( Oct 5th) In being a charter boat fisherman and part time writer in theses short fishing stories sometime I get to write about some stories that are just a little notch above the others. That is the case in this fishing report.
Today I was not to be there on the boat instead my son Luis and my Captain Jay Jay were running the business. This was a rainy grey over cast day and we only had one person scheduled to go out on a shared charter. Since we had no one to join him at 1:00 for an afternoon of fishing we figured that Eric from Delaware would just reschedule for a shared fishing trip on the following Tuesday.
But after Jay Jay and Eric had talked for just a few min Eric decided that since he had just got off a plane and that just 2 hours ago he was in Delaware that he wanted to take advantage of being here in South Florida. Eric decided to just charter the boat by himself for a three hour fishing trip.
Since the weather had been rainy and grey the live bait boat had not gone out and there were no live baits to be found. So Jay Jay decided to troll around and try to catch some baby bonitos (we call them bullets because they are so fast) but as it turned out catching them would be no easy task today. They were just far and few in-between. But after about an hour of this 3 hour trip was spent trying to catch live bullets they had 7 in the live well.
As it turned out that was about 4 more than they needed. Luis broke out the live bait fishing rods and put on our trolling leaders. He than carefully sewed on the first bait and started letting out the live bait when all of a sudden the bait took off. Someone was out there trying to eat the first bait in the water. Luis let the fish take the bait and gave him a few seconds to get the bait down. Than Luis locked up the reel at the same time Jay Jay went ahead with the boat and out came this nice dolphin jumping all over the place. Eric wasted no time jumping in the chair and we were Hooked Up. It took Eric about 5 min to reel this nice dolphin fish to the boat. Luis reached over and gaffed this 8 to 10 pound dolphin.
Way to go to all three of you guys. At least now a little of the pressure was off. But after a bit of high fiving and hand shaking Luis got right back to getting the baits out there.
This time they did manage to get all the baits in the water but that was about all the time they had because soon thereafter one of the baits was running for its life. Once again Luis let the fish eat the bait for a couple of seconds and locked up the reel and Holly Cow out of the water came this sailfish and this guy was dancing all over the surface. What a sight to see but wait no time to watch this fish here came another sailfish trying to eat one of the other live baits. Eric was in the chair fighting one sailfish and Luis was busy feeding another. Once again Luis came tight and we were Hooked Up with a double header.
As a fisherman I've got to say that these are days we dream about. They got lucky because one fish stayed on the top of the water jumping all over the place while the other fish stayed deep.
Eric finally reeled his fish to the boat side and Luis took that rod from him as Eric started working on the second fish. While Eric was fighting the second fish Jay Jay came running down from the fly bridge and helped Luis get a measurement of Eric's first sail fish ever in order to have a replica mount made of his fish.
Meanwhile Eric had worked his second fish to the boat both fish were 87 inches long and both fish got to swim away to fight another day.
What a day or should I say What a couple hours of fishing. Congratulations to all three of you.
Eric we are looking forward to fishing you again on Tues.
Guys you've just got to get away from the everyday hustle and bustle and get down here and spend a day or two fishing in sunny or rainy South Florida.
Captain Taco toll free at (877) SEA-4344 or (954)764-4344
(Sep 29)Today we had Chris, David, Mark and Gary all from Cam Bridge. We started out trolling the reef and it took no time to get our limit of kingfish. When these things are biting they are just everywhere. Jay Jay never did get all the baits in the water while we were trolling the reef for kings. The sec he would get one in the water and start setting out another one the first one would get bit. Talk about a busy start to the day.
We than decided to give Jay Jay a little break and go off shore and look for some dolphin fish. BREAK yea right not today as soon as we got off shore here they came dolphin fish from every direction and not little guys either most of the in the 7 to 8 pound class with a couple of 12 to 15 pounders thrown in.
We ended up with a box full of fish and not much waiting for a bite. We sure don't get to see this everyday but like I've said in the past this has to be one of the best summers of fishing that I've seen off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in a long time.
Give us a call and we'll be happy to help you out getting a hotel near the boat so you don't even need to rent a car. And as for the fishing well it speaks for itself.
COME ON DOWN
Captain Taco Toll free at (877) SEA-4344
(Sep 28th) This morning we started out fishing With Joel and his two sons Ben and Blake and we also had their grand farther Bill and two close friends of the family Trey and Andy all from Lexington South Carolina. We started out trolling the reef catching a box full of kingfish. Than we sent out our 2 kites with three live baits suspended from them and one dead kingfish. Usually when we set out our shark baits we set up in 350 feet of water but since there has been so many kingfish on the reef this time we decided to set up in 150 feet of water. We also set one dead king fish on the bottom.
It didn't take long till our bottom bait got a bite and the rod bent over. Line started peeling off the reel and at first we didn't think this fish even knew he was hooked there was no stopping him. We got one of our anglers in the chair and the fight began. Each of the kids gave it their all and just kept switching anglers and finally began to wear this sea monster down. Finally Joel got in the chair and finished the fight.
When we finally got the fish to the side of the boat we realized why it was so hard to get this fish to the boat. Not only did it turn out to be a big Great Grey Hammer Head Shark but on top of that he was hooked in the side. It took a good hour and 45 min to finally reel this SEA MONSTER to the boat. Once the fish was next to the boat Jay Jay and Captain Greg slid the fish into the cock pit threw the tuna door. They got a quick measurement of the fish for a replica trophy to be made of the fish. They also managed to get the hooks out of the hammer head to give it a good chance of surviving after he was slid back into the water.
WAY TO GO GUYS nice catch with a good ending for everyone.
Once again I've got to say I don't know why these big sharks are still around this time of the year but we're sure glad they are. So give us a call and let's get you Hooked Up down here in Sunny South Florida. Captain Taco toll free at (877) SEA-4344
(Sep 27th) Today we had one of our repeat customers Charlie and his two boys Jake and Austin from Baltimore.
We started out trolling the reef and managed to catch a few kingfish. Then we went out to 350 feet of water put out 2 kites with live baits suspended from them and one big dead kingfish also suspended from the kite. We also put out a dead king down on the bottom and one more about half way down. I guess you could say the trap was set.
The second we set up we seen a sailfish about 20 feet just south of the boat I tried to move the boat over so that the live baits would be right about where the sail was but by the time we got over there he started jumping and swam off. (RATS) At least we knew we were in the right area. We started waiting and waiting and waiting till finally Captain Greg seen something around our left long kite bait. No one else seen anything and Greg seems to like to keep things to himself so we had no idea what was going on out there. I was looking but nothing than I heard Greg say I think it's him and that all I needed to hear. I told everyone on the boat to hold on because if this was a sail fish and if he came up jumping I was going to go ahead with the boat hard. It almost looked like we might know what we were doing because no sooner than the words came out of my mouth there he was jumping all over the place.
Jake jumped in the chair and this fish had its hands full because there was no way Jake was going to give up no matter how long this fight was going to last. When the fish was jumping all over the place he managed to get all tangled up in one of our deep baits so we had to be very careful trying to untangle it. It took a good 5 min of fighting the fish while he was tangled just trying to untangle it. But we did and now that the tangle was undone we were able to back down on the fish.
Once we got close enough Greg reached over a grabbed the fish. We got the hook out of the fish got a couple of quick pictures and a measurement and watched him swim away to fight another day.
We got the baits right back out there and it was not even 2 min when BAM we got another bite. This time it was Austin's turn and just like his brother he jumped in the chair. This time it was a nice barracuda. Way to go Austin. Once again we got the baits right back out there and once again BAB we were Hooked Up again. Austin jumped in the chair again and started reeling in another barracuda only this one was a big and very pissed off barracuda.
I guess this is why they call fishing (Hours of boredom interrupted by moments of panic and chaos.)
Charlie thanks so much and I'm sure we'll be seeing you guys again soon.
For a better look at these pictures go to my photo gallery #5
Well the fishing speaks for its self so get your butts down here in sunny south Florida and let's do some fishing.
Captain Taco (954)764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344
