Great White Shark off the Coast of Fort Lauderdale

Holly Cow we never expected a fish like this one and I’m sure our anglers never saw this one coming. Sit down grab a cold one and read this unbelievable fishing trip that happen aboard the World Famous Hooked Up out of Bahia-Mar in Fort Lauderdale Florida.

Today started out normal enough with Linda and her husband Jared from Atlanta Georgia along with their sons Logan and Tanner and their close friends Harry and Josh. As it turned out they were all down for a baseball tournament playing for Dunwoody High school and thought they would take the boys out for a little fishing trip aboard the Hooked Up. Everything started out pretty much like every day. We stopped by the live bait boat to picked up some live baits and headed out to 180 feet of water. Once we got out, we set out our kites with 3 live baits suspended from the kites along with one dead bonito suspended from the kites as well. Ok our trap was set and things were looking good. When all of a sudden, BAM a Mahi Mahi on one line followed up by another Mahi Mahi, then a couple kingfish, and one big bonito. Just when you think things couldn’t get any better a sailfish popped up and again we were Hooked Up.

It was just one of those days where everything we tried just worked. (And we were loving it) Well, then all of a sudden Captain Greg and Captain Paul saw a splash followed by a big tail going back into the water. We WERE HOOKED UP AGAIN!! I can’t recall who got in the chair first but I can tell you that it took all the anglers aboard to muscle this SEA MONSTER to the boat. It was a good hour and a half to 2 hours when Captain Paul got the chance to reach out and grad a the leader. That’s when everything changed!! Now everyone knew what they had been fighting the whole time A Great White Shark! UNREAL but it was true and there he was all 13 feet of this incredible Great White estimated to be a 800 to 1000 pound eating machine. Keep in mind that all this happen just a mile and a quarter from the beach in 180 feet of water. After a few pictures, Captain Paul cut the leader as close as he could as not to leave a long line dragging behind the fish, (which reminds me I need to charge Paul for that hook he never got back), LOL, and we all watched the great white shark swim away. Now I’m not a marine biologist nor do I play one on TV but if you were to ask me why this white shark came down to the warm waters off the coast of Fort Lauderdale I’ve got one answer. Blue Fish! That’s right Blue Fish. Blue fish are normally caught up north where the waters are much colder but for some reason this year over the last week to be exact we’ve seen schools and schools of these blue fish and I would say that’s why we were so fortunate to catch this big white shark.

WOW! What can I say, I have never gotten this much exposure before, ABC, CBS, CNN, Steve Waters of Sun Sentinel, and the list goes on and on not to mention the Paul and Young Ron radio show on 105.9 Pretty cool couple of days.

I’ve got to mention Captain Greg Mccauly, Captain Paul Paolucci, along with all of our anglers today. They were the real stars because all of this never would have happen with out them.

Thanks again to our anglers and to my crew and the media for making this week fishing aboard theHooked Up extra special.
Oh and by the way, the guys that fought this sea monster that were here for a baseball tournament ended up beating MacArthur high school tonight.

Anthony from Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey and Nick Macrina from Toms River, New Jersey chartered the Happy Day Today along with the Topshotfishing team to do some deep sea sport fishing in Fort Lauderdale FL.  Anthony and Nick have been friends since childhood and lived the horror of Hurricane Sandy with its devastating force.  They came down to Fort Lauderdale to enjoy its sights and fishing.

After purchasing a dozen live Goggle Eyes from T&T, I set out knowing that we had a two to three knot current heading to the north, so I headed south of Fort Lauderdale to a color change that I found in 200 ft. of water.  We put out two kites, two live Goggle Eyes from each kite and one Shark bait down on the bottom.  Nick was our first angler, as a Sailfish appeared on our left short kite, frantically chasing the Goggle Eye.  After eating the bait, the Sailfish immediately came out of the water as he kept greyhounding away from the boat.  Even at a distance, he looked very large, showing his spectacular strength and speed.  We had to bring in the rest of our fishing lines and terminal tackle to chase the Sailfish down.  Twenty minutes later, Nick brought the Sailfish to the side of the boat, as Jackson, our mate, brought him into the boat for picture taking.  The Sailfish measured 91 inches and 60 lbs estimated weight.

We headed south again on the same color change to set up the kites once again.  As Nick rested from his exhausting battle with the Sailfish, it was Anthony’s turn.  With the sun gleaming down on the bait, I could not, at first, identify the predator chasing the bait, but shortly thereafter a Sailfish jumped out of the water while tail-walking towards the boat frantically throwing water from side to side.  Anthony brought the Sailfish to the side of the boat, Jackson brought it into the boat, pictures were taken and the Sailfish was released.

Hello Laurie,
From day one this has been an outstanding experience !! Your staff kept me updated thru the whole process .
Upon arriving at the shop everyone was great , helpful and friendly from the ladies that greeted us when we walked in , to the very friendly girl at the customer pick up window and then you came up and offered the amazing tour!!!  Your professionalism is much appreciated !! The tour was excellent then the guy that got my mount and quickly placed him safely in our vehicle and explained hanging it was also amazing !! I look forward to future business with gray taxidermy and will be telling everyone about my experience !!!

THANK YOU all so very much !!!

J. Snyder

Rich and Audrey Balezentis from Jacksonville, FL came to get away from the cold and to do some deep sea sport fishing Fort Lauderdale aboard Happy Day Today along with the Topshotfishing team.  They have fishing in their blood since their son, Captain Bryan, runs a charter boat “El Gato” out of San Diego, CA.

Our goal for this fishing trip was to catch “eating” fish.  Fifteen minutes after leaving the dock, lines were in the water in 120 ft at the drop off in Fort Lauderdale.  At this point Rich remarked that back home he would have to travel another 45 minutes before he could put fishing lines in the water.  We put two plainers down, one with a double hook Mullet strip and a pink and blue seawitch in front and the other with a double hook Bonito strip with a pink and Mylar seawitch.  For surface baits we had two Bonito strips and two Ballyhoos.

I kept trolling down our reef that sits in 120 ft. of water off of Fort Lauderdale, zig zagging back and forth.  Our first fish was hooked on the Mullet strip and produced a nice 10 lb Kingfish.  I kept working the area from 80 out to 200 ft. of water, catching more Kingfish, Spanish Mackerel and Bonitos.  With 13 fish in the box, I headed towards one of the artificial wrecks that sit in Fort Lauderdale in 67 ft. of water.  This past week Groupers have been caught on this artificial wreck.  On my third pass over the artificial wreck, I slowed the boat up letting the bait sink deeper.  The rod bent over – at first I thought I was hooked on the wreck – but as the line was retrieved I could see we had a fish on.  A Black Grouper popped up to the surface 50 yards from the boat, and Rich, being the angler, did a nice job in reeling in the Grouper.