June 10th 2017

On this Saturday Morning we had a group from Los Angeles on a short vacation to Fort Lauderdale. We got a last minute call Friday night and just happened to be available Saturday morning. We explained the different styles of fishing in late spring and our group was really interested in bottom fishing. So off we went, to a local ship wreck just South of Port Everglades having plenty of live pichards aka scaled sardines. We readied our two bottom rods and also prepared the fishing kite for departure. Anchoring 250′ in front of the wreck with North current was a receipt for Mutton Snapper.

Hitting the wreck with full force, dropping two live pilchards down and 3 pichards in the kite. We also with one flat line spinning rod with a large pilchard as well. Didn’t take long before we caught a 15 lb King Mackerel on the kite. Having live bait is a major key for spring, never knowing what the next fish might be. After shortly boating the Mackerel we received our first bottom bite, getting the young one on the rod for his first Saltwater fish! But of course, what we expected a mutton Snapper, a great eat !! Catching one more King Mackerel and another decent mutton we headed back to the dock for a few pictures and to the filet station to carve up some dinner.

Here is the pic from the am Trip

On this afternoon trip we had a few trophy ? hunters. Not looking for just any fish, a Nice Fish! this group was from Norther Florida and always dreamed of catching a large Shark. With shark on the mind we headed to another local wreck that has been known to hold a few toothy critters. Instead of fishing 2 live baits, we fished two dead baits with heavy gauged wire and 300lb leader. Chumming the water with our fish parts from the am, we patiently waited. Not catching a single nibble in the first hour we began to get worried it might not happen today. Approaching our second hour into the trip the long ballon goes on the bow, our green horn customer grabs the rod out of pure excitement and hammers the drag to Full!! I bet you can guess what happened next, the line violently snapped (zing pow). The mate and I kept our cool and had a feeling we missed our opportunity ?. On the Good Hit we are not quitters, we rig the line again and begin to set another long balloon rig.

This time we used a small King Mackerel tail and waited to hook up again. Approaching leaving time, once again the long ballon begins to ski on the surface of the water, crew members mike did not leave the rod this time. BOOM, we were hooked up again. Once the fish was hooked we realized we didn’t have the normal summer time shark on the line. The line began to angle towards the surface, almost like the fish was going to jump. That when we saw the large dorsal fin and knew exactly what we had. It was a Greater Hammerhead aka Sickle Fin or Great Gray. The biggest of all the Hammerhead Sharks, you can tell by the large dorsle fin.

After a 35 minute battle of blood, sweat, and tears we brought the monster aboard the bracket. We collected the measurements, then tagged and released the beast at 95″. We made our charters trip complete and didn’t even think about putting another line in the water. Game Over- I love fishing when a plan comes together.

Here is a pic before the release