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Fishing Report for Ft. Lauderdale & Port Everglades
Capt. Cary Hanna
November 14, 2005
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Big Game in Ft. Lauderdale
If your one of those guys who follows the big game such as Tuna, Yellowfin and Bluefin etc. You have got to get on down to Ft. Lauderdale and get on some nice size Swordfish. Our weather lately has been blowing 15-20 knots but with the Bahamas on our northeast to southeast side you can still get out for the 15 mile ride and catch fish. Since last August there have been catches of large fish over 500 pounds each month. Just this past week a 405 lb. Sword was caught and we came into some nice fish as well.
I went back and forth with phone calls Friday afternoon as we kept logging in to the updated weather reports on the internet and kept coming up with "small craft advisory" especially for the gullf stream. Being a bunch of testoterone filled junkies we decided to head out to the Sword grounds. We made it out a little late at 6:45 pm and started to set up our spread. The swells were big but it was definately doable. 4 rods get baited and set and then the sea anchor was deployed and we wait.
A few moments later the deep rod gets attention and our angler is on the rod. The fish was coming up and with all the adrenaline around the line got egged up on the spool and we lost the fish. Can't forget to level wind, I can say it happens to the best of us. Ok so I reset the line, attach the float, and send her off when line ripped off the reel quickly then stopped, leaving me with a small backlash. I stared at the float and she was still upright so I pulled line off the spool quickly and we all noticed the float slowly tipping over. The backlash wasn't out yet and I was pulling as fast as I could. Finally the mess was done and we cranked hard until we got tight. The fish never surfaced so he must of just ate our bait and swallowed to you know where. 30 minutes later the fattest fish from head to tail comes in the boat. He looked like someone put an air compressor to him. I could see the fish had a nice orange color to his skin, later to find out he had pumpkin meat like a Salmon.
The tip line gets reset this time down deep. A moment later for some reason I touched the line above the reel. I notice it was slack, not normal for the tip rod. Without even thinking I start cranking on the reel as fast as ever. I wasn't coming tight and the line was still slack. With no time to slow down I kept up the fast cranking and started to feel her but I could barely keep up with her, I would feel weight then nothing, I felt her again then nothing as she raced to the surface trying to beat me. All of this within 20 seconds. Finally the most amazing thing happens that's stuck in my minds eye. At the same time I see my Electralume and this fish go airborn within 30 feet from the boat. The light went about 5 feet in the air and we see this enormous splash. The fish rushed the boat and went deep. To my surprise the rod was bent over and we were still on. This fish ran like a freight train close to 300 yards without stopping. My angler and client Tom from Naples manages to get line back on the spool only for the fish to get ticked off by peeling line off again. My sea sanchor was out and we are queastioning if we should pull it in. Tom gets the spool to about half full and the fish gets upset again and this time harder than the other times by far, he wasn't stopping. At this point in time I had no choice but to put the drag in full, pop him or stop him. I grabbed the sea anchor ropes and pulled as fast as I could, got it in and started the engines and made chase slowly in the 4-7 foot seas. We were down to the bottom of the spool, full drag, rod bent over hard, and straight up and down on this fish. Tom started gaining on him and I set him up in the harness for the stand-up battle. He did an awsome job lifting this fish. I personally think stand up is the best way to lift a fish fast rather than fighting him in the rod holder. Tom's personal best was a 174 pound Blue marlin and he wanted to beat that bad.
The NE winds were still howling 20+ knots pushing the boat against the current that was moving north underneath us. 1 hour and 50 minutes pass by and the fish is on the surface. I had the feeling he was dead as he acted the same way a few others have come to the boat dead. Getting this dead fish to the boat was a big task as it was like fighting a live fish as the current was pulling it away from the boat and the winds pushed us away from it as well. We got the gaff to her and heaved her in the transom door. She layed a 1/2 inch short of 80 inches fork length and had a 50 inch girth measurement. We all celabrated with a quick beer and high fives and were back at the docks before 11pm. Doesn't get much better than that.
Closer to shore there has been alot of Dolphin action. We were out on Sunday and ran into 2 schools of them in 4-5 hundred feet catching as much as we wanted. Most were throughbacks as they were smaller school fish but we were able to manage some keepers on Pilchard baits and jigs. A few Kingfish and Barracuda's were biting closer in. The water was challenging as it was blowing 20-25 knots all morning with seas at 5-7 feet and sloppy. I'm sure if conditions were better so would have the fishing.
Cold fronts will be moving through now and so will bigger fish. Keep your eye out for Yellowfin and Bluefin Tuna that will come by quickly and be gone just as fast. Watch those kite baits, you never know who's going to come by. That's it for now, I hope everyone is doing well locally from the hurricane. As for anyone visiting Ft. Lauderdale there are many hotels that faired well and some that didn't. Don't let that stop you from visiting, it's a great place to vacation.
See you on the rip,
Captain Cary Hanna
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