A Day On The Hooked Up in South Florida
for some Sport Fishing
Our day begins by catching some live bait. We do this by
backing the boat up to a buoy or to a ship that has been anchored
for a few days. Then I hold the vessel up stream of the buoy
or ship we are fishing and my first mate assigns everybody
a fishing rod, he then hangs a chum bag over the side of the
boat to bring all the baitfish out from under the buoy or
ship. Then everybody pitches in to catch and put one or two
dozen live baits in the live well it is a real team effort.
Then we break out the sport fishing gear to troll the reef,
which consists of putting 2 artificial baits down deep, approximately
90 to 140 feet and three trolling ballyhoos on the surface
and troll down the reef about 5 to 7 miles per hour zig zagging
in between 80 to 140 feet of water. This is a productive way
to catch kingfish and bonitos and occasionally we will get
some wahoo, sailfish, barracuda, a tuna or some dolphin fish.
This is always a welcomed treat or some good eating or a real
beautiful trophy. But for the most part, it is a real productive
way to bend the rod and get everybody use to the boat and
how to work the equipment.
After we have caught some fish and had some laughs, we can
dedicate the last portion of the trip to trying to catch the
fish of a lifetime. Quite honestly this does not happen on
every Souh Florida sport fishing trip but the more time spent
trying for that big trophy, the better the odds.
There are a lot of different ways we can catch fish. One
way we finding exciting is kite fishing. This consists of
flying a kite behind the boat and suspending live bait from
the kite. What this does is keeps the bait swimming on the
surface and away from the boat. It also presents the bait
as natural as possible, since it keeps all the lines and leaders
up in the air and it gives us an edge since nine out of ten
times we will see the big predators before they actually get
the bait in their mouths, we then let the fish swim away with
the bait, lock down the drag on the reel and go ahead with
the boat. The line will disconnect from the kite and the battle
begins! Just about any fish in the ocean will go for this
bait setup.
One of the reasons we enjoy this style
so much is half the fun of is watching the fish eat. Another
option available to us is fishing some of the shallow wrecks
in 60 to 130 feet of water for barracuda on light spinning
tackle. You have got to give the fish credit, these are some
of the most acrobatic and quickest I’ve ever seen. They
truly are worthy opponents on light tackle, and if you are
fortunate enough to catch a big one, they make a great trophy.
Pound for pound, they have some of the largest teeth in the
ocean, which is why we handle them with such care when we
are getting them in the boat. We can also target grouper,
golden amberjack, and mutton snapper on some of the deeper
wrecks.
We can also go deep sea and target dolphin fish, although
this usually requires more than a half-day of fishing and
some patience, cold beverages and lots of jokes. To do this,
we put out trolling baits that will hold up and not fall apart
while the boat is moving at 8 to10 knots, so we can cover
some ground. Then we all help out by looking for debris floating
in the ocean like boards or anything out of the ordinary or
a weed line. When we find something we will troll by it and
see what pops up. If the dolphin fish come up we will break
out the spinning rods and start casting. This can be a lot
of fun. When it works out it is a great way to really bond
with your family, friends or clients.
No matter what the outcome you will always have a great time
sport fishing on the Hooked Up!
Captain Taco
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