Fort Lauderdale, FL
Capt. Paul Roydhouse
February 8, 2008
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
Big Game Fishing in Fort Lauderdale in February with Fishing Headquarters
2/8/08 It’s February and the big game fish are moving through again. Every year, this time of year, we get a massive migration of some monster game fish. February though May is probably the best time of the year to go fishing in South Florida. Right off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, the Gulf Stream current comes closer to shore than anywhere else on the eastern seaboard. Right on the edge of the stream, usually about 2-3 miles offshore is where we like to fish. Lately, kite fishing on that current edge has been yielding some very large fish. Huge game sharks, like hammerheads, threshers, sand bar sharks, bull sharks, and sometimes even makos will be biting for the next few months. This month alone we’ve already released a ton of big game sharks we’ve caught for our customers. Yes, this is the time of year where you can catch something bigger than you are.
The best bite lately has been with kite fishing. If you’ve never tried kite fishing before, it’s a great technique. We fly kites off the back of the boat and dangle live baits from pressure release clips along the kite line. The result is the bait is suspended right on the surface of the water, splashing around and making vibrations for the bigger game fish to pick up on. When that sailfish, big game shark or monster mahi mahi comes up to eat the bait, the fish literally has to stick his back out of the water to eat the bait. You get to see the whole bite sequence when the big fish comes up and chases the bait around on the top of the water. It is very exciting. This month has been and will continue to be great for sailfishing.
With the kites out and baits on the top of the water, there is still room to put out some big baits on the bottom. We like to fish a great big bloody bonito or a fresh kingfish head as a bottom bait. With one or 2 big bottom baits down, you never know what might bite them. This time of year, we get monster sharks, big golden amberjacks, and huge groupers on the bottom baits we put out. This is an extremely effective way to fish this time of the year and you can expect to see some monster fish caught in the next few months. Already the big sailfish have been biting voraciously. Kite fishing and trolling have been working excellent for sailfish, big mahi mahi, tuna, wahoo and more.
All in all, great fishing lately and we are getting right into the best time of year to go fishing. If you’re looking for some awesome big game fishing, great bottom wreck fishing, or some fun action on the troll, this is about the best time of year to fish in the Fort Lauderdale area. See ya all out on the water.
Swordfishing Report for Fort Lauderdale
2/8/08 The Swordfishing lately has been productive lately as well. Night fishing is still the best for catching numbers of swordfish, although the new style of daytime Swordfishing has been catching all the biggest ones. In the daytime swordfish go down to the bottom to rest and sometimes feed on the creatures down at those abysmal depths. In the nights, swordfish rise to within a few hundred feet of the surface to feed on the schools of squids and mackerels. Our night Swordfishing trips have been coming in with an average of 2 swordfish per trip lately. Some nights are slower than others, but the norm has been great fishing on our night time Swordfishing trips. Daytime Swordfishing is hit or miss lately, but if you are lucky enough to hook into one, there’s a good chance it’s going to be a monster swordfish.
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