Our Daily Fishing Reports

WOW! Finally the mahi have returned to our area. February and March are usually the best months to catch some really nice mahi mahi. We were on a 7 boat convention trip today out of Lauderdale Marina. It was great! Every boat was already provisioned with a fresh dozen of live goggle eyes.

It was a beautiful brisk afternoon, a trickle of current to the north, and a beautiful slow rolling swell coming from the northeast. I have to tell you that it was a blast running the boat to the north, straight into the swell. We made our way up off The Park, in 350 feet. The area was alive with bait and small black fin tunas were popping around us. Brett launched the kites and put a set of goggle eyes out. I was set up just south of one of our deeper ship wrecks. We drifted over the wreck and here comes a beautiful black tip shark trying to eat the left short. Brett fed him, but somehow, the shark grabbed part of the mono, above the wire, and got away. We reset the bait and here comes another one! This time he chopped the bait in half and missed the hook. We free-spooled the rest of the bait and dumped it back. Right then, both baits on the right kite started walking off. Both fish were out of the water! 2 beautiful sized gaffer dolphins. We fought the fish up to the boat, and Brett professionally made them hit the ice.

After landing both of the fish, the rod with the half of goggle eye on it doubled over. We got the shark on now! This was the same one or another really cool black tip shark. Brett got it boat-side and popped him into the boat for a picture and some quick measurements. He was safely released back to his home. The wind was dying and we were running out of baits. We left one kite out and fished 3 baits off of it. I kept bumping the boat ahead to keep the kite in the air. The middle bait went down quickly, and once again, we were on! It was another beautiful bull dolphin. We tried a little trolling on the way home, but to no avail.

It was a gorgeous afternoon, and the gang stopped by the dock to pick up their sack full of fresh mahi fillets. They took them to the Bahia Cabana, next to the dock, for a late lunch.

Enjoy! Thanks for the trip