Our Daily Fishing Reports

This morning started with Robert and Andrew, from Poland, to join the Miss Bonita crew for 4 hours of South Florida fishing. Robert called us from the dock late last night, where he was standing behind the boat. He was hoping we had availability for this morning. Fortunately, we had a cancellation… and we were glad to have him. We ran up to the north and popped up the kites. Immediately, we caught a nice king mackerel. Again, it was still a slow bite on the sailfish for everyone, but a few were seen.

We hooked a small dolphin, but he shook the hook and jumped off. Towards the end of the day, we drifted all the way up north near a local shallow ship wreck. The boys cleared the kites, busted out the downrigger and fired a live goggle eye down to the depths. They immediately got bit. Robert brought in a beautiful amberjack. Once again, it wasn’t the fastest day for the Miss Bonita 2, but the guys enjoyed being out on the water and being on the boat.

Thank you for the trip.

Ken, a race horse trainer, and his colleagues in the business joined us this afternoon for what I thought was going to be a banner afternoon. I have to tell you that these guys were enthusiastic, but unfortunately for Ken, he spent most of the trip on the couch. He didn’t miss much. We ran up north to the Dockwise ship where I heard of a few fish already being caught. We waited and waited and waited. We never got the bite. I was extremely frustrated. That’s how fishing goes sometimes.

We only had an hour left, but I picked ‘em up and ran all the way down south to “the bubble” where the birds were diving with a little more life to the ocean. We popped up the kites and waited. No bites. We fired down a bottom bait and fortunately hooked a small red grouper. We still had no kite bites. We put another bonito strip on the bottom with the entertainment rod, and caught a nice African Pompano. It was an uneventful afternoon for the Miss Bonita, but still a great day on the water. Better luck next time!

Today we had Howard, Brandon and Carl join us for a wonderful sailfish excursion. We stopped off at Lauderdale Marina and bought a half dozen goggle eyes. The boys ran right out front just south of the #1 can. The current was still smoking to the North. They popped the kites up and set 4 goggle eyes out onto the rip. It took about 30 minutes and finally one showed up on the left long. We fought that one up to the boat and quickly released it. They set back up in the same area, and then WHAM! A double was on.

They hooked one and the other jumped off. This was a hot fish, jumping all over the ocean. We finally got the leader and released him back to his home to fight again. They ran back to the south a little ways to get back in front of the fish. They reset for one last shot. There he was; Brandon finally got his sail! All in all, it was a great day and we wound up catching 3 of the 6 sailfish that we saw. It was beautiful morning right out in front of Port Everglades. February is starting to book up and I still have a few dates open. Call us to get out on the rip!

Brian, Jeff and his Father didn’t have much time today.  They needed to shorten the trip to about 3 hours… so we wasted no time!  We ran right out to the north and I set up in about 160 feet.  Jeff had the baits out in no time. 

We waited…. And waited.  Our friend from another local boat called me on the radio and said he had seen 2 tail-ers swim right by.  Then he called again about a minute later and he saw another one.  The next few minutes he called out on the VHF “I got him on!” He said he was in 105 feet.  I pointed the boat inshore and bumped the baits quickly into that depth. 

We reached 105 feet and I had Jeff switch the right baits out to freshen them up.  Now, it was only a matter of time.  We waited about 5 minutes before one piled on the right short.  We were on!  Brian jumped in the chair.  As I was peeling off to fight the fish, and keep the other baits in the water, I saw a whole pod of sailfish swimming by.  It was an awesome site! 

We had our hands full with the one we had on.  What a great fish!  These boys from Ohio had never seen such a thing!  What a treat that was!  The guys had a great time! 

Wish we had a little more time to keep fishing! 

See you next time!

Christina, Scott, Kyle and Tyler joined us for a morning trip.  The current was smoking to the north almost too much.  We ran south and started out in front of the Dania Pier and John Lloyd State Park.  The water was about 160 feet deep.  We drifted past Port Everglades, past Marriot Harbor Beach and kept drifting all the way up past Commercial Boulevard, almost making it to Lighthouse Point.

Fishing today was a little disappointing for everyone.  The large school of sailfish that have been pushing through seemed to disperse today.  We managed to catch one cool and fast black tip (spinner) shark.  All in all, even though the fishing could have been much better, the gang had a great time on the water. 

See you guys in a few weeks to redeem ourselves! 

Cal, Pete and Bryan came out on the Miss Bonita for a quick morning of fishing.  The guys stopped at the marina to get goggles eyes in hopes to catch a sail.  Just their luck that a private boat was there and offered the guys the rest of their baits instead.

The gang transferred the free bait and off to sea they went.  Brett came out of the inlet and steamed to the north.... to the ever so famous "Sailfish Alley."  When we got up off the park, we started to notice small patches of weed developing on the small current edge.  We saw the sailfish swimming down sea.  The kites went up, and as the first bait hit the water, we were on!  I managed to get the 2nd bait in the clip and fired it out, while Jeff was feeding the first one.  Another fish tried the 2nd bait, but never fully ate.  We then concentrated on bringing the first fish in.

Throughout the rest of the trip, we caught and landed 2 more sailfish and had at least 3 other shots at window shoppers.  We had a large sickle fin hammerhead shark swim through the spread, but we ignored him.  The guys only wanted sail.  This was the first time the guys had ever seen kite fishing, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Thanks for the trip!

We hope to see you guys next year!

Again we set out with a group from Canada, Toronto I believe.  These guys have a time share out west and are looking to have a bit of a fish fry.  We went right out front and put out the trolling spread.  It wasn’t fast and furious, but we managed to make a great 4 hour trip of it. 



We ended the day with several mackerel, bonito and dolphin.  Good enough for a 5 star fish fry! 



See you next year!

Well guys, I shut the boat down today.  Today was my wife’s baby shower.  We are expecting a beautiful baby boy…. “Captain” Austin Dane Covitz.  It was a fun filled day for the family, and I’m starting to think that they make more “rigs” for babies than I have for fishing!!!  I’m looking forward to being a Dad.



Thanks everyone for your patronage and your support!

My Father was in from Denver, Colorado.  My crew and I took the old man out and did a little kite fishing.  I ran up north and popped the kites up and waited about 25 minutes.  Here comes a triple!  Both my deck techs were in the pit while my father was watching the action from above.

We landed 2 of 3 sailfish and I got a couple great shops of Jeff, my mate, wiring the sail that Capt. Brett caught.  What a great couple hours on the water!  Dad had an awesome time!  Come on down to South Florida and lets get bent!

Tight lines,

Thanks Dad!!

Heather and her boyfriend joined a few other guests joined us for a shared charter. They started out the day on another local charter boat. Unfortunately, the boat had some mishaps and the Miss Bonita came to their rescue. We went out and towed everyone in safely, and transferred the crowd to our boat. By now, its right around 10:00am… here we go for a 4 hour adventure from 10-2. It was a beautiful flat clam brisk day here in "Sunny South Florida" while we are having record cold spells. We shook the chum bag at the #1 canand everyone had a chance at catching some blue runners. It was a blast.

We cleared the bait rods out and deployed the trolling spread. We made it down the reef to the south with no success. I came up to one of our shallow water wrecks and WHAM! The plannar rod started screaming line off of it. My mate, Jeff, yelled up "what did you do? Catch a crab pot?!" Its stone crab season, so a few local guys set traps this time of year. However, this was NO crab pot! Heather jumped behind the rod and stared reeling the fish in. Wekept guessing what we thought it was, but to tell the truth, we weren’t really sure! King fish… wahoo… amberjack… but no. Up popped a gorgeous Gag Grouper measuring about 40 inches. What a beautiful catch!

The season is still open, so this one went in the box! We got some great pictures of the fish fresh out of the water with Heather and her first salt water fish. We continued trolling further south but to no avail. It just wasn’t happening. We cleared the trolling spread and kept running south towards another local shipwreck. We decided to try to catch some bullets, so we deployed the small Clarke spoons and I made a few passes over the wreck. It didn’t take long before we had a few bullets in the well. We wrapped those upand I ran out to the 210. We deployed a live bonito down to the bottom on a circle hook. No bites. Jeff wound up the bait, and it was still in good condition. I motored up way ahead of the wreck, and the fish finder was loaded! It looked like tons of bait with a few big fish mixed in. I told Jeff to "drop it." This time it didn’t take but a few seconds and the rod doubled over to the water. We caught another beautiful amberjack!

We repeated this process going to the shallow wreck to catch bait and running back out to the deep one to catch the big fish. Everyone got a shot at reeling one of these bruisers in. It made for an exciting and action packed trip. Before we knew it, we were out of bait and out of time. What a fun trip! Thanks guys. See you next year!

Eve and his Family came out for an overcast cold afternoon of fishing. We put out the trolling spread andwent right after the fish. It was a nice day, but it wasn't "sunny" in "Sunny South Florida." The bite was off on the troll, but we managed to pick away at a few. We ended up with a couple nice king mackerel and 2beautiful black fin tuna. Sorry… forgot the camera but glad that the gang had a great time on the water and they said they would be back. See ya’ll next time!

Elizabeth took her boyfriend, John, out for a day on the water in Fort Lauderdale. She wanted a little different scenery than their usual Palm Beach. We started off by catching a few baits… blue runners and bullets. After making bait, we ran up north for a few miles and hit one of my favorite wrecks. It was on fire! Insta-bite! When Jeff deployed the bait to the bottom, he wound up 20 cranks and the rod doubled over. What a beautiful Amberjack!

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I turned back around and set up back on the same wreck. Jeff dropped another bait to the bottom. Once again, the rod doubled over to the water. This time, it was a beautiful black grouper! Unfortunately, with the new limits and closing dates on these beautiful edible game fish,they couldn’t bring it home for dinner. We released him back to his home unharmed. After those 2 beautiful fish, we headed inshore to right outside the rocks. We deployed a baby bonito on top. It only took a few minutes before a great bite surprised us! Elizabeth fought a nice Greater Barracuda up to the boat. We released it.

Since that didn’t take too long, we ran back out to another deep wreck to try our luck onemore time. We sent another bait to the bottom… same result! The rod doubled over to the water and we pulled the fish away from the wreck. Another nice Golden Amberjack! WOW! It sure is great when a whole plan comes together and we are able to produce some nice quality fish. It was starting to get late and we had to boogie home, so we put out the trolling spread and made our way back down south. On the way, we hooked into a nice Cero Mackerel. All in all, the couple had a great time and we enjoyed having them on theboat. Thanks for the trip! See you again soon!

Our afternoon trip showed up right on time… Mitch, Travis and John. Since the morning bite on the wrecks were so good, and it seemed like not much else was happening, according to the other boats, we hit it again! First we caught a few frisky baits. Then we boogied up to the north. I knew right where to go for these guys. They were looking for some action and a big battle.

The first bait hit the bottom. The rod immediately started screaming… connected! We did this about 5 or 6 times, producing really nice Amberjacks. There was one for each guy. We caught a few and we lost a few. Thankfully, everyone had their chance to bring one to the boat. We were having a really good time, but we were running out of baitand time. We then started to make our way back home. Thanks for the trip guys! We look forward toseeing you next year.

Kevin and Jessie, from Missouri, have fished out of Ft. Lauderdale before. They had let me know that their experience wasn’t the best. All they caught, last time, was one barracuda. We had to put a change to that!The conditions were great and expectations were very high! We started out by catching a few live baits at the #1 can. Shaking the chum bag, the blue runners and speedos showed up really well. It didn’t take longto get a dozen in the boat. I ran right over to one of our deep ship wrecks and deployed a speedo down tothe bottom. No bites. I repositioned on the wreck and dropped the bait to the bottom again. It was instant gratification! The 50lb class rod doubled over to the water. We were connected! Jessie jumped in the chair with a great excitement! She fought the fish for about 10 minutes, in a back and forth tug-o-war. Up popped a beautiful Greater Amberjack. What a beautiful fish! Already, we had topped their last experience.

Now, out came the trolling gear. We continued to the north, catching a couple bonitos and a king mackerel. We made one pass out a little deeper and the short planar doubled over. It was a nice fish! Kevin was onthe rod this time! He wound the fish up to the planar and Jeff expertly wired this beautiful Wahoo up to thegaff. WOW! Now we’re having a great morning. We rounded out the trip with a few more king mackerel toput an exclamation point to a great morning. These kids definitely had a different fishing experience this go around! They will be back for sure! See you guys next year! Can’t wait to see the video!!! Thanks forthe great trip! Happy New Year!

Richard and his family from Virginia were down for a soccer tournament. Richard is an avid fisherman, and really just wanted to have a nice time on the water in South Florida. His main goal was for everyone but him to catch a fish. Brett and I started the trip putting our standard trolling spread out… 4 on top and 2 down on the planars. It started out a little slow. We got a few bites on a couple of king fish next to the #1 can. We headed off-shore and found lots of schools of flying fish. The water looked awesome and really fishy, but all we managed to see were a few small black fin tuna. We put a few of those in the boat. The reason the fish might not have been biting in the afternoon, was possibly due to the position of the full moon and the barometric pressure. The family really enjoyed Brett's enthusiasm and camaraderie. We are really looking forward to them coming back down in the spring for their daughter and son's next soccer event. Thank you for spending the afternoon with us. It was really enjoyable having you out on the boat!

Howard was looking for the youngest guys on the dock. Then he came across the Miss Bonita, where my my charming mate, Jeff, was manning his post patiently. Howard and Jeff developed a great repore and decided to go fishing the next morning. I met the gang early the next day and we set out for a 4 hour sportfishing adventure. We made a quick stop at the bait boat, and purchased a dozen fresh goggle eyes.

We ran up to the north off the park. We popped the kites up and deployed the baits. We sat and waited for about 40 minutes. The left long started walking off. Jeff free-spooled the rod and fed the fish. Jeff engaged the reel and wound tight. The fish started jumping all over the place! Another beautiful Atlantic Sailfish right off of Ft. Lauderdale. Howard could not believe how close we were to shore! That’s what is amazing about our fishing grounds. The continental shelf and the gulf stream come right in to our continent. After about 20 minutes, we landed the fish for measurements and pictures. We then released him unharmed. We reset and caught one nice mahi mahi. We also burned through the rest of our baits from king fish chop-off’s. We decided to clear the kites and go on the troll. We rounded out the rest of the morning by catching a few more king mackerel and a couple bonitos. Look forward to seeing you guys again! Thank you for the excellent morning and a good time!

David and his family, from Texas, joined us in the afternoon. The fishing was not as good as it was earlier,the fish seemed to turn off. We went back out to the same area and popped the kites, but it was a little slow. We managed to catch one small dolphin and a few king mackerel to round out the afternoon. We made a drop on one of our local ship wrecks, but to no avail. It was a nice afternoon, but unfortunately, the fish just weren’t hungry. They had a good time anyway, it’s hard not to enjoy the serene ocean! See you guys next year!

Doyle and his son joined us on a split party trip for a wonderful day out of Ft. Lauderdale. We bought bait and went right to it. Brett sent the kites up in about 150 feet of water. It didn’t take long before we had anice 15lb mahi on and simultaneously a sailfish ate the right long. We were hooked up!

After landing those beautiful fish, Brett reset all of the live goggle eyes. Brett decided to put down a long leader with a freshplug of ballyhoo on the bottom. For me, it was the highlight of the trip! Doyle’s son wrestled this beautiful Mutton Snapper in from off the bottom. He was elated!! Pictures are worth a thousand words! What a great morning! Thanks for the trip!

Antonio and his joined the Miss Bonita crew again for another day out on the water. These guys love to getout fishing, and today my guys took them on a 6 hour adventure. We caught bait and made our way up north to several local wrecks. We hit about 5 wrecks, getting several big bites. Each fish was able to get back into the wreck and cut us off. We thought that these were big Warsaw Grouper. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull one off of the wreck. That’s how fishing goes sometimes!

We finally made our way to a shallow wreck and deployed the down rigger and a bait on top. Here, the gang caught several nice size barracudas. Thanks for the trip and we look forward to seeing you guys again next month!

Mr. Khouri and his buddies were booked on a boat this morning, but unfortunately, that boat was having some mechanical issues. We had a trip that cancelled, so it worked out for everyone. The guys were in great spirits. They jumped on the boat and off the dock we went.

It started out a little rough, and thefishing was slow. As the day went on, the seas laid down and we finally started getting a few bites. It wound up being a gorgeous day… mid 70’s and lots of wind. We wound up we a few bonito and a couple nicesized king mackerel for the grill. When we got back to the dock, I filleted the fresh king mackerel for the guys. They were having a big family BBQ for the holidays. What a great group of guys! I look forward to seeing them again in the Spring.

Marjorie and her family joined the Miss Bonita today for a nice 4 hour trip on a picture perfect day. Capt.Brett and our mate Jeff showed these guys what Ft. Lauderdale was all about! After catching several small live bonitos (aka “bullets”), the boys headed north to a couple of our shallow water wrecks. These guys were really excited when they saw the ship wrecks on the fish finder.

The guys deployed the baits on the down rigger… WHAM! They got bit! They caught several king mackerel, a small jack and some nice sized barracudas. They made a move to another shallow wreck and sent down their last live bonito. As Brett made his first pass over the wreck… BOOM! Line came screaming off the spinning reel and the fight was on.This fish leaped and jumped about 10 times. Once the fish finally got to the boat, it was a giant barracuda…look at the teeth on that thing! The gang got back to the dock and we took some great shots of Marjorie’s first barracuda.