November 10, 2011
During the winter months, many of the large Atlantic predatory fish species are migrating south along the coast from the western mid-Atlantic to Mexico. Over the next 6 months, we will see schools of sailfish, mahi-mahi, tuna, wahoo, and marlin right off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale. As each cold front the moves through the area we see new groups of fish. These fish find live baits suspended below fishing kites, swimming right at the surface, irresistible. We see fantastic aerial displays as the big predatory fish crash these baits.
Today, Pauli and I ran offshore to a current edge in 550 feet of water. In this case, the “edge” was a clearly defined area where the Gulfstream current is running north and the near shore current is running south. These current edges tend to concentrate baitfish, and sure enough, we caught six nice mahi-mahi up to 15 lbs as they were crushing our baits. After a couple of hours of this action, we moved back in to 120 feet and dropped some fresh goggleyes from the kites. We caught a few king mackerel right off the bat and jumped off a nice sailfish. “Jumped off” fish are those that hit one of baits, jump around a few times, and then throw the hook before they can be reeled in.
Shortly after jumping the sailfish, we pulled in the baits and ran north five miles to some cleaner water. We put the kites back up, set out four more fresh live baits, and in no time hooked another sailfish. This time we had a solid hookup and 15 minutes we landed the fish, got some good pictures, tagged the fish and let him free. It is interesting to note that one of the sailfish we tagged a few years ago, right off Ft. Lauderdale was re-captured several years later off Mexico. It is cool how fisheries oceanographers can track these fish. Lady Pamela is committed to assisting fisheries scientists, by tagging both billfish and sharks when possible.
Tight Lines,
Captain David Ide
954 761 8045
Email Us ladypamela2@bellsouth.net
