The fishing here in the first 2 weeks of April has been off the charts. Every trip out we land a wide variety of fish such as cobia, king mackerel, wahoo, mahi-mahi, blackfin tuna , and sailfish. The morning trip started with some trolling to the south and everyone got in on the action, reeling in large bonitos and kings and having the time of their lives. We were heading towards three shipwrecks , lined up on the bottom at 98, 110 , and 190 feet of depth where we could put out some live blue runners and bullets. One bonito was sent down to about 70 feet and the rest were used near the surface. After about 20 minutes we were hooked into a nice barracuda and a jack crevalle. That spot yielded a couple more fish before Cpt. Pauly ran the boat to the wreck at 190 feet and caught a huge almaco jack.
On the afternoon trip we left the dock at 1PM with 6 people on board, a group of guys who owned a bunch of NAPA auto parts stores from, you guessed it- Napa Valley, California. The group wanted to catch a shark and we set to catching some fresh, live baits. Armed with a few kings and bonitos, Leo set them up with 3 monster hook rigs and prepared for a fight. We went to 350 feet and put our entire spread out in hopes of attracting a sea monster. In less than a 1/2 hour there was a large, 9-foot hammerhead shark racing around behind the boat. Unbelievable...... the fish wouldn't bite! He must have seen something he didn't like, but we weren't going anywhere without him. There we were right off the coast in the gulf stream current waiting for that shark to return for an hour before we got the BITE! It took another hour to fight this brute up to the boat where the guys saw that it was not the shark from earlier, but a huge, 12-foot hammerhead! This strong giant weighed every bit of 400 lbs- the catch of a lifetime! After catching that beast we headed to a wreck in 220 feet of water right outside of Port Everglades, and finished the day with an almaco jack and an under-size black grouper that we released.
April 13, 2011
Our fleet- Lady Pamela, Lady Pamela 3, and Lady Pamela 4 all set out this morning and caught live baits for a day of Ft. Lauderdale's finest fishing. I was at the helm of the Lady Pamela with Pauly as 1st mate and a split party of six on board. We trolled for the first few hours and hooked up a double-header kingfish with the first baits we sent over. I thought they'd keep biting but didn't get another king, just some bonitos. We continued south, and as we got down by Hollywood I saw some ballyhoos getting up. I was up in the tuna tower when I saw a sailfish and yelled down to Pauly to grab a spinning rod. With a live blue runner as bait Pauly made a perfect cast in front of the sailfish. Fish on! It was not the fight we wanted as the sailfish thrashed and jumped and eventually pulled the hook- no more sailfish. Further south we made a drop on a ship wreck in 190 feet and caught a lesser amberjack and a cobia, ".... nice fish!"
April14, 2011
Cpt. Pauly and Leo had a couple of split groups today and a couple of hammerhead sharks. The morning trip caught a hammerhead, a mixture of big bonitos, a 15-lb. king mackerel, blackfin tuna, and some cero mackerel. The afternoon trip was a group from New Jersey with similar results. Using some of the fresh kings and bonitos, the sharks were caught in about 350 feet of water straight out of the channel markers, a pair of beautiful 8-footers.
All-day Drift Trip April 14, 2011
Our all-day dolphin trip turned into an all-day snapper trip! Cpt. Adam was fishing the Gulf stream, maybe 5-8 miles offshore and in 230 feet of water. A couple of mahi-mahi were caught on the troll along with 4 bonitos, a king mackerel, and 4 blackfin tuna during a slow morning. We moved south against a steady, north current to some ship wrecks, using ballyhoo, bonito strips, and squid as bait. Bingo! It was action and more action with the final tally at over 80 vermilion snapper brought on board. The filet table got a workout and our clients got plenty of delicious fish to take home.
