The Lady Pamela II sporfishing’s driftboat, Lois Ann, is a great bargain for families and others that just want to get out and fish in the waters offshore the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Area. The opportunities to catch snappers, groupers, triggerfish, kingfish, you name it, are right there at the end of a fishing rod. One bottomfish we catch that you never really hear about is the porgy. There are five species of porgy off south Florida, including the sheepshead which are caught in inland waters around oyster reefs and pilings, and the pinfish which are often used for bait. After the sheepshead, the jolthead porgy (Calamus bajonado) is the largest of the porgies caught on south Florida reefs, and is the Lady Pamela II’s fish-of-the-week. Joltheads are so-named because of the unique appearance of their somewhat blunt head, where the eye sits up high on the forehead. These fish are excellent eating, and can grow to over 14 lbs. Porgies are often confused with grunts and snappers, and while they are all members of the perches, they are in different taxonomic families. Regardless, they are just as tasty as a snapper in my book, and I gladly toss porgies into my fish box! Porgies are aggressive biters when we get into them, taking just about anything we can throw on a hook. We put baits like squid, cut mullet, or ballyhoo chunks on double-hook rigs and drop down for instant action. I have found that when the porgies are biting, so are the snappers, and grunts, so you never know what you are going to bring up on the line. Offshore, we are catching a few mahi-mahi and wahoo if there is some chop on the water. Trolling on the reef has been a mixed bag with some bonitos and barracudas. There are some big amberjacks, in the 50-60 lb. range, hanging around the offshore wrecks, though they have been tricky to catch with strong north-flowing currents. Tight Lines Capt. David Ide Lady Pamela 2 Sport Fishing

There are many deep-sea fishing options here in the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood area of south Florida because our series of three coral reefs are close to shore, with plenty of bottomfish, and many species of pelagic fish, like tunas, sailfish, king mackerel and wahoo, patrol just off the reef edges and out to the Gulf Stream. The deeper waters also hold a variety of sharks. One of the unique fish habitats we have here are the number of wrecks we have in this area. These wrecks attract yelloweye and vermilion snapper, groupers, and most of all big fat greater amberjacks. It is the amberjack that is this weeks’ Lady Pamela II sportfish of the week. Greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) are year-round residents of our local deep wrecks, but are also found along deeper areas of the reefs. These are the largest of the jacks, with the Florida record topping out at over 140 lbs. The fish we see on the local wrecks will run anywhere from 20 lbs. up to 80 lbs. Pound for pound, these brutes will put a serious ache in your arms. We like to deep jig over the wrecks with spoons or feathers tipped with bonito strips, in areas ranging from **hidden content** feet of water. When one these monsters hits, it is like latching onto a freight train. We have not had any anglers get jerked overboard, but we have had to put multiple hands on a rod to keep from losing a rig! When the boats come back to the dock you can tell which angler has caught an amberjack because they are invariably rubbing their shoulders! While others may disagree, I find the amberjack to be excellent table fare, though larger fish are prone to have white amberjack worms embedded in the flesh of the tail. I prefer the shoulder meat from fish under 30 lbs which are generally worm-free. These worms are not a threat to humans, but cooking your fish thoroughly, or freezing it, will kill any other possibly infectious organisms, and render your fish safe to eat. My mother always regarded the amberjack as a trash fish, but in a somewhat underhanded fashion, I changed her mind. I presented her with a beautifully grilled amberjack steak that had been marinated in teriyaki. Of course, I told her it was mahi-mahi, and she said it was the best fish she had ever eaten (thinking mahi-mahi of course!) Even when I told her the truth, she was sold on amberjack, and ever since has gladly accepted amberjack fillets from me. I guess sometimes a white lie is a good thing! Give us a call at Lady Pamela sportfishing, and let’s see if we can hook you up to an amberjack! Tight Lines Capt. David Ide Lady Pamela 2 Sport Fishing

The past few weeks Lady Pamela sportfishing had some exceptional fishing, both offshore and over the reefs. Offshore some big dolphin, up to 30lbs. have been landed. Closer to the reefs we have had king mackerel, blackfin tunas, and wahoo. One day last week we had a full day charter and the angler paid the extra fuel cost to run to Miami where the sailfish were biting. It was worth the extra cost, as we caught 13 sails and a fought a blue marlin for over an hour! A couple of our charters have targeted sharks off Ft. Lauderdale and the have not been disappointed. We got a big mako, and a hammerhead. We have also seen a few sandbar sharks and some big bull sharks. One big bull shark, that looked to be close to 9 feet, threw the hook right at the back of the boat. Driftfishing at night has been pretty consistent, with some big trigger fish, vermilion snappers, and mangroves the main catch. Yellowtail snapper and vermilions have been around in the daytime. Tight Lines Capt. David Ide Lady Pamela 2 Sport Fishing

February 13, 2017 This past week the fishing with Lady Pamela II sportfishing has been quite good. Ron and Paul from New York had a memorable trip this past Friday morning. They decided to buy a dozen goggle eyes to try to catch up sailfish on the kites but the winds were too calm to start so we tried we tried bottom fishing. The snappers were not cooperating very well as we caught a few, but it was a lot of work. Finally, up went the kites up and in the first five minutes we caught a real nice 14 lb. mahi-mahi. Right after resetting the baits we catch a doubleheader sailfish! After releasing both fish, we put the kites back up and we caught another double! Just awesome fishing. Towards the end of the six-hour trip we hooked up a triple out of a quad sailfish bite! Our mate Adam Mate had to reel in one of the fishing because we only had two anglers. On Saturday, fishing offshore Fort Lauderdale totally changed as we caught only king mackerel and a nice African pompano. All the driftboat trips on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights limited out on vermilion snappers, as well landing lane snappers, mangroves and a few yellowtails. A few bluefish, grunts, and triggerfish were in the mix as well. The daytime trips have been producing king mackerel as well as some monster triggerfish. Lady Pamela sportfishing also had two back-to-back swordfish trips; one nighttime trip and one daytime trip. We didn't get any bites on either trip under a full moon, which is surprising, but it can be hit or miss. We have a couple daytime swordfish trips this week and we hope bite picks up on the backside of the moon. I’ll keep you posted! Tight Lines Capt. David Ide Lady Pamela 2 Sport Fishing

The silver king, the mighty tarpon, is the Lady Pamela II sportfish of the week. These majestic silver giants are roaming the intracoastal and nearshore waters of Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood in search of schools of mullet and pilchards. These are great fish to target when the winter weather makes it too rough to go offshore. The fish we have around here are big too, with many fish over 6 feet and weighing more than 100 lbs. Megalops atlanticus are truly prehistoric fish that have been around about as long as the alligators and crocodiles. They can live 100 years, with a world record size of 280 lbs. and stretching eight feet long. Tarpon are spectacularly acrobatic fish, often skyrocketing 10 feet or more into the air when hooked. We like to fish for tarpon at night, using live mullet drifted right on the bottom near the entrance to Port Everglades inlet. Because we are fishing inside weather is not an issue, and there are plenty of other places inshore to fish, if the bite is not on at the inlet. There is always something catch here in south Florida, even if the weather is bad! Tight Lines, Capt. David Ide Lady Pamela 2 Sport Fishing

November 16, 2015 Lady Pamela Sportfishing celebrated a fall festival of fishing this past weekend off Fort Lauderdale. The Saturday action kicked off with a nice sailfish caught on the troll, along with some big smoker king mackerel in the boat. Sunday was the big bonanza as we got a bunch of dolphin and lost a couple of other dolphin. We also went three for five on sailfish hookups and had a couple more jump offs. To top it all off we brought a silky shark to the boat for photos and a release. The silky gets its name from the fact that their actually feels silky to the touch! The driftfishing trip was also awesome this weekend as our anglers landed 60 keeper lane snappers fishing in the afternoon on a wreck lying in 100 feet of water. The vermilion snapper fishing has been very good as well, but on this trip, it was all about the lane snapper. Tight Lines, Capt. David Ide Lady Pamela 2 Sport Fishing