Fishing Report

Big amberjack caught drift fishing over a wreck.

The fishing is good this week in Fort Lauderdale.  Kingfish are biting good on the morning and afternoon drift fishing trips.  They kingfish are staying pretty deep this year, out in 150-160 foot of water.  We are catching most of them on ballyhoo and sardines.  A few blackfin tuna and bonitos are also mixed in with them.  If you’re really lucky, there are even a few wahoos around and biting.  Mangrove snappers are showing up and biting really good in the afternoons.  Other bottom fish like mutton snapper, red grouper and amberjacks are also biting sporadically while bottom fishing.  There’s a good variety of fish biting on the top and the bottom.

Nice wahoo caught by Ira on the drift fishing trip

A lot of mahi-mahi are also biting on the reef. Every trip this week we’ve caught at least a few mahi-mahis.  The big bull in the picture below weighed 37 pounds.  It was caught earlier in the week on our drift trip aboard the Catch My Drift.  While most of the dolphin we’re catching are 3-6 pounds, a few monster dolphin have tipped the scales at 35 lbs. +.  Winter is the season for big fish.  Good luck to everyone fishing over the Christmas holiday.  Sea ya on the water.

Triple wahoos caught sportfishing in Ft Lauderdale on the Keeping It Reel.

The wahoo fishing is getting good in Ft Lauderdale.  The past couple days they’ve just been everywhere, 100, 200, 300 feet of water.  Trolling, live baiting, drift fishing, anything, they are just biting everything.  They haven’t been monster wahoo, but they sure have been plentiful.  Most of the ‘hoos we’re catching are 12-15 pounds, but a couple bigger ones over 20.  The Keeping it Reel caught a triple header wahoo trolling in 200 foot of water today, along with a nice bull dolphin and 2 sailfish!  Winter fishing is always good in Ft Lauderdale.  Sailfish are still biting nicely on the reef.  We still haven’t gotten our SUPER BIG sailfish snap yet, but it’s coming and it’s coming SOON!  Get ready!  Probably the next cold snap and we’ll catch like 10 a day.

Wahoos, Sailfish and Dolphin biting today in Ft Lauderdale

The mahi-mahi are still biting good too.  Not quite as good as last weeks big snap, but we’re catching them in on the reefs, which means we’re catching them drift fishing and sport fishing.  It’s always awesome to catch dolphin on the reef drift fishing trip.  Speaking of drifting, we’re catching a mixed bag on the drift boat.  Some kingfish, some mahi-mahi, some small blackfin and skipjack tunas are biting, a few mutton snappers and yellowtails on the bottom, and even a sailfish on the drift sometimes.  Pretty good catches on the morning and afternoon trips.  The all day trip is getting a good pick on dolphin this week.  With 8 hours, they can really hunt them down.  Wahoo and tuna are also biting good on the all day trip.  Great fishing in Ft Lauderdale this week.  Get out there while the fishing is hot.  Tight lines.

Fishing trip on the Mary B III today

Nice wahoo caught fishing on the Mary B III today

Sailfish on splashdown in Fort Lauderdale

Sailfishing in Fort Lauderdale is heating up this week with the 20+ mph east winds we’re getting this week.  The Out of the Blue is crushing the sailfish on their sportfishing charters, kite fishing in 100-150′ of water.  Yesterday’s morning charter landed 2 sailfish and the afternoon trip caught 4 and missed 2 others!  Afternoons are catching more sailfish on average than the morning trips are.  Rough seas  make it a little tougher to fish, but it is on the roughest days when the fishing is the best.  Dolphin are also scattered all over the reef and are giving us a lot action.  The 15+ days we’ve had of continuous east winds are pushing them in on the reef and we are loving it!  Just about every trip we’ve fished this week has caught dolphin.  The Mary B III all day dolphin trip is catching the most numbers of them.  With 8 hours to fish, they can fish spend a serious amount of time fishing for dolphin.

Capt Rod and Al with a big sailfish caught sportfishing in Fort Lauderdale

Tuna are also scattered on the reefs.  We’re getting into a variety of them.  Bonitos, blackfin tuna, skipjacks and even a couple small yellowfin were caught this week.  They are biting good on the troll.  Natural feathers and swimming ballyhoo baits are working well for catching the tunas.  Most of these tunas are 5-10 pound, but we do catch a 20-30 pounder every now and then.  A few cobia are also hitting out there.  We are catching them around the wrecks and sometimes around a turtle or big ray that swims by.  Always keep a pitch bait ready to throw.  You never know when a cobia may be about.

Big cobia caught drift fishing aboard the Catch My Drift

Night anchor fishing for snappers is also catching a lot of big mangroves and muttons and lot of small yellowtail snappers.  The best bite is going on in shallow water, 20-30 feet deep is best depth for mangroves.  Many of the ‘grovers’ we are getting are 4-5 pounds, nice size snapper!  Muttons are also nice size this time of year and numerous.  You can’t go wrong fishing a ballyhoo plug on the bottom in Fort Lauderdale.  The mates will rig you up!  Good luck to everyone fishing this week, the fishing is GOOD!

Mr Lee and Sami with a big mutton snapper caught on the night anchor fishing trip

38 pound Bull dolphin caught on a sportfishing charter in Fort Lauderdale

We are having an awesome couple of days of fishing here in Fort Lauderdale.  The fishing on our reefs has just gotten incredible.  Sailfish are biting all over the place, big bull dolphin are being caught in 150 foot of water, schools of small dolphins everywhere… there is some serious action going on.  This is the best fishing I have seen in a while.  Today, Capt. Rod took out a morning sportfishing charter aboard the Out of the Blue.  They started off the trip flying the kites in 150 foot of water.  20 minutes went by and then they saw the dolphin swimming in hard on the left long.  A bull that size pushes a wake of water as he is charging toward the bait.  The dolphin gagged down the goggle eye and was immediately hooked.  The angler did an awesome job and we caught the fish in under a half hour.  He weighed 38 pounds.

Lots of dolphins caught today aboard the Out of the Blue

There were a lot of big dolphin caught today.  The Catch My Drift caught a couple big dolphin on their morning trip today too.  The dolphin have been biting all week, but today was the best day so far.  Capt Greg and Kevin were fishing on the Keeping It Reel today on an all day charter.  They caught 15 dolphin trolling and live baiting on the reef, and went 1 for 2 on sailfish.  The fishing is just awesome and the cool weather that just hit today might make this awesome fish snap last for a couple more days.  Get out there fishing while you can!  The all day fishing trip is sailing every day this week and we have plenty of room still on our shared sportfishing charters over the next couple days.  Even the drift fishing trips are doing great.  Good luck to everyone on the trips this week.  Catch a bunch!

Awesome sailfish jumping picture taken from a cell phone camera

55 pound wahoo caught drift fishing

The fishing in Fort Lauderdale is getting hot this month.  Sailfish are slamming on the reef.  On our sportfishing trips, we’ve caught at least one sailfish on every single trip this week and a few trips where we’ve caught doubles and triples.  Sailfish are biting awesome.  The stong winds we’re getting these days is great for kite fishing.  We’re also catching a couple sails while trolling and on the drift fishing trips.  Sportfishing boats aren’t the only ones who catch sailfish.  The Catch My Drift and Mary B III are also catching their fair share of sailfish too.

30 pound cow dolphin caught drift fishing on the Catch My Drift

With the strong east winds we’re getting lately, mahi-mahi are coming in on the reefs to feed.  Bull dolphins and schoolie sized dolphin are biting in only 130′ of water.  We are catching them on both the drift fishing trips and on the sportfishing boats.  Most of the dolphins average 5-8 pounds and we’ve caught a couple monsters that have weighed 25-35 pounds.  We caught this 30 pound cow the other day drift fishing aboard the Catch My Drift.  Tunas are also around and biting in the same areas.  If you get lucky, you may run into a school of blackfin tunas out there.

The sailfish are snapping this season. November and December are the peak months for sailfish.

Bottom fishing also deserves an honorable mention from this fishing report.  Mutton snappers, yellowtail snapper and grouper are biting good around our local shipwrecks and patch reefs.  Night fishing for snappers has been particularly productive.  On our night anchor trip, we’ve had some outstanding fishing trips the past couple nights on yellowtails and mangrove snappers.  Last night Capt. Dale reported catching over 90 assorted snappers on the trip.  That’s some killer bottom fishing.  It’s been an exciting couple of weeks and we are looking forward to some awesome fishing during November.