A cold front has come down early January which has given us a decent bite and is continuing to give us a good bite. This is what all South Florida fishermen wait for all year. The cold fronts are low pressures that in multiple ways (to only mention a few) cause bait and Sailfish to start heading South. The low pressure caused by the cold front is felt by all the fish, which changes migration patterns and feeding patterns, which is an indication of a storm/low pressure. Also with the winter months and cold air and water, Sailfish are a tropical warm water fish, so they start their Southern migration heading past Palm Beach, Boca, Fort Lauderdale, Ft. Lauderdale, Dania, Hollywood, Miami and all of the Keys. The early part of the season you will see more bites up North towards the Palm Beaches, and Fort Lauderdale, when mid January going into February the Miami and Fort Lauderdale bite as well as North Key West bite is good. Then when Feb/ March rolls around, the Southern Miami to Keys start to get a bite.

We fished Jim Scott from North Carolina last week, the fishing conditions were: winds out of the north, northeast at 12 to15 mph, seas running 3 to 5 ft. and deep blue water in on our 2nd reef which is what we like for the Sail and Mahi bite.

With Jim and friends on board, we set out to do some kite fishing with live bait Goggle Eyes. We set two kites up about 60 to 70 yards from the boat, fishing 4 live Goggle Eyes total, two Gogs per kite.

The first fish caught was a 8 lb. Mahi Mah; then adding to the fish box four more Mahi’s, not big sizes, but worth keeping.

On the left kite, the longer of the two baits, Jim and I noticed a dorsal fin coming out of water, circling the bait, but it did not eat the bait. We call them “window shoppers”.  The Sail approached the bait, circled and slowly swam off. As a fisherman and fishing out of Fort Lauderdale for a long time, this is never a good feeling.  At first your heart rate jumps and the fish is there on your bait, then the Sail slowly fades off and does not feed – happens to all of us, not that often, thankfully.

The next Sailfish popped up about 25 minutes later, this Sail had no hesitation; the fish grabbed the Gog, started peeling off line and was jumping out of the water like a bat out of hell, he put on a spectacular show. Twenty minutes later, the Sailfish was reeled to the side of boat for picture taking and released, swimming away. We release all of our Sailfish off Fort Lauderdale to catch another day.

It was time to start heading back to the dock. This ends another successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter on the Happy Day Today with the Topshotfishing team and Captain Zsak – 954-439-8106 – www.topshotfishing.com

Three guys from New York City, Ed, Mark and Jack, ventured down to sunny Fort Lauderdale FL to charter the deep sea fishing boat, Happy Day Today, with the Topshotfishing team.

As we left the dock at Bahia Mar to do some sport fishing off of Fort Lauderdale FL, Mark expressed a desire to take back some eating fish, preferably Mahi Mahi, even though Sailfish has been excellent this past week.  A stiff wind out of the north at 10-15 mph and seas 3-5 ft. was the setting for our fishing charter.

We slowed the boat down to put our fishing lines out at the sea buoy which sits in 120 ft. of water, which is 1.8 miles from shore.  Our deep line consisted of a double hook Bonito strip with a pink and blue sea witch in front.  For surface baits we had four Ballyhoos, two of them with chin leads, and a red and white quarter ounce jap feather for the center rigger plus a surface squid teaser.

I headed out to one of our 34 artificial wrecks sitting off of Fort Lauderdale in 385 ft of water.  Our first bite was a Mahi Mahi on one of our surface baits and Ed was the angler, followed by a couple more Mahi Mahi’s, satisfying Mark’s request.  A bit further south I trolled towards a schools of birds working some bait fish, but before we could get there, our plainer rod went off, and Mark reeled in a good size Black Fin Tuna.  We kept working the area and wound up with eight Black Fin Tunas, four Mahi Mahis and four Bonitos.

With a good catch of fish on the charter boat Happy Day Today and the Topshotfishing team, it was time to start heading back from our offshore trip.

For a successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter in South Florida for Sailfish, Shark, Bonito, Mackerel, Swordfish, Snapper, Wahoo and Grouper contact Captain Zsak.   email us at www.topshotfishing.com.

Mike Williams and friends from Rhode Island chartered the Happy Day Today with the Topshotfishing team to do some deep sea sport fishing in Fort Lauderdale FL.  We cleared the jetties and traveled 1.8 miles to the drop off at the sea buoy in Ft. Lauderdale FL putting us in 120 ft. of water. We are very fortunate to have such a short traveling time to the fishing grounds – to reach the drop off in Miami you have to travel 7 miles, in  Palm Beach it’s 11 miles.

Mr. William’s group decided to target some Mahi Mahi even though Sailfish action has been very productive here in Fort Lauderdale FL.  As we headed off shore, the sun was just protruding over the horizon with a gold and orange sheen reflecting on the water.

I was at the sea buoy off of Fort Lauderdale and could see some birds working the area in the distance.  As we got closer, I could see Black Fin Tunas breaking on the surface.  We put out four Ballyhoos and one ¼ ounce yellow jap feather for surface baits and on our plainer rods, a 3 ½ drone reflector spoon on one and the other had a double hook Bonito strip with a pink sea witch in front of it.  Our first catch were two Black Fin Tunas weighing in the 7 lb class.  I could see sheen on the water running north and south in front of me.  My 35 years of experience told me that the sheen was coming from sargassum weed line, so I headed towards the sheen; once there, I headed south.  Within five minutes our first Mahi Mahi was on, weighing in at 11 lbs.   We kept picking away at the Mahi Mahi’s in the 5-10 lb. class hoping for a Wahoo bite on our plainer rods. One nice Bull Mahi Mahi came out of the weed line weighing in at 28 lbs. followed by a Cow weighing at 22 lbs.

For the past four days here in Fort Lauderdale, FL we had tropical winds 15-40 mph, and anywhere between 5” of rain in Palm Beach to 2’ of rain in Key West.  Finally, our weather changed on Friday – back to normal, blue skies, sunshine and seas 2-4’.

There has been some excellent King Fish action on live bait ranging in size from 10 lbs. to 35 lbs.  Mahi Mahi and Spanish Mackerels were also the highlights for this week here in Fort Lauderdale FL.

Sailfish action has picked up – they have been hooked up anywhere from 85’ of water out to 190 ft. of water off of the sea buoy in Fort Lauderdale FL.

Looking back at some unusual pictures I have taken in my 35 years of traveling around the world fishing in every ocean, one picture stands out the most.  While fishing off of Walkers Cay in the Bahamas in the BBC, the Bahamas Billfish Championship, back in the late 70’s with angler Marsha Bierman and her husband, Lenny, I took a picture of a Blue Marlin that weighed in at 346 lbs.  To the amazement of biologist, Monty Lopez, a 6 ft. White Marlin was found in the stomach of the Blue Marlin.  Just to prove a fact that Blue Marlin just kill for a living even if they are not hungry – this Blue Marlin had just eaten a 6 ft. White Marlin and still attacked a lure.

For a successful and adventurous Fort Lauderdale FL deep sea fishing charter for Sailfish, Shark, Bonito, Mackerel, Swordfish, Snapper and Grouper contact Captain Zsak. – 954-439-8106 or email us at www.topshotfishing.com.  The “Happy Day Today” is a 46′ Hatteras with all-inclusive sportfishing.

Thanks and tight lines,