Early August Fishing off Ft. Lauderdale Aboard "Hooked Up" – Captain Taco

Submitted by Taco Hooked Up Sportsfishing

Submitted on 08/11/2011
Fishing Spot:
Atlantic Ocean (FL)
Fort Lauderdale, FL United States United States
August 5th, 2011
 
Once again I would love nothing more then to write all these great fishing reports about all these big fish we caught but there truly is a reason why they call it fishing and not catching.
 
 
Also there are a few different types of fish we target down here off the coast of South Florida and it is my job as the Captain to put us on fish. Sometimes we zig when we should have zaged and that is pretty much what happen today.
 
Today we took out Mary and her daughter for a few hour of fishing and since we were one of the first boats out and the ocean was flat calm J.J. and I decided to just run all the way down south to a wreck.
 
Once we got to the wreck we did catch a few bonitos to use for live bait in hopes of catching a big barracuda or a shark.
After 35 min of slow trolling these perfect baits around without a bite we knew it was time for a change.
 
We ran back to the north and set out 2 kites with live baits and shark baits suspended from the kites. We also set 2 more shark baits on the bottom.
 
Well we never got that BIG bite we were looking for.
 
In hindsight we should have trolled first and caught some big bonitos so we could have bent the rod first but we went for the big ones and came up short.
 
As we got back to the dock we had Shannon and Seth from Fort Worth Texas and Natasha and Dan from Las Vegas eager to give their luck and shot.
 
As you can image this time we were going to make sure we put some fish in the box so right to trolling the reef we went.
 
Trolling was good with everyone catching fish one after another.
 
We ended up with a mixed bag of kingfish and bonitos.
 
Thanks again to all of our anglers today and Mary I owe you one.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
 
August 7th, 2011
 
Today we set out with fishing John and his son Anthony from Singapore and John’s dad Robert and his good friend Dennis from Plantation Florida.
 
 
We started trolling the reef and yes once again we wacked the bonitos along with 6 nice kingfish.
 
As we worked our way to the south off the coast of Hallandale Florida we brought in all the trolling gear.
 
We switched over to trying to catch some small bonitos to put out as live bait over a wreck.
We did manage to set out one live bonito on the surface and one big bonito down deep.
 
We slowed trolled them over the wreck when all of a sudden the spinner rod with the small bonito on it took off like a rocket.
We think we might have had a big shark on but there was just no stopping this sea monster on a light spinning rod and rats it got away.
 
We were starting to run a bit short on time due to the fact that we were about 6 and half miles south of our inlet.
 
Laurence reeled up our deep rod just to check our bait and RATS it had also been bit in half.
We had to start working our way back toward home so we set out a few surface baits and started high speed trolling our way back home when all of a sudden my high line took off and we were Hooked Up again.
 
I seen this 25 to 30 pound dolphin fish start jumping and just like that he spit the hook. (RATS and DOUBLE RATS)
 
John thanks again we are looking forward to fishing with you and your son and dad soon.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
 
August 8th, 2011
 
Today Manny and Ellen from Westin Florida brought their sons Gabriel and Michael along with a couple of their friends Jake and Harry out fishing with us aboard the Hooked Up.
 
 
Today fishing was red hot with the bonitos starting things out one after another none stop.
 
I kept trolling our way to the south wanting to see if we could get out of the bonitos and into the kingfish.
 
As we were catching one after another a couple of the little guys were starting to not feel so good. And than Harry who felt fine but just did not want to be around anyone who was not feeling so good stayed up on the bridge with me and stopped fishing.
But Gabriel was just fine with everyone dropping out he was having a ball.
 
I mean it one after another this kid was all over it in fact not only was he reeling in 90% of all the fish he was also hand lines in the 60 foot leaders by him self.
 
I talked to his dad Manny about maybe Gabriel quitting school and come work for me as a mate but as it turned out he also gets straight A in school. (He ins just like I was in school only different)
 
Well that’s enough about golden boy lets get back to the fishing. (LOL)
 
We ended up with 1 black fin tuna, 1 small Wahoo, 1,000,000 bonitos and 10 big kingfish.
 
 
Manny and Ellen thanks again for fishing with us and we do run a lot of shared charters so if you ever want to send Gabriel out with us he is in good hands and it truly is a pleasure having him aboard fishing with us.
 
And Harry best of luck with your baseball but watch out for those sick people. (LOL)
 
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
 
August 9th, 2011
 
Today we started our day with an unexpected fishing trip at the last minute with George and his son 11 years old Mathew from parts unknown.
 
 
We started out trolling the reef and YES the reef was on fire with fish this morning.
We trolled with our 2 planner boards and a few top baits and ended up with our limit of kingfish and a box of bonitos.
 
As we got back to the dock we had Dale from Miami and Kevin and Nikkei from Chicago Il.
 
Once again we went right to trolling on the reef and once again the bonitos were biting along with a nice kingfish and one big barracuda.
 
Thanks again to all of our anglers for fishing with us aboard the Hooked Up.
 
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344