It’s sailfish season here in Fort Lauderdale. With the first couple of cold fronts starting to move through, the sailfishing this year is nothing short of spectacular. Every year, from October through January, the sailfish make a massive migration down our coastline. In Fort Lauderdale, we call the strip of water between 100 to 150 feet of water, “Sailfish Alley”. This is where the majority of sailfish are to be found. For catching sailfish, the best technique is kite fishing. We fly kites and use the kites to suspend live baits on the surface of the water. The struggling bait makes vibrations that attract fish in from a long ways away. Sailfish, tuna, mahi-mahi, wahoo, sharks, kingfish and cobia all go nuts over a kite bait. It’s the best way to catch big fish this time of year. If there isn’t enough wind to fly the kites, slow trolling live baits from the outriggers is a great alternative and gives you the added benefit of covering a lot more ground that you would by kite fishing. Any technique of live baiting you choose should be rewarding as the big fish are biting very good this month.
Another effective fishing method this season is bottom fishing for grouper and snapper. The wrecks sunken off the Fort Lauderdale coast are always teeming with a variety of fish species. This season, grouper and snapper are the chief residents of these underwater habitats. Deep dropping multiple hook rigs is a great way to put a lot of great eating fish in the box quickly. Already, the vermillion snappers are biting strong, and the snowy groupers should be not too far behind. Amberjacks and cobia are the bigger game that we catch deep dropping around the wrecks. Deep dropping live baits is the best technique to catch the shipwreck’s larger inhabitants.
I hope everyone has great fishing trips this month and hope to see you on the ocean.
Tight lines.
Capt. Brett Magers
New Lattitude Sportfishing
(954) 707-2147
www.newlattitude.com