Fishing Report

Monster hammerhead shark caught by Steve aboard the Out of the Blue

The sharks are snapping off Fort Lauderdale.  This year’s annual shark migration down our coastline is fully underway.  Hammerhead sharks, Fort Lauderdale’s most sought after game shark, are abundant in 350ft of water.  This is the depth where the Gulfstream waters meet with the cooler inland waters, and a temperature gradient is formed.  Sharks and other top predators like to patrol along this ‘current edge’ which is usually rich in prey.  April and May are the 2 best month for shark fishing in Fort Lauderdale.

Nice sportfishing charter in Fort Lauderdale with a big hammerhead shark release

This is a fishing trip the other day with Steve and family.  We went shark fishing and were lucky enough to catch  a monster hammerhead shark.  We didn’t just stop there.  We also caught some tunas, mackerels and a nice mahi-mahi.  Not bad for a half day fishing charter in Fort Lauderdale.  The sharks are really biting so if you want to catch a big one, NOW is the time to go.  Let’s go fishing!

Big Hammerhead shark in the water next to the boat

It took an hour and half to catch this big shark, on heavy gear.

Nice sailfish caught by Sherry sportfishing in Ft Lauderdale

A great sailfish bite is going on this week in Ft Lauderdale, especially being so late in the year.  The recent cool weather has definitely had an impact on the sailfishing. Sailfish bite really good when the wind gets chilly.  Kite fishing outside the reef in 160+ feet of water has been the best bite lately fishing off Ft Lauderdale.  Live goggle eyes and mullet work best out of the kite, but we’ve caught a few sailfish on blue runners and pilchards this week too.  While you’re kite fishing in that zone, be ready for a school of mahi to swim up on you.  They travel through that same area and kite baits will draw in inquisitive fish like mahi-mahi and sharks just as effectively as sailfish. 

Nice wahoo just caught high speed trolling in Ft Lauderdale

Wahoo are also biting good fishing Ft Lauderdale this week.  These wahoo are biting best on the troll, trolling lures and artificial baits at a fast clip.  Wahoo are the fastest fish in the ocean and you can literally NOT troll a bait too fast for wahoo.  Our best wahoo bites have been in 300-400ft of water, trolling inside and out the edge of the Gulfstream along the color change.  A lot of small-medium sized blackfin tunas are also in this area.  Trolling a few natural feathers behind the boat in addition to our bigger wahoo baits gets us good action doing this technique of fishing. 

Wahoo caught in Ft Lauderdale while High-Speed Trolling

There’s a lot of good action to be had fishing Ft Lauderdale this week.  Sportfishing boats are catching a lot of good sized gamefish as well as action.  Reefs are holding sailfish, mahi-mahi and wahoo, and the wrecks are holding jacks, grouper and cobia.  There is plenty to be caught no matter what you’re after.  Let’s go fishing!

Great catch on a fishing charter with Fishing Headquarters in Fort Lauderdale

What an off-the-scale fishing charter we had today.  Capt Rod was aboard the Big Game and took out 6 women on a deep sea fishing charter.  They said they wanted action but would like to catch something big too.  With the objective set, we set out for fishing.  Our first stop was to go kite fishing on the reef as the best bite had been early in the morning the day before.  This was a good plan because it wasn’t 1/2 hour with the kites out that we had a sailfish jumping behind the boat.  It was a 7ft sailfish and with an experienced lady angler in the chair, we caught the sailfish in under 15 minutes.

Ladies fishing trip with Fishing Headquarters- nice sailfish catch!

With a sailfish already caught and the wind starting to die off, we reeled in the kites and went trolling.  Within a few minutes of trolling, we had a nice mahi-mahi on the end of the line… a nice find in only 150ft of water.  We trolled a while longer with a few mystery hits that didn’t get hooked.  When we got up to the north, just off Pompano Beach, we started doing deep drops on some shipwrecks we know in 300ft of water.   The bite was AMAZING!!!

Mutton snapper caught deep dropping in Ft Lauderdale

Almaco jacks were snapping, we could hardly get a bait to the bottom.  Every single drop we caught a nice fish.  The first couple were almaco jacks.  Then we caught a nice mutton snapper….. and then another almaco jack…. and then a 20 pound black grouper…. and then another almaco jack.  The bite was awesome, better than the fishing in Ft Lauderdale has been in a long while.  We headed back to dock with a banner catch:  1 sailfish, 1 mahi-mahi, 5 almaco jacks, 1 mutton snapper and a black grouper.  The Spring fishing season is finally here, a time when the deep sea fishing off the coast of Fort Lauderdale rivals the action of anywhere in the world.  Good luck fishing the next few months everyone and enjoy the great fishing in Fort Lauderdale.

Black grouper caught deep dropping on a fishing charter

Monster warsaw grouper caught deep dropping in 250ft of water off Ft Lauderdale

Action is heating up on the shipwrecks of Ft Lauderdale.  Lots of big fish including amberjacks, groupers and cobia are showing up for us on the 200-300ft shipwrecks off the coast of Ft Lauderdale.  First off, amberjacks are showing up, which are the most fun fish in the ocean to catch.  They are big fish and they fight like a truck, making them one of Fort Lauderdale’s top gamefish.  Amberjacks are really agressive and they don’t let a bait sit there long.  They are famous for taking the bait the second it hits the bottom.  Almaco jacks, a close cousin to amberjacks, are just as aggressive and inhabit the same areas.

Nice amberjack caught deep dropping on a wreck in Fort Lauderdale

If the jacks don’t attack the bait as soon as it hits the bottom, you have a shot at some of the other wreck dwellers.  Groupers are the next most abundant fish on the wrecks.  Groupers you may find around the wrecks this season are black grouper, gags, red grouper and warsaw groupers.  Beware of groupers, they often take the bait and run into their hole/wrap you up on the rocks.  For this reason, lean toward heavier gear when fishing around the wrecks and plenty of drag on the reel.  You have to get the fish away from the rocks as quickly as you can.  Once he’s away from the rocks, you’re in the clear.

Nice cobia caught by these kids on a Ft Lauderdale Sportfishing Charter

Cobia are another fish we’re catching with more frequency this time of year on our sportfishing charters.  Cobia get big, 40-60 pounds, sometimes bigger.  They are a tasty treat to catch fishing off a wreck.  They tend to school up and follow behind stingrays, whales, sea turtles or any wandering sea creature.  They scarf up crabs and other crustaceons the stingrays uncover, which gives their meat such a good flavor.  “Poor man’s lobster” is the other name for cobia.  Expect to see quite a few cobias caught over the next month and a half.  There is some great fishing brewing offshore of Fort Lauderdale and some nice fish hitting the dock.  Let’s go fishing!