.jpg) It’s September 1st and the weather is great here in Ft. Lauderdale, the sun is shinning and the ocean is calm. The Hooked Up team started out at 7am this morning with David and Ruth, their 2 sons, Brandon and Derek and Brian and his daughter Brianna all from Westin, Florida. We started the trip out by trolling some bonito strips down the reef and everyone got to use the rods bringing in quite a few bonito’s and then Derek caught a barracuda. Next the group decided they wanted to try for something a little bigger so we suspended live bait on top of the water with the kites and then we dropped a couple of dead baits on the bottom and it wasn’t to long before we had the bite and David was in the chair fighting a big shark. The shark put up a good fight but David was better and won the battle. Way to go David!
We started the morning of the 2nd off with Leo, Gregory, Tony, Boris, Andre and Brandon from Canada and they had a productive morning while we trolled the reef, catching bonito’s, kingfish and barracuda’s. Next we decided to try for something a little larger and set up live bait on the top of the water with the kites and then dropped dead bait on the bottom and it wasn’t to long before the guys had hooded into and did a catch and release of a nice shark. The afternoon trip was not as productive but the guys did bring in a few bonito’s and kingfish. Then our last trip of the day was an all night swordfish trip with Steven from Boston and Peter from New York. We left the dock around 5pm and headed out about 20 miles off shore. For this trip I brought along my secret weapon, the swordfish expert “Josh” and man did he ever payoff. The weather was beautiful, the ocean was flat calm and there were boats everywhere, it looked like a floating city with all the lights but the swordfish forgot to come to the party. We fished from 5pm till 4am and our secret weapon “Josh” paid off big, we landed 2 swordfish. There was only one other boat that caught one that night. The first one caught was by Peter and it was a nice one so he got to keep it the next one was brought in by Steven but he was little short so we did a catch and release with him. It was a great night of fishing and Thanks Josh, fantastic job!
On the 3rd the Hooked Up team was joined by Ismel, Carrie, Patricia, Sabian, Erain and Gamia all from right here in Florida. The fish were biting on the reef so we started trolling south to Miami and everyone got to get into the action bringing in a couple of barracudas, 5 kingfish and 5 bonito’s.
On the 5th, the Hooked Up team had a 6 hour charter with Hugo, Astrit, Philippe, Camille, and Solange from Paris, France. Let me tell you it was a beautiful day to be out on the ocean, the sun was shinning and the ocean was nice and calm and the fish were biting! We thought we would start the trip out by doing some slow trolling down the reef so everyone could get a good feel for the rods and get some practice in catching a few bonito’s and let me tell you everyone got PRACTICE!!!! The bonito’s were snapping and everyone got into the action until their arms were hurting so bad we had to take a break! After the bonito bonanza we headed off shore to look for some dolphin, well the dolphins were hard to find but we did manage to catch a couple. The off shore trip gave everyone a little rest and since the dolphins were not around we headed back in and hit the reef and once again the bonito bite was on so everyone jumped right back into the fight until we caught our limit and it was time to head back to the dock. What a fun day of fishing and a fun group of people, we really enjoyed our time with you guys!
On the 6th the Hooked Up team was joined by Marcus, Kevin, Danny and Jose all from right here in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Fishing is still good on the reef so we started the trip out by trolling south towards Miami and it wasn’t to long before all of these guys were in on the action and had the fish box full of bonito’s and kingfish. Since these guys are locals they wanted to catch a few dolphin for dinner so we headed off shore and we are happy to say we were able to help them with their dinner plans; they brought in 2 nice size dolphin (10 and 15 pounds). Nice catch guys, enjoy your dinner!
On the 12th the Hooked Up team was joined by our friends Ryan, from Connecticut and Michelle from Light House Point, Florida for a 6 hour charter. Now these 2 have been fishing with us for awhile so we knew we were in for a fun morning of fishing and we were right. The morning started off with Ryan deciding he was going to be nice today; he allowed Michelle to touch the rods, he even let her reel in a blue runner!!!! (LOL) Well this started the battle!!!! We trolled the reef south towards Miami and the 2 of them got into the action catching bonito’s and kingfish. Next, we thought we would try for something larger so we set up a couple of live bait on the surface with the kites and a couple of dead bait on the bottom and sure enough we hooked into a sailfish and the fight was on but we did not win this fight…the sailfish won this one, so we will be fighting him another day. After the sailfish battle we thought we would go after something for them to take home for dinner, and we are happy to say we were successful at this, Michelle brought in an 8 pound dolphin; but I have to say the most unique fish was caught by Ryan he caught an African Pompano. Hey guys it was great fishing with you again and we look forward to your next adventure on the Hooked Up.
On the 13th, we were joined by Kelly, Lindy, Kalin and Dan all from Michigan. We started out trolling down the reef looking to just bend the rods and bend them we did; we ended up catching a box of bonitos. Next we did a little bottom fishing, well there was no current to speak of so conditions were not that great for bottom fishing but all the same we did manage to catch some nice tile fish.
We started the 21st off with Jocelyn, Lynn, Catherine, David, Jean-Francis and Fanny from Canada. We thought we would give everyone a chance to get use the rods so we started trolling the reef towards Miami and it worked, everyone got to use the rods bringing in 7 dolphins and a bonito. Next we went to a deep wreck and dropped a live bait on it to see what was hanging around and it didn’t take long to find out, the rod started bending and the first amberjack was on; after that one the gang wanted to do it again so we did and the second one came up, the gang was still loving this so we dropped one more time and up comes the third one; finally everyone was satisfied so we ended the trip by dropping a live bait on a ledge and bring in a nice barracuda. What a great way to start the day. Our second trip of the day was with Brian, Tom and Mike all from here in South Florida and these guys were looking to catch something big so we set up live bait on the top of the water with the kites and dropped dead baits to the bottom and everything worked out great; the guys ended up with a sailfish and a nice hammerhead shark. Way to go guys, see you again soon.
The morning of the 22nd we had a 6 hour charter with Brad, Debra, and George from Michigan and Earl from Texas. The fish we biting pretty good today and everyone got a chance to get use to the equipment while we were trolling bringing in kingfish and a couple of barracudas and then Debra hopped into the chair and brought in a really nice wahoo and Brad didn’t want her to catch the biggest fish so he hopped into the chair and landed a great barracuda.
The afternoon of the 27th, we were joined by Malik, Shamus, Dabai, and Altaf all from Boynton Beach, Florida. We started the trip out trolling the reef and everyone got into the action catching kingfish then we headed offshore to see if we could find these guys some dolphin fish for dinner. We gave it a good shot but there were no dolphin to be found so we headed back in to the reef and the guys jumped right back into the kingfish action until they had the fish box overflowing. Sorry we didn’t find the dolphins guys, but you were awesome with the kingfish.
The 29th was a busy day, I worked with Captain Mike on the Local Knowledge and we had an all day charter with David, Nigel, John and Chris from Great Britain and Florida. We started out trolling the reef and everyone got a chance with the rods bringing in bonito and kingfish then we headed offshore to see what we could find out there. Well, after quite a bit of looking we found something floating and hit the mother lode! Everyone got into the action catching 5 wahoo’s, 9 dolphin fish and then Mike brought in a triple tail! Way to go everyone!
On the Hooked Up, Captain Greg and Glenn had 2 trips. They started the morning with Austin, Dawn and Greg from Washington State and filled the box with kingfish while they were trolling the reef towards Miami; next they went after something a little larger by putting live bait on top with the kites and dropping dead bait down deep, it didn’t take to long before they had the bite and the group did a catch and release of a nice hammerhead shark. On the way in the guys decided to drop live bait on a ledge and they caught a barracuda and a yellowtail snapper. Good Morning of fishing guys! The Hooked Up’s afternoon charter was with Gene and one of his friends. These guys are from Haiti and were looking to catch something cool, so they started them out trolling the reef to let them get use to everything and this worked well with them catching kingfish and barracuda’s, then the guys dropped a live bait on a deep wreck and hooked into a nice golden amberjack and to finish out their adventure they caught a nice hammerhead shark! Good fishing everyone!
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