Fort Lauderdale fishing report for end of July for Happy Day, Saltwater Fishing Report

Fort Lauderdale Fishing on Happy Day Today with Capt. Zsak

With a pleasant breeze out of the east southeast at 8 mph, with sea conditions 1-2 feet, temperatures in the mid 80's, made it a very pleasant fishing charter for Britt and Chris Cook and family from Utah. Britt, Jr. is a junior angler at the age of 7, and was ready to do some deep sea fishing on the Happy Day Today Topshot Fishing Charter out of Fort Lauderdale FL. I questioned Britt, Jr. what he wanted to catch - he extended both arms out as far as they could go for a total of 4 ft. and said he would like to catch a Shark. Looking at his dad, I said, maybe we could catch one bigger than 4 ft, and off we went on our fishing charter adventure in Fort Lauderdale FL.

We cleared the jetties; the sun was gleaming down and shimmering light on the water. I mentioned to Mitch, our mate, to start off first by doing trolling and then doing some Shark fishing. We trolled around one of our 34 artificial wrecks off of Fort Lauderdale FL which are located anywhere from 60' to 360' of water. We had two plainers down, one with a #3 drome spoon and the other with a blue and white sea witch with a Bonito strip behind it and 4 Bonito strips for surface baits. Our first bite was on our #3 drome spoon - a 10 lb. Bonito - which Britt, Jr. reeled, and I told Britt, Jr. that his catch was perfect size Shark bait. We trolled around, and the rest of the family caught a mix bag of Bonitos, King Fish and Barracudas.

I told Mitch to get prepared to do some Shark fishing, and I headed out to the Shark grounds, which sits in one of our artificial wrecks off of Fort Lauderdale FL, sitting in 345' of water. These wrecks are home for residential fish, including bait fish such as Bullets, Runners and Speedos, and in return, the predators, such as Sharks, are lurking close by. We put out our Shark baits, one surface bait, one mid range bait and one bottom bait, with bloody carcasses hanging off the transom of the Happy Day Today charter fishing boat. We patiently waited for the Shark's arrival, and not too longer afterwards, we were not disappointed. Our mid range bait started taking out line very slowly - this is very unusual for a Shark to do - Mitch started bringing in the other lines. As the line continued to exit the reel at a slow rate, I told Britt, Sr. that this fish did not know he was hooked since he was swimming away at a normal rate. When the Shark realized he was hooked, the true battle started. The Penn 80 International Reel let out a high pitch sound as the line exited very quickly. Forty-five minutes later, as the Shark came close to the boat, we could all look down and see the glimmer of this huge predator. IT'S A THRESHER SHARK!!!!! A very rare Shark to catch off of Fort Lauderdale FL. Britt, Sr. brought the fish closer to the boat, measuring a little more than 13' and weighing approximately 500 lbs, which was a little bit bigger than what Britt, Jr. requested. We snapped pictures of the beautiful predator fish, and Britt, Sr. requested to make a replica mount of the Thresher Shark. As we released the fish, we could hear the big tail slap against the side of the boat.

It was time to start heading back from our deep sea fishing in Fort Lauderdale FL to the dock at Bahia Mar. This ends another successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter on the Happy Day Today/Topshot Fishing with Captain Zsak.

For a successful and adventurous Fort Lauderdale fishing on the Happy Day Today, contact Captain Zsak. - 954-439-8106 – www.topshotfishing.com

About the Author:

Captain's Bio: Welcome to Fort Lauderdale, Florida's longest running fishing charter boat the "Happy Day Today" fishing since 1978. The charter boat "Happy Day Today" is a 46' Hatteras with twin Detroit's fully equipped with all Shimmano and Penn tackle. The fish we target are Sailfish, Swordfish, Mahi, Wahoo, Tuna, Mackerel, Grouper and Snapper. We fish hard and want you to have a great time fishing out of Ft. Lauderdale. Capt. Tom will discuss with you what has been biting and what our best chances are to target a specific species that day. We encourage our customers to contact us to go over any detailed information about the fishing charter (954) 439-8106 or visit the website at www.topshotfishing.com