Feb 2008

Well it is finally March and last March was red hot! We are looking foward to this month to be filled with Sharks, Sailfish, Dolphin fish, and more.

So give us a call and let's get you Hooked Up
(954)764-4344

Feb 2

Today Brain and his good friend came down from Ney York to spend the morning fishing aboard the Hooked Up in seach of some Big Game.

We did some trolling with no luck we just did not have any current and none of the boats were catching much. So we figured if we were not going to catch a lot we were going to try to catch something big. So we put out the live baits and suspended them from the kites.

Well it did not take that long and Brain was Hooked Up. A real nice sailfish came out of the water jumping and Brain jumped in the chair (the fight was on). After about 30 min of fighting Brain got the fish up to the boat and got a couple nice pictures and released the fish.

Way to go guys thanks for your patience.

That same afternoon more and more boats were starting to see sailfish pop up so thing are starting to look good for the winter of sail fishing off the coast of South Florida.

Give us a call and come on down to sunny south Florida and let’s catch you a sailfish or two.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 4

Today Oscar a regular fishing customer from South Florida brought a friend of his Opera out for just a few hours of deep sea fishing. Well we were only out for a few hours and we needed to make something happen fast. So we went right to live bait fishing and with a couple dead baits down deep. We were trying to do a couple of kinds of fishing at the same time to try and better our odds.

Well as it turns out we had the right idea no one was catching much of anything and it did not take us long to get Hooked Up. Our deep rod with a dead bait at the other end bent over and we thought it was going to break the rod. Line stated peeling off and it seemed there was no stopping it. Well Oscar jumped right in the chair and the fight was on.

We really were not sure who was going to run out of the well to fight first the fish or the man. It took just about all Oscar had in him but he hung in there and in about 45 min up popped this monster hammer head shark.

Way to hang in there and nice going on your catch Oscar.

Looking forward to fishing with you again this coming Saturday.

Well the sharks are starting to show up early so it looks like game on.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 6

Today we had a regular customer Steve from south Florida and he brought along Elijah for a morning of Deep Sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

We started out trolling the reef looking for some kingfish or some dolphin fish. But we had no current and they just were not biting and we knew they were looking for some fish to have a fish fry for dinner.

So we decided to fish the bottom and see if the bottom fish were biting.

Well they were and they were biting well we ended up catching a bunch of snappers.

Steve hope dinner was good and thanks again for coming back to the Hooked Up

Captain Taco
(954)764-4344

Feb 8

Dennis from Michigan is getting married so his friends all flew down for the wedding. We had Dennis, Andrew, Dave and Dempsey also all from Michigan

We started out trolling the reef trying to just catch some kingfish and some bonitos. Well the trolling was a little slow and we only caught 1 kingfish.

So we decided to fly a couple kites with some live baits suspended from them for sailfish or maybe a couple dolphin fish. Well the sails and dolphin never showed up but we did get a big bite on one of our deep lines which had a big slab of a dead kingfish on it.

Well it took about 30 min but we finally got this monster to the boat. It turned being a big hammer head shark. Way to go guys and Dennis good luck hope all goes well.

Captain Taco 954-764-4344

Feb 9

Today Andy from Canada flew down to spend a few hours fishing with some of his friends that now live down here in South Florida. Boomer, Chris, John, Bob and Don were all hoping to get Andy Hooked Up with something big

So we started out trolling the reef trying to catch a few kingfish or bonitos so we could later put them out and see if we could trade them in for something bigger.

Well today was one of those days where everything went according to plain. The kingfish were biting well so we ended up with a box full of them.

Then we put them out with some big hooks in them. One on top one half ways down and one the bottom. It did not take long till the rod with the one on the bottom bent over and looked like it was going to break. It took a while but they did manage to get this SEA MONSTER to the boat. It was a big hammer head shark. Way to go guys and looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Well the sharks are starting to show up good now and so are the sailfish so give up a call and let’s get you Hooked Up in sunny South Florida.

That same afternoon we had some doctors onboard for a day of shark hunting in the deep sea. We had Thomas, Jason, Terence, Jordan and Morgan all from Georgia.

We already had plenty of kingfish from our morning of fishing so we went right to it. It did not take long and we were Hooked Up. After about 15 min of fighting we pulled up a silky shark about 120 pounder. But we were looking for something even bigger.

This time it took a little longer to get the bite but man was it worth it we got Hooked Up again and this time we knew we had something big on the other end. This one did not come up quite so easy it took a little more than half an hour but we did finally get this Monster to the boat and this was just that a Monster. It was a hammer head shark about a 250 to 300 pounder.

Guy’s thanks again for a great fun filled afternoon of fishing and we’ll see you again soon.

Well that’s all for today and we are looking forward to fishing tomorrow the way thing are going fishing is getting better every day.

Give us a call and let’s get YOU Hooked Up in Sunny South Florida.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 10

Today we had a split charter with Eva, Andrew and Nick from New York and Matt and Ivory from Pittsburg on board for a morning of deep sea fishing

Well fishing was good yesterday and the ocean conditions looked the same as the day before. So we decided to go right after some Big Game.

We put out our kites and suspended some live bait from the kites and we still had some kingfish left over from the day before. So we put one on the bottom and the other one half way down.

It did not take but a few min and the bottom rod bent over and the fight was on. We ended up landing a big hammerhead shark.

We figured we were pretty lucky because none of the other boats were seeing much. Than Captain Greg heard one of the boats on the radio say they had seen a couple sailfish heading down sea and since we just got done fighting this hammerhead shark and we had no lines in the water he decided to run over by where one of the boats had said they seen these fish. He ran a little south of where the fish had been seen and we quickly put out our kites. He must have set on right on top of them because in about 2 min we were Hooked Up again and this fish was dancing all over the top of the waves. What a sight this thing was in the air more than it was in the water. It took about 20 min but we did land it and man were we hated by the other boats. It seemed we could do no wrong.

Thanks again Guys for a very memorable day.

Well I don’t have to tell you fishing just seems to be getting better every day so come on down and lets go fishing!!

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 11

Today Joe, JT and Jay all from Colorado came down to spend the morning deep sea fishing for some good eating fish. We started out doing a little trolling but we just could not seem to get on the fish.

So we decided to let the fish find us. We put out our kites with some live bait suspended from them and we put a chum bag over the side filled with chopped up fish in it to let out a fish sent and see if we could attract some fish to us. Well it worked first a dolphin fish came up to one of the live baits and we caught that. Than a black tip shark came up and we caught that. Than it seemed like the dolphin fish just kept coming.

We ended up catching a bunch of Dolphin fish and one nice black tip shark.

Hope you guys enjoyed dinner and looking forward to fishing you again soon.
Captain Taco
(954)764-4344

Feb 14

Today Todd and his wife Varian and Neal and his wife Eve came down from Thunder Bay Ontario Canada to do some sail fishing. Well the sail fishing has been a little slow so I decided to go the extra mile and fish of North Miami.

We trolled our way down hopping to catch some kingfish or some bonitos but they just were not biting. So we trolled some little jigs around a wreck and caught some little bonitos to keep alive and later drop them down to the bottom on a deeper wreck and see what would bite for us there?

But first we were putting out the kites and suspend some live bait from them and see if we could catch a sailfish. We found some perfect looking water picked a good spot and started the waiting. Well we were waiting for almost an hour with no bites but I knew that there had to be some sails around here it just looked to good for them not to be around.

At last there was a sailfish and he popped up on one of our short baits. We started feeding him when we realized that there was another sailfish there with him. So now we had one sail eating the bait and swimming away and another swimming with him and they were heading right at bait. So instead of trying to set the hook on the one that had eaten bait already we just let them keep swimming and before we knew it the second sailfish ate the second bait. Now the time had come to come tight and see if we could make up for lost time of not catching and see if we could catch two at the same time.

Well I went ahead with the boat and we locked up both reels and hopped for the best. AND YES we were connected withy two. Todd wasted no time jumping in one of the chairs and Neal jumped in the other. Game on at first both fish were swimming in the same direction to the north and things were going pretty good but after about 10 min or so Neal’s fish decided to turn and swim to the south. Well both Neal and Todd were very adamant about not hurting these fish and time was of the essence. At first I tried going after Todd’s fish but that did not work Neal’s fish had almost all the line off the reel so we turned and went after his. Well that did not work out so well for now Todd’s fish had most of his line out. WHAT TO DO well it seemed to me like the only thing to do was just keep the boat in the middle of the two fish and let these guys fight the fish to the boat.

Neal’s fish came up first and we got a couple quick pictures and watched him swim away. Now we could concentrate on Todd’s fish. And at last we did get both fish to the boat.

Well we were pretty happy now and figured it was time to drop those little bonitos we had caught down deep on a wreck. As soon as we got down BANG there was a bite. A very big snowy grouper. Well we tried one more drop before calling it a day and we got one more grouper.

Well guys thanks again for a great fun day of fishing.

Spring is coming fast and the sails are showing up so give us a call and let us get you Hooked Up

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 19

Today was a tough day of fishing off the coast of Ft Lauderdale.

We started out with one of our regular customers Todd from Michigan and he brought down his good friend Steve also from Michigan.

Well Todd has fished with us over a dozen times and he knew what he wanted his friend to catch. (Something Big) So we went right to it we put out a couple kites with live baits hanging from them and we also put out a couple big shark baits. Well we had a North West wind and a little north current so I had to keep throttling the boat around to keep the baits looking good. And it seemed that the only fish any of the boats were seeing were sharks and they were a little deeper than we were sitting. So I slowly moved us out to deeper water and ended up fishing right next to my other boat the Local Knowledge.

We figured with both of us close to each other we would give out a bigger sent and that would help our odds. Well as luck would have I seen a nice hammerhead shark coming in on one of our live baits and coming in fast. The problem was that the live baits were on monofilament leaders and we knew the shark would bite right threw the leader. So we pulled the live baits up in the air and tried to get him to eat dead bait on the right leader. Well that did not work and the fish soon faded away. A little while later the shark came back but this time we had the right bait out there for him. But it seemed the only bait this shark wanted was the live one with the wrong leader on it. So I called Captain Mike on the other boat and told him to keep his eyes open for this shark. Well about 5 min later Mike called me and said he got the fish to eat one of his small baits with the right leader.

Well that’s what you call a tough morning of fishing and we had another group of people waiting for us at the dock and we had to get going.

Sorry about that Todd we’ll make it up to you this Thurs.

When we got to the dock we had David, Jenn, JP, Hayley, Don and Judy all from Canada waiting for us. We talked to them a little about the fishing and what they wanted to catch and they did not seem too interested in catching a shark and that seemed to be the only thing all the boats were catching.

So we decided to try something different that none of the other boats were doing. We went trolling way down south and see if we could catch some kingfish or bonitos. We trolled over 6 miles without bite so it was time to change up and try something different.

Since we were so far south we decided to try to catch some little bonitos on a wreck and then drop these little fish down to the bottom on top of a wreck. Well we caught the little bonitos easy enough and off we went to drop them down.

While we started dropping the bait down one of our customers said that he had seen a fish jumping about 30 yards behind the boat. So we started looking around and sure enough there he was a sailfish jumping right toward the boat. At this point JJ our mate stopped what he was doing and grabbed a different rod and hooked a live bait to it and casted it out in the direction of the fish.

Finally we were connected and it was game on.

This was a nice big sailfish and we had our hands full with this one plus we still had a deep line in the water and it was in the way. This fish was going nuts all over the boat.

We did finally clear our deep rod and things settled down a bit. It took about 20 min but we did finally get the fish to the boat. We got some great pictures and watched the fish swim away in good shape.

Now it was time to get back to dropping our deep bait. As soon as we hit bottom BANG we were Hooked Up again. This time we pulled up a nice grouper. (This one did not get to swim away)

At this point a couple of the people were not feeling too well and they decided to call it a day.

JJ emptied out one of the 5 gallon buckets one of the guys was using and he told him that if he could fill the bucket one more time the trip would be free (LOL)

Well it just goes to show you fishing can be hours of boredom interrupted by moments of panic and chaos.

Give us a call and let’s get you Hooked Up in Sunny South Florida.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 21

This morning Chuck, Adam and Ben all from Owing Mills Ma spent the morning fishing aboard the Hooked Up. We did a little trolling with no luck so we wasted no time going right to it. We put out a couple kites with some live baits suspended from them and a couple big dead baits down deep. Well no one was getting a bite out there this morning and we figured it was a waiting game.

Well we were surprised when we did not have to wait that long and one of the deep rods bent over and line started screaming out like there was a truck on the other end.

Well everyone helped and cleared the other lines in no time and the fight was on. It took about 30 min but at last we got this monster hammer head shark to the boat. Nice going guys.

Well that same after noon we had our regular customer Todd and his friend Steve for one last crack at trying to catch Steve his first sailfish. We started out by flying the kites with some live bait out there. We saw some kind of splash on one of our long baits. So we feed the fish as if it was a sailfish but when we came tight it turned out to be a nice dolphin fish (good eating). Well we got him in the boat and got the baits right back out there. As soon as we got everything back and set up we seen another splash and we assumed it was another dolphin fish. Well we were wrong and it turned out to be a sailfish and we set up on him too soon. He came up jumping and he spit the hook out and got away. (RATS)

Well we wasted no time getting the baits back out and in just a couple min a nice black tip shark was eating one of our baits. We started feeding the shark came tight and the fight was on. But what we did not see was there was a sailfish eating another bait and by time we seen it he came up jumping and (RATS) he go away. Well we did manage to catch the shark got a couple pictures and watched him swim away.

Well at this point we had little to no wind so we could no longer fly our kites. So we slow trolled our live baits hopping for one last shot at a sailfish. We did this for as long as we could and the sun was starting to set at this point and it was time to wrap it up.

We all grabbed a beer and tosted to a fun day of fishing even though we had lost a couple sailfish a good time was had by all. Everyone grabbed a rod and started reeling in the baits when all of a sudden two sails at the same time grabbed the baits started jumping and took off with no hooks in them (DOUBLE RATS)

Well I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching. All in All we had a ball and Todd well see you in a couple weeks to get even with these sails.

Guys the sails are starting to show up good some come on down to Sunny South Florida and let’s go fishing.

Captain Taco 954-764-4344

Feb 22

Today Jen, Brad, Lauren, Ethan and Ben all from parts unknown spent the morning fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

We started out trolling the reef looking for some kingfish or some bonitos. Well the trolling was a little slow but we did manage to catch a monster bonito. Than we thought we would try our luck at some deep wreck fishing. So we took live bait and dropped it down about 250 feet to the bottom. Well this payed off us landed a very large amber jack.

Thanks again guys and looking forward to fishing you again soon.

Feb 23

Today Gary and Chris from Dunn North Carolina AD from Magnolia Springs Alabama and Alex and John from Miami Florida spent the morning fishing aboard the Hooked Up. We started out doing a little trolling but not much was bitteing on the troll so we put out the live baits and hopped for the best. And the best did finally happen we ended up catching a monster sailfish. Thanks so much guys looking forward to fishing with you again soon.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 24

Today Stephan, Bredam and Tren Bass and their good friends Jim and Tim Brewer spent the morning fishing aboard the Hooked Up. We set out in search of one thing something BIG.

So we set out our kites with some live baits suspended from them and also one big dead bait out of the kite. We also put a dead bonito on the bottom about 350 feet down and one old stinky bluefish about 150 feet down and started waiting. We had not heard of any of the other boats getting any kind of big bites so we explained to everyone that this would be a waiting game and that one of the boats would be the lucky lottery winner and we just hoped it would be us. One of our baits was being held away from the boat on a balloon and one of the guys on the boat said man I sure would like to see that balloon take off. No sooner than the words got out of his mouth that balloon took off. Now I know that in a lot of my fishing stories I talk about the line taking off like there was a train on the other end but I’ve got to say in all my years of fishing this time it was like nothing I’ve ever seen shark fishing. The line started peeling off the reel and it just would not stop. We had to clear the other line in a hurry and we started backing down on the fish as fast as we could.

Well we finally got this fish turned around and started the long slow process of trying to get him to the boat. We had Stephan in the chair and I don’t know how he hung in there but he did. Somehow he finally after about 2 hours got this monster once in a life time fish to the boat. It was a Thresher Shark we estimated this fish to be about 400 pounds. The fish was pretty tired when we finally got it to the boat so we very carefully were able to get a measurement of this monster it was a whopping 137 inches long. (How about them apples.)

Stephan my hat is off to you I don’t know how you hung in there but this is a fish to remember for the rest of your life. Call me if you ever catch one bigger than this one

Well that’s it for now so give us a call and give us the chance to catch you the fish of a life time

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 25

Today Steven Schorer the president of DRS Technologies took out fishing a couple of his top employees Mike and Bill all from the Washington Maryland area for a day of deep sea fishing.

Well fishing was a little slow and none of the boats seemed to be catching anything. So we decided to try kite fishing and shark fishing at the same time. Well we waited for quite some time but it did finally pay off. Our deep bait rod bent over and we were Hooked Up and it was game on. Mike jumped in the chair and got the fish within 30 yards from the boat. Than the fish decided he wanted nothing to do with this fishing trip thing. Line started peeling off the reel and their seemed to be no stopping it. Mike could not believe that all that line that he had worked so hard to get in was now all gone back out there. So Bill said that he would be glad to lend a hand and the fight between Bill and this sea monster began.

Thing were going pretty good for about 30 min for Bill but this fish had no intentions of being caught. Well we all knew that Steve had done quite a bit of fishing in the past and we needed a little help at this point. Steve had defiantly done a bit of fishing before he knew how to work the equipment without wearing himself out.

Finally we got the fish to the boat.

It turned out to be a a monster hammer head shark and he was pissed off

Thanks again guys for your pertinence.

Well that’s all for now but we are here and ready to take YOU and your guess out for a day of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Feb 27

Today we were joined for a day of deep sea fishing with Sterling, and Sandra from Raleigh Carolina.

Fishing was good. They both fished on another charter boat the day before and Sterling did manage to catch a nice hammerhead shark. So then we were out to top that. We went right to kite fishing in search of a sailfish or two. However, we did not expect three sailfish to pop up at the same time. Sterling wasted no time jumping in the fighting chair, while Sandra jumped in the other and it was game on! One of the three sailfish did get away but they managed to keep the other two hooked up. After fifteen minutes of fighting we managed to get both sailfish to the boat and release both unharmed.

Mission accomplished, we did better than the boat the day before. Thanks for a real fun morning of fishing. I am looking forward to fishing with you again soon.

Give us a call and let’s get you HOOKED UP in sunny south Florida.

CAPTAIN TACO (954) 764-4344

Feb 28

Today’s trip is being sponsored by DeWalt Tools. Carlos, from Miami, called and told me he needed the boat for two days. Today, Carlos was joined by Mike, from Ft. Lauderdale, Marty (the pain in the butt), from Orlando, and Dave from Baltimore.

We decided to run South off of the coast of Hollywood Florida and put out fishing kites and suspended live bait from the kites. All of the other boats were fishing to the North and I didn’t hear of them catching anything. Therefore, we broke away from the pack and headed down South. As it turns out we made the right choice. After about 25 minutes of waiting, there he was. Sailfish on the right short kite bait. All of these guys from DeWalt Tools really wanted Mike to catch the fish of his lifetime. Mike quickly jumped in the chair and we were hooked up. At first the fish came to the boat fairly easy but once he got close to the boat he decided he wanted nothing to do with the boat and the fight was really on. It took Mike about 20 minutes to get the fish back to the boat but, we did finally manage to get the fish back toward the boat, unhook him and let him loose.

At this point, some other boats had seen us fighting the fish and they swarmed to the same area, so we made a move to the North. We put our baits back out and started the waiting. After about 45 minutes of waiting, I thought I had spotted a shark fin behind one of our long baits. After about two more minutes it came closer and he was hungry indeed! He kept trying to eat our baits. The only problem was, our liters were monofilament and we knew he would bite right through it. Therefore, every time he came near one of our baits, Captain Mike would reel it up so he couldn’t grab hold of it. We managed to keep the fish around long enough to get out a big dead shark bait and sure enough he swam after it but, would not eat the bait. This fish wanted live bait. Then we brought the kite in, put a live bait on a heavy wire liter, and sent the bait back out. By now, the fish had disappeared. That fish had stayed around so long, I knew he couldn’t be far away. After about 10 more minutes, at last, there he was. This time, he was going to eat the right bait. He did, and game on!

As I said earlier, Marty was being a pain in the butt so we figured it was about time to get even with him. We got Marty in the chair, and hooked up to the fish. We were all having fun, watching Marty get his butt kicked by the fish, laughing and joking. Then, after 25 minutes Marty managed to get the fish close enough to the boat for Captain Mike to grab the liter.

Now the joke was on Mike. This fish went ballistic and drug Mike from one side of the boat, back down to the other. We were trying to get as many hooks out of the fish as possible before releasing him. We got two of the three hooks out and the fish swam away with a trophy of his own, a hook in the corner of his mouth.

Carlos, and to the staff of DeWalt Tools, we would like to thank you for a couple of real fun days of fishing. We are also looking forward to fishing with you in July, in the Bahamas.

Thanks for taking the time to read our fishing reports. Give us a call at (954) 764-4344 and lets get you HOOKED UP! (For a better look at these pictures go to photo gallery #4)

CAPTAIN TACO

Feb 29

Today we had Clint and Nikki from Mountview, Wyoming, along with their friends Verne, Mark, and Brett from Utah. We spent the first half of the trip fishing North of Pompano with no luck. We heard of few sailfish being caught but they were spread, one here, and one there, not much to it. We worked our way out to 350 feet of water and put out some dead bait for sharks along with our live kite baits, and still no luck for us.

Clint told me early in the trip his main goal was to get his wife, Nikki hooked up with a big game fish. Then, I really felt the pressure because not many fish were biting at all. I decided to move on to the South. We did manage to catch one dolphin fish and Verne reeled it in, for this was not the big trophy fish Nikki was searching for. Everyone on the boat was getting a little restless, and I was pulling my hair out when all of a sudden, there he was. Not just any sailfish, but a very big sailfish. Nikki wasted no time jumping in the chair to get hooked up with the fish she was waiting for all day. While we were fighting the fish, my kites hit the water and it made it difficult to keep the boat pointed at the fish for Nikki. At this point, Nikki’s fish meant a lot more to us then our kites being in the water. After 25 minutes of fighting, Nikki finally got the fish to the boat. Way to Go Nikki! Thanks for making the day! We also managed to save our kites; the day was a great success.

That is all for February 2008. We are very excited to be moving into the springtime and we are expecting a hot sailfish bite this season. Give us a call at (954) 764-4344 and come get HOOKED UP in sunny south Florida.

CAPTAIN TACO