John Stilling, wife and two sons from Alberta, Canada chartered the Happy Day Today along with the Topshotfishing team to do some deep sea fishing. With a beautiful commerce day here in Fort Lauderdale FL – winds were out of the east at 5-10 mph, 1-2 ft. seas and no clouds in the sky.
The boys’ objective today was to catch a Shark. At first we started trolling to the southeast of Fort Lauderdale sea buoy towards one of the 34 artificial wrecks located here. On the way there, our plainer rod bent over and the line screamed out. With that insignia, it could only be one fish – a Wahoo!!! As Jackson, our mate, wired the fish in, we could see the vertical stripes, and it was a Wahoo – a 15 lb.
I headed towards the Shark grounds. We had one Shark bait on the surface, one Shark bait mid range, and one Shark bait on the bottom in 350 ft. of water. We had just enough wind to fly one light kite, with two live Goggle Eyes to catch other fish besides Sharks.
Five minutes into Shark fishing, the bottom rod slowly bent over. Jackson thought we were hooked on the bottom, but I knew better. The line slowly exited the reel, picked up a bit more speed and then slowed down again. He stayed down deep and did not come up to the surface – he did not make a fast initial run This telltale sign indicated to me that we had a good probability of a Thresher Shark on the line. One of John’s son, Michael, was the angler, and he did a fantastic job for the first 1 ½ hours of fighting the fish. With a cramp in his hand, he turned the fishing rod over to his brother. Finally, we started retrieving the line, inch by inch, rising to the surface and at the end of that line was a Thresher Shark. We slid a measuring tape down the line, and the Shark was longer than the 12 ft. tape. I estimated the Thresher Shark’s weight to be approximately 450-500 lbs. As he got him closer to the boat for picture taking, his tail slapped the water and drenched our anglers. We released the fish to do battler again.
If interested in a deep sea fishing charter aboard the “Happy Day Today” please contact Captain Tom Zsak with the Topshotfishing team (954) 309-7457 – www.topshotfishing.com
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The boys’ objective today was to catch a Shark. At first we started trolling to the southeast of Fort Lauderdale sea buoy towards one of the 34 artificial wrecks located here. On the way there, our plainer rod bent over and the line screamed out. With that insignia, it could only be one fish – a Wahoo!!! As Jackson, our mate, wired the fish in, we could see the vertical stripes, and it was a Wahoo – a 15 lb.
I headed towards the Shark grounds. We had one Shark bait on the surface, one Shark bait mid range, and one Shark bait on the bottom in 350 ft. of water. We had just enough wind to fly one light kite, with two live Goggle Eyes to catch other fish besides Sharks.
Five minutes into Shark fishing, the bottom rod slowly bent over. Jackson thought we were hooked on the bottom, but I knew better. The line slowly exited the reel, picked up a bit more speed and then slowed down again. He stayed down deep and did not come up to the surface – he did not make a fast initial run This telltale sign indicated to me that we had a good probability of a Thresher Shark on the line. One of John’s son, Michael, was the angler, and he did a fantastic job for the first 1 ½ hours of fighting the fish. With a cramp in his hand, he turned the fishing rod over to his brother. Finally, we started retrieving the line, inch by inch, rising to the surface and at the end of that line was a Thresher Shark. We slid a measuring tape down the line, and the Shark was longer than the 12 ft. tape. I estimated the Thresher Shark’s weight to be approximately 450-500 lbs. As he got him closer to the boat for picture taking, his tail slapped the water and drenched our anglers. We released the fish to do battler again.
If interested in a deep sea fishing charter aboard the “Happy Day Today” please contact Captain Tom Zsak with the Topshotfishing team (954) 309-7457 – www.topshotfishing.com
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