| Sep 3
Today we had no fishing trips lined up but one of our regular customers Greg from Baltimore showed up at the dock and since we had been sitting in for the last couple of days we decided to go out for a few hours and kind of show Greg our appreciation for his regular and ongoing business.
Our target was SAIL FISH Greg’s dream to catch a sail fish.
We went in on the shallow reefs and anchored up and started chumming the water hopping to catch some live ballyhoo for bait. We like to fly our kites with live baits suspended from them to catch sail fish but the problem was today we just had no wind what so ever so kite fishing was out of the question. So we were hoping to catch some live ballyhoo and slow troll them which is also a great way of targeting sailfish. It took about 20 min of chumming the waters but at last our much needed ballyhoo finally showed up.
We went out to 130 feet of water and set out 6 live ballyhoos and started slow trolling them from 130 feet of water out to 300 feet and then back again. We slow trolled them for over 2 and half hours without a bite. (RATS)
At this point the current had dragged us way up to the north and we decided to just troll our way back with dead ballyhoos on the surface and two planner boards set down about 45 to 50 feet down.
J.J. got the first line set out and turned around to set out another rod when all of a sudden we were Hooked up. Ok nice king fish in the box and I guess that was all we had to do get the skunk out of the box and then we could start catching because we ended up with 5 king fish a bunch of bonitos and a nice black fin tuna in a matter of an hour of trolling.
Sorry Greg no sailfish today but we sure wore you out with trolling for kings in no time (LOL)
Guys fishing has been RED HOT and the sail fish are starting to show up so if you’re looking for a few day get away now’s the time air fares are at a big time low right now and hotel rates are way down and yes on the Hooked Up we are offering summer time discount rates so give us a call and have a ball down here in Sunny South Florida.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
Sep 4
Today we had a bunch of guys from Texas and Oklahoma getting together for a fishing trip in memory of their wife, mom. Sister and Grandmother Barbra who had passed away one year ago.
We had Barbra’s brother Bill her husband Robert two sons Greg and Blake and her grandson Bob.
We started out setting out all of our trolling gear on the reef hopping to start our trip off on the right note by throwing some king fish and bonitos in the box.
It seemed as soon as we got started we got Hooked Up with one of our planner rods and the fun began. As we slowed the boat down trying to catch our first fish Captain Greg had pointed out that he had just seen a sail fish jumping close to our baits. Just as Greg started in with the leader on our first fish of the day I saw one of our lines pop out of the out rigger and the rod slowly started bending over. I knew that Greg had his hands full and would not get a chance to pick up that rod and reel it tight fast so I yelled down for everyone to hang on and I went ahead fast with the boat trying to get the line tight as fast as possible.
I could not believe my eyes up came this sail fish dancing all over the surface of the water. I’m not sure how we pulled that one off I would not be a bit surprised if maybe Barbra had a little something to do with that. It seemed only fitting that Robert her husband gets in the chair and catches this one.
It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 20 min but at last Roberts’s fish was coming to the boat nice and easy. Somehow during the fight this sail fish had gotten itself all tangled up in the leader. But we caught it quick enough to untangle him and watch him swam away in good shape.
We had just started fishing!! I knew this was going to be a good day of fishing. We ended up catching a BOX FULL of king fish, bonitos, a nice barracuda a big amber jack and a sail fish.
Guys thanks again for a great morning of fishing and hope to see you guys again next year for what I hope has turned into our annual fishing trip in memory of Barbra.
Fishing has just been great this summer and with hotel and air fares being as low as they are what better time to get away for a long weekend down here in South Florida???
(Don’t forget to ask about the Hooked Up’s summer time savings)
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
Sep 5
Today we had a dad named Cabbage from Texas in town visiting his son James and his 6 month pregnant daughter in law Tiffany for the weekend.
Things started as pretty much like they had been the last few weeks. We set out our two planner boards and three top lines and started trolling down the reef. It only took a couple of min till our first bite and James wasted no time jumping in the chair. Our first fish turned out to be a bonito. No sooner did we go back to trolling when our high line got hit and line just started screaming off the reel. I handed the rod down to Captain Greg and he turned around and handed it off to Tiffany.
We knew that the bonitos were running real well and we figured that this must have been another bonito that had gotten foul hooked and that would explain why he was peeling off so much line.
Did I mention that Tiffany was 6 months pregnant?
After about 15 min of trying to reel in what we thought was a foul hooked bonito Captain Greg leaned over the side of the boat and gaffed this fish. Then he started yelling for me to hurry up and get down stairs and stick another gaff in this fish. Now you would have to know Greg to understand that he first of all never yells and secondly he hardly ever asks for help getting a fish into the boat so I knew that something beside a foul hooked bonito was on the other end of his gaff. I flew down stairs grabbed another gaff leaned over to help out and I could not believe what I was looking at. A MONSTER WAHOO. I immediately stuck another gaff in the fish and we brought him aboard.
Now what is really amazing about this catch is first of all our angler was a 110 pound 6 month pregnant woman and our leader was 60 pound monofilament leader. And if you have ever seen the teeth on a Wahoo you never would have thought we could have fought this fish for over 15 min and he never bit threw the leader.
By the end of the trip we had a box full of king fish and bonitos and a 59 inch Wahoo.
Cabbage, James and Tiffany thanks again for a great morning of fishing and I hope you guys had a GREAT fish fry.
Fishing has just been great down here in South Florida and to make matters even better fall is just day’s away which means sail fish are coming down so give us a call and let’s get you Hooked Up.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
Sep 9
Today we had a father and son team from Waunakee Wisconsin Jeff and Bill out for a morning of deep sea fishing off the coast of Fort Lauderdale Florida.
We started out trolling the reef and the reef was full of life. We worked our way to the south catching king fish and bonitos all the way down to North Miami. Once we got to where there is a big ship wreck on the bottom we set down a live blue runner just to see what might be hanging around. I’ve got to say that once we got the live bait to the bottom it did not take long till our first bite. This was a big fish on the other end. The rod bent in half and line was screaming off the reel we got our angler in the chair and the fight was on. It was a big tug a war for over 10 min but at last up came this huge amber jack.
As it turned out fishing the wreck was the right choice today we also pulled a monster barracuda out of the wreck along with a good hand full of great eating snappers.
Jeff and Bill thanks so much for a great day on the water.
This time of the year it seems we’ve got fish from the bottom of the ocean all the way to the top with king fish in the middle. It truly is a great time to come fishing in Sunny South Florida so give us a call and let’s do some fishing and have a ball aboard the Hooked Up.
Captain Taco 99540 764-4344 or toll free (8770 Sea-4344
Sep 11
Today we had a bachelor party aboard. As it turned out everyone was from Franklin Virginia and since Sam was getting married his buddies Danny, Matt, Bryan, Stefan and Bryan decided what better reason do they need to come down to Sunny South Florida and enjoy some fun in the sun.
We started out trolling the reef just trying to get some fish in the box. And once again the king fish did not let us down. We were catching king fish when all of a sudden we got a surprise when a dolphin fish jumped up one of our baits. Sam jumped in the chair and this one was his to catch and eat. Then we knew that these guys were looking forward to having some fish for dinner and while you can eat the king fish they really were not that interested in them. So we switched over and started fishing the bottom trying for some great eating snappers.
And once again the bottom fishing did not let us down and everyone ended up catching fish and having a ball and more than enough to eat.
Sam good luck and to the rest of the gang thanks again it was a ball fishing with you guys.
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344 or toll free (877) Sea-4344
Sep 12
Ok today’s fishing report is a two part report. As some of you might know I run the Hooked Up but I’ve also got a partner in another boat called the Local Knowledge and today my partner is out of town and needed me to run the Local knowledge for him so we’ll start out with the fishing trip aboard the Hooked Up
We had Captain Greg and Captain J.J. running the Hooked Up and they had Danny and Rick from New York and they also had Paul, Tony and Joe from South Florida.
They started out trolling the reef with 2 planners running down deep and three surface lines skipping across the surface. Once again the king fish and bonitos were biting and before we knew it everyone had caught fish. Once we got far enough to the south they brought in all the trolling gear and sent down a live bait down about 225 feet to a ship wreck. From there the wait was not long till the rod bent over and line was peeling off the reel. One of the guys jumped in the chair and the fight was on.
They ended up catching a monster amber jack along with a nice barracuda and a box full of king fish and bonitos.
Nice going guys
Ok mean while I was on my way off shore headed for the sword fish grounds. I had an old customer on board who has fished with us a few times in the past. On one of his trips aboard the Hooked Up in the past with his son they had caught 5 sail fish on one trip. WOW now that’s a hard trip to beat. All the same Jim from Michigan my mate Brett and I were off to see what the fish gods had in store for us today.
Since we were going about 17 miles off shore we decided to set out 4 high speed lures and just hope for the best. We were running about 8 knots just trying to cover some ground without using too much fuel.
We had been trolling for a good hour and a half when all of a sudden I heard Brett yelling (THERE HE IS)
As I turned around I could not believe what I was looking at. There was this huge blue marlin jumping all over the surface of the ocean and running right at the boat. I did not even slow the boat down for a good 30 to 40 seconds after we were HOOKED UP because he just kept coming at the boat.
Once the fish disappeared down into the deep blue water I slowed the boat down and all you could hear was the line screaming off the reel. Within one min of slowing the boat down Brett started yelling again back down back down we are running out of line. Well I can tell you that while I’ve got no problem backing down on a fish I shore as heck can’t back straight down into the water. In other words the line was going straight down into the deep blue and there was no way of backing down.
Now that we were straight up and down with this fish the line started to slow down a bit and we did still have some line left on the reel. All of a sudden about 50 yards away from the boat we saw this big blue marlin jumping all over the place. This fish was so fast that even though the line was going straight down behind the boat the fish was in fact on the surface. Talk about having a big belly in the line.
Finally after a good 45 min Jim had reeled in a good half a spool of line back on the reel and we were looking like we just might have a shot at catching this fish. I’ve got to say that Jim stayed right on this fish and never once missed up. It was like he was so in tune to what the fish was doing and to what Brett was saying it was all working like a well oiled machine.
It took one hour and fifteen min for Jim to finally reel his catch to the side of the boat.
We slid the fish part way in the tuna door to get a quick measurement of his catch in order to have a replica trophy made of his catch. Then we slid the fish back into the water and held his bill and just slowly trolled him around for a good 5 min to help the fish catch his breath and swim away on his own.
I fish with a lot of people every year but I really think that Jim has to be the luckiest fisherman I’ve ever meat.
After a lot of hand shaking and high fiving we went back to high speed trolling toward the sword fish ground.
Once we got to the sword fish grounds all kinds of things started popping up. While we were just getting to the spot where we were going to make our first drop a water spout popped up not far from the boat.
Than as we started our second or third drop I told Brett to stop dropping because I seen something big floating in the water and there might be some dolphin fish around it. As we worked our way close to whatever this was floating I noticed more and more thing floating. It turned out to be a school of pilot whales mating all over the place. I’ve never seen nothing like this before they would let us pull right up next to them and get some great photos of them.
I’m not sure how many whales there was but I am sure that it was at least 75 to 100 of them.
We did a total of 6 drops down 1750 feet to the bottom without a nibble and after talking to a couple of other boats that were out there doing the same without a bite we headed back for the port.
We did manage to catch one big barracuda on our way in but after catching that 300 pound blue marlin the barracuda just did not look quite so big (LOL)
Jim thanks for a great day of fishing I’ll never forget and looking forward to fishing with you in January.
Fishing has been just unbelievable and we are seeing things off the coast of Fort Lauderdale we’ve never seen before so give us a call and let’s do some deep sea fishing!!
Captain Taco (9540 764-4344 or toll free (877) Sea-4344
Sep 16
Today we had Mack and his wife Nell from Lubbock Texas called us and decided at the last min to go fishing. Well we are way into Sep and Sep is our slowest month of the year as far as customers are concerned so we were glad to get the call. I don’t know who was more eager to go fishing them or us? (LOL)
It took us about 2 min to get the boat ready to fish and off we went.
We started out trolling the reef with our 2 planners about 45 feet down and three surface baits skipping across the top. As luck would have it fishing was good and the bonitos and king fish started flying in the boat one after another. As we worked our way to the south I had talked to one of the other charter boats and Captain Steve had let me know that he had seem 4 sail fish jumping around. So once I found out how deep he had seen these fish I worked our way to 125 feet of water where the fish had been seen.
As Mack was complaining about having to reel in another fish something had hit one of our surface baits. Captain J.J. left Mack along to deal with the fish he was fighting and picked up the rod that had just got hit. All of a sudden this monster sail fish came out of the water dancing all over the surface. Mack stopped complaining about all the bonitos and kings he had been reeling in and jumped at the shot of fighting a sail fish. Sorry to say that the sail made one last jump and spit the hook. I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching.
Like I have always said better to have seen him and lost him then to have never seen him at all and besides at this point I think we hooked Mack into this deep- sea fishing thing. (LOL)
At this point we were out of time but I figured what the heck we had nothing else going on so I decided to make one last troll off into the deep water and give Mack and Nell a break from all of these bonitos and king fish.
As we were trolling off shore I had told J.J. that it sure would be nice to catch Mack and Nell at least just one 7 pound dolphin fish so they could have a fish fry for lunch. No sooner did the words come out of my mouth when one of our surface baits got hit. And yep you guessed if a dolphin fish. I could not believe it but there he was resting comfortably in our fish box or so I thought. I turned to make one more pass by this little piece of wood where we had found the dolphin in the first place when one of our planners got hit. This time Nell jumped in the chair and in came this barracuda but when J.J. opened the box to throw him in to get the hook out of him the dolphin jumped out and right back into the water.
(RATS) I could not believe what I had just seen but wait a second the leader was still in the fish’s mouth and it got hung up in the hinge of the door to the fish box. Once again J.J. threw him back in the box and kept the lid shut.
Once we got back to the dock J.J. cleaned the dolphin up for Mack and Nell and they went next to the boat where there is this restaurant that cooked it up for them.
Mack and Nell thanks again for a great time fishing and Mack hope your arm feels better (LOL) Looking forward to seeing you guys again soon.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
Sep 23
Today we had Jaehyun and Euaaha from New York and their good friend Chaugrok from Jasonville Florida out for a few hours of deep sea fishing.
We started out trolling the reef with our two planners running down about 45 feet and three ballyhoos’ skipping across the surface. It only took a couple of seconds for our first bite and Jaehyum ( we called him John) to jump in the chair and in came our first king fish of the day. Then they started coming one after another. We ended up with our limit of kings quickly along with a few bonitos and barracudas thrown in.
Than we trolled our way out to deeper water where I had found a small piece of bamboo floating and sure enough here came the dolphin fish.
We ended up with four nice dolphin fish on top of our already good catch. Today was just one of those days we seemed to hook into everything that bit.
Thanks again guys for a fun morning of fishing.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344
Sep 24
Today we had Al from Maine and his wife’s husband I mean brother in law (LOL) Ode from Punta Gorda Vermont out for a full day off shore looking for dolphin fish and sword fish.
We got an early start and once we got to about 400 feet of water we slowed down the boat and put out some trolling baits hopping to find some dolphin fish on our way out. We were all up on the fly bridge just shooting the breeze when I notice a piece of debris floating. At this point I was the only one who knew that there was a piece of debris floating ahead of us but I told everyone to go down stairs and get ready because I had a feeling that we might run into some fish soon.
As we made our first pass by here they came dolphin fish came gray hounding across the surface headed straight for our baits. In a matter of seconds we were hooked up with three dolphins at the same time. We got them all in the boat and headed for our second pass by. And once again here they came from everywhere attacking our baits.
After a good half an hour of this passing by and hooking these dolphins I knew that we were never going to get out to the sword fish grounds if we kept this up.
So I called in one of my friends Captain Rick aboard the Happy Day Today and let him know the fish were over here and they were biting well. Once Captain Rick came over and seen where we were catching these fish under we turned the boat and continued our journey off shore toward the sword fish grounds.
We did manage to catch a couple more dolphin on our way out but this time I just kept heading east instead of turning around to see where these fish had come out of.
A couple of hours later we had finally arrived to the grounds we were looking for and in came all of our trolling baits and out went the sword fish bait.
Our first drop was 1775 feet all the way to the bottom. Within the first 5 min we thought we had a bite but it turned out to be snagged on the bottom. (RATS) I turned the boat east of where the line was going straight down and by some miracle or maybe it was an act of god but it came unhooked and that in its self was a great catch considering that if we had not gotten it out we would have lost a $50 dollar lead, $45 dollar light a couple of $6 dollar swivels not to mention a very big portion of this very expensive wire line that was on the reel.
Ok so we got all of our tackle and bait back so we decided to run a couple of miles to the south and try it again. This time while we did not get fouled up into the bottom we did not get a bite either.
We moved again got our bait down and then we watched the rod slowly bend over. (O no not the bottom again) Not this time because within seconds not only was the rod bent over but line started screaming off the reel. (WE WERE HOOKED UP)
I’m sure that if we could have seen a video of us we looked like four little kids about to open our Christmas gifs. We were jumping around and high fiving each other.
It was a very slow back and forth tug a war for an hour and a half and by the time our lead came up we had every gaff, harpoon, and ropes ready for him. We knew by the way this fish pulled line off the reel at will it was going to be a monster.
All of a sudden this SEA MONSTER broke the surface and it turned out to be a 12 to 14 foot thresher shark. At first we were so surprised but truth be told I know there was a bit of a disappointment. We were all looking forward to sliding a monster sword fish threw the door.
But that is fishing and let’s face it we caught a pretty incredible fish and we all watched him swim away in good shape and we already had more than enough eating fish in the box.
Ode and Al thanks again and we are looking forward to fishing you again in Jan.
Fall is here and so are the king fish, dolphin fish and sail fish so give us a call and get away for a weekend to South Florida before the winter air fares go thru the roof and let’s do some deep sea fishing aboard the HOOKED UP.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
Sep 26
Today Eric’s wife Lisa bought him a great B Day present she chartered the Hooked Up for Eric and three of his closest friend Hans, Steven and Frank all from Florida.
We started out our day pretty much like we had been the last few weeks trolling on the reef. We set out our two planners running about 45 feet down and three surface lines skipping across the surface. Today while we did catch a few kingfish and a couple of bonitos we did not catch them as well as we had for the last few days. It could have been due to the lack of current but all the same we were determined to show Eric a great time on the water.
After trolling the reef for quite some time we decided to try some kite fishing so in came the trolling gear and out went our kites with live baits suspended from them.
Sometimes I guess it is better to be lucky than good because when we least expected it we got a bite on one of our kite baits and out came this sail fish dancing all over the surface. There was no question as to who was going to fight this one and with that Eric jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took Eric a good 15 min to finally get this nice sail fish along side of the boat. We got a couple of good pictures and released him and watched him swam away in great shape.
Eric thanks again and good luck on your bass tournament tomorrow and o yea HAPPY B DAY.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344
Sep 30
Ok let me set the stage for this fishing report. Our day started out with a cancelation so we had no trip this morning. So I told captain J.J. to go ahead and sleep in and that I would cover the dock this morning. So I got my cup of coffee and set up camp at the dock behind the boat when out of nowhere came this little car with four guys looking to go out on a fishing trip before their golf game in the afternoon. This seemed too good to be true but sure enough they signed up and J.J. got up and got to the boat with 10 min. Now I’ve got to say that looking back in the past it is these unplanned fishing trips that can turn out to be one of the best and this was no exception.
We loaded up Alex, John, Rob and Chris all from Philadelphia and off we went. Once again we set out our two planners running about 45 feet down and we also set out three dead ballyhoo skipping across the surface. Today the king fish were SNAPPING and before we knew it we were catching them left and right.
The problem was that these guys were just taking their time and it seemed like it took forever for them to reel them in. So of course I had to throw down my two cents and seeing that these guys were from Philly they threw it right back at me. So down the reef we went catching kings and giving each other a hard time. Just another perfect trip with a boat full of Philadelphia Eagle fans. The bantering back and forth was going just as planned when all of a sudden I got a bite on my high line which had ballyhoo on a monofilament leader on it. I handed down the rod and Chris he got in the chair. Once again these guys were moving like furniture and I took both engines out of gear and just sat back and started counting sheep. (LOL)
After about what seemed for ever Chris’s leader popped up and J.J. and I were sure this was a bonito but when we seen strips all over this fish things changed very fast. We had a nice Wahoo on the other end of the line with teeth that could cut thru this leader with one little shake of his head. But bad for the Wahoo and good for us J.J. never gave him a chance to shake his head and sunk a gaff into him before he ever knew what had happen. (WAY TO GO J.J.)
Ok now the banters really got good Chris figured that we caught this fish because of the way he reeled it in and I figured that first of all I put us on him and second he had just gotten about as lucky as a fisherman could get. One thing was for sure the pressure was off of me and J.J. we had produced a lot of fish in a short period of time and everyone including us were having a ball.
After catching a box full of king fish and a 24 pound Wahoo you would think things couldn’t get any better for a little four hour trip! (WRONG)
As we set out our trolling baits again and got back to fishing after celebrating our Wahoo catch we got a bite on one of our planners. J.J. was pulling in the 60 foot leader and we seen that this one was a nice king fish about 12 pounder. All of a sudden one of the out rigger baits got hit and J.J. dropped what he was doing with the leader with this nice king fish attached to it and picked up the other rod that had just gotten hit.
At this point I was looking back to see if I could see what it was that had hit the other bait but there was nothing there but J.J. just kept playing with the rod trying to see if he could get whatever it was to come back.
After a good 40 to 50 seconds of this I could no longer just look at this nice king fish we were just dragging behind the boat so I ran down stairs and decided to pull him into the boat myself. Just as I gaffed the king and threw him into our fish box I noticed that another one of our out rigger baits got knocked down and I looked for J.J. but he was nowhere to be found. I picked up the rod that had just gotten knocked down locked it up and came tight and all of a sudden out came this sail fish dancing all over the surface. Than out of nowhere here comes another sail fish dancing all over the place. Where did he come from?? I looked up on the fly bridge and there was J.J. he had run up and hooked another sail that was eating my high line.
(This was just the kind of fishing they make movies about)
Ok so now these guys from Philly were moving a bit faster than they were earlier and Alex jumped in one chair and John got in the other we were Hooked Up and the fights were on.
At first we got to watch both fish jumping out of the water right next to each other but soon enough they both went their separate ways. One went north and one went south. After about 15 min of this we finally got John’s fish coming to the boat pretty good so we figured we go for his first but once his fish seen the boat he had plans of his own and off he went peeling line off the reel once again. A good 5 min later here came both fish at the boat at the same time. I’ve got to say as a fisherman that fish’s everyday this was GOOD STUFF. J.J. reached over and grabbed one of the fish than ran over and grabbed the other one. We all worked together and got a couple of quick pictures of both fish at the same time got a quick measurement of both fish to have replica trophies made of them and watched both of them swim away in good shape.
(WHAT A FOUR HOURS OF FISHING!!)
As we were working our way back to the dock these guys were asking me if I might know anywhere that might cook up this Wahoo for them. I let them know that I was two steps ahead of them and that I had already called the little restaurant/Bar next to the boat (Bahia Cabana) but that in order for them to get this fish cooked up for them that they would also have to feed us!!
What a great morning followed up by a great lunch.
Alex, John, Chris and Rob thanks SOOOO much for a day I will always remember O and by the way Rob also caught a black fin Tuna to add to our lunch.
Guys I am still waiting for the pictures the ones I got are not that great so don’t forget to send them and by the way I still think your foot ball team stinks! (LOL)
We have been having ball fishing down here in Sunny South Florida so give us a call and be a part of it!!!!
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) Sea-4344
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