September is a great month for fishing in Fort Lauderdale. It’s officially our last month of summer and the beginning of our fall fishing season. We get the best of both seasons. First off, the summertime action on the reef has not slowed down. Bonitos and kingfish are still biting excellent anywhere in 80-120ft of water. Some barracuda, small tunas and sometimes a wahoo are being caught trolling in those same waters. And besides the great summertime fishing, this is the start of our sailfish season in Ft Lauderdale. Sailfish start biting now and the bite continues to get stronger and stronger as the weather cools down, climaxing in January-February. Sailfish are a definite possibility this month on any reef trip. We catch them on our sportfishing and drift boats.
Our drift fishing trips are doing well on mangroves and yellowtails, emphasis on the mangroves. Some nice size mangroves are hitting the docks and decent numbers of them. Assortment of big yellowtails and some small mutton snappers may be mixed in the catch too. Groupers are around this time of year and are biting, a few reds or a big black might be caught on our daytime drift trips. Adding even more variety this time of year are cobia as they migrate through our waters. Cobia are hungry, inquisitive and spooky fish. They are challenging to hook, catch and actually get/keep in the boat. They put on every bit as strong a fight inside the boat as they do on the line. Cobia are great eating and always an exciting, unexpected surprise. They move through in schools this time of year following stingrays, turtles and other slow moving sea creatures. You never know when you’ll catch them. We caught our first few of the season this past week.
You never know what you will catch this time of year as different fish are biting every day. One day they are biting good and the next they are temperamental and won’t eat a thing. Only one thing about fishing is predictable and that is that fishing is unpredictable. Have fun and enjoy the great fishing off Fort Lauderdale beach. Sea ya on the water.