Today we had Keith and his son Cody his nephews Kale and Dustin his brother-in-law Dennis and his son Heath all from Mississippi out for some deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up off the coast of Fort Lauderdale Florida.
We knew that good eating fish was what everyone wanted so we started out trolling the reef hoping to catch some king fish. But all trolling produced for us were bonitos and three small barracudas.
Ok time for plain B so J.J. brought in all the trooping gear and put together what we call a chicken rig which consists of 5 hooks in a line with a weight at the bottom of the rig. Captain Greg brought the boat over a rock pile that was in about 180 feet of water.
Down went the rig and as soon as the rig hit bottom the snappers started biting. Ok so now we finally found some great eating fish and they were biting well. It seemed every time the rig hit bottom we would have more and more on.
Before we knew it we had our limit of snappers and now we had some good eating fish on the boat.
Now it was time to go for a sea monster. J.J. put a live bait on a leader with 3 trouble hooks on it and out went the live bait over a ship wreck. After a couple of min of slowly trolling this live bait around BAM the water exploded and we were Hooked Up.
Cody jumped in the chair and the fight was on. After a good 10 min fight up popped this 45 inch barracuda.
Way to go Cody!

Well if it worked once lets try it again. This time we put the live bait on a down rigger to get the bait down closer to the wreck. It took a few min before our next bite but when it got hit it was well worth the wait. Line was peeling off the reel and Captain Greg had to go ahead with the boat to get the fish away from the wreck.
This time Heath jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a good 10 min till we got a good look at this monster barracuda Heath had been fighting. A few min later the barracuda got within J.J. gaffing range and BAM he was in the boat.
Way to go heath a nice 47 inch barracuda

Ive got to say that the weather was rainy all day but somehow we ended up having a great day of catching.
Thanks again guys for a fun day of fishing.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
Friday, July 9. 2010
Hammer Head Sharks Tailing on the surface off the coast of Fort lauderdale
WHAT A GREAT DAY OF FISHING TODAY ABOARD THE HOOKED UP OFF THE COAST OF FT LAUDERDALE FLORIDA
Today we went fishing in celebration of 9 year old Ryan, birthday. He brought along his mom Judy and his dad Eric he also brought along his good friends John and Britt and Britts 13 year old son Peter. They were all from Westin in South Florida.
Thing started out pretty much like they have all week with us trolling the reef with our planners running deep and our three rigger baits skipping across the surface.
Today the reef was so full of life that not only were we catching bonitos on our planners one after another but they were all over our surface baits as well. I think we caught about 1,000,000,000 of them and one king fish.
About an hour and a half into the trolling I noticed a dorsal fin slowly heading to the south on the surface. Captain Greg quickly cut open one of our bonitos and hooked 3 big hooks in it and threw it overboard. I was watching witch direction the shark was heading and I got the boat in front of him with Greg all the time slowly letting the bait back further and further till it was just feet in front of the slowly approaching shark.
Than all of a sudden we could see that the shark had caught the scent of the bait and headed for our bait like a freight train. Than the water exploded and line was peeling off the reel. I went ahead with the boat to help sink the hooks into him and we were HOOKED UP.

It seemed only fitting for little Ryan to get in the chair and the fight was on. Now Ive got to take a second to say that Ryan cant weigh more than 80 pounds soak and wet and this shark was every bit of 250 pounds but all the same Ryan had no intentions of giving up and with a little help from Captain Greg he had his shark to the boat with the leader in Gregs hands in about 25 min.
Ok it was official it was a catch BUT once Greg grabbed the leader and the shark felt this different pull on the other end it took off again.

We had already caught this monster hammer head shark but we wanted to try to get the hooks out of him so Ryans dad (AH) (LOL) I mean Eric got in the chair to help get him close enough to try to get the hooks out of him. This took another 15 min and then just as we got him to the side of the boat we got a few more pictures and than just like magic the hooks came out all by themselves.
We could not have written this any better if we had tried.
Way to go Ryan and you did pretty good yourself Eric.

Ok back to trolling once again catching bonitos one after another when all of a sudden what do I see but another hammer head shark tailing down sea.
Once again Greg sets out a dead bonito and once again once the shark gets the scent he comes in like a freight train but this time I guess his head hit the line or something and fads away.
Ok back to trolling then about 30 min later yet another hammer head tailing. This time we get the hooks into him.
With the rod bent in half and line screaming off the reel Peter jumps in the chair and the fight is on.
Once again a big back and forth tug a war for a good 25 min till Peter gets his shark close enough for Greg to grab the leader. But this fish is not done but as it turns out Greg was. So as the fish darts off Greg just takes a wrap on the leader and does not let go.
Well something has to give and when it did it sounded like a shot gun going off when the line finally broke.

Holly cow what an exciting day of fishing but wait we still have one more trip to go to
As we pulled back to the dock we had Mike and Bill from Dallas Texas waiting to give their luck a shot.
Once again back to the reef we go but this time the bonitos were not biting but the king fish were just biting the bottom out of the boat.
We ended up with our limit of kings in no time along with a couple bonitos.

Thanks again to all of our anglers today and Ryan HAPPY B DAY
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344