January 19th, 2012
Unreal Fishing in Fort
Lauderdale. Well finally we got the cold front
we needed to get the sail fish moving down. Today we
had David and his son David along with Debra and Laura all
from Michigan.
Truth being told David the
son had given me a call looking for one of those $35
dollar per person over crowded drift boats. I had told him
that the cheapest price was not always your best bang for
the buck and I sort of talked him into fishing with us
aboard a sport fishing boat without a bunch of others
fishing right next to him and bettering his odds of
catching fish. As everyone showed up I pulled them
all aside and told them how I had talked David into
chartering a sport fish boat instead of a drift boat and I
also had to let them know that the last few days fishing
was a bit on the slow side but assured them that I was
going to do everything I could to catch them fish.
As we headed out and
motoring to the south J.J. was up on the fly bridge with
me talking about what we could do to better our odds of
catching. At the same time we were listening to all the
other captains talking on the radio saying fishing was
slow and it seemed nothing was biting. J.J. and I
were looking at the sea conditionings with a hard north
current and nice 4 foot swells coming out of the north and
a cool 55 degrees we thought things could not have looked
any better for sail fishing!!
Let me take a moment to say
when we are kite fishing I drive the boat standing
backwards looking at the kite baits at all times. J.J.
suggested that since conditionings looked so good that
today I might want to keep an eye forward looking for sail
fish tailing down see and he would keep his eyes on the
kite baits! Just as the words came out of his mouth
he yelled out look there a sail tailing right now!!! I
looked but just could not seem to spot him so I yelled out
as I was darting down the stairs put us on him I’ll toss
a bait to him.
Sure enough J.J. put us
just down sea from the sail and I got the bait right in
front of him BUT he was hauling butt and just kept
going. Ok at least we knew we were in the right area
now and out went the baits. Once all 4 baits were
set in the kites I kept looking forward and sure enough I
seen 2 sails tailing down sea. I yelled down to J.J. here
they come as he casted a live bait in front of them but
once again they were moving fast and just kept going to
the south. But wait they had to get by our kite baits and
just like that we had 2 sails fighting over one of our
baits. Then just like that they swim off (RATS).
Than all of a sudden one had gotten by us but still had to
go by our kite baits and BAM we were Hooked Up.
Not only were we Hooked Up
but also this was a monster sailfish. David jumped in the
chair and the battle was on. After a good 20 min back and
forth tug a war David finally got his 93-inch sailfish to
the boat. Both David’s looked up at me and said
YEP this beats the heck out of a crowded drift boat and
needless to say I was feeling good at this point!!
Once we got the baits set back out there BAM another
sailfish no I mean 2 more sails and now we were fighting a
double header. 25 min later we got these 2
next to the boat. We got a couple more pictures of these
sails and watched them both swim away in good shape.
In total we seen 11
sailfish tailing and caught the 3 we got to bite.
David, David, Laura and Debra thanks for a very exciting
fishing trip and remember the cheapest price is not always
the best deal1 (LOL)
January 18th, 2012
Today we took out Tom and his
2 sons Ryan and Jake from Wisconsin. Today we knew
fishing was going to be a struggle with no current what so
ever and with a milky green colored water on the
reef. All the same we went right to trolling the
reef looking for anything we could get to bite one of our
baits. Truth is fishing was just plain old slow
today but we hung in there and kept trying different
styles of fishing from slow trolling live baits to deep
drops to trolling the reef with planner boards.
At last we did managed to
catch one nice kingfish and a couple of small black fin
tunas. Tom, Ryan and Jake thanks again for spending
a few hours fishing with us aboard the Hooked Up.
January 17th, 2012
Today we set out fishing off
the coast of Fort Lauderdale with Paul from Main, Eric
from Texas, Ivan from New York and Laura from St
Louis. We started out trolling the reef trying to
catch a few kingfish or bonitos but all we ended up with
was a black fin tuna landed by Eric. Ok so in came
the trolling gear and out went the kites. We were going
for hero or zero. Soon after setting all the live
baits out here came our day saver when this big sailfish
swim by and just like that BAM things turned around for
us. Paul jumped in the chair and the fight was on.
After a good 20 min of a
back and forth tug a war at last Paul got his sailfish to
the side of the boat. Nice going Paul. To all
of our anglers today; thanks for fishing with us aboard
the Hooked up off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.
January 16th, 2012
Today we fished with D.J. and
Abby from Fort Lauderdale and Lisa, Abby and Annie from
Chicago Il. We went right to kite fishing for
sailfish, sharks Mahi Mahi or anything we could get to
take a bite. As it turned out we waited and
waited with no bites at all. Than all at once
we saw a big very big hammerhead shark coming in on one of
our shark baits that was suspended off the kite. And just
like that we were Hooked Up. As we started fighting this
300-pound plus shark another hammerhead swam up and ate
one of our sailfish baits that was also suspended from our
kites.
Like they say fishing is
hours of boredom interrupted by moments of panic and
chaos. We ended up catching this 300 hundred
pounder to the side of the boat and managed to get 2 out
of the 3 hooks out of him and watched him swim away in
great shape and our second shark finally managed to work
his way through the leader and also swim away in good
shape. Guy’s thanks again for fishing with
us aboard the Hooked Up off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.
January 15th, 2012
Today we fished with one of
our regular customers/friends Brad and his friend Rachael
both from South Florida. Brad had also brought along his
old friend Bill and his wife Laura both from Michigan
right next to Atlanta Georgia. (LOL) (Inside
joke) The plan today was to try to catch a big
shark. So we set out both kites with 3 live baits
suspended from the kites and 1 shark bait also suspended
from the kite. We also sent shark bait all the way down to
the bottom 350 feet deep and another shark bait half way
down. Ok the trap was set and the waits
begin and we waited and waited without a bite. We had no
current what so ever and the sharks were just not around
today.
Ok plan to just catch
fish!! So we started trolling the reef with 2-planner
board running about 45 feet deep and 3 baits skipping
across the surface. We ended up catching 10
kingfish, 3 Mahi Mahi (Dolphin fish) and one
Remora. Guy’s thanks again as always it is a
blast fishing with you guys.
January
12th, 2012
Today we spent the morning
fishing with Bob and his wife Swanie from Greene Iowa.
Today we went right to
deep dropping on some of the wrecks off the coast of Fort
Lauderdale. We were trying to hit a few of the wrecks before
some of the other boats got there to better our odds.
Sure enough it worked and Bob got to do battle with one of
the hardest fighting bottom fish around. We ended up
catching this real nice almaco Jack.
And sure enough all the other
boats were coming right behind us so off we went trolling
with 2 planner board running deep and 3 baits skipping
across the surface.
Trolling was a bit on the slow
side but we did end up landing 3 black fin tunas. Bob
and Swanie thanks again for fishing with us and we hope you
guys have the time of your life on your cruse.
January
10th, 2012
Great day fishing Ft Lauderdale
Today we had Daniel, Rasmus,
Lars, Anders and Jonas from Sweden out for a few hours off
deep-sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up.
We started out trolling the reef
catching a half a dozen black fin tunas. Than we
switched from trolling to trying some deep drops on a
shipwreck. I’ve got to say winter is here and the wrecks
are starting to produce some good fishing. We ended up
catching 6 big almaco jacks. For those of you that have
never caught a big Jack I’m here to tell you there’s a
reason they call them the Bull Dogs of the Atlantic. After
hooking one of these bull dogs it is a challenge just to get
them away from the wreck so they don’t get you back into
it and then the battle begins to try and pull one of these
strong fish up off the bottom. All in all it’s
a ball watching everyone aboard yelling and giving the guy
that fighting the fish a hard time but than soon enough it
is their turn and then only then do they get to see why it
took their buddy so long to catch their fish.
Guy’s thanks again for fishing
with us aboard the Hooked up it was a ball fishing with you
guys.
January
8th, 2012
Today we set out fishing off the
coast of Fort Lauderdale with Anne and Eric and their
children 6-year-old Alexia and 3-year-old Emilia from
Montreal Canada.
We went right to trolling the
reef with 2-planner board running about 45 to 50 feet deep
and 3 baits skipping across the surface. Today
everyone caught plenty of fish aboard the Hooked Up. By the
end of the trip we had caught 14 kingfish and one giant
bonito. Thanks again to our new friends from
Canada for fishing with us aboard the Hooked Up.
January
6th, 2012
We set out with Geoff from
Ontario Canada and Alan and Barbra from Great Brittan now
living in Span.
Today was a beautiful day with
nice cool weather and no wind along with a good north
current. Due to the lack of wind we decided to try and catch
some live ballyhoos so we could slow troll them to see if we
could catch a sailfish or 2. As it turned out the
ballyhoo were tough to catch due to this 15 to 18 pound
bonito that was darting back and forth behind the boat
trying to eat the very baits we were trying to catch.
Ok this was just not working out so Captain Greg figured we
would just catch this pesty bonito get him out of the way
and go back to trying to catch our ballyhoo.
We tossed out a live goggle eye
hoping the bonito would pile all over him but as it turned
out he would just swim up to the bait and darted away and
back to chasseing our ballyhoos. (RATS) This was becoming a
real problem we just could not catch these baits with this
bonito chasseing them away from the boat.
Than all at once Greg picked up
the gaff reached out and BAM problem over he free gaffed
this big bonito. Everybody was shocked including this poor
bonito it just looked at Greg with out moving and in the
fish box he went. Ok back to bait fishing but by now
they were hard to catch but we did end up catching 9
that’s right only 9 but we figured 9 was better than
none. We ran about 4 miles to the south and out went
the live baits. Than all of a sudden up popped this
big sailfish and our live baits were jumping out of the
water and than BAM he grabbed one the rod bent over and we
were Hooked Up. Geoff jumped in the chair and the
fight was on. After a good 15 min battle Geoff had his first
sailfish ever within 20 yards from the boat and was reaching
for his camera. Greg was holding the rod for him when all of
a sudden this fish got a second wind and just like that he
ran off a good 50 yards of line. Ok now Alan jumped in
the chair and again the battle was on. 10 min later Alan had
the sail back to the side of the boat.
Geoff and Barbra got some
pictures then we watched this big sailfish swim away in
great shape. Geoff, Barbra and Alan thanks again for
fishing with us aboard the Hooked Up. Today was a fun
day Deep Sea Fishing off Fort Lauderdale.
January
2nd, 2012
Today we started out fishing
with Kristen and Bruce down from Chicago and Kristen’s
parents Harold and Lois from Plantation Florida.
We started out our Fort
Lauderdale fishing trip by catching some small bonitos
than we sent them right back out there with trouble hooks
hooked in their head and tail. We fished 3 of these live
baits on the surface and 1 down about 90 feet on a
downrigger.
We ended up catching a nice
silky shark on the downrigger and than all hell broke lose
when a Wahoo took one of our surface baits.
Bruce jumped in the chair and
the fight was on. After a good 10 min back and forth tug a
war Bruce got his fish within gaffing range and BAM he was
in the box.
Soon there after we had another
shot at a Wahoo but this was a lucky fish and just at the
last second shook his head and some how got unhooked. (RATS)
To all of our anglers this
morning thanks again for fishing with us and I am looking
forward to fishing with you guys again this Feb ob March.
As we got back to the dock we
had afternoon trip eager to give their luck a shot at some
deep-sea fishing aboard Hooked Up off the coast of Fort
Lauderdale.
We had Lori and Don and a bunch
of little people 7-year-old David, 10-year-old Callie,
9-year-old John and 5 year old Mathew.
We knew we had our hands full
with fishing being on the slow side today so we went right
after little bonitos and thanks god they were biting.
After everyone caught plenty of
small fish we set out some live baits out over a ledge and
BAM one of our rods bent over and we were Hooked Up. Little
David jumped in the chair and the fight was on.
After a good 12 min fight David
had his 37-inch barracuda to the boat. Way to go David.
Thanks again to all of our
anglers today for fishing with us aboard the hooked Up.
January
1st, 2012
Here We Go January 2012 and what
a great way to start out the New Year!!
We started out the New Year
fishing with Bob and Max from Delray Beach Florida, Tony and
Tommy from New York and Scott from Michigan.
We started out trolling the reef
with 2-planner board running about 45 feet deep along with
three baits skipping across the surface.
Max ended up landing a bomber
bonito while Toney got a nice Wahoo in the box.
Than we set out our kites with 4
live baits suspended from them and BAM Scott finished the
trip off by landing a big Sailfish.
Way to go guys and thanks again
for fishing with us aboard the Hooked Up off the coast of
South Florida.
Florida Fishing Reports 
