Category Archives: Fishing Report

I must be losing my mind, with rising fuel prices along with everything else I’m dropping prices through the end of this month and the first week of March! That God awful weather up North that resulted in so many canceled flights and thus many canceled fishing trips. To make it up I’m going for volume, call now before I come to my senses.
Capt. Mike
954.522.4773

Hi everyone, Capt. Mike here ready to update my readers on what’s been going on in Feb. Guys, we’ve had some real good days so far this month and we’ve had some real poor ones as well. What’s weird about this month is some of the best looking days as far as conditions ended up being some of the slow days, it made no sense at all. We would have beautiful blue water, good north current and bait in the area and little to no fish. A few days later the water was dirty, we had south current and there was weed every where and the fish were snapping. Just when you think you’ve got all the answers the fish change it up on ya. Good news, even on the slow days we still pulled some great fish out. When its slow we try everything trolling, dropping, live baiting and so on. Sometimes we go for the “Go Big or Go Home” theory and it paid off for us on multiple occassions so far this month. Nothing wrong with taking quality over quantity. I’ll take one sailfish or one big shark over a bunch of snappers anyday, unless thats what YOU want to catch. Let me know when we go. Along with sailfish and sharks this month, we are seeing huge numbers of blackfin tunas there not giants but good size footballs. We are still waiting on the kingfish to show up and the amberjacks are starting to turn on as well. Check out my blog page for specefic catches and who made them. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter here in a couple days, look for real time updates and reports.

Capt. Mike
954.522.4773

January fishing in Fort Lauderdale is exactly like December’s fishing only better. Lots and lots of sailfish continue to pour down the Gold Coast in search of bait, warmer water and prime breeding grounds off of Mexico’s Yucatan Coast. Hoards of mahi mahi also begin making a strong showing this month and unlike the schoolies we see farther offshore in the summertime, winter mahis run large often taking larger live baits intended for sailfish. Mahi Mahi seem to average in the 15 to 30 puond range this time of year, they put up a great fight and are incredible on the table as well. Big smoker kingfish will also begin crashing baits this month with plenty of snake kings as well. Big Hammerhead sharks begin to trickle through this month as well consuming big slab baits on top as well as fished on bottom. When conditions are right we fish for all these species at once so you never know whats going to bite next!

Capt. Mike
954.522.4773

December signals the official start of the Fort Lauderdale Sail fishing season! Cold fronts are pushing hoards of baitfish on their yearly southern migration and right on their tails are one of the most prized sport fish that swims anywhere in the world, the Sailfish. Sailfish are anywhere from 5-8 feet long and are colored with amazing blues, purples, silver and bronze. Sailfish are known for their incredible speed and acrobatic ability. They typically strip hundreds of yards of line from your reel while shredding the oceans surface. Live goggle eyes suspended from kites or live ballyhoo pulled from the outriggers are the preferred methods of capturing these magnificent fish. At the side of the boat once exhausted from the battle get your picture quick before releasing them to fight another day. In between sailfish bites enjoy numerous mahi mahi bites from large pairs or groups of fish. They run much larger in the winter time averaging 10-30 pounds as opposed to the “schoolies” we catch in the summertime. Wahoo, also make a strong showing this month, known for their incredible speed and their table quality, they are one of my favorites. Big smoker kingfish are also showing up along with some bonito.

Capt. Mike
954.522.4773

If November’s fishing is anything like October it’s going to be great. October brought two cold fronts and lots of sailfish along with some big mahi mahi. Most of the sails and mahi were caught kite fishing with goggle eyes or slow trolling live bally hoos. Fish were found from 80 feet of water all the way out to 400 feet or better. While the fish were spread out bites were coming in multiples. Double headers were common. November is shaping up the same way. Lots of sailfish and quite a few big wahoos around to compliment the gaffer size mahi’s that have been showing up in force. We look for clean blue water, cold or cool wind somewhere out of the north and goos north current. When all these variables line up look out, its on!!

October is right around the corner as September draws to a close for us. I couldnt be happier business begins to pick back up and fishing just gets better. The fall mullet run is in full force along with sardines and ballyhoos. Following closely is the mighty sailfish. 8 feet of blistering fury, 60 miles an hour of screaming purple and blue, shredding and tearing the cobalt ocean apart while trying to rid your hook. I am patiently waiting the first cold front of the year in October which signals the sailfish its time. Most of the year we prefer kite fishing for sailfish, but as the season opens I prefer to slow troll live ballyhoo. The sailfish are not concentrated in any one depth and can be found from 70 feet all the way out to 500 feet. So slow trolling allows me to cover more ground and find more fish. October books up quick every year so reserve your spot now so you can catch your sailfish. Bycatches will include some of the largest mahi mahi/dolphinfish of the year as they devour any thing in their path as they follow the massive bio mass of baitfish down our Fort Lauderdale coast.

Capt Mike
954.471.8560

May brings Mahi Mahi for Happy Anglers in Fort Lauderdale

As promised May’s fishing has been nothing short of spectacular. The fish on everyone’s agenda is the mahi mahi, the dorado, the dolphin fish or whatever you choose to call it, all I know is whatever name you use I think it just means delicious! This green and gold gamester travel in large schools when they are young 3-8 pounds, once they pass that mark and they are about 8-15 pounds they begin to travel in smaller packs and once 15-50 pounds they normally travel in pairs. The pairs normally consists of one big bull (male) fish and a large cow, sometimes another cow may be present. The mahi mahi is a great gamefish for several reasons, besides its table quality the mahi mahi is an eager biter, once you find the fish they are almost always willing to bite, they are beautiful with an array of green and yellows with some blues mixed in, they are great jumpers putting on some great aerial displays for your camera. Techniques for catching mahi mahi are pretty simple. The easiest is just to pull a couple of small top water lures made by soft head or some small feathers and look for birds, floating debris and weed lines. Once hooked keep one in the water to keep the school around while you catch its schoolmates on light spinning tackle with small chunks of ballyhoo or bonita. You can step it up by “Running and Gunning”, instead of fishing a lot of open clean water you can run or chug while looking for something like the before mentioned weed lines, floating debris and birds. Once found then deploy your baits and begin trolling. Yet another method is to find a weed line or rip and cut the engine, put out a chum bag and begin live chumming with small pilchards put a few on hooks and let them come to you. Keep your vhf radio on the local fishing channel and listen for the depth of fish being caught and concentrate your efforts there. Always have a larger live bait like a goggle, mullet or blue runner ready for when that big bull comes in the spread or swims up to the boat to see what’s going on. When fishing floating debris like boards or logs make sure you troll a deep bait on a planer or down rigger for wahoos that are almost always present.

Capt. Mike
www.fishlocalknowledge.com
954.522.4773