The Happy Day Today received a surprise visit from Captain Dan Duhamel of Paul’s Boat Lines LTD from Ottawa, Ontario and three of his captains, Pat, Lou, and Jack to take a busman’s holiday.
With favorable winds out of the east northeast at 10-15 mph, blue waters still pushed in for the past five days on the second reef and Sailfish action still good, the angler’s choice was to catch Mahi Mahi’s. As we got close to the sea buoy off of Fort Lauderdale that sits in 120 ft. of water. We started fishing with the two deep lines which run about 40 to 50 feet deep. The second set of lines were the out riggers, we use four Ballyhoos and the center rigger. The deep lines have both a silver 3” drone spoon and we also use a Sea Witch with a strip of Bonito as bait. On the bridge of the charter boat “Happy Day Today”, Captain Tommy is fishing two teasers, both are Pakula lures (with no hooks).
I headed to one of the artificial wrecks that sit in 350 ft. of water north of Fort Lauderdale FL. Our first bite was from the right rigger and was a nice Black Fin Tuna. I kept circling the wreck, picking away at more Black Fin Tunas. I could see off in the distance a slick on the water. A good time to mention whether fishing on our charter boat or your personal boat out of Fort Lauderdale, a slick is typically a good area to fish. Because a slick has oil from fish that have been already eaten (bait fish) by predatory fish and this is where the Mahi and Wahoo are feeding. As Mitch and I got closer to the sargassum weeds and the slick, I could see a couple of birds working the area, which is another good indication of predatory fish.
All of a sudden, “Mahi Mahi on the right long rigger!!! Captain Pat brought it the first Mahi Mahi of the day, followed by all the rest of the captains taking turns and catching more Mahi Mahi’s. The center rigger came down, the line screamed off the reel, and I yelled down, “We have a good one.” For this fish, we cleared all the fishing lines. Captain Lou was the angler on this one. Finally the fish jumped out of the water and it looked like a “postage stamp” out in the distance. It is a Mahi Mahi and a BIG ONE. Twenty-five minutes later Captain Lou brought the bull Mahi Mahi to the side of the boat on 30 lb. test line. With the Mahi Mahi in the boat, pictures were flying – we were all amazed by the bull’s size and beauty – he weighed in at 38 lbs.
The charter “Happy Day Today” thanks the guys from Ontario, Ottawa for a great offshore fishing charter out of Ft. Lauderdale.
For a successful and adventurous deep sea fishing charter in South Florida for Sailfish, Shark, Bonito, Mackerel, Swordfish, Snapper, Wahoo and Grouper contact Captain Zsak. - 954-439-8106 or email us at
www.topshotfishing.com. http://www.topshotfishing.com
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