July 2010

June and July are very similar months for Fort Lauderdale in the heat they bring as well as the fish. We are still catching lots of bonitos and kingfish, some mahi mahi, wahoos and sharks. July 1st Jacque from Quebec chartered the Local Knowledge for a morning of Fort Lauderdale sport fishing. Jacque was interested in just bending the rods and catching anything he could since it was his first time fishing in Fort Lauderdale. We began trolling to the south and after a short time one of the deep planer rods got a nice strike and Jacque reeled in a respectable 15# kingfish. Not bad for his first saltwater fish. We continued trolling and he caught another king, though not quite as big. Jacque rounded out his day with a couple of bonitos and it was time to go in. July 3rd Frank, Mary, Brandon, Kyle and Emily from Lake Wales, Florida joined us for some mahi mahi fishing in Fort Lauderdale. The mahi mahi bite had been a little slow the past couple of days so we started on the reef, trolling south we picked at a couple of kings and bonitos. Before heading offshore we stopped at a bottom fishing spot and crushed the big vermillion snappers. I think we ended up with about 20 or so. We then trolled offshore looking for mahi mahi. The ocean was real clean; there were no real weed lines to speak of or any debris to fish to. We trolled back inshore and caught a few tilefish to end the day. Thanks Frank, it is always good seeing you and your family and will be looking forward to fishing with you guys real soon. July 5th Repeat customer and friend Tommy from Fort Lauderdale brought Cutter, Monique, Clancy, Travis and Ashley for some Ft. Lauderdale Fishing. Tommy burned up most of his fishing luck with us on his first trip by catching a 350# Blue Marlin on 30# test. However, I was still hoping he had a little left. We trolled and caught some bonitos and a couple of kings and then banged the big vermillion snappers up pretty good along with a giant yellow eye snapper! Good seeing you again Tommy. July 6th brought Jason, Crystal, Joy, Krissy, Brad and Clay fishing with us in Fort Lauderdale. We caught lots and lots of bonitos, which everyone loved because of how hard they fight and how pretty they are. Everyone also caught their limit of kingfish along with some snappers. Great trip guys! Lee, Reese and Alan from Nashville joined us for the morning trip on the 7th and caught lots of bonitos and kings. Reese really wanted to catch a shark, so we carved some bonitos up for bait and put them out and waited but unfortunately the bite never came. We’ll get em next time Reese!

July 9th

Good Friend and repeat customer Phil, his son Kyle, Uncle Mike, and Kyle’s girlfriend Ashley chartered the boat for a couple of days and a night. Phil owns and operates Cabinets Plus in Cape Coral, Florida and does incredible work. I know from personal experience after a major water loss at my condo just months after I moved in. Phil and the boys came to the rescue and built a beautiful new kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Phil, Thank You again for everything! Now, fishing had been ok but nothing great this past week and I was sweating it a little bit. Although Phil knows the fishing game it’s always nice to perform for great customers and friends. We trolled south and picked at a couple of kings and bonitos and then stopped at my top snapper spot that had been so good to me the past two weeks. We were looking to put some meat in the boat before heading offshore to look for mahi mahi, which have been quite elusive lately. We dropped five or six times on the snapper spot only no snappers just some porgies and trigger fish. Bummer! I tried a deep wreck for amberjacks or groupers and nothing there either. Now it was time to get real lucky and we did. We headed offshore and started looking. Now while Phil is much much older than I (kidding) his eyes are much better. Phil helped spot some debris that Uncle Mike pulled a big Mahi Mahi off of and we also got a nice wahoo too! Phil spotted the next piece of debris that we caught a smaller mahi off of. We pulled the day off and everyone had a great time. The next day we were supposed to leave for the swordfish grounds around three and troll for blue marlin and mahi mahi on the way out, however we had a starter problem and didn’t leave till five. Instead of trolling out we had to run out. We ran and we ran the current was really moving, about 4.5 knots so we had to get way south to drift home with the gulf stream. Once set up the wind switched to south west, this is normally not good for fishing. However the fish Gods were with us and on our second drift Kyle caught his first swordfish. Not a giant but a respectable 80-90 pounder. We had another bite shortly thereafter but pulled him off quickly and then got one more bite that we were sure was another sword but turned out to be a 100# shark. What a great time! It was good to see everyone again and catch fish!
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This month has brought the heat but with it plenty of fish. Early starts are finding more bites along with late evening trips. Dave, Jamie and Clayton from KY joined us on the 8th from some kingfish action and a nice barracuda. On the 11th in the morning we had Joe, Pat, another Joe and Mark trying their hand at some Ft Lauderdale charter fishing. We got blitzed time and time again by the eager and hard fighting bonitas. Once the cooler was full we tried for some amberjack on the deep wrecks but with no current we couldn’t get the bite. In the afternoon Sam, John, Francesca, Kim and Francis from Houston wanted in on the hot mahi mahi bite that Fort Lauderdale has to offer. We made a short 3 mile run and put the baits out in 550 ft of water on a southeast to northeast edge. Within minutes we got jumped by schoolie dolphin, a lot were undersized but we managed some keepers. We continued on the edge and continued to pick the fish. The box was nearing full when Francesca got a little overheated and we made a run for the dock. Fishing Fort Lauderdale with us on the 12th was Eric, Amanda, Matt, Jean and John. We started on the troll on the reef and the bonita assault was on. After they had their fun with those we went after something to eat and crushed some big tilefish, TASTY!! In the afternoon Sam and Carlos caught some tilefish and snappers with us on a meat packing trip, enjoy guys! On the 13th Fort Lauderdale fishing was a little slow for us and gosh darnitt it was with a real good repeat customer and friend Tony and his friends the Colonel Sanders, Mark, Dan and AD plus the rest of his boys that chartered another boat the Marlin My Darlin with Capt. Rick Brady. The Marlin stayed on the reef and managed two bonitas and a couple of small barracudas. We went offshore for dolphin and couldn’t find them. We ended up deep dropping for rosefish and managed two and that was it, the next day we all played golf in the Bahia Cabana Golf Tournament and I was lucky enough to hear how bad the fishing was all day. The afternoon trip brought Skelton and Kenny from Texas to try their hand at Fort Lauderdale fishing charters. The bonitas bit real well for us and we pulled out a king as well. The 17th Shawn from Texas (must be Texas week) took the boat himself and caught a blackfin tuna offshore and then caught a 100# tarpon inshore! Great Job, Shawn. David and his son David Jr., Chris, Andy and Mike book a Fort Lauderdale fishing trip with us on the 18th . The guys were from Homestead, Fl, and what a great group of guys. We bent the rods on some bonitas and headed offshore for the elusive mahi mahi, with no luck there we headed back inshore and found some kingfish to save the day. In the afternoon Dave and Bob from Indy busted up a couple of kings and some bonitas. The 19th brought Joe, Carlos, Brendon, Jordan and David for plenty of action with the kings and bonitas. Wanting something a little better to eat than kingfish we tried for tilefish but they weren’t on the spot. Kings will have to do! We had a late snapper trip with Ron and his son Brandon from Pompano Beach, Fl and Atlanta. After anchoring up and dispersing the chum the father son duo pulled out 13 nice mangrove snappers, 4 mutton snappers, a couple of lane snappers and some toros. Fort Lauderdale fishing with us on the 20th was Mark and “Stumpo” from Plantation, Fl had one of the slower days with just 2 kings and 1 bonita. Sorry it was so slow guys! The 21st T-mac, his son Ryan, Joe and Jim caught a nice king a couple of bonitas and 10 real nice vermillion snappers that we had cooked up at the Bahia Cabana when we got back in. Thanks guys, always a good time. Rodney and Oneil found some nice red groupers fishing with us on the 22nd. George from Philly took the boat himself on the 24th for a short trip and pulled out a nice blackfin tuna, a couple of bonitas and a giant barracuda. Nice day George. The 25th Mike and Nick from Chicago caught the bonitas pretty good, a couple of football blackfin tunas and a nice kingfish.

The 26th of June was a special trip of sorts. Great high school friends Linc, his wife Kristine, Joe, Jim and Rob (Where was Field?) were fishing with me. The night before was their 20th year reunion. The Jager Bombs must have been flowing pretty good as Big Chris was a no show and Robbie was sick from the minute we cleared the inlet. Fishing had been a little slow due to the full moon so we did something a little different. The night before I went baitfishing and loaded the boat with pilchards a small live bait. We trolled down to wreck to the south and threw the anchor and put out the chum. We put up a kite and some flat lines and then dropped live baits to the bottom where we busted up the mutton snappers and a cobia. We then went for some deepwater vermillion snappers and caught about 10 or 12 real nice ones. We then took pity on Rob and got him back to the dock before he became a danger to himself or others. You’re a great sport Rob! It was great to see everyone again. On the 29th Nick, Rod, Jill and Ashley caught a bonita, a giant barracuda like 44 inches, a smaller cuda and a couple of jacks inshore. Great time guys!

Capt. Mike
www.fishlocalknowledge.com
954.522.4773

Thanks,

Capt. Mike
954.522.4773
www.fishlocalknowledge.com

June 1-16 2010

June’s fishing continues to heat up along with the weather. The dolphin fish or Mahi Mahi continue to show in good if not great numbers making for happy anglers and tummy’s alike. The green and gold demon of the deep has been making its presence known from the reef out to about 20 miles in over 1800 feet of water. Devouring everything in their sight, the mahi mahi make for pretty easy targets once found. Bonitas, while not good on the table are fantastic fighters and with test any anglers light tackle skills. The bohnita is an eager biter as well and multiple hook ups are not uncommom. Mixed in with the bonitas are medium and a few large blackfin tunas along with some skipjack tunas, both of which are good table fare. The kingfish are beginning to show up in great numbers. Many are “snakes” or smaller schooling fish in the 5-12 pound range but there are still plenty of smokers around as well. Bottom fishing is good; we’ve been catching good size and plenty of tilefish in the 400 foot range. Vermillion snappers are also biting good as well and June marks the month that the giant Warsaw groupers show up. There is no mistaking when one of these behemoths bites your bait. Sandbar and bull sharks also make a very strong showing this month so anglers and bathers beware!

Capt. Mike
954.522.4773
www.fishlocalknowledge.com

As promised May’s fishing has been nothing short of spectacular. The fish on everyone’s agenda is the mahi mahi, the dorado, the dolphin fish or whatever you choose to call it, all I know is whatever name you use I think it just means delicious! This green and gold gamester travel in large schools when they are young 3-8 pounds, once they pass that mark and they are about 8-15 pounds they begin to travel in smaller packs and once 15-50 pounds they normally travel in pairs. The pairs normally consists of one big bull (male) fish and a large cow, sometimes another cow may be present. The mahi mahi is a great gamefish for several reasons, besides its table quality the mahi mahi is an eager biter, once you find the fish they are almost always willing to bite, they are beautiful with an array of green and yellows with some blues mixed in, they are great jumpers putting on some great aerial displays for your camera. Techniques for catching mahi mahi are pretty simple. The easiest is just to pull a couple of small top water lures made by soft head or some small feathers and look for birds, floating debris and weed lines. Once hooked keep one in the water to keep the school around while you catch its schoolmates on light spinning tackle with small chunks of ballyhoo or bonita. You can step it up by “Running and Gunning”, instead of fishing a lot of open clean water you can run or chug while looking for something like the before mentioned weed lines, floating debris and birds. Once found then deploy your baits and begin trolling. Yet another method is to find a weed line or rip and cut the engine, put out a chum bag and begin live chumming with small pilchards put a few on hooks and let them come to you. Keep your vhf radio on the local fishing channel and listen for the depth of fish being caught and concentrate your efforts there. Always have a larger live bait like a goggle, mullet or blue runner ready for when that big bull comes in the spread or swims up to the boat to see what’s going on. When fishing floating debris like boards or logs make sure you troll a deep bait on a planer or down rigger for wahoos that are almost always present.

Capt. Mike
www.fishlocalknowledge.com
954.522.4773

April fishing has been great this year.  Big sharks, sailfish, mahi mahi, kingfish, blackfin tunas and more have shown up in great numbers, along with some bruiser amberjacks.  Some trips of interest are Tommy, Eric, Ron and Scott from Michigan slammed some big amberjacks on the “Local Knowledge” in the morning on April 5^th and in the afternoon Chris, Chris Jr., Silas and Rob from New York caught a beautiful mahi mahi, 2 blackfin tunas, some snappers and a giant amberjack.  On the 6^th fishing Fort Lauderdale on the Local Knowledge was Mike, Leslie, Maggie and Sarah from Atlanta.  We started of on the troll and caught a small tuna and didn’t get much action after that so we popped the kite and caught a nice mahi mahi right off the bat, we got the baits set again and rewarded with a nice sailfish that put on one heck of a show.  After a short battle we got it close for some pictures and released it to fight another day.  Tim and Randy from California Scored kite fishing with three big mahi mahi and a sailfish as well.  Guy, Richard, Dean and John got into some mahi mahi fishing Fort Lauderdale.  Jack, Mikey and Ed from Maine busted up some amberjacks, the snappers and some kingfish. 

On the 23^rd Alex, Ken and Pasha from Miami scored huge and got into the fight of their lives when they asked to go shark fishing on the Local Knowledge.  The kites went up with a spread of goggle eyes and a big shark slab and mid way another slab and one more on bottom.  We fished for a long time with no results and decided to reel everything in and try something else.  The kites and top baits came in, then the mid shark bait and the on the way up from the bottom the very last bait got slammed and slammed hard.  The Fight Was On!  It was on for awhile.  The big fish took long hard runs and then punishing dives straight down testing both angler and tackle.  The beast was finally subdued it was a giant Thresher shark pushing 650 pounds.  Great job Guys!!  We then had a little bit of time left so we ran over to a deep wreck and dropped a live bait.  We got the bite right away and after a twenty battle brought a huge amberjack to the boat.  Great day guys.

Jerry, Jason and Bob from California and Rhode Island did some Fort Lauderdale charter fishing on the Local Knowledge and caught 3 bonitas  and a mahi mahi on the troll and a nice amberjack wreck fishing.

On the 26^th Jimmy (my brother from another mother), Mike, Art (the Brew Master), Todd and Big Russ fished Ft. Lauderdale which felt more like Costa Rica in the Rainy Season.  It did not stop raining the entire time we were out there.  We lost a wahoo at the side of the boat, caught one king and one bonita.  Fishing was slow and the weather was miserable.  You wouldn’t know it though these guys were having a blast!  Right up till the lightning started, I’ll admit it I was a litlle scared too as one big bolt was entirely too close for comfort.  Since I had the group all day the next day we went in early and tacked the time we lost onto the next day.  So we got an extra early start at 6a.m. and we ended up having an incredible day.  We caught live bait at the buoy first and then ran straight to a wreck.  We got bites on every drop and everyone caught a big amberjack and in fact Art the Brew master got a real treat.  When one of the other guys jacks was coming to the boat it had another one with it and we were able to pitch it a live bait light spin tackle.  What a fight, Great Job Art!  We did a litlle trolling next and picked at a couple small kings and a bonita or two and then we went for it.  We put up the kites and put out the shark baits.  Todd Struck first when a 200# hammerhead shark jumped on a 30# pound outfit intended for sailfish.  What a battle but we finally won.  You just never know what you will catch or how when you charter fish Fort Lauderdale.  Jimmy was next with an awesome sailfish that ripped and tore the surface of the ocean trying to rid itself of the hook and Jimmy’s angling expertise.  Both the Hammerhead and the sailfish were released unharmed.

Mark this next day in Fort Lauderdale Charter Fishing History

                                      April 28^th 2010

My friend and great customer Buffalo Bill joined us on a beautiful South Florida day for what turned out to be an incredible day of fishing for Bill and myself.  You see, Bill has been trying to catch a sailfish for twenty something years and he’s a great guy with good Karma but the sailfish thing just wouldn’t line up for him.  The sailfish would bite the week before or the week after he would go and not only would the sailfish not bite it seemed like everything else shut down as well. So just to ease a little pressure of  us we ran to a wreck first thing and Bill caught a giant and I mean a giant amberjack about 90#’s what a great way to start the day.  We dropped one more time and Bill scored again with a smaller jack about 20#’s.  After some high fives and some Ball Busting we ran to the North to set up the kites for Bill’s elusive Sailfish.  We got covered up with good size kingfish right away and put a few in the boat and missed a few others.  Then It Happened, I mean it really happened, a sailfish popped up under the left short kite bait.  Everyone saw it as it circled the bait once then grabbed it and swam off.  It can’t be, will this be our chance.  The mate Richard engaged the reel as Bill went for the fighting chair.  The line released from the clip smoothly, the line came tight, Bill took the rod, the fish took the line and began jumping.  This is the sailfish Bill and I have been waiting for forever.  I know in my heart if we catch this fish the bad jokes will stop, the ball busting will be over, Bill will have fulfilled a lifelong dream and I will be a hero.  It went great, the fish put on a great show, came up to the boat and in for some pictures and then went back in the water to fight another day.  Then right after all the hoots and hollers and some high fives my balls were being busted again.  One can only dream.  Great Job Bill!  We then pushed out deeper to see if we could catch a hammerhead shark, we actually had one in the spread earlier in the day that wouldn’t eat.  When I got where I wanted to be we deployed the baits and it didn’t take long before a nice 300-375# hammerhead made her presence known on the big slab bait out of the kite.  We spotted the beast 50 yards out as she homed in on the scent and engulfed the bait in one bite.  Bill was in the chair again for an even bigger battle.  We got or rather Bill got very lucky and we caught the fish very quickly between Bill’s incredible angling skills and my boat handling.  Richard grabbed the leader and I put a release gaff in the shark’s mouth and we pulled her half way in for some great pics.  Bill thank you again, Say hey to Dennis for me.  How about one of those testimonials now!

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