The big game fish have been snapping off the coast of Ft Lauderdale these past couple weeks, and it looks as if its not slowing down any. When I say big game fish, I’m speaking of sailfish, big dolphins, sharks, amberjacks, and wahoo. There’s a lot biting off the reefs of South Florida these days. This year has been one of the best years lately on sailfish and big dolphins. Its good to see all these fish moving through our backyard again.
First off, here’s a great shot of some real beauties… and a great fish too. The mahi-mahi have been biting excellent out of Fort Lauderdale all this month and I forsee them hanging around for May and June also. Almost all the dolphin we’ve been getting lately have weighed at least 15-20 pounds. Those are pretty nice dolphins if you were wondering. In June/July we’ll be getting the big schools of dolphin but they will be the schoolie sized ones. These big ones strictly come through like this in the Springtime.
Wahoo have also been mixed in with the other fish we’re catching. Whenever we’re trolling the reef or high speed trolling offshore, we always have a deep bait out there for that random wahoo we happen to pass over. You never know when they are going to hit. In fact, they almost always seem to bite when you least expect it. The exhillaration you feel, when you get that wahoo on your line, is unmistakable. Wahoo are the fastest fish in the ocean. Its quite fitting really, since they are shaped exactly like a perfectly aerodynamically engineered missle. When they take the bait, it is common for them to go on the fastest initial run of any fish we catch. They can pull line off the reel so quickly that the drag system begins to smoke. Now thats a fast fish. Add to that the fact that they are one of the best eating fish in the ocean and wahoo truly are a prized fish to catch out there.
The shark fishing hasn’t slowed down any either. Its still big game shark season out of Fort Lauderdale now and they are eating machines. There is no guarantee that your going to catch a shark or not on one of our charters, but the chances are pretty dang good. There is a huge migration right now of the really big game sharks about 2 miles offshore of Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Pompano. They are moving through, so they are hungry. Put down a big bloody bait in 350′ of water and you’re very likely to be pulling up something bigger than you are. The big hammerheads, sand bar sharks, and threshers are migrating through, but they won’t be here forever. The hammerheads will be here for another month, then the big sandbar sharks and smaller spinners. Then we have have to wait again till next year for the sharks to reappear. It’s always fun while they’re here though. This is the end of this report, but I still have more photos of some more recent catches that I’ll be posting in a day or 2. Sea ya out there in the deep…
