Fort Lauderdale Fishing Report for the Happy Day Today, Saltwater Fishing Report

A cold front has come down early January which has given us a decent bite and is continuing to give us a good bite. This is what all South Florida fishermen wait for all year. The cold fronts are low pressures that in multiple ways (to only mention a few) cause bait and Sailfish to start heading South. The low pressure caused by the cold front is felt by all the fish, which changes migration patterns and feeding patterns, which is an indication of a storm/low pressure. Also with the winter months and cold air and water, Sailfish are a tropical warm water fish, so they start their Southern migration heading past Palm Beach, Boca, Fort Lauderdale, Ft. Lauderdale, Dania, Hollywood, Miami and all of the Keys. The early part of the season you will see more bites up North towards the Palm Beaches, and Fort Lauderdale, when mid January going into February the Miami and Fort Lauderdale bite as well as North Key West bite is good. Then when Feb/ March rolls around, the Southern Miami to Keys start to get a bite.

We fished Jim Scott from North Carolina last week, the fishing conditions were: winds out of the north, northeast at 12 to15 mph, seas running 3 to 5 ft. and deep blue water in on our 2nd reef which is what we like for the Sail and Mahi bite.

Jim and friends on board we set out to do some kite fishing with live bait Goggle Eyes. We set two kites up about 60 to 70 yards from the boat, fishing 4 live Goggle Eyes total, two Gogs per kite.

The first fish caught was a 8 lb. Mahi Mahi. Then adding to the fish box another 4 Mahi’s, not big size, but worth keeping.

On the left kite, the longer of the two baits, Jim and I noticed a dorsal fin came out of water, circling the bait, but it did not eat the bait. We call them “window shopers”, the Sail approached the bait, circles and slowly swims off. As a fisherman and fishing out of Fort Lauderdale for a long time, this is never a good feeling, at first your heart rate jumps and the fish is there on your baits, then the Sail slowly fades off and does not feed. Happens to all of us, not that often thankfully.

The next Sailfish popped up about 25 minutes later, this Sail had no hesitation, the fish grabbed the Gog, started peeling off line and was jumping out of the water like a bat out of hell, he put on a spectacular show. Twenty minutes later, the Sailfish was reeled to the side of boat for picture taking and released, swimming away. We release all of our Sailfish off Fort Lauderdale to catch another day.

It was time to start heading back to the dock. This ends another successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter on the Happy Day Today with the Topshotfishing team and 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