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