Fishing this weekend was pretty hot, and should continue through this week! with plenty of mullet to found and herring offshore you should be fishing with bait and fishing outside points and middle bay creeks flooding on the incoming tide. fishing out of the 20' custom rigged Shearwater we caught reds on both stages of the tide. As for the snook bite it slowed during the day and heated up at night.As a custom rod builder also this helps as i can wrap rods during the day fish for the finest fish swimming in my opinion in the evening! 10,000 islands are a great spot to spend a couple of summer days fishing and right now is a great time the fish are biting!

With the winds picking up and the mullet showing up the bite has got and should proceed to get better as the storms cool the waters a bit! fishing was good to fair on the incoming tides with some snook uo to 20 lbs being caught using live mullet. also there has been a decent wreck bite happening on the days when the wind doesn't blow.I had a couple good friends out on the water this week and did well with the snook and the gags offshore also bait is plentiful so don't cut your self short, get plenty of bait big and small and chum heavy its summer go fishing and be smart!!!!! Suntan lotoin and mosquito spray lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.s HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME 8/18/81

Finally got to chokoloskee! first trip in 4 mths. Still got the magic though only fished till 1:30 with a solid snook bite on the last of the incoming with a couple of reds thrown in for good measure.Played guide again and sight fished my guest to his first sawfish 0n 10# spin.then we had some fun with the jewfish, sorry make that 'goliath grouper' burned up the rest of our bait and ourselves and went home on the change of the tide.Kept getting stopped by guides that are friends of mine to say hi and compare notes and Capt. Gary Thompson had me beat and everyone else with alot of snook he said he lost count and his share of reds as well.Still waiting for the sun to move south and the days to shorten .Then the fishing will turn on till the fronts move in for the winter.

well the family and i went to cudjoe key for the opening of crawfish season! what a trip we had!did'nt catch to many but the bugs were there for those who tried hard to fill their limit. we did see lots of small grouper and hogfish the yellowtail fishing was good for those who had a good spot.around lauderdale the fishing is still in a hot weather pattern with lots of fresh water draing from the glades. the chokoloskee fishing is slow also with reds starting to show up in good numbers with a few triple tail around as well ,snook fishing has been o.k and i am waiting for the water to cool off with the shortening days which are still a while away.but i will wait

hot weather be damned! went to chokoloskee sat. the 22nd. anyway.fished a low outgoing tide in the a.m. for tripletail and did quite well.managed 3 nice ones before the tide changed. then freshened up the bait well and proceeded to pick away at the reds and snook. each spot produced a few bites on live finger mullet.rhe redfish were all slot fish and the snook were close to keeper size.Owner hooks,sufix braid and seaguar florocarbon did the trick for us. HOT tip fish the mullet schools on the bars, no bait no fish.Water stayed in yhe mid 80's all day,not too bad for 10,000 islands fishing on the s.w.coast of florida.Will try again just before the full moon for the next set of good tides! Oh yea,actually went bass, fishing the frog bite was pretty good until 10.am all good fish in the 4 to 7lb. range.

Snook season opener report for Chokoloskee. 4.am fishing a small offshore wreck rite at moonset snook popping all around us and all we can  catch is giant ladyfish ! Anyway, after sun-up plug fishing was pretty good with several good bites . As the tide rose, live bait was secured and the reds and snook fishing was o.k. with a few reds and one nice snook . On the way home, several tripletail were added to the cooler for good measure. Look for improved action with the shortening days ahead.

Aug 19

Today the wind was blowing about 10 to 15 knots and we had a fishing trip with a family from New Mexico ready to go out for some deep sea fishing. We had Joe, Corey, Jessica and Kelly.

We started out on the reef doing some trolling for king fish and bonitos. Everything started out as planned we had caught a few kings and bonitos when I noticed that Joe was looking over the side of the boat. I guess he was trying to find some fish but I’m sorry to say that he was not looking for fish he was looking for land. It seemed the rocking off the boat got to him and he was not feeling the best he had ever felt. I got to give Joe credit he never once complained to anyone but after a good hour of watching him just not having any fun the dissension was made to good ahead and call it a day.

Just as we turned the boat back toward home and we were reeling up the lines we got a bite. Since Joe was in the chair right next to the rod we had the bite on we handed the rod to him. Next thing we knew this big sailfish came jumping out of the water and Joe was Hooked Up. Joe ended up reeling the sail fish just too where the leader was touching the rod tip and at that point the fish made one more jump and got away.

At least everyone got to see him and we were all glad that after Joe not feeling well for the last 3 hours at least he did get to fight a sail fish.

Thanks again guys and next time the Hooked Up owes you an extra hour on the house.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Aug 20

Today we had a shared charter by Daniel from Boca Raton who had is father Edd in town visiting from Israel and we had Jim and Misty from Bloomington Illinois. We started once again trolling the reef for kings and bonitos. Fishing was good on the reef and everyone had caught fish in no time so we decided since we had good north current and the water was as blue as it gets we wanted to try some kite fishing. We don’t do as much kite fishing this time of the year but it looked so good and since we had not done any kite fishing in quite some time we gave it a shot. So in came all of the trolling gear and out went the kites with live baits suspended from them.

It seemed that just as we got done explaining to everyone how the kites worked we seen a big splash by one of our baits. All of a sudden one of the rods bent over and line was peeling off the reel. We decided lady’s first so without any hesitation Misty jumped in the chair and the fight was on. We seen the fish thrashing all over the surface but at first we could not make out what kind of fish it was. But Misty hung in there and ended up landing a monster barracuda. Nice going Misty.

Captain J.J. got a new live bait set right back out there and then he went ahead and sent a dead bonito hooked onto a big rod down to the bottom. Usually when we send a shark bait out we are fishing in about 350 feet of water but today we were in 120 feet of water but what the heck maybe J.J. knew something I didn’t.

Once J.J. got the live baits all set out there  all of a sudden while everyone was watching the kite baits I yelled at J.J. watch out for your deep rod. No sooner did the words get out of my mouth when our BIG rod bent over and line was peeling off the reel as if it was connected to a freight train. This time Jim was in the chair waiting for J.J. to hand him the rod but there was a little problem. The rod was bent over and line was screaming off the reel so hard that J.J. could not get the rod out of the rod holder. After a couple of min the fish settled down a bit and J.J. got the rod to Jim in the chair and now the fight was on. We had no idea what kind of fish it was on the other end all we knew for sure was that it was a shark but as far as what kind and how big well let’s just say we knew it was going to be BIG. We knew right away that this fight was going to take quite some time and Jim was doing all he could just to hold onto the rod when all of a sudden I seen a big splash out by one of our kite baits and now line was screaming off one of our kite rods. GREAT SCOTT now we are HOOKED UP with two big fish at the same time. Daniel wasted no time jumping in the chair and now this fight was on. Both anglers were doing their best to get their fish to the boat when J.J. seen that the two fish were about to cross over each other. So J.J. got them to stand up and Daniel went under Jim’s rod and sat on the opposite side of the boat and the fish were both going in different directions. Ok now we had Daniels fish at the boat it turned out to be a nice barracuda. J.J. got Daniels fish in the boat got a couple quick pictures and watched him swam away in good shape. One down and one to go.

All of a sudden Jim’s fish came to the surface right behind the boat a MONSTER Hammer Head Shark.

By the time we got Jim’s shark to the side of the boat he was pretty tired I mean the shark and Jim (LOL)

J.J. opened the door in the back of the boat and we all helped sliding this 102 inch Hammer head shark into the boat. We got a quick measurement and a few quick pictures and J.J. managed to get not only all the hooks out of the sharks month but we also got another hook out of the side of his head that someone else had put there.

Then we slid him out the door and watched him swim away in great shape.

Thanks to all of our anglers this morning we had a ball fishing with you guys and we are going to hold you to it and looking forward to fishing with you again soon.

Ok so back to the dock we headed for our afternoon trip. This afternoon we had Paul and Marlene from the Bronx in New York and we had a tough act to follow after all the luck we had on our morning trip.

We went right back to trolling the reef knowing that the kingfish and bonitos were biting. We had our limit of king fish in no time and the bonitos just kept biting like mad dogs. Than we got a bite that was a bit different than the others and sure enough it was a sailfish it came jumping out of the water and Marlene jumped in the chair and the fight was on.

It was a back and forth tug a war for over 15 min but at last Marlene got this nice sailfish to the side of the boat. J.J. tried to get the hook out of the fish’s mouth but the fish was just a bit too frisky next to the boat and J.J. decided it was going to do more harm to the fish than just cutting the line close to the hook and just let the hook rust out.

What a great day of fishing and now we are hearing about more and more sailfish being seen so come on down to Sunny South Florida and be a part of some of this great fishing going on down here right now!!

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

The first band of the mullet run has begun... With tons of finger mullet jamming the canals full of food the Snook, Tarpon,Jacks and big snapper should be easily targeted by the explosions along the seawalls. Friday night I guided Two of my best friends some real nice keeper snoook and few to big to keep.Also there was no shortage on the small tarpon.With the first good coldfront should bring the real thing and hopefully its a good mullet run...

The Mullet are here! they are pretty solid on the beach and the tarpon and snook know it.Finally reached the fall solstice and the days are now shorter than the nights.All creatures big and small begin to enter their fall patterns,mullet run,dolphin running south, wahoo in the bahamas doing the same ,bigger swordfish showing up my favorite time of the year.this pattern should only get better until the hard N.W winds get here !

This is it ! My favorite time of the year in the bushes!Reds are solid snook gather for the push up river and a few cobia begin to show as well.The bait is easy and the dawn topwater at low tide for tarpon is the best! The bugs are gone and the water will begin to clear as the rains subside. this will trigger the backcountry fishing and a few gag grouper will show in the rivers in their usual spots. The biggest problem now is what to fish for and where to do it.Show and tell time ,went to chokoloskee last Sunday on a slow tide and still managed several snook wiyh one nice one,several reds too .My problem was I was Blackhooked! I bet I had over 15 solid bites and had it all go wrong,jumped off, broke off,pulled off you name it .So what ,What a great day and for a change my buddies got to out fish me and bust my chops all day!

WOW Got to hit the mangroves again! Too bad it was dead on the full moon.Still very lucky to go.Pretty much the same,just a little on the slow side. Caught several snook one over 36 inches,a couple nice tripletail and no reds.Good news is the water is cooling and clearing and bait is everywhere.

Today we had Jaehyun and Euaaha from New York and their good friend Chaugrok from Jacksonville Florida out for a few hours of deep sea fishing.

We started out trolling the reef with our two planners running down about 45 feet and three ballyhoos’ skipping across the surface. It only took a couple of seconds for our first bite and Jaehyum (we called him John) to jump in the chair and in came our first king fish of the day. Then they started coming one after another. We ended up with our limit of kings quickly along with a few bonitos and barracudas thrown in.

Then all of a sudden we got a bite on one of our planner rods and this one was not acting like a king fish it was pulling a lot of line out. It was a back and forth tug a war for a good 10 min but at last Captain J.J. got within gaffing range and BAM he was in the boat a nice 30 pound Wahoo.

Than we trolled our way out to deeper water where I had found a small piece of bamboo floating and sure enough here came the dolphin fish.

We ended up with four nice dolphin fish on top of our already great catch. Today was just one of those days we seemed to hook into everything that bit.
Thanks again guys for a fun morning of fishing.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Sep 24 fishing aboard the HOOKED UP

Sep 24

Today we had Al from Maine and his wife’s husband I mean brother in law (LOL) Ode from Punta Gorda Vermont out for a full day off shore looking for dolphin fish and sword fish.

We got an early start and once we got to about 400 feet of water we slowed down the boat and put out some trolling baits hopping to find some dolphin fish on our way out. We were all up on the fly bridge just shooting the breeze when I notice a piece of debris floating. At this point I was the only one who knew that there was a piece of debris floating ahead of us but I told everyone to go down stairs and get ready because I had a feeling that we might run into some fish soon.

As we made our first pass by here they came dolphin fish came gray hounding across the surface headed straight for our baits. In a matter of seconds we were hooked up with three dolphins at the same time. We got them all in the boat and headed for our second pass by. And once again here they came from everywhere attacking our baits.

After a good half an hour of this passing by and hooking these dolphins I knew that we were never going to get out to the sword fish grounds if we kept this up.

So I called in one of my friends Captain Rick aboard the Happy Day Today and let him know the fish were over here and they were biting well. Once Captain Rick came over and seen where we were catching these fish under we turned the boat and continued our journey off shore toward the sword fish grounds.

We did manage to catch a couple more dolphin on our way out but this time I just kept heading east instead of turning around to see where these fish had come out of.

A couple of hours later we had finally arrived to the grounds we were looking for and in came all of our trolling baits and out went the sword fish bait.

Our first drop was 1775 feet all the way to the bottom. Within the first 5 min we thought we had a bite but it turned out to be snagged on the bottom. (RATS) I turned the boat east of where the line was going straight down and by some miracle or maybe it was an act of god but it came unhooked and that in its self was a great catch considering that if we had not gotten it out we would have lost a $50 dollar lead, $45 dollar light a couple of $6 dollar swivels not to mention a very big portion of this very expensive wire line that was on the reel.

Ok so we got all of our tackle and bait back so we decided to run a couple of miles to the south and try it again. This time while we did not get fouled up into the bottom we did not get a bite either.

We moved again got our bait down and then we watched the rod slowly bend over. (O no not the bottom again) Not this time because within seconds not only was the rod bent over but line started screaming off the reel.                         (WE WERE HOOKED UP)

I’m sure that if we could have seen a video of us we looked like four little kids about to open our Christmas gifs. We were jumping around and high fiving each other.

It was a very slow back and forth tug a war for an hour and a half and by the time our lead came up we had every gaff, harpoon, and ropes ready for him. We knew by the way this fish pulled line off the reel at will it was going to be a monster.

All of a sudden this SEA MONSTER broke the surface and it turned out to be a 12 to 14 foot thresher shark. At first we were so surprised but truth be told I know there was a bit of a disappointment. We were all looking forward to sliding a monster sword fish threw the door.

But that is fishing and let’s face it we caught a pretty incredible fish and we all watched him swim away in good shape and we already had more than enough eating fish in the box.

Ode and Al thanks again and we are looking forward to fishing you again in Jan.

Fall is here and so are the king fish, dolphin fish and sail fish so give us a call and get away for a weekend to South Florida before the winter air fares go thru the roof and let’s do some deep sea fishing aboard the HOOKED UP.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Sep 26 Fishing aboard the Hooked Up

Sep 26

 Today Eric’s wife Lisa bought him a great B Day present she chartered the Hooked Up for Eric and three of his closest friend Hans, Steven and Frank all from Florida.

We started out our day pretty much like we had been the last few weeks trolling on the reef. We set out our two planners running about 45 feet down and three surface lines skipping across the surface. Today while we did catch a few kingfish and a couple of bonitos we did not catch them as well as we had for the last few days. It could have been due to the lack of current but all the same we were determined to show Eric a great time on the water.

After trolling the reef for quite some time we decided to try some kite fishing so in came the trolling gear and out went our kites with live baits suspended from them.

Sometimes I guess it is better to be lucky than good because when we least expected it we got a bite on one of our kite baits and out came this sail fish dancing all over the surface. There was no question as to who was going to fight this one and with that Eric jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It took Eric a good 15 min to finally get this nice sail fish along side of the boat. We got a couple of good pictures and released him and watched him swam away in great shape.

Eric thanks again and good luck on your bass tournament tomorrow and o yea HAPPY B DAY.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Sep 30 fishing aboard the Hooked Up. A MUST READ REPORT

For more pictures and reports go to www.tacohookedup.com

Sep 30

Ok let me set the stage for this fishing report. Our day started out with a cancelation so we had no trip this morning. So I told captain J.J. to go ahead and sleep in and that I would cover the dock this morning. So I got my cup of coffee and set up camp at the dock behind the boat when out of nowhere came this little car with four guys looking to go out on a fishing trip before their golf game in the afternoon. This seemed too good to be true but sure enough they signed up and J.J. got up and got to the boat with 10 min. Now I’ve got to say that looking back in the past it is these unplanned fishing trips that can turn out to be one of the best and this was no exception.

We loaded up Alex, John, Rob and Chris all from Philadelphia and off we went. Once again we set out our two planners running about 45 feet down and we also set out three dead ballyhoo skipping across the surface. Today the king fish were SNAPPING and before we knew it we were catching them left and right.

The problem was that these guys were just taking their time and it seemed like it took forever for them to reel them in. So of course I had to throw down my two cents and seeing that these guys were from Philly they threw it right back at me. So down the reef we went catching kings and giving each other a hard time. Just another perfect trip with a boat full of Philadelphia Eagle fans. The bantering back and forth was going just as planned when all of a sudden I got a bite on my high line which had ballyhoo on a monofilament leader on it. I handed down the rod and Chris he got in the chair. Once again these guys were moving like furniture and I took both engines out of gear and just sat back and started counting sheep. (LOL)

After about what seemed for ever Chris’s leader popped up and J.J. and I were sure this was a bonito but when we seen strips all over this fish things changed very fast. We had a nice Wahoo on the other end of the line with teeth that could cut thru this leader with one little shake of his head. But bad for the Wahoo and good for us J.J. never gave him a chance to shake his head and sunk a gaff into him before he ever knew what had happen. (WAY TO GO J.J.)

Ok now the banters really got good Chris figured that we caught this fish because of the way he reeled it in and I figured that first of all I put us on him and second he had just gotten about as lucky as a fisherman could get. One thing was for sure the pressure was off of me and J.J. we had produced a lot of fish in a short period of time and everyone including us were having a ball.

After catching a box full of king fish and a 24 pound Wahoo you would think things couldn’t get any better for a little four hour trip! (WRONG)

As we set out our trolling baits again and got back to fishing after celebrating our Wahoo catch we got a bite on one of our planners. J.J. was pulling in the 60 foot leader and we seen that this one was a nice king fish about 12 pounder. All of a sudden one of the out rigger baits got hit and J.J. dropped what he was doing with the leader with this nice king fish attached to it and picked up the other rod that had just gotten hit.

At this point I was looking back to see if I could see what it was that had hit the other bait but there was nothing there but J.J. just kept playing with the rod trying to see if he could get whatever it was to come back.

After a good 40 to 50 seconds of this I could no longer just look at this nice king fish we were just dragging behind the boat so I ran down stairs and decided to pull him into the boat myself. Just as I gaffed the king and threw him into our fish box I noticed that another one of our out rigger baits got knocked down and I looked for J.J. but he was nowhere to be found. I picked up the rod that had just gotten knocked down locked it up and came tight and all of a sudden out came this sail fish dancing all over the surface. Than out of nowhere here comes another sail fish dancing all over the place. Where did he come from?? I looked up on the fly bridge and there was J.J. he had run up and hooked another sail that was eating my high line.

                                (This was just the kind of fishing they make movies about)

Ok so now these guys from Philly were moving a bit faster than they were earlier and Alex jumped in one chair and John got in the other we were Hooked Up and the fights were on.

At first we got to watch both fish jumping out of the water right next to each other but soon enough they both went their separate ways. One went north and one went south. After about 15 min of this we finally got John’s fish coming to the boat pretty good so we figured we go for his first but once his fish seen the boat he had plans of his own and off he went peeling line off the reel once again. A good 5 min later here came both fish at the boat at the same time. I’ve got to say as a fisherman that fish’s everyday this was GOOD STUFF. J.J. reached over and grabbed one of the fish than ran over and grabbed the other one. We all worked together and got a couple of quick pictures of both fish at the same time got a quick measurement of both fish to have replica trophies made of them and watched both of them swim away in good shape.

                                        (WHAT A FOUR HOURS OF FISHING!!)

As we were working our way back to the dock these guys were asking me if I might know anywhere that might cook up this Wahoo for them. I let them know that I was two steps ahead of them and that I had already called the little restaurant/Bar next to the boat (Bahia Cabana) but that in order for them to get this fish cooked up for them that they would also have to feed us!!

What a great morning followed up by a great lunch.

Alex, John, Chris and Rob thanks SOOOO much for a day I will always remember O and by the way Rob also caught a black fin Tuna to add to our lunch.

Guys I am still waiting for the pictures the ones I got are not that great so don't forget to send them and by the way I still think your foot ball team stinks! (LOL)

We have been having ball fishing down here in Sunny South Florida so give us a call and be a part of it!!!!

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) Sea-4344

Today we had Renee and her husband Travis from Tampa Florida out for a few hours of deep sea fishing with us.

Now let me give you a little back ground on Renee and Travis. They have their own boat and do a lot of fishing themselves when Travis is in town. Travis spends most of his time fighting for our freedom in the Middle East but as I understand it whenever he’s in town and the weather permits it they are out on their own boat.

They just so happen to be in town for  the Fort Lauderdale international boat show and had a morning open and that’s where I came into the picture.

As luck would have it Travis had his heart set on catching one fish. (A Wahoo) as it turns out he had lost a big one right next to his boat and now that’s what he has his heart set on Now there has been a few around lately so we spent some time trolling a bit faster than we usually do on the reef. But after a good hour of trolling without a bite we all decided to go off shore and see if we could find a few dolphin fish and who knows maybe a Wahoo.

As soon as we started heading off shore Renee who was sitting up on the fly bridge with me pointed out something in the water chasseing some flying fish. Sure enough it was a nice dolphin fish.

Well son of a gun it’s not often that a customer finds the fish before me. So I knew I was going to have to be on my game today.

After an hour and a half more of trolling without a bite I yelled down to the cock pit for everyone to get ready because I had a feeling we were going to get into some fish. What they did not know was that I had found a 5 foot piece of bamboo floating and I had already seen a dolphin fish jumping around it.

We ended up catching a few more dolphin and we all had a great morning of fishing.

                                  (BUT that is not where this fishing story ends)

On our dock we have 9 charter boats a dive boat some small boats to rent a one big sailboat that takes people out for a few hour sailing trips.

The Captain on this sail boat I’ve noticed always takes his son Will along with him on these trips.

I’ve also noticed that this kid always brings a fishing pole along with him. Well just after Travis and Renee left the dock this sail boat the Spirit Of Lauderdale backed into the dock and I noticed all this commotion behind the boat. As luck would have it while they were just sailing around Will had set out a bait and hooked into a fish and landed it.

Can you guess what kind of fish? That’s right a Wahoo and I would guess the fish at about 50 pounds?

Renee I’m sure I will be getting a call from you guys as soon as you read this report (LOL)

As for Will WAY TO GO THAT’S JUST ABOUT AS BIG OF A WAHOO YOU GOING TO CATCH AROUND HERE AND BY THE WAY DO YOU WANT A JOB? (LOL)  I

If you do find yourself down here in Sunny South Florida after your fishing trip aboard the Hooked Up you might want to check out this sail boat thing it really is a good time. Please don’t let anyone know but I’ve actually gone out on this sail boat myself a few times and had a ball and who knows you might even get the chance to watch Will catch a big fish.

You can check them out at www.spiritoflauderdale.com or give them a call at (954) 579-8181

Thanks for taking the time to read my fishing reports

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

            December is like a hyphen that separates fall from winter. It’s the hiatus between the migrations of the past several months and the inevitable winter doldrums that are sure to follow. The fishing ebbs and floods according to the wind. And who can forget those bluebird days that served as backdrops for first-rate sailfishing? However, the breeze inevitably reverses itself, the swells subside, and broadbill swordfish take the place of the spindlebeaks. While December is typically a month when cold fronts - which are followed by warm weather rebounds – dictate the fishing, an abundance of billfish of one type or another underscore the importance of live bait. So much has been written about wintertime billfishing that any further mention seems redundant. Nevertheless, a brief description of the techniques used to catch the live baitfish used in this type of fishing may prove enlightening to the reader:  To begin with, there’s the goggle-eye, who is definitely one of the game’s star performers. He’s a fast-swimming, oxygen-loving species that profits from being kept in a circulating livewell. For sailfish, goggle-eyes have no equal. Yet a bugbear that always seems to complicates matters stems from the fact that these big-eyed baitfish are nocturnal feeders, and not always easy to catch. That leaves the typical sailfish addict with a limited number of options: The first involves buying them from one of several bait dealers who work our local inlets. Keep in mind that goggle-eyes are expensive, and that prices escalate during tournaments, or whenever bait is scarce. If you decide to purchase, you’ll find vendors in the ICW or in the turning basins in inlets. Be advised that it pays to reserve bait ahead of time, or to check for availability, by calling VHF channel 78. There is a second choice, and when it comes to catching their own, most goggle-eye experts rely on a similar game plan. Essentially, they head-out just before daybreak and motor to a predetermined location that’s usually situated near a buoy or over a shallow patch reef, where they drop anchor and deploy a sack of blood chum before working the area with sabiki rigs.

             Other top sailfish baits include live pilchards, blue runners, and ballyhoo. The good news is that all are easy to catch within a reasonable distance of one another.

            Pilchards, along with their slightly-larger cousins, the thread herrings, school over shallow reefs, as well as around pilings and channel markers. Miami’s Bug Light and the patch reefs just outside Biscayne Bay are prime examples of “whitebait” territory. Both species will strike a sabiki rig, although experienced captains can usually fill a livewell faster (at least, with pilchards) by cast netting them. Keep in mind that thread herrings require plenty of aeration.

            Another, less-obvious tip involves keeping the water temperature down in the bait well by circulating water from the outside, or by suspending an unopened ice bag.

            As for blue runners, you’ll usually catch all you need while jigging for pilchards or goggle-eyes. If not, try dropping a small jig alongside a buoy anchored in slightly-deeper water.

            Ballyhoo can be lured within cast netting range with a bag or two of block chum. However, despite the increased difficulty, some anglers prefer to catch them on sabiki rigs, or tiny chunks of blue runner or bonito that they suspend a short distance beneath a tiny float. Both methods are also effective on the red-tailed scads or “speedos” that frequent the same waters as ballyhoo. It’s worth remembering that certain areas, like the reefs just off Pompano Pier, are favorite ballyhoo (and bait-catcher) hang-outs. Keep in mind, however, that schools of ballyhoo migrate along our coast every winter, and anglers encounter them anywhere from 10 to over 100 feet of water.

            There’s more to live-baiting than hooking sailfish. Not that anyone’s complaining, but plenty of live-baiters learned the rest of the story when a blue or white marlin climbed aboard their sailfish gear. Furthermore, I’ve never heard of a big dolphin or wahoo turning-down a live bait, which reminds me that some years back, a friend of mine won the Pompano Rodeo with a yellowfin tuna he caught on an ordinary live jack.

            Just as Broward County’s inshore activity appears to be winding down, migratory fish are actually just arriving in both Biscayne and Florida Bays. Look for Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and pompano to make a showing over the deep grass beds, or in the channels. All these species respond to small white or yellow nylon jigs. 

            Snook season ends on December 15. If you also consider that seatrout are closed for the entire month, you’ll see why most inshore fishermen focus their efforts on redfish. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Flamingo in Everglades National Park, where migratory jacks, ladyfish, bluefish and mackerel join the ranks of waking bronze-backs.

            At the same time, backcountry action continues to heat-up as snook enter freshwater creeks for the winter. Small tarpon aren’t far behind, although they disappear whenever water temperatures dip into the low 70’s. Small lures are now SOP, since both species have down-sized their dietary requirements. For that, and a number of other reasons, flyfishing has now becoming increasingly-popular.   

            Further inland, December signals the start of trophy largemouth fishing in the shallows. This is a visual game, where anglers sight-cast to pairs of spawning fish. The female is inevitably the larger of the two, and it goes without saying that catch-and-release is the order of the day.

Dec 10

Today we had Ryan from Winnipeg Canada and his new bride Jodi from Manit.ba Canada out for their first fishing trip off the coast of Ft laudable and they were joined by Harold from Mass.

The funny part about this combination of folks fishing with us today is that Harold just got off a crew ship and Ryan and Jodi are just leaving on one for their honeymoon. They are sailing on the newest and biggest crew ship in the world the Oasis which just so happens to be the same crew ship I went on last week. One thing is for sure they are going to have a great time.

As we cleared the inlet we knew that there had been a few sail fish around so we went right to kite fishing hopping to get our shot or two at some sails ourselves.

As it turned out we never did see any sails but Jodi caught a big black tip shark and Harold caught one nice dolphin fish.

I’ve got to say fishing was pretty slow today but with everyone having a good time it just didn’t seem like a slow day after all. Then I found out that whenever Jodi goes fishing no one catches much so I guess we’ll just put the blame on her (LOL)

All kidding aside Jodi, Ryan and Harold thanks so much we truly enjoyed having you guys fishing with us and we hope to get you guys out fishing again soon.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Dec 12

Today was kind of a special day for me because I got to spend the day fishing with my son Luis. Not only do we get a very limited time to spend together but also he has been fishing since he was about 2 days old and he had a great trainer (LOL) never the less he truly is years ahead of a lot of other fisherman at the your age of 19.

We got to spend the day fishing with Matt, his sister Alicia and his girlfriend Carolyn all from Boston Mass. And as it turned out all three of our anglers had done a bit of fishing themselves. So we had a good team to start with.

Matt had told me days before that what they were really after was big game. So having said that we went right to the bait boat and loaded up with a well full of live goggle eyes and off we went. We went right out to about 150 feet of water and set out both our kites with live baits suspended from them.

Once we got our kites set out there it only took a few min till our first bite. It turned out to be a dolphin fish. From that point on it was pretty much none stop action one dolphin after another with a king fish thrown in here and there. In fact we were getting so many bites that I started to worry about running out of live baits.

All of a sudden I seen this big fin shooting right toward one of our precious few live baits that we had left. So I shouted reel the bait up in the air so this monster hammer head shark would not get it. Luis was quick with the rod and got this right long kite bait about 15 feet over the surface. Just as we cleared our live bait out of harm’s way Luis yelled up at me and handed me the rod with the dangling bait was connected to. Then I saw what Luis was up to so I reeled in the kite ever so carefully as to just let the live bait touch the water just enough to keep this shark interested in him. As soon as I got the kite to the first kite clip Luis handed me up his new rod he wanted to put in front of this monster. (It was the biggest rod on the boat)

Then I started letting the kite back out trying to get this shark to come after this bigger bait connected to a bigger rod.

It only took about 2 seconds in the water and BAM he was all over it. So now we were Hooked Up with a sea monster that at first showed no signs of slowing down. Alicia Jumped in the chair and now the big battle began. It was a back and forth battle for a good 35 min till Matt decided to give his sister a little break. Since Matt was fresh and rested he got the fish coming our way. Once the fish got close enough for Luis to grab the leader we thought we’ve got this one. But then out of nowhere this fish got another burst of energy and ripped the leader out of Luis’s hands and gray hounded away from the boat. Now I’ve got to say that in all my years of fishing I’ve never seen a hammer head shark jump.

We decided that Matt just made this fish even angrier so we got Alicia back in the chair. In the next 30 min we got the fish to the boat 3 different times and each time it would take off again.

Finally the fish came to the boat a lot more settled down. We got a rope around him and slid him in the tuna door. Got a few pictures and slid him back out the door and on his way. But of course the fish had to get the last word because as Luis sled him out he wacked Luis once across his foot. But it all turned out great Luis was OPK Alicia caught the fish of a life time and the fish was in great shape as he swam away.

We did manage to get Carolyn evolved with the sharks to. She ended up reeling in a big black tip shark. But it was nowhere near the 100 incher we had caught earlier.

Matt we looking forward to fish with you in Jan hope Alicia and Carolyn can make it with you.

That’s all for today just another day at the office aboard the HOOKE UP

Captain Taco (954)  764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Dec 19

Will I’ve got to say that it has been a tough week aboard the Hooked Up. Between bad weather and not a lot of business around just before Christmas we were a bit extra excited about going fishing today.

I got a call a couple of days ago from a lady named Kim and she reserved the boat for her dad and her for an early Christmas present. She had mentioned to me that her dad Harold had fished with us before but I never put 2 and 2 together. As it turned out this was the same Harold from Mass that had fished with us last week.

So off we went a bit earlier than the other boats trying to take advantage of the waters that had not been fished much this past week. We went ahead and ran down to the south about 4 miles and set out both kites with live baits suspended from them.

We had our baits out no more than 20 min when I seen something dark around our left long kite bait but before I could say anything Captain Greg already had the rod in his hand and was feeding the bait to him. As we came tight on the line the rod just started to bend over and then went slack. (RATS) Once Greg reeled in the bait to switch it to a fresh and lively one he noticed the leader was all shafted up and the hook had turned around and buried the point back into the bait.

We had missed a sail fish but we had just gotten started so things were looking good. Greg got the baits set right back out there and the wait began. We waited for a good 45 min till we seen a dolphin fish eating one of our baits. Greg handed the rod to Kim and the fight was on. BUT all of a sudden the line went slack and the fish got away. (RATS AND DOUBLE RATS)

Then I noticed more dolphin swimming around our baits and before we knew it all three rods still out there had a dolphin on it. We managed to get all three in the boat. Thank god the skunk was out of the boat. Soon after that we had a double header bonito bite and both father and daughter were fighting fish at the same time again.

We got the baits out there again and Harold got a nice bite on one of the kite baits but no one seen what it was so for a good 5 min we were all wondering what we had on. It turned out to be a nice silky shark.

Kim and Harold thanks again we really enjoyed having you guys fishing with us and we hope to see you again soon.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Dec 20

This morning we started out with a shared charter starting with Pascal from Canada and Matt and Paul from Portland Ma.

We started out trolling the reef hopping that the king fish had finally turned back on but sorry to say that the kings just haven’t seemed to be around. We did manage to catch one big bomber bonito but trolling just was not producing any fish so we decided to try our luck by fishing with live baits. It took a while but at last we got a nice bite and Pascal wasted no time jumping in the chair. All of a sudden out came this monster sail fish dancing all over the surface putting on this great show for us. It took Pascal a good 20 min to finally get his catch to the side of the boat. He was hooked pretty good so instead of trying to get the hook out of his mouth where the fish might have hurt himself we just cut the line right next to the hook and watched him swim away in great shape.

As we pulled back to the dock we had our afternoon trip waiting for us and eager to try their luck at some deep sea fishing off the coast of Ft Lauderdale.

We had the whole basket ball team from Milken University in Illinois that had chartered 4 of the boats off the dock for a little friendly competition.

We had on board the Hooked Up Amy, Morgan, Amanda, Brittany, Jason and Matt. And we ended up catching 2 nice black fin tunas and one nice dolphin fish.

Thanks again to all of our anglers today and hope to see you guys again soon.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Dec 22

Today we had Max, Matt and Ben all from Iowa out for a morning of deep sea fishing.

We started out trolling the reef with our two planners down deep and three baits skipping across the surface. Trolling was a bit slow today but we did manage to catch one king fish and a nice dolphin fish.

Since trolling was not producing many fish we decided to try our luck at some deep wreck fishing with live bait. As it turned out we made the right choice. We dropped a live bait down about 310 feet and once we got to the bottom (BAM) the rod bent over and we were Hooked Up. After a good 15 min of trying to get this sea monster off the bottom we ended up catching a monster amber jack.

As we headed back toward our port we stopped for just a few min and dragged a live bait along this nice drop off we’ve got just outside of our inlet. Once again we got lucky and hooked into this nice barracuda.

Guys thanks again for a fun morning of fishing and try not to freeze your butts off in Iowa (LOL)

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Dec 24

As a fisherman and part time writer there’s nothing I love more than to catch nice fish for our customers and then writing a great stories about the catch.

 HOWEVER this is fishing and some days are a bit slower than others and I feel it is only right to report the good days along with some of the slow ones and that is just what we had today.

We started out with this guy I chose to call #1 because I just could not pronounce his name but he was Levent Bilginogullari from Argentina.
 By the way he spelled his name this is not a classic case of Taco not knowing how to spell it correctly. (LOL)

Anyway back to the fishing. We took #1 trolling down the reef and caught a king fish and a bonito. We tried a couple of drops on some deep wrecks but we had no current and we just could not get a bite on the wrecks.

I know fishing was slow today but it never seemed to bother #1 he had a ball all the same and we are going to get the chance to fish with him again in Jan so hopefully we can make it a better catching day.

Thanks again #1

Ok now for our afternoon trip we had Russ and Vicky from Arizona and David, Mickey, and Jonathan from Homewood Ill.

Once again we trolled the reef hopping to find some king fish or bonitos or just about anything that had fins. But I’m sorry to say that trolling was not paying off for us nor was deep drops we just had a tough day on the rip today.

But the funny part about this hole day was that the only people that seemed disappointed was J.J. and me the rest of the people all seemed to have a great time out on the water. All the same sorry guys for the slow fishing today but remember I owe you one and I hope to get the chance to fish you guys again.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344

Dec 26

Today we had Elena from Greensboro North Carolina brought her two sons Alex and Nicholas and her parents Hans and Elena out for a morning of deep sea fishing aboard the Hooked Up.

Once again we had little to no current and once again fishing was on the slow side. But today we were determined to stick it out and somehow make something happen.

We set out both of our kites with live baits suspended from them and one shark bait just drifting from one of our out riggers.

It took a bit of patience but at last we got a bite on one of our kite baits and Alex wasted no time jumping in the chair. We had no idea what we had on at first but soon enough Alex reeled this nice black tip shark to the side of the boat. Ok not the biggest fish in the world but at least now we had the skunk out of the box. We got our baits set right back out there and began our wait once again.

After quite some time I yelled down at Captain Greg that I thought I had seen some kind of a swirl next to one of our kite baits. Greg picked up the rod and at first we were not sure if there was something on the other end but then we noticed that our bait was swimming right toward another one of our baits. Just as it got to the other bait we got our first look at this monster sailfish that had already eaten one of our baits and was now going after another. Greg locked up the reel and we went ahead with the boat and BAM we were Hooked Up. Nicholas jumped in the chair and the fight was on. It was a good 20 min till Nicholas finally got his fish next to the boat. We got a couple of pictures of him next to the boat and in fact I had gotten one shot of this sail fish doing cartwheels next to the boat.

We may not have caught a lot today but we sure as heck caught a couple of nice ones. Thanks again guys and try to keep warm up there in North Carolina.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

After a good week of no current we finally had some north current today and I’ve got to say what a difference a bit of current can make.

Today we had Josse, Daniel, Dennis and Rolande all from Montreal Canada out for a morning of deep sea fishing and today trolling the reef was red hat. The king fish started biting for us like mad dogs and before we knew it we had our limit of kings.

Thanks again guys for a fun morning of fishing.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) Sea-4344

Dec 29

Today we got a last min call from Frankie down on vacation from Kansas with his mom Ivy and his girlfriend Roxanne.

It just so happened we were wide open this afternoon and things could not have worked out any better for everyone.

We got out to about 150 feet of water and set out both of our kites with live baits suspended from them and before we knew it BAM we got a monster hit on our left long kite bait.

Frankie wasted no time getting in the chair and the fight was on. It took Frankie a good 25 min till he finally got this monster sail fish to the side of the boat. We got a quick measurement to have a replace mount made of his catch and watched him swim away in great shape to fight again another day.

Well it’s almost the end of the year and the cold fronts are on their way down and with these cold fronts we get the sail fish moving threw so give us a call and let’s get you HOOKED UP

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344

Dec 31

This morning we started out fishing with Adam, Linsey, Mark (AKA the coach) Thomas and Donnie. They had all come down from Wilmington Ohio to watch their foot ball team the Hawk eyes kick some butt in the orange bowl game.

I’ve got to admit that fishing has been on the slow side due to what they call a blue moon but I just call it a week of a full moon and with having a full moon I believe that the fish feed all night and with little to no current the fish just haven’t been biting as well as they usually do when we have a cold front down here in sunny south Florida.

So having said all that we just wanted to make sure that everyone got to catch fish and also catch a good buzz.

We decided to just stick to trolling the reef first in reel shallow into about 70 feet of water and then back out to about 350 feet of water and just zig zaged our way down the reef.

It turned out to be the right move while we may not have filled the fish boxes everyone caught fish and we ended up with four nice king fish and two bummer bonitos.

Guys thanks again for a fun morning of fishing and good luck with your foot ball game.

As we made our way back to the dock we had Sam, Marcus, Lucas, Dave and Howard from Bristol Ct and from Lowell Ma waiting for us and eager to try their luck at some deep sea fishing.

Once again I’ve got to say that fishing truly was slow today and I know that J.J. had been busting his butt all day just trying to make something happen for all of our anglers today. So in lou of that I thought I would give J.J. a break and I ended up working the cock pit this afternoon and J.J. got to drive the boat and see if maybe he could find the fish.

To make a long story short we while we did end up catching a couple of fish we sure as heck did not fill the fish box. But I’ve got to say that it seemed to bother J.J. and I more than our customers today they all had a ball and are looking forward to their next fishing trip.

I guess a lot of people are just glad to be out on the ocean and away from their everyday work routine. To all of our anglers today Thanks so much and we are very much looking forward to fishing all of you again soon.

Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free (877) SEA-4344