Fort Lauderdale Fishing on Happy Day Today with Capt. Zsak
Our charter today aboard the Happy Day Today with the Topshotfishing team out of Fort Lauderdale FL was Rick Fussell and daughter, Haley, with friend, Courtney, from Tennessee. We had variable winds 5-7 mph, 2 ft. seas - a picturesque sunny day here in Ft. Lauderdale. Rick’s goal was to catch a large fish, and I suggested we find some nice large Sharks off of Fort Lauderdale. For the past two weeks, Shark action has been excellent here in Fort Lauderdale.
Off we went – twenty minutes after leaving the dock we were in 350 ft. of water north of the sea buoy off of Fort Lauderdale FL, close to one of my favorite artificial wreck, a 220 ft. freighter that was sunk back in 1981. These wrecks hold various types of bait fish and in return the predators know where to feed. These are the “supermarkets” of the seas. We put out three Shark baits, one on the surface, one midrange down 150 ft. and a third bait sitting on the bottom. I could see a dorsal fin approaching our surface bait; the fish was not aggressive at all. It swam slowly to the bait but was not interested and swam past the bait to the south of Fort Lauderdale. A few minutes later a fishing boat to the north of me called on the radio and said he saw a Shark heading my way – hopefully this one would feed. As the Shark approached the surface bait, he was very aggressive, and he grabbed the Shark bait – the fight was on!!!!! This Shark was a big one!!! Rick jumped into the fighting chair, and we secured him and the rod down with safety lines. The tug of war continued, and Rick was doing a fantastic job reeling in the Shark, while support was heard from the girls. Finally the Shark appeared 50 ft. from the boat – a Golden Hammerhead, and all were amazed by its size. The fight was a long one with losing and gaining lines, but finally Rick subdued him and brought the Shark to the boat. We measured the Shark in the water, and it was 107” long and approximately 350 lbs. Pictures were taken, the Shark was released and Rick decided to do a replica mount. Back to the dock at Bahia Mar 801 Seabrezee Blvd, Fort Lauderdale 33316
