Fishing Reports Fort Lauderdale

Catching 2 big fish one after another. Way 2 go Ian

Today we had Ian and his wife Desire and their two children Carmon and Maya.

They had come down from Lake Shakopee Minn to enjoy a little South Florida Sun Shine.

While the sun may have been shinning I’m sorry to say that the ocean was a bit on the rough side today and we only got to fish for a short while. HOWEVER!! Talk about LUCK J.J. got the baits all suspended from the kites and from that point on it did not take long before a monster barracuda swam up and we were Hooked Up. After about 7 to 10 min Ian reeled in this nice 48 inch barracuda.

J.J. got the baits right back out there and BAM here comes this nice sail fish and we were Hooked Up again. This one gave Ian a little tougher time coming to the boat but after a good 20 min back and forth fight Ian finally got his trophy to the boat.

Way to go guys and Ian looking forward to hunting with you in the next few weeks.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Summer time sails and smoker kings

Today we had Steve and Laurel, josh and Mike all from Gaithersburg MD. Trolling was slow today so we got some live baits from the bait boat and went right out to 150 feet of water.

We set out both kites with live goggle eyes suspended from them. It did not take long to get our first bite and it turned out to be a nice barracuda. Right after J.J. got the baits set right back out there and BAM another big barracuda.

Both nice fish but not the monster we were looking for. All of a sudden up popped a sailfish and now we were Hooked Up. Laurel jumped in the chair and the fight was on.

It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 20 min till finally Laurel got this big sailfish to the boat.

Way to go Laurel!!

We ended up with a couple big barracudas one sailfish and a smoker kingfish.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Father's Day Sailfish

Ok this one goes to Frankie for the best Father’s Day Present of all.

Frankie got her husband Todd a fishing trip for Father’s Day and today was the day he decided to get together with his close friends and do a bit of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

So we loaded up Todd, Tim, Mike, Gus, Pete and Quinde ( from sunny South Florida), a lot of beer and what some of the guys were calling coke in glasses but it was very clear coke and they seemed to be getting happier with every drink they had.

It was pretty clear to us that these guys were out to have a good time and that is just what we did.

We started trolling the reef with 2 planers running 45 feet deep and our 3 surface baits skipping across the surface. But today trolling was just not producing many fish. We caught a couple of bonitos and one king that we almost got to the boat but it was eaten by a big barracuda right behind the boat.

Ok time for plan B we brought in all the trolling gear and set out our kites with 4 live baits suspended from them. We had Pete who kept slamming the door on the boat I think he thought he was attracting the fish with that and we had Gus who decided to take a hit for the team and he started chumming the waters for us. I don’t know which one of these two guys actually attracted the fish but before we knew it we had a sailfish up on our right short kite bait. But this one did not eat.

Within in 10 min we had another sail fish on our left short kite bait. J.J., the mate, tried to feed him the bait but the sailfish got all wrapped up in the line came up jumping and got away. (RATS!)

Ok 2 sailfish up within 10 min we felt we had a good shot at catching one of these guys.

Soon after that we got a bite on our right long kite bait and we were Hooked Up. Quinde jumped in the chair and the fight was on. After a good 8 to 10 min Quinde reeled in this monster barracuda. Ok not a sailfish but a nice fish all the same.

J.J. got the baits right back out there and all of a sudden another sailfish popped up. This time we got a hook into him and we were Hooked Up.

Tim jumped in the chair and the fight was on. At first this fish was dancing all over the surface but after a while he settled down and just kept digging down. After a good 15 min Mike jumped in the chair to give Tim a hand. (Finally got him to the boat.) Way to go guys!

Now we were looking good and we still had some time left on the clock. J.J. got the baits right back out there and BAM here comes another sailfish. This time Todd jumped in the chair and once again the fight aboard the Hooked Up was on.

This was a back and forth tug of war for another good 20minutes until Todd finally got his sailfish to the side of the boat.

Talk about an exciting morning of fishing!!

Guys, thanks again! Todd I really think that Frankie needs to spend a bit of time at the mall on you for this trip. (LOL)

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Fishing with Norman and friends

Today Norman from Tuscaloosa Florida was entertaining about 15 colleagues that own assisted living facilities all over Florida. We ended up using 3 boats to get all of them out fishing and also put together a little tournament.

Ok let me introduce the players.

Aboard the Hooked Up we had Norman, Rich, Joe and Emit.

Aboard the Marlin My Darlin we had Rick, Jeff, Dion, Worley and Bob.

Aboard the Local Knowledge we had Cliff, Scott, Bob, Tony and Kent.

All the boats seemed to start out trolling the reef catching king fish and bonitos. However, we knew that these guys were calling each other saying that they had caught this and that but all the Captains knew that we were all catching the same fish, kings and bonitos.

After a couple hours of trolling the reef the boats and Captains started making their moves for bigger and more fish.

The Marlin My Darlin went off shore looking for some dolphin fish while the Hooked Up set out some live goggle eyes (Live Bait) and started slow trolling in hopes of finding a sailfish. While the Local Knowledge bottom fished.

The Marlin My Darlin struck out off shore never finding any dolphin fish. Aboard the Hooked Up they got one shot at a sailfish but never did get a hook into him. However ,the Local Knowledge started out catching snappers to try to catch the most fish then they clinched it by landing a 60 pound Amber Jack.

Way to go to all the guys aboard the Local Knowledge they walked away with everything.

Norm thanks again it was a blast and we all can’t wait till next year to try it again. And to all of our anglers today thanks again for a great time.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Cowboys Fans have a great Day fishing aboard Hooked Up

Today we had Amanda and Jim from Dallas Texas out for a few hours of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

Trolling had been producing fish for us all week so we went right back to trolling the reef.

We set our two planners out running about 45 feet down along with three surface baits skipping across the surface.

When I say that the bonitos were biting like mad dogs I just don’t know how else to put it. I’m not sure how many we caught let along how many we threw back. But I think it was somewhere around 1,000,000,000 (LOL) Along with a couple of KingFish.

Guys thanks again for a fun morning of fishing and sorry about your foot ball team I just don’t think this is the year for the cowboys (LOL)

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

King Fish Snap off aboard the Hooked Up

Today we had a shared charter with Willy from Westin Florida and Nick from New Jersey.

Getting fish in the box was the plan today and the best way of doing this was once again trolling the reef with two planners running about 45 feet down along with a few baits skipping across the surface.

Once again it was the planners that paid off in a big way. The kings were there and hungry so we ended up with a box full of kings.

Willy and nick thanks again for fishing with us aboard the hooked up and Willy we look forward to fishing with you again in October to catch you that sail fish you want.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Little slow on the rip today

Today we had Ashley and Alex from Switzerland and Alan from Ft Lauderdale out for just a few hours in the late afternoon for a bit of deep sea fishing.

Now I’ve got to say that there is nothing better than writing a great fishing report about what a good day of catching we had aboard the Hooked Up.

BUT if all my reports were about how great the fishing was every day well let’s just say that is just not fishing and I am sorry to say that today was one of those slow days on the rip.

We started out trolling the reef knowing that was going to be our best shot at throwing some fish in the box but today in the late afternoon it just was not happening.

We managed to catch a couple of king fish with our planners but that was it.

So we switched over to some shark fishing but once again no luck.

Alan thanks again for your patience and remember we owe you one.

Guys it would be a lot easier if I just skipped this report but I pride myself on telling it like it is and most of the time we get the best of the fish but once again it is fishing NOT CATCHING.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Trolling 4 kings bonitos and Sails off the coast of Ft Lauderdale aboard Hooked Up

This morning we started out fishing with Paul, Charlie, Luis and John all from South Florida. Once again trolling the reef was the big ticket. And once again the reef paid off with king fish and bonitos. BUT all of a sudden one of our surface baits that was skipping across the surface paid off for us today.

As we were trolling one of our rigger baits popped out of the out rigger and Captain Kevin wasted no time getting to the rod and picking it up. Just as Kevin picked up the rod Captain Greg seen a nice sailfish tracking right behind the bait. Kevin dropped the bait back to him and BAM we were HOOKED UP.

Paul jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took Paul a good 15 min to finally get his sail to the side of the boat. We got a few quick photos of the fish swimming next to the boat and Kevin reached down and cut the leader right next to the hook.

Sometimes it seems to be easier on the fish to just cut the leader as close as possible to the hook instead of trying to hold the fish to try to get the hook out. At times a sail fish goes nuts at the boat and ends up doing more harm to himself.

Nice going guys!

This afternoon we had a family from Caracas Venezuela out for a few hours to give their luck a shot aboard the Hooked Up. We had Diana and her two kids Manuel and Alan.

Once again the reef was the place to be with the two planners tearing it up.
We ended up with 8 nice kingfish and 3 bomber bonitos.

Thanks again to all our anglers today.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Big Hammer head Shark Caught aboard Hooked Up in Aug along with Lots of king Fish

Today we had a family from Rochester Ney York Sylvia and her husband Chuck and their kids Curtis, Heather and Trisha out for a few hours of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

Once again we started out trolling the reef with our two planners running deep and three baits skipping across the surface. Today the reef was full of life. We were catching kings and bonitos one after another.

Since we already had a box full of king fish and bonitos we decided to try for a monster fish and just see how our luck would turn out. As it seems our luck was going to be very good because as soon as we got a couple shark baits set out there we got a big shark bite within in two min. Curtis jumped in the chair and the fight was on. Talk about lucky! But after about 5 min of fighting this fish the line went slack and so did our luck.

O well I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching.

But we still had a little time left so we set the baits right back out there and just as we were running out of time and about to reel in the lines our deep rod bent over and line was screaming off the reel. Curtis jumped in the chair and we were HOOKED UP. It was a back and forth tug a war for over 40 min but at last Curtis hung in there and much to our surprise up popped this big hammer head shark in the middle of Aug. We never expected this but hey we could not have been happier and we did manage to slide Curtis’s fish into the boat for a quick measurement for a replica trophy to be made of his great catch and slid him right back out the door to fight again another day.

Way to go Curtis

As we got back to the dock we had our afternoon trip waiting on us. We had Chalet, Di, Sue, Karl and George all from Birmingham England.

They were going on a cruise in a couple days and thought they would try their luck at some deep sea fishing off the coast of Ft Lauderdale.

Once again we went right to trolling the reef and YES the kings were snapping.

We were catching all the kings we wanted as a matter a fact with still a good 30 min left to fish they let us know that they were all beat and had caught more than enough.

Guys thanks again and hope you guys have a ball on your cruse.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Kings Bonitos and Sailfish aboard Hooked Up

Today we had a shared charter with Brain from England, Chris from Palm Harbor Florida, and Joe and Evan from parts unknown. We started out trolling the reef with our 2 planners running about 45 feet deep and 3 baits skipping across the surface. While trolling we ended up catching a few king fish and a bonito.

Ok time for plain B so in came the trolling gear and out went the live baits. Today we did not have enough wind to fly our kites so we slowly trolled them down the reef.

Ok so now we had all four goggle eyes (live baits) out there and the trap was set and all we needed was for some big fish to come along and eat one.

Than all of a sudden out of nowhere up popped this big sailfish on one of our baits. It only took seconds till he swallowed the bait and we were Hooked Up. This fish was dancing all over the surface and Evan wasted no time jumping in the chair.

(THE FIGHT WAS ON) It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 15 min but finally Evan got this big sail fish to the side of the boat. Captain J.J. got a hold of the fish for a quick measurement to have a replica trophy made of Evan’s catch a couple quick photos and back into the sea he went to fight again another day.

Way to go Evan and thanks again to the rest of our anglers today.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Fishing with the Honeymooners from Mi

Today we had Melissa and Aaron the honeymooners from Lansing Mi spend the afternoon fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

These two were just out to have a good time no matter what. You could have put them in a mud puddle and they would have had a ball. We started out trolling the reef with 2 planners running deep and 3 baits skipping across the surface and when we got our first bite I had to turn around you would have thought we had a 1000 pound blue marlin on by the way they were yelling and just having a ball.

Somehow they got me all caught up in their excitement and we were all yelling and just trolling down the reef. The other boats must have thought we were nuts. But the fact is we were having a ball and the kings and bonitos were biting the bottom out of the boat. We were not fishing we were catching and having a ball at it.

Aaron had told me that what they would really to catch was a big fish to hang on their wall to remember their honeymoon with.

So we trolled our way to the south off the coast of Hallandale beach Florida where there was 3 big structures on the bottom that sometimes holds some big barracudas. Just before we got there we had hooked into a nice 8 pound bonito and we decided to keep him alive and set 3 big trouble hooks in him and see just what kind of sea monster we could pull out.

Things were going according to plan till all of a sudden BAM we got the bite BUT we did not get the hooks into whatever sea monster it was that took half of our 8 pound bonito. (RATS)

Now here we were 7 miles from our inlet running short on time and no live bait.

I made an executive dissension and we ran all the way back to a buoy in front of our inlet and set out a couple of dead bonitos on the bottom and hopped for a big shark.

Aaron had come up on the bridge with me after we got the baits set out and asked how much longer we had. I told him we only had about 25 min left but that the good news was it only takes one second to get the bite. All of a sudden our bait that was connected to a balloon took off and we were Hooked Up.

Melissa jumped in the chair and the fight was on. She would gain 10 feet and the fish would take 20 back and forth. After a good 15 min she decided to make this a family affair and Aaron jumped in the chair. And once again as soon as he would get the fish close to the boat off it would go again at will.

Now we do this fishing thing everyday and most of the time we know what we are fighting and we were sure this was a big sand bar shark but after a good 35 min of back and forth tug a war up popped this 94 inch Hammer head shark. What a great surprise and at this point the shark was tired and all wrapped up in the leader so we decided to slide him in the tuna door to get a quick measurement and a couple of pictures to have a replica trophy made of the honeymooners catch.

What a great way to end the day. Melissa and Aaron thanks sooo much and have a great time in the Dominican Republic.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Catching snappers,Kings, bonitios and more off the coast of Ft Lauderdale

Today we had Eddie the baker from Publix where shopping is a pleaser and his girl friend Marge from Pompano. Eddies brother Greg and his wife Annette came down to visit from Mississippi.

Now Eddie has had this trip planned for over a month now and I run into him every couple days at Publix and I knew how excited they all were about this fishing trip so to say the pressure was on an understatement.

Seeing I was under the gun to produce fish I knew that trolling the reef was going to be my best bet to put plenty of fish in the box.

We set out both planners running about 45 feet down and three bait on the surface skipping across the surface.

BUT much to my surprise today the reef was just not producing many bites. We did manage to catch 1 bonito and three small barracudas but that was it and it was time for some fast thinking.

Plain B we brought in all the trolling gear and sent down two chicken rigs to the bottom. A chicken Rig is 5 hooks in a row with a lead at the bottom and is used for catching snappers.

Plain B was a big hit!! The snappers were biting like mad dogs and we were now not only catching but we were catching some great eating fish. Things were going pretty much as we would have hoped for when all of a sudden Eddies rod started bending over a bit more than the rest of the times and we knew we had something different on this time. When Eddie finally reeled his fish to the surface I could not believe my eyes he had caught a 5 pound yellow eye snapper in 170 feet of water.

For those of you that don’t know what a yellow eye snapper is well let me just say that it is one of the best eating fish you can put on a plate. The funny part is that these fish are usually caught anywhere from 350 feet of water out to 600 on the bottom but never have I seen one in 170.

We ended up with more than enough fish and I am sure everyone had a ball. Thanks again guys and Eddie you owe me a box of your special donuts. (LOL)

As we got back to the dock we had our afternoon party waiting to give their luck a shot aboard the Hooked Up.

This afternoon we had a shared charter with Kevin and his son Bryson from Westin Florida and their good friend Greg from Pembroke Pines Florida and last but not least Wendy from Minnesota who had fished with us last week.

We decided to once again try some trolling and then hit some snappers once we got down to where we had caught them earlier. But this time the reef was going off and the kings and bonitos were biting like crazy. I’ve got to take a second to say that I’ve been fishing the waters off the coast of fort Lauderdale since 1974 and once I think I’ve got it figured out I find out that you just never can quite figure out mother nature. This morning the reef was dead and this afternoon we can’t even get all the baits in the water. (GO FIGURE)

Anyways back to the fishing we loaded the box with king fish and bonitos but once I got down to where we had wacked the snappers earlier but now all we could catch was 2 little snappers.

All in all everyone aboard the Hooked Up today had a ball and we can’t thank you guys enough for fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Fishing with the gang from Texas on Fri the 13

Friday the 13 that’s fight and today we’ve got Rene and his sister Rikki and two very close friends of the family Vicky and Diane all from Texas down here in Sunny South Florida to watch their brother Roger Huerta AKA (El Matador) fight at Hard Rock. As it turned out Rogers’ fight was canceled due to his opponent getting hurt in practice. But if you get a chance goggle this Roger Huerta he is one bad ass that has finally hit the big time in fighting.

Since they were already down here they figured any kind of fight would do so how about fighting a fish or two.

I’ve got to say that a finer group of people you would be hard pressed to find.

We trolled the reef with two planners running about 45 feet down along with three baits skipping across the surface.

While we did not get much action on our surface baits the two planner rods were on fire.

We were catching kings and bonitos one after another and the bantering back and forth was just about as good as it gets.

Vicky and Rene were at each other the entire trip and they just had the rest of us in stitches.

Thanks again guys for great time fishing and for all the laughs.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Fishing with Mario his son Jonathan and Jack Great Fishing

Today we had Mario and his son Jonathan and their close friend Jack all from Montreal Canada our for a few hours of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked up off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.

Today we were just looking for some steady action and by god that is just what we got.

We set out our 2 planners running about 45 feet deep and three surface baits skipping across the tops of the waves.

Once again the planners were tearing them up catching kingfish bonitos and even some barracudas. But all of a sudden we got a big bite on one of our planners and at the same time one of our rigger baits got hit.

It turned out to be a couple 20 pound Wahoo’s. Our mate today was Kevin and he was all over these fish. Just as the Wahoo on the rigger got within gaffing range BAM he was in the boat. But I’m sorry to say that the other Wahoo on the planner shook head one last time and cut thru our line like it was hot butter.

Well that’s fishing but one out of two Wahoo’s on mono leader is not bad.

All together we ended up with 5 small barracudas, 4 kingfish, 5 bonitos and one 20 pound Wahoo.

Not a bad morning of fishing way to go guys.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Fishing with the Rudds and Joe and Jacob

Today we a special treat we had our old friends Reese and Jeff from Ft Lauderdale and Joe and our old fishing buddy Jacob from Michigan.

We stopped off at the marina on our way out and picked up a dozen goggle eyes (live bait) and went right off shore in about 150 feet of water to do some kite fishing trying to catch a sail fish.

Once we got all 4 live baits suspended from the kites all hell broke loose.

A king fish went after our right short kite bait while J.J. was trying to hook him another one was on our left long. Then still another one on the right long and before we knew what had happen we got 3 out of the four baits were chopped in half and all we had to show for it was one king fish. (RATS)

That was enough of that at $6:50 per bait I knew it was time to move out to deeper water where hopefully the kings would not eat us up.

Once we got into 300 feet of water we set the kite baits right back out there the only problem was that now we were getting no bites at all.

After a good hour and a half without a bite we decided to bring in what we had left of the live baits and set out our trolling gear.

Now we were catching not just fishing.

It only took about 45 min to catch a good hand full of kings so everyone got to catch a couple fish.

Thanks again guys as always enjoyed the heck out of fishing with all of you and lets do it again soon.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344