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The past two weeks have been more like spring than winter. Our Fort Lauderdale charters have caught full size blackfin tunas, nice sized kingfish, a good amount of dolphin and a sailfish or two. Normally this type of fishing will put us into april or may. I have a feeling that this is a fluke and we will be back to our normal pattern especially after the next front coming through today.
Last week the dolphin showed up off Ft. Lauderdale in good numbers. Both on the reef and offshore there were good catches. On the reef they ate our live baits while kite fishing. Offshore they were sitting on the weedline that was anywhere from 5-800ft of water. Offshore there was a good quantity of fish from 3-7lbs. while inshore there was less but a few bigger fish mixed in.
The bigger kingfish have been to the north of Fort Lauderdale concentrated between Boca Raton and Palm Beach. Whenever we have gone that way fish in the 20-30lb. range have been common. Closer to Fort Lauderdale most fish have been in the 6-15lb. range with a few bigger ones mixed in. Again the best shot for the bigger fish has been live bait.
We caught a full size blackfin last week which is really early in the season. On one charter to the south of Ft. Lauderdale we saw several schools of blackfin tunas balling bait on the surface. Unfortunately they were keyed in on ballyhoo and flying fish and would not touch google eyes or herring. These fish usually arrive late april so they may or may not stick around.
Sailfishing has been hit or miss on our Fort Lauderdale charters. We have been averaging 1 fish per day in the last 2 weeks, though we have had up to 5 bites in the same time. We have had to move around a little more to find the fish with some consistency, hopefully this front coming through will get them stirred up again.
Daytime Swordfishing off Fort Lauderdale and Miami has been on fire. Most boats had at least 1 fish and there was a good 4 day stretch where I heard of boats averageing 4-7 fish a day. That is phenominal fishing considering: you are fishing in 1500-2000 ft. of water and the fish averaged 100-300lbs. Though most of the fish were caught on electric reels by commercial fishermen, when the bite is this good it is the best time to try to fish manually. While it may seem like more work then fun it can be done with pretty minimal effort and can be quite rewarding in the end. |
