May 5, 2012

Today we had Jack, Travis, and Ed, from right here in Fort Lauderdale that wanted to catch some yellowfin tuna. We decided to make the run first thing in the morning so we caught 700 pilchards and loaded up our live wells the night before. We left the dock at 6:00 am and headed 79 miles northeast of Fort Lauderdale. It makes for a long trip, and fuel prices are high, but if you get lucky and find the fish, it is well worth the trip.

Once we got to the tuna grounds we were finding birds crashing bait but we were not catching the tunas. Ed was discouraged, and ready to go home after the first few flocks of birds didn’t produce fish, but I wouldn’t let him. We finally found the fish, and Jack caught a nice mahi-mahi. We started live chumming with the pilchards and all of a sudden there were mahi–mahi everywhere. We caught 7 mahi-mahi right away, and as we were live chumming and chunking, the yellowfins showed up. They too were everywhere around the boat, and JJ and I began casting baits. We hooked four huge yellowfin tunas right away and the battle began. It was all we could do to fight these fish on 50 lb smoke-colored Sufix® fishing line, with InvisiLine 60lb fluorocarbon leaders. The smallest fish was 65 lbs and we boated six nice yellowfins in all. This trip was a lot of work, but it was so much fun! Hurry up and give me a call, we have two more months of tuna fishing.

 Tight Lines,

Capt David Ide

954 761 8045

www.ladypamela2.com

April 23, 2012

This year has been a weird weather year but the fishing has continued to be red hot. We just had a rare late-April cold front move through Fort Lauderdale and the sailfish started to bite again. We caught four nice fish the day before and three more today. I heard of some boats landing six or more fish, depending on how long they stayed out. That’s spectacular sailfishing for the end of April! We are using live goggleyes and kite’s for the sailfish, and the bite has been in 100 – 140 feet of water with a very strong north current.

We have also been trolling for, and catching bonitos and kingfish, along with mahi-mahi. They have been hitting sea witch feathers tipped with bonito strips, pulled behind planer boards. We are using planers that dive 50-75 feet under the surface. We are also hooking up a few wahoo and blackfin tuna on these planers.

Drift-Fishing

Daytime

The past few days we have been catching plenty of v-liner (snappers), grunts, and kingfish. We have also had a few blackfin tunas, and bonitos. These fish are being raised on ballyhoo chunks and sardines.

Nighttime

The nighttime snapper trips continue to be very productive. The past few weeks we have been catching lots of gray snappers, yellowtails, muttons, and vermillion snappers. We are landing some nice groupers with the snappers, but unfortunately they are strictly catch and release until May 1. On our nighttime snapper trips we anchor up in depths ranging from 45 to 90 feet of water on our reef system. We run out a nice meaty chum slick with the current and the action heats up in no time! Come on out and have some fun!

April 6, 2012

The spring fishing season has started to heat up, and our anchor snapper trips on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are becoming popular. These trips run from 7pm-11pm, and with daylight savings time we are catching both the dusk bite and the nighttime bite.

Last night, Adam and Joe had 10 people on our snapper trip, and they caught 40 assorted snapper, including yellowtails, vermillions, grays, and a couple of muttons.

April 7, 2012

Today the Lady Pamela IV and the Lady Pamela I each had two half day charters, and both crews were kept busy. Our anglers on both boats caught a few mahi-mahi and some kingfish in the morning trip. On the afternoon trip the Lady Pamela IV caught a few kingfish and a huge hammerhead shark out in 350 feet of water. There is nothing like the sound of line singing off of a 130 lb reel, with the rod bent nearly double to get our angler’s adrenaline going!

The next few months offer prime opportunities for shark fishing, particularly for hammerheads. We see plenty of the bigger hammerheads migrating through south Florida during April, May and June. These monsters cannot resist big kingfish or bonito strips fished on the bottom. Fort Lauderdale is the place to be if you every want to do battle with one of these titans. Come on down and give us a call.

TIGHT LINES,

CAPT DAVID IDE

964 761 8045

WWW.LADYPAMELA2.COM

March 30, 2012

Today, Darin and I were joined by Marc and his family from Ohio, for a day of fishing here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We started the first few hours of the trip trolling for kingfish and tuna on the reef, working fresh ballyhoo and bonito strips from 80 to 350 feet of water. We had a few bites on the planers in 120 feet of water, but no good hookups. We finally caught one of the kingfish nipping the baits, then reeled everything in and went shark fishing. We put fresh baits out on the surface and on the bottom in 350 feet of water and it didn’t take very long before we hooked a monster on the bottom. We got Marcs’ son in the fighting chair for a long battle that none of us expected. The fight went on for over an hour before a 10 foot long hammerhead shark was up beside the boat. What a great fish. Way to go guys!

One of the other Lady Pamela boats had a full day charter with Captain Justin and mate Pete. They caught a few mahi-mahi and some kingfish in the morning. Then around 12:30 pm Justin called me to say they had hooked a white marlin in 650 feet of water while mahi fishing. Angler Cody fought the fish for 25 minutes before landing the nearly seven foot long fish. White marlin are an awesome, though infrequent catch here in South Florida. Nice job Cody.

March 31, 2012

Drift-Fishing

Last night the Lady Pamela III went out on the 7-11 night snapper fishing trip. On these trips we anchor up and chum for four hours, and the last few weeks have been very productive. We have been averaging 50-80 snappers on these night trips, so grab a rod or use one that we provide, and come on out and catch some dinner. There is nothing better than fresh broiled or grilled snapper with a nice lemon caper butter sauce. Or how about Bahamian-style baked snapper with tomatoes and onions? Got your mouth watering? Give us a call!

Capt David Ide

954-761-8045

March 25, 2011

Today Eric and a friend joined Chris and I for a six hour afternoon fishing charter. We picked up a dozen goggleyes on the way out and put the kites up in the air once we got to 350 feet of water. We set out one big dead bait and three live baits on the kites, plus two big shark baits, one at 150 feet under the surface and the other one on the bottom. During this initial set we saw anglers on a boat next to us catch a 150 lb tiger shark, so we were thinking it was our turn next. Sure enough, Chris yells down that there is not a shark, but a big mahi-mahi trying to eat the big shark bait on the kite. We tried to reel the dead kingfish slab away from him to pitch him a live bait but he wanted that dead bait, so on the third try we hooked him. Eric’s friend reeled in a beautiful 40 lb mahi-mahi.

We sat for another hour with no bites, so it was time to make a move. Chris and I had been talking the day before about a big shark hanging around a particular shipwreck. This fish had been tearing up the big amberjacks that we would hook over this wreck, leaving our anglers with only heads to bring in. We decided that today was a good opportunity to target that shark so we ran Eric up there to try and catch this sea monster. On the third try we hooked a monster bull shark that Eric fought for two hours. Day had turned into night before finally catching this huge beast. It was easily 550-600 lbs, and in the darkness it was fearsome looking. Great catch Eric!

Tight Lines,

Capt David Ide

954 761 8045

www.ladypamela2.com

March 11, 2012

Driftfishing Charters

Captain Adam and mate Joe hosted ten anglers on the driftfishing boat for our Saturday night six hour snapper trip. The team ran south for a while before deciding to anchor up in 70 feet of water. The spot they chose was the sweet spot as the anglers ended up catching 140 snappers, including muttons, yellowtails, mangroves, lanes, and a few others. They weren’t all keepers, and some had to be thrown back, but everyone brought home plenty of dinner! This definitely rates as one of the best nights of snapper fishing we have ever had.

March 18, 2012

Today Darin and I had two trips and the fishing was great. We were catching plenty of blackfin tunas in 350 feet of water. These fish were ranging from 3-8 lbs, a little on the small side, but good eating nonetheless. We also caught a few mahi-mahi in the 8-13 lb class trolling fresh ballyhoo’s and bonito strips.

On the afternoon charter our clients wanted to go sharkfishing so we went out to 350 feet of water and put out three big shark baits; two blackfin tunas and a kingfish. It wasn’t long before we got a bite on the bottom bait. This was a powerful hit, with the rod bent nearly in half. We gunned the boat ahead to set the hook as we got angler Shawn in the fighting chair. The battle was on, and 45 minutes later we had a huge hammerhead shark behind the boat. Some great pictures of this champion fish were taken, and then we tagged it and released it.

March 19, 2012

One would think that I would do something else besides fish on my day off, but today the weather was perfect for daytime swordfishing, so my friend Jack and I decided to go. We cruised out to around 1400 feet of water and at about 10:00 a.m. made our first 4 drops. There was no action, so we moved north 7 miles and reset our baits. On the fifth drop, we got a strong bite from what seemed like a good fish and we set the hook. Unfortunately, the hook pulled with the fish about 200 feet from the boat. We ran back to the same place and dropped again, and got a few more bites, but no hookups.

We did hear a great story from another angler to the south. He radioed to tell us he had hooked up a 350 lb sword that racehorsed to the boat, then jumped right onto the gunnel, halfway into the boat! Had he gotten all the way in, that green fish could have shredded the cockpit! Luckily, they were able to get the fish back into the water, wear it out, then boat it properly. We didn’t have that kind of excitement, but it was a nice day to be on the water.

March 9, 2012

Today was very fun day fishing with Jeff Neal, and friend Brian. I recently met these great guys out at the Safari Club International convention in Las Vegas. Jeff is a world renowned hunter and outfitter who books some of the best hunts in the world. He’s been organizing quality big game hunts since 1975. Today he was looking to catch a sailfish so we left the dock early in the morning, running 40 miles south, hoping to get into some of the sails that I had heard were off Miami. It was a quick trip with triple Mercury Verados wide open on the 36’ Invincible! After filling our baitwell with live baits we set up the kites out in front of Miami.

We caught our first few fish right around 12:00 noon today, with Jeff hooking into a monster hammerhead shark on 30 lb test, fighting the behemoth for over an hour. During Jeffs’ hammerhead fight we kept baits in water hoping for other action, and sure enough, Brian was able to bring in a couple of mahi-mahi while the shark was still on! Jeff finally got the leader to the boat and everyone got a good look at the shark before it broke the leader and swam off. We continued kitefishing the rest of the day, with a few kingfish and mahi throwing hooks, but no sails. Jeff did catch another thrill though, as a nice cobia snatched a bait off the kites. Overall, it was an awesome day listening to stories of Jeff’s hunting trips around the world. Not too many people have travelled the way he has. I can’t wait to get together again with the guys this summer! We’ve planned six days of fishing in Bahamas that should be a blast.

Tight Lines,

Captain David Ide

954-761-8045

www.ladypamela2.com

March 4, 5, 6, 2012

A nice cold front moved through the Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale area the last few days which dropped the daytime temperatures to around 60 degrees. The sailfishing is absolutely the best right after these cold fronts, and that’s why people come down here in the winter months. South Florida is the best place around for world class wintertime sailfishing. On just about every trip we’ve been hooking up 1 to 6 sailfish per trip. This is good news because we’ve only had a couple of good cold fronts come through this year. We’ve also been busy catching other fish, including mahi-mahi, a few wahoo, and plenty of blackfin tunas up to 8 pounds. The kingfish continue to be plentiful on the reef.

Driftfishing

The driftfishing here in Fort Lauderdale has also been hot the last few days, with lots of yellowtail snapper, kingfish, bonitos, and gray triggerfish. The gray triggers, which can grow up to 12 lbs, are one of the most underrated food fish around, and many anglers toss them back as “junk” fish. In reality they have excellent food value, it is just that they are tough to clean because of their leathery skin. I have learned from my trips to the Bahamas, that Bahamians, when offered yellowtail snapper or triggerfish, will always take the triggers!

In addition to the traditional driftfishing, we have been running out to the continental shelf for a little deep-dropping for tilefish. This is another tasty fish that are being caught using three hooked ballyhoos and/or a ballyhoo rigged on a yellow or white jig.

Tight lines, Captain David

Feburary 23, 2012

Today was a great day as I got to fish with my best friend Matt, who also worked as my mate for the day. We were booked for an all day swordfishing trip with Wayne and Richard, and we were looking forward to a cool day out on the water. In prepping for the trip, I discussed the Lady Pamela II boat options with the guys, recommending our 37 foot center console open fishermen. This is a great daytime swordfishing boat because we can get out to the fishing grounds quickly, giving us more fishing time one of the keys to successful swordfishing.

It wasn’t long after we left the dock that we were making our first drop. As soon as the baits hit the bottom we had a swordfish, and Richard caught the first fish of the day. Throughout the rest of the day we had a few other swordfish bites but no solid hookups. It was with the last hit of the day though, that we had the big hookup! This fish fought tooth and nail until about 500 feet from the boat when it pulled the hook. That’s the ways it goes with fishing, you win some and lose some! We wrapped up the trip with a nice ride home in calm seas, coming across a huge weedline about 5 miles offshore. There were mahi-mahi everywhere and we quickly caught the guys some dinner to round out another great trip! Is wrong to say that I love my job?

Tight lines.

February 19, 2012

Today was a bit of a smorgasbord of both fish and fishing styles. We started the morning out by trolling for both kingfish and mahi-mahi, catching a few kingfish, but no mahi. In the afternoon we decided to take advantage of 76 degree water and fish for sharks. This kind of warm water in February makes it primetime for big sharks. We moved out to 350 feet of water and put the big fresh kingfish baits out on three 130 Penn International rod/reel combos. We were geared up for the big one and within an hour we had a large game shark on the other end of our line. The battle was on for over an hour before catching site of, landing, and releasing, a monster 14 foot Thresher shark. Threshers put up great fights because they have huge strong tail fins that can be up to half the size of their whole body. What a great way to start shark season! 

  February 20, 2012

This morning, Tom, his wife, and their three little kids fished with the Lady Pamela II crew. We started out catching a few little bonitos for the kids, mainly to get them involved in the fishing, and to have a little fun. We then began trolling for bigger game, catching a few king mackerel to use for shark bait. The mackerel baits were set up in deep water and it didn’t take very long for a huge hit. The funny thing is that it was a huge sailfish, not a shark. What a surprise! I had never seen a sail eat a kingfish! Anyway, we got him to the boat and Tom was simply elated. We reset the shark baits, hoping to catch a huge game shark, but no such luck. Even so, it was beautiful day offshore, with clear skies and 80 degree temperatures. You just can’t beat Fort Lauderdale at this time of year.

Tight Lines,

Capt David Ide

954 761 8045

www.ladypamela2.com

February 10 , 2012

Today, one of our
repeat clients and good friend David, brought a group of friends fishing on the
Lady Pamela IV. Captain Darin and mate Rusty started the day trolling the reef
trying to get some action for everybody on the boat. In no time they reeled in a
nice wahoo. David was pretty happy as it is always nice when the first fish is
dinner. They kept trolling and caught a few kingfish and one mahi-mahi before
moving on to kite fishing with live goggleyes. David loves catching sailfish and
I think there has only been one time where he didn’t catch a sailfish with us.
He is one of the luckiest people I have ever taken fishing. The last time David
joined us was in August when there are no sailfish around at all and we got a
bite from one. David’s luck held, as a few hours into the kite fishing Rusty
hooked a nice sail and got is set up with one of Davids clients in the fighting
chair. This leaping sailfish put on a great on a great show for everybody
around! Way to go guys!

February 13, 2012

The last few days
fishing has been red hot,with a wide variety of fish being caught in around from
300 –600 feet of water . We’ve had plenty of gaffer mahi around 10-12 lbs and
have caught a few up into the 30 lb range. As for the bottom fishing, today we
caught a boatload of grey tilefish. These fish live in self-made burrows, and I
have a few hotspots for them along the steep edges of the continental slope.
These are one of the best eating fish you could ever land. Along with the tiles,
we landed a few wahoo, caught in 200–300 feet of water using swimming
ballyhoo.

The kite fishing was slow this day we did some dredge fishing
instead. This is a trolling style of fishing in which a teaser made of anywhere
from 30 to 150 artificial baits or strips attached to an umbrella-style frame
are pulled behind the boat. The dredge mimics a large school of baitfish that
can attract sails when the bite is otherwise slow. It is pretty exciting to see
fired up sailfish come crashing into these teaser spreads. This is just another
good way to catch sailfish out here in Fort Lauderdale. Beat the summertime rush
and join us today. The fishing doesn’t always stay good for long!

TIGHT LINES,

CAPTAIN DAVID IDE

954 761 8045

WWW.LADYPAMELA2.COM

February 6, 2012

Today was my
first day back from the Safari Club International’s hunting and fishing
convention in Las Vegas. Lady Pamela II Sportfishing had a booth at the
convention, so it was a busy week promoting the outstanding angling we have
right here in Ft. Lauderdale.

I was excited get back out on the water
with Jeremy and his friends from Arizona, as they joined us for an all day
fishing trip. We picked up a few dozen live goggleyes and headed out to do some
trolling. Right off the bat we caught a few short kingfish and some small
blackfin tunas. We then decided to move on to some kite fishing. Around 12:00
noon we caught a nice sailfish. It was an awesome bite and Jeremy was tickled
pink about catching his first billfish! That was the only sail of the day, but
we did land some mahi-mahi in the ten pound range off the kites. It’s pretty
spectacular to see mahi crashing across the sea surface chasing the baits. What
can I say, just another great Ft. Lauderdale fishing trip!

Tight Lines,

Capt David Ide

954 761 8045

www.ladypamela2.com

On January 25th, we had a full day 10 hour charter with Sean and a group of visitors from Kentucky. Fishing was a little

slow, and all Sean’s group wanted to catch was a sailfish, so we trolled for 5 hours in the morning hoping to get a bite. We picked up a few kingfish and a blackfin tuna, but no sails. After 5 hours of trolling we ended up way down south towards north Miami. I knew of a wreck in the area so we dropped a live bonito on the wreck, with no success,and then made a few more drops with different baits before getting a bite. Once we got that bite, it was a huge greater amberjack that put up an awesome fight. We finally got him to the boat, got some great pictures, and let him go. There was still time to get the sailfish that the group wanted,so we ran a little north and put the kites up. We set up right in the Port Everglades tidal out flow off Dania Beach, in 110 feet of water, using live goggleyes for bait. Sure enough, before the end of the trip we went one for two on sailfish!

January 26, 27

On January 26th and 27th the wind was out of the southwest which generally makes fishing slow, but we still managed to catch fish for everyone that came fishing. We caught some bonitoson every trip, along with some king mackerel, and few 5 lb blackfin tunas. On the 26th we also landed a mah-mahi and an amberjack. A nice barracuda was caught on the 27th.

January 28

The wind finally switched around to the north, and that has kicked up the bite. Today we caught a lot of bonitos, a nice barracuda and some king mackerel. We didn’t sailfish today, but the word is that a few boats fishing morning charters had a few bites. That is a very good sign after having that southwest wind the past few days. As always, we’ll keep you posted on the Fort Lauderdale fishing action!

January 28

The wind finally switched around to the north, and that has kicked up the bite. Today we caught a lot of bonitos, a nice barracuda and some king mackerel. We didn’t sailfish today, but the word is that a few boats fishing morning charters had a few bites. That is a very good sign after having that southwest wind the past few days. As always, we’ll keep you posted on the Fort Lauderdale fishing action!

January 21, 2012

Today, Pauli and I took Phil, from Birmingham Alabama, his daughter, and two coworkers for an afternoon charter. We headed out Port Everglades hoping to catch anything that would bite.Phil, with three girls on board, just wanted to get some fish. Fishing on the troll was slow so wedropped a few bottom rigs to get some action while waiting for the big ones to bite. We pulled in a few vermillion snappers, a rabbit fish, some gray trigger fish and a small African pompano.Just enough to keep everyone busy. While we were messing around with the bottom fish, Pauli noticed that our bottom bait for sharks was up on top. He said David, that is not right! Then all of a sudden the rod bent over and the battle was on! All three girls took a turn fighting a huge hammerhead shark. Even Phil had to take a turn at the rod. We finally got the shark to the boatand tagged it for scientific research purposes. Hammerhead sharks are now protected in statewaters so we then let him free. Way to go team Alabama!

Tight Lines

Capt David Ide

954 761 8045

www.ladypamela2@bellsouth.net

January 18, 2012

Newly wed’s Tony and his wife came all the way from Texas to come fishing on the 7am-1 pm charter. We started the morning out catching lots of live tinker mackerels around a freighteranchored off shore of Ft. Lauderdale. By the way, catching tinkers like we have been doing the last few days is unusual. There was no wind to fly the kites so after catching all the bait we needed we decided to slow troll the live baits. Within 15 minutes of having all six baits in the water we got a bite on the right long rigger. It was a nice sailfish and Tony’s wife jumped into the fighting chair to catch this beast. After a good 10 minutes of reeling she was getting too tired, so we swapped the rod to Tony, but that’s when the sailfish got away. We kept trolling the live baits and hour later we caught a nice 15lb kingfish. Fishing on the troll slowed down so we decided to try our luck wreck fishing. The first few shipwreck’s we went to did not produce abite, but we kept on trying. At the last wreck we finally got a few bites, landing a big amberjack.Overall, the fishing was slow, but we didn’t get skunked! Way to go Tony!

Brad and some business clients came fishing yesterday afternoon on a two boat charter here in Ft. Lauderdale. We went right out in front of Ft. Lauderdale to 140 feet of water where there was just enough wind to get the extra light kites up in the air. The wind was blowing south with a 1.5 knot north current. Good sailfishing conditions if we could keep the kites up. Pauly was running the boat and I was in the salon when I heard a lot of commotion in the cockpit. I ran out just in time to see a sailfish jumping into the horizon and we lost it before we could set the hook. I was a little mad, but no big deal, as it was early in the trip. We put a fresh rack of baits back out,waited right there, and another sailfish took the bait. This time the fish was well-hooked so Brad got into the fighting chair. This fish really put on an exciting show, jumping all over the ocean. Once it was landed we tagged the sailfish and let him free to catch another day. Pauly then ranthe boat back to the south hoping for another bite, but that was it for the day. Brad and his friendsstill had a trip that they will never forget. Brad said that growing up as a kid his dad had a big sailfish mount on the wall and that had he always dreamed about catching one himself. Now, after 55 years of coming to Ft. Lauderdale beach, he got to catch a sailfish, just like his dad.

Tight Lines,

Capt David Ide

954 761 8045

www.ladypamela2.com