to be blowing 10-15 knots from the east. Instead it was like 15 -20 mph winds and seas were about 6-8 in the gulf stream were we needed to be fishing. As we headed out doing about 10-12 knots through the sloppy mess I saw a few other boats on their way out, it was nice to see some company out their and nice to know I wasn't the only crazy one. We finally reached our spot and threw out the sea anchor. As it deployed the parachute opened up and put our bow into the sea and made it actually a bit more comfortable to fish. Out goes the first deep long line, attached the jug and sent her on her way. Out goes the 2nd deep line, attached the next jug and placed her a bit shorter. Next goes #3 line placed 200 feet deep, and set just short of the #2 jug, Then the #4 tip rod goes down deep straight below the boat. Just as this one goes down the #2 rod slowly ticks off. We get tight and have our first fish on. He comes to the boat, gets leadered, gaffed and measured out at 53 inches, tip of lower jaw to fork of tail, average fish. The #4 tip rod had to get reeled in as it was just straight down from the boat. 10 minutes later the #1 rod goes off the same style, slow ticking off the reel, we get tight on him and have our second fish on. He finally gets to the boat after Dan and Bob took turns on their backs as this fished pulled harder than ever. I grab the gaff and Bob grabs the leader and tries to pull him up, this fish stayed about 10 feet below the boat and would not budge, I touched the leader to see how much pressure Bob had on it and I couldn't believe he was still holding on, he was stuck over the gunnel for about 5 hard minutes fightnig this fish by the leader. The 300 lb.leader finally cracked as it was getting chaffed on the bottom of the boat. At this point we were pretty exhausted, but I managed to send out the #3 rod farther out then it was and then send my tip rod back down. Before we can get enough rest, the jug from the #3 rod was gone and the clicker was slowly paying out. Our 3rd fish was on! This one took all 3 of us about 3 or 4 turns each to get him to the boat. He was easier to leader and when I stuck him with the gaff I saw a pair of head and shoulders the size of a football player. It took all 3 of us to lift him in the boat by the gaff with every ounce of strength we had. We finally bounced him on deck. We had to catch our breath as we all puked over the side a few times. I felt like I had run the mile in track back at high school, remember how you would sit down and put your head in between your knees to catch your breath? After about 30 minutes of recuperating we all decided to pack it up and head to the inlet. We were back on the docks at 9:30 pm. The best memories of a lifetime, and only more to come.
Till Next Tide, Captain Cary Hanna
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