April 1

Ok so its April fool’s day no big deal right?
(WRONG) The first time I ever caught a mako shark was on the first of April. I had caught him fishing over a ship wreck. After showing off our catch to everyone at the dock and captains calling me about my catch I heard that when you catch one in a spot a lot of times there will be another one there. So the next day April 2nd I went back to the same wreck and before we could get all the baits in the water we got another one Hooked and I was Hooked on Mako fishing. Both of these fish were 9 foot long 340 pounds. So as you can manage I’ve got a soft spot in my heart about fishing on April fool’s day.
The problem was we had no customers today and I was chumping at the bit to get out there.
Than at about 11:00 am a car pulled up with Tomas, Adam, Anna and Linn from Sweden looking for something to do. Well I had a great idea let’s go fishing.
So off we went out to the reef and started out trolling to the north. We caught a few king fish and bonitos. Than we did a couple of deep drops trying to catch a grouper of maybe an amber jack. No luck doing deep drops so we decided to go back to trolling only now we were going to troll a little deeper outside of the reef to try to catch some dolphin fish. While we never did find any dolphin fish we did get a real nice bite on one of our deep lines. This fish was pulling a lot harder than a kingfish and we knew it was not a dolphin fish because it never jumped. Soon after hooking this fish we noticed he was doing a lot of head shaking and we thought that just maybe this was a Wahoo and once we got him close enough to the boat we got a good look at him. It turned out to be a nice Wahoo. Once he got even close to gaffing range Jay Jay let him have it and in the box he went. Nice shot Jay Jay.
What a great fun filled trip. We left our trolling gear out as we headed back toward the port when we were in 200 feet of water I pointed out this fin I seen just slowly moving to the south as we got closer Jay Jay yelled out that’s a Mako. And sure enough it was and he was not shy of the boat in fact he stayed behind the boat for a good 2 minutes. Jay Jay fired out a king fish with 3 big hooks in it and we were sure we were about to get Hooked Up. Once we got the bait in front of him we slowly let the bait sink down and this 8 to 9 foot Mako just slowly followed it down. (RATS) never did get him to bite and never seen him again but what a cool sight to see.
Thomas thanks again and we’ll see you again next year.
Its APRIL so come on down and be a part of some of the best fishing South Florida had to offer.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 2

Today we had some regular customers out for their annual fishing trip.
We had Jeff from Chicago, Richard from Alabama, Jeff from Boca and Zambrano from Fort Laudable Florida,
We started out trolling the reef and had to stay near the inlet because Jeff Johnson’s plan had a flat tire. That’s right a flat tire and his plan were not due to land at around 10:00am so when we got the call that he had landed we ran back in and picked up Jeff. We had already been trolling the reef and only caught a couple of kingfish so the decision was made to go off shore and try to find some dolphin fish. We trolled around off shore for a good 3 hours only catching one dolphin. So we decided to go back inside to try and catch Jeff his first sailfish.
We set out both of our kites with live baits suspended from them and we planned to wait it out and hope for the best. And that was just what we got. We seen a sailfish trying to eat our left long kite bait the same bait that Jeff Johnson had guessed would be the one to get bit.
Up popped this monster sailfish and we were Hooked Up. Jeff Snyder wasted no time jumping in the chair and the fight was on. It took Jeff a good 10 minutes to finally get his first sailfish to the boat. WAY TO GO JEFF. Jay Jay reached over and grabbed the sailfish by the bill and got the hook out of him and we watched him swam away in great shape/
I’ve got to say that we did not catch a lot on this trip but we all had such a great time talking and carrying on that the day just flew by and everyone had a great day of fishing.
Jeff, Jeff, Richard and Zambrano thank you guys so much for a fun day and can’t wait till next year to come back around.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

April 3

Today we had a shared charter going out for a morning of deep sea fishing. We had Bill and Laurn from New Jersey and Paul and Jim from Penn.
We started out trolling the reef catching a few bonitos than we spent some time trolling in deeper water looking for some dolphin fish with no luck. We knew we were starting to run short on time so we decided to try one more trick and drop a live bait down about 220 feet down to the bottom hopping to catch a grouper or a big snapper.
Once we got the bait to the bottom it did not take long when all of a sudden the rod bent in half and line started peeling off the reel. We were Hooked Up and just in time. Bill jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 10 minutes but well worth the effort. Bill ended up catching a monster amber jack.
Way to go Bill. This was not a great day of catching but Billed saved the day with his catch and we all had a great day.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

April 4

April 4
Today we went out fishing with Joe and his son Joe from New Jersey And Tim and Rich from Chicago We started out trolling to the south on the reef looking for some kingfish or some bonitos. We never did find any king fish but we caught plenty of bonitos. Than we went off shore looking for some dolphin fish but never did find any. That’s the thing about going off shore looking for dolphin fish most of the time if we find one we are going to find a school of them the problem is if we don’t find them well that’s not so good.
But all in all everyone had a good time and I guess we’re going to have steak for dinner tonight (LOL)
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

April 6

Today we were fishing for a big fish we had Dean, Brent, Mickey and Noah aboard. We picked up some live baits from the bait boat went right out to 350 feet of water and set out both kite with 3 live baits suspended from them and one big dead bait also suspended from the kites. We also set out one big dead bait down about 150 feet down and one last one on the bottom.
Today the fish did not come easy for us it took a lot of waiting but just as we stopped looking at our deep rod it bent over and line was screaming of the reel. Thanks God we were3 Hooked Up. At this point we would have been happy with a goldfish or anything else we could get to bite. But this was not little goldfish this thing was just taking line off the reel at will.
It took a little help from everyone but after a good 35 minutes of back and forth we got this SEA MONSTER to the side of the boat. It was a big Hammer Head Shark.
WAY TO GO GUYS sorry it took so long for the bite.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

April 7

Ok let me set the stage for this fishing report. I want to start out by saying that I take a lot of pride in writing these reports and I know that I am the one of the few Captains that go ahead and write reports even when fishing is slow. So having said that this is NOT a fishing report where the fishing was slow but bear in mind that fishing trips like this one DON,T happen every time.
We got to the boat in the morning and were greeted by James and his son James, Bruce, Cody, John and Derrick. They were all from Lake Drison Michigan.
We started out by going to the bait boat and getting a bundle of live baits. Than we started trolling to the south on the reef hopping to catch some king fish and or some bonitos. We ended up catching a few bonitos and caught one nice dolphin fish. However we had heard on the VHF Radio that a few of the other boats were seeing some sailfish around. At this point we were way to the south almost of the coast of North Miami but we had a well full of live baits and decided to bring in all the trolling baits and set out our kites with the live baits suspended from them.
That was what we wanted to do but as we were trying to get the baits out we seen two sailfish fighting over one of our baits. We WERE Hooked Up. We could not believe how fast we got connected to a sailfish. I can’t remember who fought the first sailfish but we caught him in 10 minutes and were eager to get the baits back out there. Once again we tried to get all of our baits out there with the same thing a pesty sailfish came along and start4ed eating our baits. This happen to us again and again and at the end of the day we ended up catching 5 sailfish a few bonitos and one nice dolphin fish.
Talk about a fun filled day we had such a great day that one of the guys I think John ended up fishing with us every day that he was in town.
Spring is here and so are the big sailfish the bigger dolphin fish are starting to show up and I know that the BIG HAMMER HEAD SHARKS will be here any day now. So give us a call and come down to Sunny South Florida and have a ball catching some of this BIG GAME.
Captain Taco Toll free (877) SEA-4344 or (954) 764-4344

April 9

Today we took out Bobby, Kimmy, Colleen and Jordan all from New York. As we were heading out toward the ocean Captain Mike on the Local Knowledge game me a call and said that there was a big school of blue fish right out in front of our inlet. So let everyone on the boat know that it looked like we might get some good fishing action right away.
Well I had no idea that this school of blue fish that Captain Mike was talking about was this big. I would say that it was as big as two foot ball fields put together.
As we got close to the school Captain Jay Jay started putting out the baits or should I say bait as in one. He could not get one bait all the way out where he was trying to get it before 3 to 7 fish were fighting over his bait.
Ok time to regroup we knew that we were going to catch about as many of these fish as we wanted and we also knew that they were going to eat just about anything we put out there.
We caught 2 or 3 of these 15 to 20 pound blue fish and then we decided to try something els. We wanted to see if we could get these fish to bite something else so we set out bare hooks with a 5 inch piece of red tape dangling behind it. The second we got the first one out there BAM we were Hooked Up. We had such a ball showing everyone how to set out the baits and hooking the fish. I don’t know how many we caught we only kept 4. I wish we would have kept more than we did because we got 2 of them smoked and I’ve got to say they tasted great smoked.
Thanks again guys it was a ball fishing with you guys and looking forward to fishing with you again soon.
Spring is here and there is so much bait fish in town now that we know the big sharks are right behind them so give us a call and let’s get you Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 10

Today we had the boys from South Jersey Jayson, Adam and Luke. These guys were just looking to have a few beers and catch a couple of fish. They had no idea that they would be having one of the best days out fishing of their life.
We knew we had clean blue water out front and we also knew we had a good north current and you put these together in April off the coast of Fort Lauderdale and that equals good fishing.
We went right out to 150 feet of water and set out both our kites with our live baits suspended from them and the trap was set. It did not take long till our first bite BAM a big splash by one of our kite baits and line was peeling off the reel at first we were thinking that it might be a sailfish the way it was peeling line off the reel but it never came up jumping. After about 5 minutes of reeling the fish in just as we were about to gaff the fish another one of our kite baits got hit and line was peeling off another reel. We were in a school of monster bonitos. These fish all weighed 18 to 20 pounds each. Talk about boomers these things were huge and while we were having a ball catching them but they were were eating all of our live baits as fast as we could get them out there. So we got a couple of them in the boat and quickly moved out to a little deeper water.
We got all the baits back out there and once again a big splash by one of our kite baits. We figured it was another bonito but much to our surprise this one came up jumping. A SAIL FISH just what we were looking for. It took about 15 minutes to get him to the side of the boat. We got a couple of quick pictures of him next to the boat and watched him swam away in great shape.
Once again we got our baits right back out and once again almost as soon as we got everything set back out there we got another bite. This one turned out to be a nice kingfish. As we were trying to get him in the boat we saw a sailfish chasing one of our baits. This time we knew what we had out there trying to eat the bait so we were not too worried about getting the kingfish in the boat and we were more concerned about hooking the sail fish. We hooked the sail fish and then got the king fish in the boat and about 15 minutes later we had our second sail fish next to the boat.
What an action packed morning of fishing. When it was all said and done we ended up catching a couple of big sailfish and we had a box full of king fish and bonitos.
Well my friends from South Jersey thanks again and we are looking forward to fishing you guys again soon.
If anyone out there reading these fishing reports are thinking about coming down to South Florida to do some fishing I’m here to tell you that now is the time. Weather is great Hotel rates are down and the fishing is as good as it gets so come on down and let’s get you Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 11

Today we had Mick, Kim, Kelly and Jeff all from Seattle Washington out for a morning of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up
We started out doing a deep drop on one of the ship wrecks about 210 feet down. It took a little dragging our live bait around the wreck for a few minuets’ but soon enough the rod bent over and we went ahead with the boat to drag the fish away from the wreck so he could not get us back into it. Mick jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 10 minutes but we finally got Mick’s monster amber jack to the boat.
Ok now it was time for some top water live bait fishing. We set out 2 kites with 4 live baits suspended from them. The trap was set all we needed now was a big fish to eat our bait. We waited and waited for well over an hour. Just as we were going to bring in all the lines and go try the wreck fishing again we seen a sailfish coming in on one of our kite baits. (JUST IN TIME) Now it was Jeff’s turn and he wasted no time jumping in the chair and the fight was on. This was a big sailfish and it was a good 20 minuets’ till Jeff finally got his catch to the side of the boat. We got a couple quick pictures and watched his fish swam away in good shape to fight another day.
At this point we were not quite out of time but we surely did not have enough time to set out the kites again and since we were already getting ready to do anther deep drop we figured what the heck we would try one more drop. This time there was no waiting involved the second this bait got to the bottom we were Hooked Up. Once again Jeff jumped in the chair and we went ahead with the boat to get the fish away from the wreck. Jeff ended up reeling in this monster amber jack about 45 pounder. Way to go Jeff.
While we only caught 3 fish on this trip I’ve got to say that everyone of them were big fish and we all had a ball fishing aboard the Hooked Up
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

April 13

We started out this morning fishing with our regular guest the one and only Pete Pillone and his mom Barbra his sister Pam her husband Mike and unfortunately his other sister Paula stayed in her hotel room licking her wounds. Rumor has it that she had just a little too much to drink the night before and could not quit make it out of bed.
First thing we had in mind was to catch Barbra some fish to eat for dinner so we stopped at one of the ship wrecks and dropped a live bait down about 210 feet down to see what we could pull out of there. We had no current what so ever and we were slowly dragging this live bait all over the wreck. Finally just as we were about to give it up we got a bite. Barbra jumped in the chair as we pulled away from the wreck and the fight was on. This fish was fighting a little different than what we were expecting. It really was not fighting that hard to get back to the bottom like most of the fish we catch on the wreck do. And it seemed as if he was coming up toward the surface. When we finally got a little look at him we still could not figure out what it was we had on here. It turned out to be a blue fish. Never expected that!
Ok so no current so bottom fishing was going to be slow and we knew that what Pete really wanted to catch was a sail fish. So up went the kites with the live baits suspended from them and the trap was set. It took a bit of waiting but we got a bite on our left long kite bait and we knew this was no sail fish so Mike jumped in the chair and reeled in a nice kingfish. Soon after catching the kingfish we got another kingfish bite and this was Pam’s fish.
We got our kite baits all back out there and here comes Pete’s fish a sail fish and he was all over our right short kite bait. It took Pete 10 minutes to get his sail fish to the boat we got a couple of quick pictures of his fish and watched him swam away in great shape.
We had a little time left so we went to another bottom spot and this time we dropped what we call a chicken rig. It is 5 hooks in line with a weight at the bottom to try to catch Barbra some snappers for dinner. We did end up catching enough snappers for dinner and all in all it turned out to be the perfact fishing trip.
To the Pillones thanks again for a great time fishing with you guys and I hope Paula gets better soon (LOL)
Once we got back to the dock we cleaned the fish for Barbra and meet our afternoon charter. We had Yoni, Matt and Arin all from Baltimore. We decided to go kite fishing right back where we were when we caught Pete his sail fish earlier in the day and as luck would have it we made the right choise. We ended up catching 2 big king fish and one more sailfish. It was just one of those days where the fishing really was not that great but we just kept getting lucky. And you know what they say I,d rather be lucky than good any day. (LOL)
Give us a call and lets us show you a great day out on the water.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 14

Today was one of those days out fishing that we really had to work to catch anything. We had no current at all and the water was a dirty green. So we started out with Ian, Drew, Ken, Phil, Nate and Mike all from Michigan we trolled the reef all the way south of Holly Wood Fl without a bite so than we tried a couple of deep drops with no luck. It was time to go for it all or nothing so we set out our kites with live baits suspended from them and as it turned out we did the right thing we ended up catching a smoker king fish over 30 pounds.
As we got back to the dock and were talking with our afternoon charter we were telling them a bit about how our morning trip went and we thought our best bet was going to be kite fishing and hopping for the best.
So off we went with David and Carol from Mo and their good friends Bill, Leo, Carla and Fugi all of them from right down here in South Florida
We did not have many bites but we did manage to get the right bite. David finally got to catch his first sailfish and if you’re not going to catch a lot this was the fish to catch.
David congratulations on your catch and we’re looking forward to fishing you guys again same time next year.
To my readers I would love nothing more than to write these fishing reports about all the fish that were just jumping in the boat but in the real world every day of fishing is not always a great day of catching. I do take a lot of pride in the fish we catch but I also take a lot of pride in my reports. Having said that let me assure you that we always do our best to get our anglers the best catch possible and if the fishing is a little slow we’ll try harder and tell a few extra jokes during our trip.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344

April 15

Today we had a regular customer/friend of ours Pete from Staten Island New York along with his girl friend Jamie out for a bit of beer drinking and deep sea fishing.
Once again we have no current today and the water had that dirty green look to it and to top it off we have no wind what so ever so flying our kites is out of the question.
So we picked up some live goggle eyes at the bait boat but we still decided to stop and try to catch some live ballyhoo at the reef just outside of our inlet. At first we were glad that we had bought some live baits at the bait boat because it looked as if the baits we were trying to catch were not going to show up. But just we were about to give up trying to catch live ballyhoo they started to show up. It took way longer than we wanted to stay there trying but we ended up catching 9 live baits that we could slow troll since we did not have enough wind to fly our kites.
We went way to the north trying to find some cleaner water to fish in but the water looked the same up to the north. So we set 4 live ballyhoo out of the out riggers and sent one goggle eye down on the down rigger. We got hooked up into a nice dolphin fish but we pulled the hooks just behind the boat (RATS)
But from there it did not take long till our second bite. This bite came on the down rigger and turned out to be a big king fish. Ok skunk is out of the box we were starting to get a good feeling and sure enough here comes this sail fish and he was coming in hot on one of our live baits. Pete jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took Pete a good 15 minutes to finally get his sailfish next to the boat. We got a couple of quick pictures and watched him swam away in good shape.
Pete and Jamie thanks again as always it has been our pleasure fishing with you guys. See you again soon.
Captain Taco 9954) 764-4344

April 17

Today we started out with a 2 boat charter with 12 guys looking to spend the morning deep sea fishing. However after the night before a few of the guys well let’s just say they were not feeling so good. Something to do with drinking and or staying out to late. Any way we ended up with just 5 guys going fishing on 2 different boats.
We ended up with Jim from Lake Mary Florida and Chad from Atlanta Ga. We picked up some live baits at the bait boat and went right to kite fishing. We got a shot at a sail fish right away but sorry to say he came up jumping and spit the hook on us. (RATS) We got our baits right back out there and got another bite. This time we managed to stay connected and caught a BIG king fish about 23 pounder. Once we got the baits out again we got hooked up with something that was just screaming the line off the reel. This one turned out to be a huge bummer bonito.
Once we got everything set out again we had a sail fish coming in on one of our kite baits and this guy was going to eat. Jim jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a good 25 minutes till Jim finally got his fish to the side of the boat. Way to go guys. The other boat caught a couple of small dolphin fish and a couple of king fish. I guess they beat us in numbers but we smoked them in size and quality.(LOL)

After having a few laughs with everyone at the dock it was time to load on our afternoon trip I like to call them the over the hill gang.
All these guys went to high school together and they try to get together once a year to spend a little time together and act like kids again.
I’ve got to say that when we take people out fishing it is not just fishing there is a lot of talking and entertaining evolved in a day out on the water. That was not the case this time these guys were talking and laughing so much that we could not get a word in. Witch was ok with us except for this one George the mouth from Boston. He decided to stay up on the fly bridge with me and see just how much he could bust my chops. The nice guys on the boat were Curtis from Water Town Mass, Ted from Dover Mass, John from New York and pat from Tampa Florida.
Fishing had been pretty good today and there had been a few sharks and a few sail fish around. But we were having a tough time getting the bite. Than when we finally did get a monster sail fish came up and ate our left short kite bait not more than 30 feet behind the boat . We watched him eat the bait and then this fish went absolutely nuts right behind the boat. I went ahead with the boat to try to help and get the line tight on him as quick as possible. But somehow our wire leader got kinked and we broke him off. (RATS AND DOUBLE RATS)
Ok this does not happen often but ok it happens and you can be sure that George the mouth sure let me know about it. We got all set up again and this time we added a big dead bonito to put down deep just to see if we could better our odds.
After we had been set back up for about 30 minutes or so we got this bite on our deep rod with the big dead bonito on the other end as bait. Good right? Not so good when this sea monster hit the bait like a freight train instead of the line coming off the tip of the rod over the roller this fish was pulling the rod off to the left and the line was not coming off the roller like it is supposed to and the line broke and the rod bounce back at us. (You could hear a pin drop except for O yea George the mouth)
He sure let us have it again and I could not believe the bad luck we were having. Ok now this was getting personal and we were not going in till we caught something BIG. Captain Greg fixed our deep rod again and put on another big dead bonito and sent it right back out there. After we were set back up again a few of the guys on the boat had said that they seen a big fin swimming out buy our kite baits. I never did see what they said they had seen but I do know that right after they said they had seen something our deep rod bent in half and this thing was taking line off the reel as if it was never going to stop. Curtis jumped in the chair and the fight was on. At first everyone was kind of busting his chops but after the first 35 to 40 minutes everyone was cheering him on even George the Mouth.
It took over an hour for Curtis to finally get his fish close to the boat but then it took off again. We got a look at him at that point and it was a MONSTER HAMMER HEAD SHARK. After another 10 to 15 minutes Curtis finally got the fish next to the boat for a quick measurement and a couple of quick pictures.
116 inches long we guessed the fish to weigh about 350 pounds WAY TO GO CURTIS.
As you can imagine we were all feeling a lot better now and believe it or not these guys did not bring one beer on board with them so we had to make a stop at the Marina to pick up some beers on the way in to celebrate.
Guys thanks again for a fishing trip I will remember for a long time. Even you George thanks for the laughs.
Fishing is getting better every day now so give us a call to get you out to do some deep sea fishing.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344

April 19

Today we had Don from Philadelphia and his sons Jesse from Washington DC and Matt from Boston.
We went right out to 150 feet of water and set out our two kites with live goggle eyes suspended from them. The bite was kinda of slow so we waited for over an hour till we got our first bite. We got hooked Up into one of the biggest sailfish I’ve seen this year and this fish had no intentions of getting caught. This fish almost took all the line off the reel one time and then whenever we would get him close to the boat he kept trying to swam under the boat. This was one hell of a fight and Matt never let up at all it was a good 40 minuets’ till the fish settled down enough for us to slide him into the boat for a couple of quick picture and a quick measurement to have a replica mount made of Matt’s catch. After reviving the fish next to the boat for a few minutes he finally swam away.
After some high fiveing and hand shaking we got right back to it and set our baits back out there.
Captain Greg had seen something on our left long kite bait and I seen him pick up the rod and start feeding something.Then up came this big dolphin fish jumping all over the place. As luck would have it we were not catching a lot of fish but all the fish we were hooking were BIG.
This time Don jumped in the chair and the fight was on. As we were getting the dolphin fish close to the boat I was trying to get a few pictures of the fish in the water but that was not going to happen. I felt like I was cursed today all the fish were trying to swam under the boat. But after about 10 minutes Don finally got his fish with in gaffing range and Captain Greg got him in the boat.
Nice one a 18 pounder way to go Don.
No doubt Spring is here and so are the bigger sailfish and Dolphin fish so give us a call and lets get you Hooked Up
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free at (877) SEA-4344

April 20

Today we started out fishing with Tom, Eric, Steve and Mike. We started out by getting some live bait from the bait boat so that we could do a couple of different types of fishing. (And it turned out to be the right thing to do)
We started out trolling down the reef with three baits on top and two baits down deep on our planners. We were hoping that the king fish or the bonitos would bite so we could put a few fish in the box before we started kite fishing. We were in for a pleasant surprise not only were the kings biting they were biting the bottom out of the boat. I’m not sure how many we ended up catching but everyone got to catch fish and we had plenty in no time.
Ok now that the skunk is out of the box time to try for the big one.
We set out our kites with the live baits suspended from them and waited for the big bite. And it finally came we had a sail fish come in hot on one of our kite baits and before we knew it we were Hooked Up. Tom jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took Tom a good 15 minuets’ to finally get his fish to the side of the boat. They got a couple of quick pictures of Tom’s catch and we all watched him swam away in good shape to fight another day.
Way to go Tom
As we pulled up to the dock to drop off our morning trip we had our afternoon trip waiting for us and they heard we had a great morning and they were looking to do the same.
We had John, Doug, Angle and Rick eager to try their luck. We figured that we had done good in the morning so if it ant broke don’t fix it.
We did the same thing we started out trolling caught a box full of king fish and set our kites right back out there. Could we get LUCKY again??
YES WE CAN and this time Doug got in the chair and once again the fight was on. It was a great battle for over 25 minutes with this one but at last Doug got him to the side of the boat. A couple of quick pictures and he swam away in great shape.
Thanks to all of our anglers today it was a blast for everyone us included.
Those of you out there just thinking about coming down to South Florida to do a little Fishing NOW is the time SPRING is here and the bite is on so give us a call and we can even help you out finding a hotel, dinner reservations the boat hell you don’t even need to rent a car we will pick you up. So stop wishing and let’s go fishing.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 21

Today we did not have a fishing charter set up but at the last min we got a call from a Ted out of Boca Florida and said that he had his good friend in town Scott out of New York and that he wanted to get him out fishing before he headed back home. Well we were more than happy to get this call. As it turned out Scott has a couple of charter boats of his own back home and both of these guys do a lot of fishing.
So off we went to do a bit of deep sea fishing off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. We got some live baits from the bait boat to try our luck at some sail fishing later in the trip but first we wanted to see if the king fish were still biting. (AND THEY WERE) It took no time at all and we had our limit. We kept trolling for a while after catching our limit and we just started throwing them back. (A problem I wish we had more often)
After we had had enough of throwing fish back we set out our kites with live baits suspended from them to see if we could try to catch a sail fish. While we never did see a sail fish we did have sharks kept swimming up trying to eat our live baits. We had our live baits on small rods with 25 pound test with # 6 wire and the leaders and the of catching one of these sea monsters with this light tackle were slim. So we set out one big dead bait on the right stuff. And once again here comes a big shark we reeled our little baits up in the air so he could not get to it and tried to get the big bait in front of him. The shark had his mind maid he wanted a little live bait but what we did not see was that there was another shark and this one got to one of our live baits on the light tackle. We were HOOKED UP AND THE FIGHT WAS ON.
Ok so Ted jumped in the chair and was ready for battle. Ted fought this fish for a few min but he decided he did not want to stay on the boat all night and fight this losing battle so HE decided to push the drag on the reel all the way up and make it or break it. And well yes we broke him off but we all had a ball doing it.
Ted and Scott thanks again for great time fishing and I know what boat you will be calling next time.
See ya soon.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 22

Today we set out on a 4 hour fishing trip with Troy and Wayne from Columbus Mississippi.
We knew that we were looking for some big game so we went right out to 350 feet of water and put out one dead king fish about 2 feet from the surface and connected it to a balloon and sent it out far back behind the boat. Than we sent another dead king fish down about 150 feet down and once again connected it to a balloon and set it out about half way as far as the fist bait behind the boat last but not least we sent one more dead king down to the bottom 350 feet down. The trap was set but Captain Jay Jay wanted to try to set more baits out there. We did not really have enough wind to fly our kites so Jay Jay suggested trying to put out just one kite with just one live bait suspended from it. As it turned out he was right we did have just enough wind for that one kite with just one bait. I guess that is better than no live baits out there. We had to put the live bait out of the kite so that he would not be able to swim around all the other baits we had out there.
Anyway the baits were out and the trap was set. Now all we needed was the bite. After about 30 minuets’ of waiting we had a little bird land on one of the rods sat there for a couple of seconds and then just flew off. That was the sign and I told them watch that rod something is going to happen.
(AND IT DID) Shortly thereafter that rod bent over and line was just screaming off the reel WE WERE HOOKED UP. Troy jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It seemed every time Troy got the fish coming our way 10 feet the fish would get pissed off and take 50 feet off the reel. After a good 40 minutes of this tug a war Troy finally got this hammer head shark to the side of the boat. At this point Jay Jay and I reached over the side of the boat opened the tuna door in the back of the boat and slid him in. We got all the hooks out of him got a quick measurement a few pictures and slid him right back out the door and we all watched him swim away in great shape.
Ok one down and one to go At this point we had lost all the wind and we could no longer keep our kite flying so in came the kite and we were left with just our 3 dead shark baits out there. Shortly after bring in our kite we noticed our middle bait that was connected to one of the balloons was starting to bob up and down hard in the water.
This time Wayne got in the chair and reeled in the bait with a four and a half foot silky shark hooked on the other end.
Nice catch but not what Wayne was looking for.
We were running out of time so we talked about the fishing and what some of the other boats had seen or had caught and the decision was made to extend our trip for another couple of hours. We had seen a couple of sail fish free jumping but we had no wind to fly our kites and the live baits we had were not a very good bait for slow trolling. We decided instead to slow troll some dead ballyhoo and see if we could find some dolphin fish for dinner and maybe catch a sail fish on dead bait.
We went slow trolling for over an hour without a bite but the good news was the wind was picking up a bit and we thought we might be able to fly our kites.
So we brought in all of our trolling baits and switched over to kite fishing with our live baits suspended from them. We waited for over an hour with our kites up without a bite and before that we had trolled for over an hour without a bite.
Needless to say I was starting to get a bit worried and I knew that I had talked them into staying longer so I needed a bite and soon.
Then I heard Jay Jay yell out there he is on the left long bait. I don’t know how he seen it but he seen it way before the sailfish even got close to the bait. Ok so now we’ve got a sailfish up and looking at one of our baits but this fish was just not going to eat this bait. We tried pulling the bait away from him and tried pulling the bait up in the air and letting it splash back down in the water no matter what we tried this fish was just not going to eat this bait. At this point Jay Jay had the rod out of the rod holder and was holding it in his hands and we could no longer see the sail fish back there. All of a sudden the same fish came in like a freight train after our right short bait. This time he was going to eat. Jay Jay had his hands full because he still had the other rod in his hands. So he looked up at me a yelled CATCH and threw the rod at me. Now I had this rod in my hands Jay Jay grabbed the rod the fish was trying to eat and Jay Jay yelled out go ahead go ahead and this fish came up jumping charging the boat. Remember I had the rod in my hands so as quick as I could I throw the rod in one of the rod holders up on the bridge and go ahead hard with the boat trying to get away from this fish that just kept charging the boat so we could not get the line tight on him and hopefully hook him.
(Wait it gets better)
Just as we come tight with the fish and the boat is screaming ahead Jay Jay starts yelling at me to back down back down. What happen was that when the fish was jumping at the boat and Jay Jay was reeling as quick as he could to get the line tight it got wrapped around the rod tip and now the fish was jumping away from the boat.
(Wait it gets even better)
In order for Jay Jay to get the line unwrapped from around the rod tip he had to put the reel in free spool for just one second and one second was all it took for us to end up with a big birds nest on the reel and the line wrapped around the tip of the rod at the other end. (Holly crap) All I could do was to back down on this fish as hard as I could and just stay right on top of him for as long as I could and just pray that Jay Jay could get everything untangled. I don’t know how he did it so fast but he got everything untangled and we got Wayne in the chair and hell we just might have a shot at catching this fish after all.
The fight was not over yet in fact it just got started and Wayne had his hands full with this one. Believe it or not this fish that just 2 minutes ago was about to jump in the boat was now so far from the boat that we were about to run out of line on the reel. So we had to back down hard on the fish and after a good 25 minutes Wayne finally got the fish close enough for Jay Jay to reach over the side of the boat and grab him. We got the hook out of him got a quick measurement a couple of pictures and watched him swam away in good shape.( Way to go Wayne and Jay Jay great job.)
And that’s all we did today on the Hooked Up. Just another day at the office (LOL)
Fishing is great right now so if you are thinking about coming down NOW IS THE TIME TO DO IT
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 23

This morning all the charter boats in town set out to the Pier 66 hotel to pick up all of our anglers because they were all staying at that hotel having a convention. I’m not sure how many boats were in the convention trip but I’m sure there were at least 12.
At first we had no idea who was on any of the boats but as luck would have it we ended up with the president of the company on our boat.
We had Phil, Noll, Carol, Brain, Blake and Hulbert. Seeing we had the main guy on our boat I felt the right thing to do was to catch the first the biggest and the most on the Hooked Up.
Well like the old Meat Loaf songs says it 2 out of 3 ant’s bad.
We set out our kites. With 3 live baits suspended from them and one big dead king fish also suspended from them. We also set out another king fish about 150 feet down and a last one down on the bottom 350 feet down. We did all this while all the other boats were just setting out their baits. It took no time at all when our deep rod bent over and line was peeling off the reel. WE WERE HOOKED UP
There was no question about who was going to jump in the chair first. Having said that Phil wasted no time getting in the chair and the fight was one.
After talking to Phil for a while on our way out it turned out that Phil and his wife travel all over the world big game hunting for trophies like this. It also turned out that Phil was one hell of an angler and he was really putting it to this fish and he got his Hammer head to the side of the boat in about 15 to 20 minutes. Once we got this fish to the side of the boat we explained to everyone that we were going to slide the fish threw the tuna door get a few quick pictures and a measurement of the fish to have a replica mount made of his great catch and then release him. So everyone got out their cameras and got ready. Everything went according to plan and the fish stayed pretty still for us so we were able to get all the hooks out of him and when we slid him out the door he took off like a rocket.( GREAT JOB)
We had boated and release an 83 inch hammer head shark before any of the other boats had caught a fish.
I figured we were on a roll so I decided to slide in to about 120 feet of water to see if we could now catch a sailfish. I had also called the other boats and let them know about our catch and how quickly we had gotten it and that we had chummed up the water pretty good so there might be a good chance that some other hammer heads might be showing up. Sure enough before you could blink your eyes I saw 4 other boats running to the spot where we had been fishing.
And within 20 minutes I heard that 2 of the boats that had moved into the spot we were at were now also Hooked Up. I’ve got to back up a bit and let everyone one know that when you have a mount made of your catch the taxidermy does NOT USE ANY OF THE PARTS OFF THE FISH so having said that our policy is we DO NOT KILL THESE GAME FISH JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT and this policy is catching on because more and more of the reputable Captains are following suit. Unfortunately not all the boat practicing this catch and release and well I guess that is up to them.
Having said all that one of the other boats that had moved in for bite in the hot spot that we had just chummed up decided to kill their fish and as it turned out it truly was a big breeder hammer head.
So as it turned out we did not catch the biggest fish nor did we catch the most but we did catch the first and did help set up all the other boat to also catch fish.
Phil and the rest of the gang on the boat thanks so much and we’re looking forward to fishing you same guys again next year on the Hooked Up.
We dropped everyone off back at the pier 66 and headed back to our dock with no afternoon trip lined up for the afternoon. But I would like to think it was karma or maybe just luck but just as we backed in their was this one guy looking to go fishing and 2 others had heard about a guy looking to split the cost and BAM we were going back out fishing for the afternoon.
We had Peter from New Jersey and we also had Steve and Clare from Norfolk Virginia. Since we already had a well full of live baits we decided to do a little trolling to see if we could catch a few kingfish. Trolling was pretty good and in a matter of 30 minutes everyone had caught some fish.
So we thought how about going back to the same spot that had worked out so well for us in our morning trip. We went right back to the same BAT CHANNEL SAME BAT STATION and up went the kite and down went the shark baits.
Once we got all the baits set out there it did not take long before a fish was trying to eat one of our kite baits. Peter grabbed the rod and the fight was on. It turned out to be a nice 8 pound dolphin fish.
Not long after that we got a REAL BITE on our bottom bait. At first there was no fighting whatever this was on the other end in fact there was no getting the rod out of the rod holder till this SEA MONSTER settled down. After a few minutes the fish slowed a bit and J.J got the rod out of the holder and into the fighting chair where Steve was anxiously waiting for the rod and at the chance to do real BATTLE with a REAL SEA MONSTER. Once Steve got the rod in his hands and was explained that this fishing rod and reel cost a lot more than this fishing trip the fight was one. (LOL)
This story could go on and on for over an hour because that’s about how long it took Steve to finally get his MONSTER hammer head to the boat. But after this back and forth tug a war Steve finally did get his fish next to the boat. Once the fish settled down next to the boat J.J and I sled a rope around his head and sled him in the boat for a measurement for a replica trophy and got a few pictures and sled him right back out the door.
First and for most on behalf of all Americans I would like to thank Steve and Clare for serving our country there are both getting out of the army this year and thanks for serving.
Guys we’ve got a few more weeks of these beautiful hammer head sharks moving thru South Florida so if you want the chance of a life time to fight what will probably be the biggest fishing battle most people ever get the chance to have now is the time. And with airline prices coming down and all the hotels down here competing for the best price timing could never be better for a long weekend. So give us a call and we can help you out with everything from Fishing, Dinning, Hotels and great party spots.
Stop Wishing and let’s get Hooked Up in South Florida
Your Captain Taco (954)764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 24

Today was a windy day off the coast of
Ft Lauderdale and we started out our morning fishing trip with Terry and Cindy from Idaho Shad and Shelly also from Idaho, and Scott and Larry from Colorado We knew that there had been some big fish around and we also knew that the seas were a good 4 to 6 foot high so we figured the most comfortable way to hold the boat was to set out both our kites and just hold the boat facing the waves. Things started out a bit slow for us and well I guess that 4 out of the 6 people on board were willing to take a hit for the team Because they all starting chumming the waters so that we could attract some fish to the boat (LOL) Will I guess it worked because while we never seen it coming some kind of a sea monster ate one of our kite baits and line was screaming off the reel.
(WE WERE HOOKED UP)
Shad jumped in the chair and I think he had no idea what kind of a fight he was in for. After about 25 to 30 minutes we got the fish close enough to the boat to know we had a hammer head shark on. But once the fish got a look at the boat he wanted nothing to do with this SPORT FISHING GAME and now all the line that Shad had gained was gone and some. Shad was shot and I think at this point he was wanting to do a little chumming himself. So we got Terry in the chair and he also was surprised at the strength these fish have. It took Terry another good 30 minuets’ to get this hammer head to the side of the boat. It turned out to be a good 6 footer.
After that everyone was kinda sick of deep sea fishing so we called it a day a bit early. I spoke to everyone after we got back to the dock and they seemed to all agree that even if they knew that they were going to get a little sea sick they would still have done it all over again.
These hammer head sharks truly are a sight to see and one hell of a battle to get them next to the boat.
Ok so now as for our afternoon trip we have our regular customer/ friend Donald from Queens New York, Katy from Hartford CT and Ray from Springfield MA.
As we were heading out I was talking to some of the other Captains on the radio and they were saying that the fishing had slowed down as if someone had turned off a light switch.
It did not matter to me my mind was made up I was going out to 130 feet of water where there has been a ship anchored up for the last couple of days set my kites out and hope for the best. We set out both kites with 3 live baits suspended from them and one dead king fish also suspended from one of the kite. It did not take more than 20 minutes till we seen a sailfish going after our right short kite bait. Captain Greg started feeding him the bait and just let him slowly swim away with the bait in his mouth. All of a sudden the fish came up jumping and spit the hook.
(RATS AND DOUBLE RATS)
Than just as we were starting to bring the kite in to set out a fresh bait here comes another sailfish on our left short kite bait. This one ate and we were Hooked Up. Katy jumped in the chair and the fish was dancing all over the surface of the waves. What a sight this fish was in the air more than it was in the water. At one point the fish was so far out that we thought he was going to get tangled in our left long kite bait because we could see his fin right next to the bait. Or so we thought this was not the same fish Katy was fighting this was another sailfish and this one was all over our left long bait and we now were Hooked Up with a double.

So much for slow fishing and something about someone turning off a light switch. We had been fishing for less than 45 minuets’ and we now had not one but two sailfish on at the same time.
While Katy was fighting her fish Donald was fighting the other one. One fish went north and the other fish went south. This was good and bad at the same time. While we did not have to worry about the two getting tangle there was nothing I could do to back down or to help either angler out. There were on their own and they had to bring the fish to the boat not me bring the boat to the fish.
5 minutes later we got Katy’s fish to the side of the boat. Captain Greg reached over and grabbed the fish for a couple of quick pictures and we needed a measurement to have a replica mount made of the fish. One down and one to go. Now as I said earlier Donald has been fishing with me for I guess over 6 years now so we were not going to be bring his fish on board he already has his sail fish mounted at home along with a host of other fish. But all the same we wanted to get his fish close enough so we could cut the leader close to his mouth so he would not have any string trailing behind him. But at this point we all had our cameras out after taking pictures of Katy’s fish and it just so happen that right next to the boat at the last second his fish decided to start jumping all over the place. Well needless to say we just started clicking away with our cameras’ and check out this shot of Donald’s fish jumping next to the boat.
What a way to start out a fishing trip but now what do you do to top this??
After a lot of high fiving and hand shaking we got right back down to business. We got both our kite back out there with 3 live goggle eyes suspended from the kite and one dead king fish also suspended from the kite. This time Captain Greg decided to add one more bait to our spread he sent out one more dead king fish just hanging out of one of the out riggers. This time it took about 15 minuets’ of waiting and that last bait that was just hanging out of the out rigger got hit and line started pelling off the reel. The rod was bent over pretty good and line was coming off the reel kinda fast but the fish was going away from all the other baits that were still out there so we figured we would just leave them out while Ray was fighting his fish.
(BIG MISTAKE)
I guess after about 4 or 5 minuets’ of Ray fighting his fish the fish finally realized he was hooked and now he was pissed. Now I’ve been doing this fishing thing for well over 20 years and I’ve got to say that not to many times have I seen line peel off a reel like this. Now the fish was running off shore and I had no choice but to turn the boat around and back down hard off shore and chase this fish. Bare in mine we now had two kite in front of the boat and we could no longer keep an eye on the kite for we were busy trying to gain back some of the line that this whatever it was taking from us at will. About 20 minuets’ into this fight Katy yelled out (look there’s a big hammer head shark swimming right past the boat)
The problem was that this fish was hauling ass right toward our kite baits. Before anyone could do anything about it he got our dead king fish that was suspended from one of our kites. But wait it gets even better at the same time we had a dolphin fish that had taken one of the live baits out of the kite at the same time.
Ok we got a lot to do and fast. The line that the shark had taken out of the kite was now wrapped around one of the cleats on the bow and the dolphin was now behind the boat too close to the line connected to the big fish Ray was fighting.
Here’s what we did Captain Greg reached over and grabbed the line with the dolphin on and just hand lined him to the boat at the same time I slid down the front of the fly bridge and took a wrap on the line with the hammer head on it and broke the line.
SLOW FISHING MY BUTT
Ok now back to Ray’s fish this fish took well over an hour to finally get him to the side of the boat. At this point believe it or not the fish was pretty calmed down and except for the weight of the fish he really did not give us any trouble sliding him into the boat for out measurement (125 inches Greg Gray Hammer Head) . However as we slid him back out the door he shot off like a rocket and with one swipe of his tail he managed to get everyone on the boat soaked. I guess this was just his way of getting the last laugh.
What an afternoon of fishing. Every Dog has his day and today was ours in fact all the other fishing boats were giving us a hard time on the radio and said we had to go home now (LOL)
Would you like to be in one of these fishing trips? Now is the time.
CALL (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 26

Today we had Doug from Montana, Nick from South Florida, Chris from Georgia, Tom and Maria from Cin.
We started out trolling the reef and ended up catching some king fish. Than we set out our kites with a few live goggle eyes suspended from them along with one dead king fish also suspended from the kite. We also set out one more dead king fish just free floating out of one of our out riggers.
Well I’ve got to say that the bite did not take too long to get. Doug jumped in the chair and the fight was on. At first Doug was fresh and ready to fight this sea monster but after about an hour later Doug did not look like the same guy that jumped in the chair (LOL)
It seemed like it took forever to get this BIG HAMMER HEAD next to the boat but at last Doug hung in there and he got him next to the boat. We got 2 out of the 3 hooks out of the fish and watched him swim away in great but tired shape.
Guys we’ve still got a few more weeks of these big hammer heads around and I’ve got to say that most of the boats practicing catch and release now I can’t remember when I seen the bite this good.
So come on down to Sunny South Florida and get Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

April 30

Today we had a shared charter out for a morning of deep sea fishing. We got Kim and Skip from Las Vegas and Mark, Zack and Steven. These guys are on the navy ship the Arkansas and got the day off today to enjoy a little of Sunny Fort Lauderdale.
We went right out after Big Game fish. We set out both kite with our live goggles suspended from them and one dead king fish also suspended from the kites. The trap was set and now all we needed was a big fish to come along and eat one of our baits. As it turned out it didn’t take long before a big sailfish swam up and was dead set on eating one of our poor goggle eyes. Mark wasted no time and jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took Mark a good 15 min to finally get his fish to the boat. We got a quick measurement to have a replica mount made of his fish and watched him swim away in good shape.
Ok so now we were all pumped up and got the baits right back out there. From there it didn’t take long and we had a monster hammer head shark coming in hot on our king fish. This time Skip jumped in the chair and the fight was on once again. It was a back and forth tug a war for over 20 minutes till Skip needed a break so Zack jumped in the chair and gave it his best. A good 20 to 30 minutes later they finally got their catch to the boat.
Nice going guys.
What a great time we’ve been having on the water and now we’ve got May coming up witch can be even better than April so get your butts down here and let’s go fishing!!!
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344