Fort Lauderdale's Sail fishing @ it's best aboard Hooked Up

Submitted by Taco Hooked Up Sportsfishing

Submitted on 01/11/2011
Fishing Spot:
Atlantic Ocean (FL)
Fort Lauderdale, FL United States United States
January 1st, 2011 So here we are in 2011 a brand new start and what a great way to start out the New Year.
 
 
Today my son Luis is working for me so Captain Greg and Luis are left to starting out the new year aboard the Hooked up with farther and son team Bruce and Gordon from Arcadia Florida.
 
We went right to kite fishing with our live baits suspended from the kites.
As much as I hate to say it fishing started out very slow but after some waiting we did manage to catch a few king fish.
Than @ last after some more waiting up popped the fish we were looking for a big sailfish.
This fish seemed to be out of the water more than he was in the water. Putting on this great show for us dancing all over the surface but after a good 25 min fight we finally got him close to the boat.
 
 
 
We got a couple of photos of him next to the boat than we watched him swim away in great shape.
 
 
 
Bruce and Gordon thanks again for fishing with us aboard the Hooked Up and thank god finally the big fish showed up for us. Have a GREAT year.
 
 
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
 
Jan 2
 
 
Today we had Elijah, Remy, Evan and Ouray all from South Florida along with their two friends Dave from Philly and Brendan from San Francisco.
 
 
 
We stared out trolling the reef but after quite some time with catching just one black fin tuna we decided to switch up and set out the kites with live baits suspended from them.
 
 
As it turned out we had made the right decision because before we knew it we had Dave from Philly ended up in the chair fighting a monster sailfish.
It took Dave a good 20 min but at last Dave caught his first sailfish. WAY TO GO DAVE
 
Guy’s thanks again for fishing aboard the Hooked Up.
 
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
 
JAN 5
 
 
Today we started out fishing with Jackie and Carl and their daughter Krissy her boy friend Kieran all from Ontario Canada.
We started out trolling with 2 planner boards running about 45 to 50 feet deep along with 3 surface baits.
 
We trolled for a good hour but today trolling was just plain old slow. However Carl did catch a big bonito and Kieran boated one nice kingfish.
 
Ok time for plan B so in came the trolling gear and out with the 2 kites with 4 live baits suspended from them.
 
Ok now the trap was set and now all we needed was for some big hungry fish to come along and have a little lunch.
 
And that was just what happen a big sailfish came along ate the bait line started pealing off the reel and we were Hooked Up.
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Krissy jumped in the chair and the fight was on.
It was a back and forth tug a war for over 20 min.
As Krissy got this big sail near the boat he started jumping all over the place and gave us a few good photo shots.
 
 
 
After a few more min he settled down and J.J. was able to reach over and get the hook out of his mouth and gave us a quick Kodak moment and released him in great shape.
 
 
 
 
WAY TO GO Krissy!!!!
 
 
This was the only fishing trip we had scheduled today BUT along came this lady Andrea from Brazil along with Eric, Lourtes Amanda and little Rebecca
 
As it turned out Eric wanted to catch a fish any kind of fish and they wanted to go out for just one hour.
 
Ok well I had my hands full on this one with just one hour to get to where I might be able to get a fish to bite and bite quick.
 
We went right to our inlet and set out 2 live baits and slowed trolled them over this ledge that drops from 8 feet of water to 36 feet down.
 
We went back and forth for a good 20 min with out a bite. Then as I was making a turn to head back to the dock the water exploded and we were Hooked Up.
 
Eric jumped in the chair and the fight was on. Truth being told no it was not a monster fish BUT it was a barracuda and Eric could not have been happier.
 
 
 
 
Eric thanks again for fishing with us and we’re looking forward to fishing with you and your dad for a full trip to see if we can catch you a big fish next time.
 
 
Thanks again to all of our anglers today aboard the Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
 
Jan 6
 
Today we started out fishing with Sven and his 2 sons Ludvig and his youngest son Frans all from Sweden. ( Hope I spelled names correct)
We started out trolling the reef catching a bonito and a small kingfish.
 
 
 
 
 
While trolling the reef was slow today we did have on a nice Wahoo witch got away so we were hopping we might get another shot @ one. But it was not to happen and after trolling for over 45 min without a bite we decided to switch from trolling to kite fishing.
 
 
Truth being told fishing was on the slow side today so we wanted to do everything we could to help our odds of hooking into some fish so this time instead of suspending 4 live baits out of our 2 kites we decided to just suspend 3 live baits and replace the 4th live bait with a big shark bait (A dead bloody bonito with 3 hooks in it)
 
Ok the trap was set and the wait began.
After a good 30 min I seen a swirl by our shark bait and sure enough some thing had grabbed it and was slowly swimming away with the bait.
We locked up the reel and went ahead with the boat and BAM we were Hooked Up.
 
While the line was tight and yes we were Hooked Up with some thing it just was not going to be a very big fish for the tackle we were using. It turned out to be a 4-foot silky shark.
 
Hey it was a fish and we were happy about catching it WE THOUGHT!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
Here is where the rub comes in as we were taking a few photos of this shark next to the boat along comes the fish we were looking for in the first place. A BIG HAMMER HEAD SHARK (RATS)
 
Before we knew it he grabbed one of our live baits on 30-pound test tackle with a 5-inch piece of light wire at the end of the leader.
If only this hammerhead would have shown up 5 min earlier!!
 
Ludvig jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was ether going to be a very short fight and break off or it was going to be a long fight.
 
 
Well let me cut threw the chase we fought this big hammerhead for 40 min and while we did get him within 50 feet from the boat he did finally break us off.
 
 
 
I know it does not make it feel any better but that is why they call it fishing not catching.
 
 
Much To J.J. and my surprise Dad could not have been happier he said they got just what they wanted to catch a few fish and a chance to fight a sea monster.
 
 
 
 
 
Guys thanks again and we are looking forward to fishing with you guys again soon.
 
 
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
 
Jan 8
 
Today we started out fishing with Bob, Billy, and John from Long Island and Aldo from Davie Florida.
 
We were one of the first boats off shore and there had been this ship anchored up in about 120 feet of water for the last few days. So I figured that there had to be a lot of bait fish hanging around this ship so that’s where I decided to set out both of our kites with our live baits suspended from them.
 
 
Once the baits were all set out it only took about 10 min till our first sailfish showed up.
 
John jumped in the chair and the fight was on. This fish had taken out so much line that we could see the bottom of the spool. As we were backing down on this monster sail bare in mind that the other 3 baits were still suspended from the kites and that’s when we seen our second sail as we were trying to gain some line back on the first one.
 
Captain Greg tried to hook the second sail but as luck would have it that one got away. So off we went chasseing the first sail. It took a good 25 min till finally John got his sail next to the boat.
We got a couple quick photos and watched him swim away in great shape.
 
 
 
 
As we got back to the dock our second boat the Local knowledge with Captain Mike called me and said that his charter had
decided to stay out all day and that I needed to pick up his second charter for the day and take them out fishing for them.
 
 
What a great surprise us fisherman down here love fishing when the sailfish bite is one and it seemed that the later it got today the better the bite got.
 
So we picked up Bob and his daughter Kari from Chicago along with her husband Josh from Minnesota and off we went.
 
I had asked Kari what she would like to try to catch and she responded that she really wanted a shot a catching a sailfish.
 
Ok that bring said we went right out to 75 feet of water witch by the way is a lot shallower then we would usually fish but by the talk on the radio the fish seemed to be moving threw very shallow today.
 
As we were trying to put our kites out a sailfish piled on the second bait we had in the water. (WE WERE HOOKED UP)
 
Well she said she wanted to try to catch a sailfish!!!
 
I could not believe this we did not even have all the baits in and we were already Hooked Up.
After a good 25 min fight Kari had her first sailfish at the side of the boat. We got a couple photos and watched him swim away in good shape.
 
 
 
 
Ok now that we had one fish under our belt we got all the baits set out and BAM another sail popped up and again we were Hooked Up.
 
 
This time Bob jumped in the chair and the fight was on. I think Bob was a bit surprised at how hard it is to actually reel one in.
 
 
 
 
 
But Bob hung in there and soon enough he had his first sail to the side of the boat.
 
 
 
 
 
Ok now we just needed to catch Josh a fish but when his fish finally popped up he did not come alone and we ended up hooking 2 sailfish at the same time.
 
I am sorry to say that one line cut the other fish off and the one fish we were still connected with finally spit the hook.
 
Talk about an exciting day of fishing!!
 
Thanks again to all of our anglers that fished with us today board the Hooked Up.
 
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344