The Top Shot Sportfishing Team had a half day morning charter on October 17th from 8am till noon with a group from Chicago, Illinois, who wanted some good action and eating fish. We left the dock at Bahia Mar based out of Fort Lauderdale, FL and started our way through the intracoastal waterways until we reached the inlet, which typically takes 15 minutes. Once we passed the jetties, we had an easterly wind and clear blue water with little scattered weeds.
I made it out to 300 feet of water in front of the drop off, and we started trolling a spread of baits - four surface Ballyhoo baits and two deep sea witch planner lines.
Our first fish hooked was a nice football sized Black Fin Tuna - the fish hit the rigger line. There have been some Tuna around this month, and we have been seeing and catching them anywhere from 150 feet of water out to 500 feet of water. As we worked the area deeper and deeper, picking up another few Tunas, the guys from Chicago caught them on both the deep planner lines and the lighter tackle.
I found a broken weed line in 700 feet of water, and soon as we came across the center of the line, a Mahi Mahi crashed one of the lines, and we had fish on! Our anglers fought the Mahi, and when he got close to the boat, the mate reached down and gaffed the fish. Fishing in Fort Lauderdale can produce good Mahi fishing, and it’s relatively close to shore, as we were fishing only 4 miles from the beach.
We stayed on the broken weed line for about a mile, and we headed south, fishing the offshore side of the rip. During that time, we caught another 3 to 4 Mahi Mahi’s. All these were decent fish weighing between 8 to 10 pounds.
The weed line stared to break up, and with that, we were not getting any more bites. So, I started heading offshore, searching for another area to fish. We made it out to 800 feet of water and slowly picked away at some Black Fin Tunas and a couple more Mahi Mahi’s. I picked up the speed, trolling a little faster and covering more ground, and we picked up two more Mahi’s. We ended up catching 8 Mahi Mahi’s and 5 Black Fin Tunas.
It was now time to head back, ending another great day fishing on board the Happy Day Today with the Top Shot Sportfishing team. I hope you enjoyed reading this Fort Lauderdale fishing report. For a successful and adventurous deep-sea fishing charter in Fort Lauderdale FL for Sailfish, Shark, Bonito, Mackerel, Swordfish, Snapper, Wahoo, Tuna, Mahi Mahi and Grouper, contact Captain Zsak. - 954-439-8106 or email us at captdz@gmail.com Website: www.topshotfishing.com.