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Fishing Report for Ft. Lauderdale & Port Everglades
Capt. Cary Hanna
August 22, 2005
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hot month for fishing and the heat!
The night trips prevailed this past week over the day trips. Thursday night (8-18-05) we decided to get a Sword trip in so we headed out and caught plenty of bait. We get on the grounds and put out the spread for the early bite. Not much to it as we finished that drift and found a few baits slashed and our live baits missing without a trace. So we made good efforts and reset the boat upcurrent a few miles and put out the spread once again. This time I set out the deep line, attached the float and sent her out in freespool. The line gets slammed, I manage to get my hand on the spool to avoid a backlash, I set the drag, came tight and pulled the hooks within 30 seconds. I reeled her up and put on a new bait and set her back down and this time I was able to set the line right. But within 5 minutes lined started clicking off the reel. I let her eat for a few seconds and came tight to a nice fish. Jimmy was prepared already wearing the gimbal and I strapped him into the harness. The fish ate the bait on the Tiagra 80 wide with the drag set at 16 pounds of strike. Up and down we go with this fish for 45 minutes. Jimmy was sweating hard and looked like he was going to boil at any moment. His wife Beth had to pour Gatorade down his throat while he kept both hands on the reel. We finally get to the swivel and I grab the long leader and start leading him to the boat. Jimmy gets out of the harness and grabs the gaff. The fish's bill breaks the water and Jimmy then hands me the gaff and I stuck him right where it hurts. We both pulled up this fish and found her to be a nice fatty weighing approximately 150 pounds. She was feeding good as her belly was so full. At the docks we found over 50 squids in her.
On Saturday night we headed out again with Tim Nickey and his family from Boca. Catching bait was not a problem. Again our first drift did not produce a fish. We reset up south of the whole fleet this time. This drift was better than the first one because the wind died down a bit and our drift was almost a true north. This time the tip rod goes down a few times. I cranked to get her tight and Tim's dad gets on this fish and brings him to the boat in no time. I leadered in this spunky fish and brought him aboard to get the hook out and get a few snapshots. We had to release this fish because he was a little short.
We reset the bait and just past 1 AM we get the next hit again on the tip rod with squid bait. This time Tim's friend Pavel gets on the rod and has a bit of a challenge as this fish comes out of the deep and jumps making a big bow in the line. Pavel reeled hard and kept tight as the fish quickly sounded. But then again the fish came up and jumped but Pavel reeled hard once again and stayed tight. The fish acted a little funny now as line was coming off the reel but in weird spurts. 25 minutes of staying tight on this fish and we are at the swivel. I lead this fish to the boat and put the gaff to him securely and put him in the boat. This one was a keeper with a length of 56 inches and a 36 inch girth weighing about 90 pounds and was foul hooked in the side. Congradulations and high fives around the boat as Tim and friends have their first successful Swordfishing night going 2 for 2.
This weekend is the "Child is Missing" Swordfish tournament. My boat will be in it to win it. Over the past couple of nights 2 Swordfish over 500 pounds were caught in the northern areas off Stewart. Some big fish are moving through. I hope they stick around for awhile.
Till next tide,
Captain Cary Hanna
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