Special Catch in Fort Lauderdale
December 20, 2020 Dania Beach 4 photos

Trip Summary

Capt. Vinnie here, and we do have a great report for you guys of some great fishing this week in the Fort Lauderdale area. We had a great trip with our friends from Texas where we started out trolling the shallow reef for a great kingfish bite on our deep lines using planers. The kingfish have been biting in depths of 80-110 feet of water using seawithes and bonito strips, the kingfish also have been nice sized as well averaging around 10lbs or so. Offshore lets talk about tuna tuna tuna. There has been lots of blackfin and skipjack tuna offshore in depths of **hidden content** feet of water just off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, the tuna have been feeding on small live baits like sardines and anchovy. The have been easy to locate but hard to get to bite due to all the bait in the water we have been doing best with small feathers fished on very light leaders like 30lb test fished very far behind the boat, when locating feeding tuna you want to try and troll around the fish and not directly through the mayhem, if you decide to go right through the school of feeding fish the noise of the engines will drive them down deep and they will not bite something to keep in mind... There has been a few mahi mahi around as well this is not prime season for them but we do catch them this time of year when trolling offshore for tuna and they are usually a little bit larger them are normal summer time fish. The story behind this report being called "Special Catch in Fort Lauderdale" is due to a fish that we caught with our friends from Texas called an African pompano now this fish is somewhat rare and is not easy to target we usually only catch 3 per year its more of an incidental catch then something we actually target, but in the winter time months there are a few areas in the Fort Lauderdale area that hold them and we decided to make a bottom fishing drop on a shipwreck that we know in the winter time has them, using small live bait called a pilchard we would drop to the bottom and wait patiently, the best part about fishing shipwrecks is you never know what you are going to catch could be a grouper, amberjack, or a snapper, but in this case it was an awesome African pompano, these fish are hard fighters due to there wide bodies and did I mention they are one of the best fish to eat on the table! All in all I was amazed and very happy to go out and actually target a fish that is so rare and catch it is enough for me. Anyways night fishing this week has been good with a great catch of yellowtail snapper as well as some mangrove snapper also, night fishing is great this time of year but remember to dress warm because some of the nights it can be pretty cold. The snappers have been biting best on the reef in depths of 40-70 feet using lots of chum as well as fish silversides and shrimp, and if your looking to catch a shark there has been plenty at night trying to eat our snappers as we are reeling them in. Day or night we got you covered for any type of fishing your looking to do. This week there is availability so if your looking to give someone a holiday gift of fishing we would love to have you, remember to follow us on instagram @Ybnormalsportfishing and like us on facebook for daily fishing reports..... happy holidays Capt. Vinnie
Vinnie Sacks
Dania-beach, Florida, United States
YB Normal thumbnail
Sailing out of Port Everglades In Fort Lauderdale for over a decade YB Normal is ready to take clients out for a great day of fishing. Captain Vinnie offers a range of trips, with four to 8-hour packages and the choice of coming as a group or jumping aboa...

Other reports from this charter

Cold Temps HOT Fishing In Fort Lauderdal
Cold Temps HOT Fishing In Fort Lauderdal
Januari 29, 2026
Hello everyone Capt. Vinnie here, what a great report this week i have for you guys. To say the least it has been cold as a mother for us here in south Florida although i know what we think is cold here is not even close to the cold thats going on right now in the rest of the United States but don't make fun of us haha. Anyways it seems that the fishing has picked up very strong this week specially with live bait. This most recent cold front that just moved through seems to be the one that we needed to get the winter fishing patterns going. Live bait fishing with a kite has been our go to, kite fishing is very visual and a lot of times you see the bite before it actually happens. Sailfish is the main target but plenty of other fish with eat a live bait fished from a kite like, tuna, mahi, and king macks. As of late though there seems to still be some really nice mahi mahi around and we have been catching them while kite fishing, when i say nice im talking 10-20lb fish. Hard fighters and good eating also. Most of the kite fishing action has been scattered all over from super shallow in 80 feet and as deep as 200 feet. Every day is different though different conditions with currents and changing wind directions so the challenge becomes where are the fish going to be. Other then live bait action i have something very cool this week, we recently took out a great client of ours Daniel from Georgia on a 10 hour swordfish trip, Daniel has fished with us before and wanted to test his luck on catching a sea monster. We took Daniel and family out daytime swordfishing and after about 2 hours of fishing we hooked up with a monster! Raining sideways rough as heck and lightning cracking every where it was like something out of old man and the sea. After a 3 hour battle we landed a true beast of a swordfish a 300lb monster! (pictured) This was the trophy we were looking for. After a long ride back to the dock it was all smiles and we had a crowd of people when we pulled in to the dock and needed help getting it off the boat. It was one of those things were you had to be there to believe it. Im glad we were able to catch such a great fish for one of our great clients. Congrats Buddy! This week please be sure to check out some of the great photos of some recent catches that were caught while out on our deep sea fishing charters in Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood/Dania beach and remember to give us a like and follow on social media platforms like facebook and Instagram @Ybnormalsportfishing for daily fishing content. Coming up for the next few weeks I would imagine the sailfish action to remain steady for the next few months as well as scattered mahis and blackfin tuna to remain prevalent on afternoons trips, should be a great winter. If your coming down to south Florida and looking to do some deep sea fishing we have some availability for the month of February and March and as you can see from the recent photos fishing is HOT. We would love to have you out with us and we would love to show you a great time on the water. More later..... Capt. Vinnie
Continue reading
Starting Off The New Year Right
Starting Off The New Year Right
Januari 20, 2026
Hello everyone Capt. Vinnie here, its been a crazy week here in Fort Lauderdale weather wise and fishing wise. We have been having some crazy cold fronts moving in as well as some good sailfish action. For the report this week the main topic is going to be sailfish. This time of year when we have these cold fronts that is going to be the main topic species, sailfish begin to move down the coast when the wind blows North. A lot of the sailfish action is taking place right now while live baiting and specifically with a kite. Kite fishing allows you to take a live bait and fish it right on the surface where most pelagic fish feed, with the kite in the air all of the tackle is out of the water like the line and leaders etc. Just the live bait and the hook remain in the water. Most of the sailfish action has been taking place in depths from 100 feet on out to 180 feet or just on the outside of the reef. While live bait fishing you are not just trying to catch sailfish there are tons of other fish that will try to eat a live bait, like kingfish, tuna, wahoo, and mahi mahi. That's what makes live bait fishing so exciting because you never know whats going to bite. Other then sailfish action this week afternoons remain a great choice if your looking to get out and bend the rod with some action, blackfin tuna action that is. Late afternoons when the sun is low has been giving the best results for blackfin tuna. The tuna have been anywhere from 5-15lbs right now and mixed in with them has been bonito as well. We have been catching most of the tuna in depths around 180 feet on out to 450 feet, while trolling we tend to mark the schools of tuna on our fish finder when they make there way closer to the surface. Once marked I tend to circle that area specially if I keep getting bites. This week remember to check out some of the great photos of some recent catches that were caught while out on our deep sea fishing charters and remember to give us a like and follow on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram @Ybnormalsportfishing for daily fishing content. Coming up in the next few weeks i would imagine to start seeing more and more sailfish moving through our area as well as some big game sharks getting ready to make there migration down towards south Florida. Blackfin tuna will remain strong for a few more months in the afternoons as well, and hopefully if we can get a few days with light winds the bottom fishing for snapper will pick up. We do have a good amount of available dates for the rest of the month as well as moving into February, so if your coming down to south Florida and looking to do some deep sea fishing we would love to have you and show you a great time on the water. Capt. Vinnie
Continue reading
New Year Fishing In Fort Lauderdale
New Year Fishing In Fort Lauderdale
Januari 7, 2026
Hello everyone Capt. Vinnie here, been a super busy week with a lot of charters, i personally want to thank everyone that came out fishing with us new and repeat customers. For the report this week fishing has been a true grind, some days have been literally not a bite till the last minute of the trip and other days a bite right off the bat and then no bites the rest of the trip. Thats how it goes this time of year the cold weather has a big play on the way the fish are going to bite, but patience pays to those that wait. Fishing this week the hot topic would be sailfish, we have been catching a few sailfish live baiting with a kite, depths around 150 feet seem to be the magic number where the sailfish are coming threw. Live bait may not get the most bites but usually the bites you do get will be quality fish. Other then live bait trolling has been very slow and it seems its wahoo or bust. Just coming off the full moon we did manage to get one wahoo and we worked hard to get that bite. The best trolling bite right now is going to be that late afternoon bite for those blackfin tunas, around 3pm is when they have been biting the best up until dark. Smaller spoons have been having the best luck and the blackfin tuna have been all different sizes from 2-15lbs mixed in with the tuna has been a lot of bonito as well. Bottom fishing this week has been the most consistent bite we have been having and has literally been the go to when all else fails, a mix of a few different snappers have been biting, yelloweye, vermillions, and lane snappers have been very prevalent on most bottom spots around 200 feet. We have also been catching some of the biggest gray trigger fish I think i have ever seen. All these species are great eating and can be a huge difference maker in having a great trip to a slow one. This week please be sure to take a look and check out some of the great photos of some recent catches that were caught while out on our deep sea fishing charters in Fort Lauderdale and remember to give us a like and follow on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram @Ybnormalsportfishing for daily fishing content. Coming up for the next few weeks i would imagine we would possibly see a spike in the sailfish action as well as the afternoon tuna fishing really heating up. Bottom fishing will continue to remain consistent as long as we have the conditions to do so. For the rest of the month of January we have plenty of availability so if your coming down to south Florida and looking to do some deep sea fishing we have plenty of different trips to choose from to suit your needs, and we would love to show you a great time out on the water... more later... Capt. Vinnie
Continue reading