Mahi - Mahi bite on FIRE + 95lb Amberjack

August 24th, 2008

First thing on the list this morning = cut fresh strips! Keith, the mate, cut tons of strips for the day ahead of us. Repeat anglers, George, his wife Deborah and their two kids, boarded the LP II to fish with Captain David Ide. We headed out Crazy Greggs Marina making our way towards Lauderdale Marina to pick up live pilchards for dolphin fishing. Live bait was in the well, we were ready to go. We ran 5 miles offshore looking for debri and there was none to be found. As we continued to scope out the area, trolling gear was in the water. Finally after two hours of trolling we ran across a nice current edge with a weed line in 750 feet of water. Weed patches are usually a good sign! We spotted 3 real nice size mahi - mahi swimming right on top. I turned the boat around, pitched live pilchards out and before we knew it, we were catching dolphin left and right. George and his family reeled in at least 30 mahi, about 10 were too small, and we walked away with 20 good ones....not too shabby. Time fly's when your having fun! Heading back towards the dock for our afternoon trip, George and his family caught a barracuda. This morning was one of the most exciting days of dolphing fishing we've seen and had in a long time!

This afternoon we had six people on a split charter. First three baits in the water we got the bite; 2 bonitos and a blackfin tuna. To spice it up for our anglers, we ran north, dropped our two big bonitos down hoping for a BIGGER bite of some sort. We soked them for close to an hour and didn't get a bite. Plan B - Wreck fishing. We hit 6 wrecks with live blue runners, but it didn't appeal to anybody down there. One more wreck was in route, we dropped a dead bait down this time and it did the trick. We weren't sure what we got ourselves into; 15-20 minutes had gone by and I thought we were hooked on the wreck. The bite was that big. It took a good 45 minutes to fight this fish. Our angler reeled in a 95 lb Amberjack. It was HUGE!

Fishing off Fort Lauderdale this month has been great. Bring it on September!

Tight Lines!

Captain David Ide

LP II