Quick Cast:
 Area Reports
 Find-a-Guide
 Forums
 Tides

Departments:
 Articles
 Books
 Clubs & Orgs.
 Fishing Reports
 Feedback
 Forums
 Fly Fishing
 Guides & Charters
 Links
 Photo Gallery
 Reef Locator
 Regulations
 Software
 Survey
 Tournaments
 Travel
 Weather
 Home

Administration:
 About Us
 Advertising
 Contact
 Privacy
 Terms of Use
 Web Development

Sailfish and Wahoo Biting Good, Snappers and Groupers Too

Capt. Paul Roydhouse
January 10, 2018
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report

Click to Enlarge Photo


The sailfish were slow to start this year but have finally started showing up. The cooler weather this past week has gotten them biting. I was a bit worried. 3 cold fronts into winter and they really hadn't started biting that great. This week, they finally started up like they should be biting. Best bite is definitely in 120-180 feet of water, the tract of ocean affectionately known as sailfish alley. For sailfish, you can catch them trolling or live baiting.

Click to Enlarge Photo


Trolling is when we use artificial lures and rigged baits. We drive around the reef to cover as much ground as we can. We can catch anything on the troll. This time of year, we typically catch blackfin tunas, bonitos, kingfish, mahi and sometimes even big game wahoo and sailfish. You never know what you may catch and because of the variety of different bottom and spots you can cover when you are trolling, you can literally catch just about anything.

Click to Enlarge Photo


For live baiting, there are a few options. It all depends on how much wind there is that day. On days with little to no wind, you can choose slow-trolling live baits. It is very similar to regular trolling. Except we are dragging live baits around instead of dead and rigged baits. We can't cover anywhere near the same amount of territory when live baiting, but the live baits themselves make up for that when they emit their fish-in-distress vibrations. This calls fish in from a long ways away, basically saying, "Dinner's on!". This allows us to cover less territory in total, but with greater effectiveness. This is slow trolling live baits, which is the first method of live baiting. Kite fishing is out other technique of live bait fishing.

Click to Enlarge Photo


Kite fishing is the other technique of live baiting that we do, especially when the wind is up. For kite fishing, you must have a strong, steady wind or else it would be more effective to slow troll the live baits. When kite fishing, we fly either one or two kites. Along the kite line, there will be a couple of pressure release clips, which we use to hold the fishing line up high, suspended from the kites. This is the premise of kite fishing, to keep everything except for the baitfish itself out of the water. With the kites up, you are mostly immobile. You can make some slow, short corrections to location, and you do drift with the current, but you can't move easily. The kites are so effective because the hook-up ratio (ratio of fish that come up to eat the bait vs. fish that actually get hooked) is very high, and the fish-in-distress vibrations that the baitfish emit are much amplified when the baits are suspended from the kites and forced to keep their heads underwater. Kite fishing is far and away, the most effective method to target sailfish.

Click to Enlarge Photo


There's less fish in total to catch this month, but there are some of our biggest and best fish biting. This isn't the month for action, but if you want to catch the biggest fish that Fort Lauderdale has to offer, this is the season that you need to fish. Good luck fishing out there everyone. I will sea you on the water.

Capt. Paul Roydhouse
754-214-7863
www.FishHeadquarters.com

Click to Enlarge Photo

More Fishing Reports:

 

Come fishing with us on one of our 3 daily trips aboard the 85ft Catch My Drift for only $40 per person. Drift fish the reefs for kingfish, tuna, snapper and grouper. Also, Sportfishing charters with Capt Paul Roydhouse catch some of the biggest fish in the ocean. Capt Paul is a Ft Lauderdale native fisherman, with over 43 years of local, full-time fishing experience. We also run All Day Fishing trips for only $100 per person aboard the Mary B III. Sportfishing/drift fishing combo trip.

Contact Info:

Fishing Headquarters
301 Seabreeze Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316
Phone: 954-525-4665
Alt. Phone: 754-214-7863
Email the Captain
Visit his Web Site
Browse Photo Gallery
Display Find-a-Guide Listing


Copyright © 1997-2024, CyberAngler - All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy :: Terms of Use
For Questions and comments please use our Feedback Form
Back to the Top