Shared Sportfishing Charter
$125 per person for a half day (4 hour) shared sportfishing charter
We arrange shared sportfishing charters aboard the Big Game and Out of the Blue every day. On these trips, we pair your party with another small party to go fishing with. We arrange these trips for both a morning departure (8am-12pm) and again on an afternoon departure (1pm-5pm). The price is $125 per person and includes everything you need for fishing. We supply your bait and tackle, rods and reels, coolers and ice, and fishing licenses. The only things not included in this price are your food and beverages (you may store your own food and drinks in our fridge and drink cooler). It is also customary to leave a tip for the mate at the end of the fishing charter. On these trips, we go trolling the reef, bottom fishing around shipwrecks and kite fishing for sailfish and sharks. We only arrange 4 hour shared charters, but it is common for shared charters to pay a little extra to extend their trip, so long as everyone agrees and it doesn’t conflict with a later trip.
Private Sportfishing Charter
On a private sportfishing charter, you get the entire boat to yourself for up to 6 people. It doesn’t matter if you have 1 person or a full group of 6, you simply pay a flat rate to charter the whole boat privately. On a private charter, we can target whatever species of fish you want to go after. The captain of course will make recommendations as to what has been biting lately and what he thinks will yield the most fish, but it’s your trip and the crew will fish for anything you want.
Half Day
$500 for half day (4 hour) private charter up to 6 people
On a half day charter, we generally like to begin the trip by trolling for action on the reef. This is a great way to get some fish in the box quickly because when you are trolling, you can cover a lot of ground on the reef. This also gets everyone comfortable using the fishing equipment and prepped for big game fishing. After a while, we’ll switch tactics and try a different fishing technique. Maybe you would like to do some wreck fishing for groupers, snappers and amberjack or go kite fishing for really big game fish such as sailfish and sharks. Dragging live baits from the outriggers is another great way to target sailfish, wahoo, mahi-mahi and tuna. Whatever fish you would like to target on your sportfishing charter, the crew is at your service. We usually have time to try 2-3 different fishing techniques on a half day sportfishing charter.
¾ Day
$700 for a ¾ day (6 hour) private charter up to 6 people
On a ¾ day charter, we have more fishing time, which opens up a few different options for us to try. A 6 hour trip also gives us the opportunity to get to some fishing spots that are too far to reach on a 4 hour trip. On a 6 hour charter, we usually have enough time to try 3-4 different fishing techniques and the extra time usually adds greatly to your final catch. 6 hour trips are the minimum required for an offshore fishing trip. When offshore fishing, it requires some time to look around out there for floating debris, weedlines and birds working a school of fish, so we need at least 6 hours to do a serious offshore fishing trip.
Full Day
$900 for an All Day (8 hour) private charter
An 8 hour trip gives us all the time in the world to catch you some big game fish. We can do anything: start off trolling offshore for mahi-mahi, and then work back in and hit wrecks or go kite fishing. Or start off on the reefs trolling, do some kite fishing for sailfish and then try our luck for the rest of the day offshore. On a full day trip, we can reach any of our furthest fishing spots, so if we know a spot is holding big fish, we’re there! A full day trip allows us to try 4-6 different fishing techniques and usually yields A LOT of fish. If you’re looking for an offshore fishing charter, I usually recommend a full day trip for the best success.
Daytime Swordfishing Trips
$1100 for a 10 hour offshore Daytime Swordfishing Charter
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Night Swordfishing Trip
$1200 for an 8 hour night Swordfishing charter
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Sailfishing Trips
Fort Lauderdale is known as one of the world’s top fishing destinations because of its great sailfishing. For a sailfishing trip, I generally recommend a 4-6 hour charter. Sailfish are a species that are here in Fort Lauderdale waters year round, but bite exceedingly well in the months of October-February. Kite fishing is perhaps the best all around fishing technique for targeting sailfish. Kite fishing is a method of flying fishing kites from the back of the boat, which are used to suspend live baits splashing on the surface. It is a great sailfishing technique because of the excellent hook-up ratio. When a sailfish rises up to eat a kite bait, he has to stick part of his dorsal fin and possibly his bill out of the water to get the bait into his mouth. The sighting of a sailfishes’ dorsal fin near the bait, gives us advance warning that we are about to get a bite. This is so important because it makes us ready to set the hook at precisely the right time.
Dragging live baits out of the outriggers is another excellent way to sailfish off Fort Lauderdale, and is our best alternative to kite fishing on days with little to no wind. Slowly dragging live baits from the outriggers also has one major advantage over kite fishing. When kite fishing, you are mostly immobile and are fishing the same general the entire time. When dragging live baits from the outriggers, you cover a lot of area with your baits, thereby increasing your chances of finding a sailfish.
Trolling dead rigged baits is not the most effective method to catch sailfish, but we’ve certainly caught our fair share of sailfish by fishing this method. When trolling rigged dead baits, the boat is moving at a moderate clip, so you can cover the most ground employing this technique. When a sailfish comes up to feed on one of the baits, he will knock the lure around with his bill, attempting to stun the baitfish. Hookup from a sailfish on the troll can be challenging because the sailfish is coming up sporadically and taking random swipes at the bait. Usually the mate will encourage you to give the fish a drop-back when the sailfish takes a swipe at the bait, so that it is easier for him to get the bait down his mouth.
Offshore Mahi-Mahi Fishing
Mahi-mahi, also known as dolphin fish (not the same as the porpoise mammal), are an offshore species that live abundantly in South Florida waters. They travel mostly in schools of 5-50 fish, and can be found anywhere offshore, especially around seaweed lines, floating debris and working birds. Mahi-mahi can range in size anywhere from 3-60 pounds. The smaller mahi-mahi, 3-6 pounds, are called ‘schoolie’ dolphin and are usually stacked together in a huge school. ‘Gaffer’ dolphins are those mahi-mahi in the 7-15 pound range. ‘Bull’ and ‘cow’ dolphin are those mahi-mahi that are bigger than 15 pounds and are a hugely sought after game fish. Mahi-mahi are one of the best eating fish in the ocean and can be found on restaurant menus all over South Florida. The great thing about dolphin fishing is their tremendous appetite. Dolphins are not picky eaters and will generally eat just about anything you drag past or throw at them.
On our offshore mahi-mahi charters, we fish anywhere from 4-20 miles offshore. Trolling is the best technique because it allows you to fish and cover a lot of ground while you are looking for anything floating where a dolphin school may be hiding. If and when you find something substantial floating offshore (a floating board, Styrofoam, floating net or rope, trees, etc…), get ready or some action. We like to set up on a drift near the floating object and pitch out the light tackle. When doing this, it is important to always keep at least 1 dolphin hooked up on the line and in the water. Dolphin fish are like the U.S. Rangers: They don’t leave their buddies behind. If you can keep one fish hooked up on the line at all times, the whole school will stay with you and continue feeding. If you find a good school of these mahi-mahi, you can load the box with a lot of fish in a very short time. It is always very exciting when you find a nice school of dolphin fish.
Wahoo, tuna and even the very rare blue marlin can be caught on an offshore mahi-mahi charter. 6 hours is the minimum required time to effectively fish an offshore charter, although I always recommend an 8 hour trip for the best success. This is a great trip for catching a lot of really good eating fish to take home for dinner.
Inshore fishing trips-3 hours
$300 for private charter of 2 people-26’ Never Enough
We run most of our inshore fishing trips aboard our 26’ Intrepid, the Never Enough. The city of Fort Lauderdale is called the Venice of America because of the intricate network of canals and offshoots from the main intracoastal. These small ‘finger canals’ can be too small for larger charter boats to fish effectively which makes the Never Enough the perfect boat for this style of trip.
Tarpon are a big game species that live throughout the Intracoastal Waterway and along the banks of these ‘finger canal’ offshoots. Tarpon are a hellacious fighter and put on the most incredible aerial display of any fish I’ve caught. They average from 40 pounds up to 200 pounds and can reach up to 7 feet long. Snook are another gamefish that inhabits the intracoastal and are considered by many to be the ultimate light tackle gamefish. For snook fishing, we usually like to drift with live shrimp or pilchards for bait. Snook inhabit the same areas as tarpon do and like tarpon, put on a great jumping display when caught on light tackle. For snook, there is a closed season from December 15-January 31 and June 1-August 31. Any snook caught within these months must be released. Many other species of fish inhabit the Intracoastal Waterway and can be caught on this trip such as jack crevale, mangrove and mutton snapper, barracuda, and even sharks.
