Sport Fishing Charters in Fort Lauderdale South Florida

This Week's Catch:

SAILFISH

SWORDFISH

SHARKS

BARRACUDA

AMBERJACK

DOLPHIN

MACKEREL

Month-to-Date Catches:

SAILFISH

SWORDFISH

SHARKS

BARRACUDA

AMBERJACK

DOLPHIN

MACKEREL

Captain Wally's Fishing Report

MAY 2009

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 06/02/09

We had a group of six repeat customers out with us this morning. We started the trip catching bait. After that we went wreck fishing, looking for another big grouper. The current had picked up a little from Sunday but, after fishing three of the deeper wrecks with no bites, we decided to try one of the shallower wrecks. Well it didn't take long to get a bite there. After setting the first bait, and before we could even rig the second, we got a big kingfish on. We caught that and put another bait out and got the second bait rigged, but before it hit the water we had another big kingfish on. While fighting that fish we put another bait out and missed another kingfish. After boating the second kingfish we put another bait out. We missed a bite on that one and, while setting the downrigger, got another kingfish on. The kingfish stopped tearing us up for a little and we managed to get two baits set and make a pass over the wreck. The downrigger bait got eaten as we were over the wreck with what seemed like a big fish. However, we couldn't stop it before it reached the safety of the wreck and broke us off. Not to worry, as soon as we were broken free of the wreck we got another big kingfish on. Now we are running low on bait and time so we put the last baits out and hooked another big kingfish and missed one as well. We almost caught that one but when it got close it made a run under the boat and broke off. Either way, with four bigger than average kingfish in the box we went back with another group of happy customers.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/31/09

We had three people on a six hour trip this morning. We started out catching bait then went trolling around the reef. We caught a couple of kingfish and bonito then went offshore looking for some mahi-mahi. We didn't find any mahi so we brought everything in and went wreck fishing. There was little to no current so wreck fishing was pretty slow. We pulled off a nice fish on one of the wrecks and decided to reset on it. It took a while but we eventually got another bite on that wreck. One of the customers got in the fighting and, half an hour later, we pulled up about a 50 pound Warsaw grouper. I guess if you can't get any mahi a big grouper will have to do.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/30/09

We had three people with us on an afternoon trip today. We started out trolling and caught a couple of kingfish and bonito. Then we fished one of the wrecks and caught an amberjack. We finished the trip shark fishing but did not get any bites.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/26/09

We picked up a mid morning walk up trip today with a mom and her two daughters from New Mexico. We caught speedos then went trolling. We missed the first four or five bites before catching a kingfish and a bonito. Trolling was slow so we fished the speedos around one of the shallower wrecks. We got burned back into the wreck twice before getting a nice size amberjack away from it and to the boat. We moved to a different spot and caught a smaller barracuda before going back to the dock. Our timing couldn't have been better on getting back. Shortly after tying the boat up and saying goodbye to our customers there was an absolute downpour complete with lightning that hit very close to the dock.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/25/09

We had three people on an afternoon trip today. We caught speedos and put them out on an edge in 170' of water. We caught three kingfish before we moved on to a different spot. Because of the day we had yesterday we went back to that area. We caught some more ballyhoo then live baited again. We caught another kingfish and missed a couple other bites. The fish were not there like they were yesterday so we decided to troll on the way back to the port. We caught another kingfish, a bonito, and a barracuda on the troll. There was some nasty weather approaching so we brought everything in and headed in slightly ahead of the heavy rains.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/24/09

We had four local guys charter us for a six hour trip today. We left the dock at 7:00 and got out before most of the other charter boats. We caught speedos then ran a little south before starting to troll. Trolling was producing kingfish and a bonito, but we wanted to fish the livies. We got to the place that we wanted to live bait fish so we brought the trolling gear and put out the livies. Almost immediately we were hooked up on another kingfish. We caught that and continued slow trolling the speedos. As we were resetting the downrigger bait the line got pulled out of the mates hand. He thought one of the hooks fell out of it and fouled it up. We looked back to see a twenty pound mahi-mahi jumping. As we were fighting that fish another mahi eats one of the other baits, now we are on a double. We caught both of them then put the baits out again. We caught a couple more kingfish then heard one of the other boats around us say he found a big piece of bamboo covered in barnacles a little deeper than we were fishing so we went to see if there was anything that wanted to eat a live bait. We lost one smaller mahi and caught a barracuda. We were almost out of livies so we went to another spot and caught some ballyhoo. We put out the live hoos and instantly got another big mahi on, then another, and missed yet another. The two we hooked were on 20# spinners. We got the first one in the boat pretty fast then spent another twenty minutes or more fighting the second one. We finally got that one in and as we were cleaning up we put one ballyhoo out. We pulled it around for maybe five minutes and got another mahi on. As we were fighting this one another one came up swimming with it so we threw another hoo out on a spinner and it got eaten right away. We spent about thirty minutes fighting these two before boating both of them. We were already into over time so we headed back to the dock with a full fish box. We weighed the mahis when we got back to the dock. Two of them were in the 25#-30# class, two of them were 20#-25# fish, and the other two were 15#-20# fish. Add to that a limit of kingfish from 7#-20# and you could understand the full cooler.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/23/09

This morning we had four guys that are repeat customers. We trolled for kingfish to start the trip. The kingfish were really biting good and it didn't take long before we had our limit and headed offshore. We then went trolling offshore for mahis. We didn't get any bites doing that and headed back to the dock with a cooler full of kingfish.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/22/09

We had a father and daughter that live locally on the boat today. We started out trolling the reef for kingfish. We caught one bonito one small kingfish and missed some other bites. I heard another boat further out that said he was getting some mahis so we headed out. No luck with that and the drift boat captains were saying they were catching a lot of kingfish so we went back in to do that some more. We got to where the drift boats were and caught a couple of small kingfish, some bigger kingfish, and half of a kingfish, I think a shark got the other half.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/19/09

We had four people on a shared charter this morning. We had some baits left over from Sunday so we took those with us. We started the trip trolling and caught some kingfish and a nice size mutton snapper. We trolled most of the trip, then at the end of the trip, fished one of the wrecks. We made a couple of drops with the live baits and caught one amberjack before going in.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/17/09

We ended up getting an afternoon trip today with three people. We started the trip catching a few bait fish. We caught what we needed then went trolling. The second bait in the water got hit hard and the fight was on. The fish was pulling drag on the planer rod so we knew it was a nice fish. We got the leader and started bringing the fish to the boat, but it had different ideas. We got it close enough once to see that it was a nice size blackfin tuna before it ran off some more line. We finally got it back to the boat and got the gaff in it. We kept trolling and caught another blackfin and some kingfish and bonito. We were just about to switch up to kite fishing but there was rain coming in on us fast and the boats that had the kites out were already bringing in their kites, so we continued to troll. The rain got to us and just did not stop. The kingfish were biting still and we caught a couple more of them before going back to the dock.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/16/09

We started today with a morning six hour trip with three customers. We bought bait on the way out, pilchards and threadfin herring, then went trolling. The kingfish bite was pretty good on the troll. We were almost limited out so we changed up to kite fishing to try for some bigger kingfish. It didn't take long before we got the first bites on the livies. We caught a kingfish and missed a couple other bites. We reset the baits and continued to get bites, catching another kingfish and a nice mahi-mahi, as well as a couple of bonito a cero mackerel and jumped off a sailfish. The current was pushing us north and we got away from where we wanted to be so we brought the baits in and ran back south. We got back to the spot and set out the baits again. A color change edge had pushed in and there were some other boats catching fish on it so we set up a little deeper than we had been fishing and got another sailfish bite shortly after resetting. At first the fish swam at the boat so I thought it was a smaller sailfish. Then as it got closer it came out of the water in an aerial show that only a lit up sailfish can do. This was a strong fighting sailfish that did not want to give up easily and kept jumping and swimming away from the boat. An hour later we finally got the leader and pulled the fish up to the boat for some pictures. Time was up for the trip and we returned to the dock with some very happy customers. As we were cleaning the mahi for them four guys from New Jersey came walking up to the dock and the guys we had in the morning talked them into trying their luck with us. We grabbed a quick lunch, cut some fresh bonito strips, and headed back out for an afternoon four hour trip. We started the trip with some more trolling and caught kingfish and a couple of bonito. Before we could switch over to kite fishing two of the guys were sick and their friends felt bad so they said that it was time to go in early. Bummer, the fishing was pretty good and we wanted to try for sailfish again.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/14/09

We did a short trip with a father and son this morning. We didn't have a lot of time so we went right to trolling. As soon as the first planer was set we got a fish on. The son was the first to the rod and wound in a kingfish. I thought that was a good start being as I was hearing the other boats saying it was slow. We continued to troll and get bites but most of the fish did not get the hook. We were almost out of time so we tried a wreck but there was no current and we didn't get a bite.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/13/09

We were part of a 16 boat all day trip today. We had six people on the boat with us. We stopped on the way out and bought some goggle eyes for bait then went fishing. We got to the fishing grounds, about one mile out, and started trolling. It did not take long before we got our first bite, it was a kingfish. We continued to troll and missed a lot of fish, probably small kingfish. We got a little further south and found some fish that were big enough to get the hook. We caught more kingfish and decided to kite fish where we were getting the best bites, the bigger kingfish like the live baits better. As soon as we got the kite baits out we got covered up with kingfish. We caught a few kingfish, a couple of bluefish, and missed a few more kingfish bites. We only needed a couple more kingfish to reach our limit, but instead got a surprise sailfish bite. We hooked the sailfish and the fight was on. It was a very large frisky fish that made a lot of jumps and took us from 100' of water out to 550' by the time we got the leader, over an hour later. We brought the fish to the side of the boat for pictures and a quick measurement before tagging and releasing it. Well now we were offshore so instead of going back and trying for more kingfish we decided to troll around for some mahis. About ten minutes after we started trolling we caught a six pound mahi. We spent half an hour or so trolling offshore before we had to go back to the dock. All totaled we caught ten kingfish up to fifteen pounds, two bluefish, one mahi, and one sailfish.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/08/09

Today we had five people on a morning trip. We caught bait to start the trip, then we went trolling. We trolled for a while without a bite, then caught a kingfish and a bonito. We trolled for a little while longer, but it was slow so we decided to do something else. We did not have much time left so we went shark fishing to try and catch something big. We got set up around our usual area, but never got a bite and had to get back because one of the guys had to get to the airport.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/07/09

We had a father and son from Germany on the boat this morning for a half day trip. We caught bait then went to a couple of the wrecks. We got a couple of bites on the wrecks, but either pulled the hooks of got broken off when the fish got back into the wreck. We then went shark fishing. It took a little while before we got a bite, but we did hook up on a nice hammerhead shark. We fought the shark for almost an hour before getting the leader. We pulled it up to the boat took pictures, removed the hooks, took measurements, tagged and released it. We still had a little time left so we trolled and caught some kingfish and bonito to finish the trip.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/06/09

We had two people on six hour trip this morning. We started the trip catching live baits. After getting enough of those we went trolling. We caught some kingfish and bonito, then tried some wreck fishing. We got a couple of bites but did not land any of them. Trolling was pretty good so we went back to that and caught some more kingfish and bonito. All totaled we ended up catching seven kingfish and six bonito.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/05/09

Today we had two people on a morning trip. We started out trolling and caught a couple of kingfish. The trolling was slow so we switched up to shark fishing. We did that for a while before getting a bite. It was a longer than usual fight, but we finally got the fish to the boat after almost two hours. We pulled it up next to the boat, took pictures, measurements, removed the hooks, tagged and released a big hammerhead shark.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/03/09

We had three customers on a a six hour trip today. We started out trolling and caught a couple of kingfish. After an hour plus of trolling we went shark fishing. We spent some time at that before a nice hammerhead shark came up to eat one of the surface baits. Once it found the bait we let it eat it for a little bit to make sure it had the bait before hooking it. By the time we cleared the other baits the fish had taken a lot of line off of the reel, into the dacron backing. We slowly gained the line back onto the reel. Over an hour later we got the leader brought the fish up next to the boat got the hooks back and released the shark. We spent a little more time trolling before going back to the dock.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/02/09

We had two trips today. On the first trip wee had three people, one of which fished with us on Tuesday and brought some friends back for another trip. We left the dock on time but got delayed when we tried to go out of the port because the navy ships from "Fleet Week" were leaving and they would not let us leave while they were pulling out. That took over two hours to get four ships out, kind of ridiculous when you figure it only takes an hour to get six or more cruise ships out. Anyway, we finally got out and started trolling. We caught six kingfish and two mahis trolling before going shark fishing. It did not take long before one of the shark baits got eaten. We fought the fish for an hour or so before getting the leader. We pulled it up next to the boat, took pictures, removed the hooks, tagged and released a nice hammerhead shark. We got back to the dock to pick up our 2:00 afternoon trip around 3:00 because of the delay from the morning trip. We had five people on that trip. We tried everything we could to catch fish, trolling, kite fishing, shark fishing, wreck fishing, but the only thing we could was some bait fish. We do not like getting skunked so we stayed out late just tyring to catch something nice, but I guess the fish lost there appetite after 2:00.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report 05/01/09

We picked up an afternoon trip today with two people. We started the trip trolling and caught eight kingfish and one bonito, then we went shark fishing. After getting the baits set we waited for a little while before we got a bite on the deep bait. As we were clearing the other baits from the water we had another shark eat one of the kite baits. We got the first shark, the one that ate the top bait, to the boat pretty quickly. We got the leader brought the fish to the boat, took some measurements, tagged and released a hammerhead shark. Then it was time to go after the other shark that we still had on the other rod. This one was bigger than the first one so, we fought that fish for a while longer before we got the leader. We brought it up to the boat, took measurements, and tagged and released another hammerhead. Not often that we get a double header hammerhead shark bite and catch both of them.