Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report, South Florida Fishing

Sept. 16, 2009

Some days we start with a bang and end slow. That is the norm for a morning trip as the sun rises and gets higher in the sky as the day wears on. That was NOT the case today with the two couples from Georgia…
On a beautiful and calm day off Fort Lauderdale, we trolled for over an hour without a hit. Certainly not the norm of late, as the Kingfish and Bonito have been biting fairly well. Finally we found a few fish to the north after trying different depths and water color searching for something, anything to bite. Relieved that a few fish were in the boat, we were seeing floppers (free jumping Sailfish) with some regularity. They have been in the area lately and the water looked good for them to but we never had on bite on them.
We moved to deeper water and an edge of water that changed from clean green to deep blue in about 400’. With scattered weed and some debris on this edge, we found group after group of small baitfish under the floating weeds. While expecting Dolphin, we only found Barracuda on this edge. Getting close to the time to go home, we turned toward shore and found the water exploding with Tuna feeding just in shore of us. Trolling through them yielded a double bite, one of which was lost, and a quickly pitched live bait was also eaten almost as it hit the water. With one fish on and lines still in the water, this Tuna would escape us as he peeled the line off our spool.
Finally boating a nice Blackfin, we ran up to the school again and pitched another livie. This time, a Skipjack Tuna jumped on, a good sized one too. It always amazes me watching these fish chasing their food, and eating with such aggression. The water erupts as the lunge and jump for their prey.
So, a few dinners were in the box with the Kingfish and Tuna we had. We headed home with our group, all smiles and delighted our efforts had been rewarded.