There is a strong sailfish season coming
December 01, 2025 Fort Lauderdale 2 photos & 2 videos

Trip Summary

In the past few weeks, I have come across something that I consider a very good sign. Small sailfish!!! Over the many years I have been a professional fisherman, seasons that start with a run of smaller sized fish, end up being great seasons. Sailfish are a very fast growing fish, just like mahi. They are known for growing around 4ft in length in their first year! In the weeks gone by, I've caught quite a few smaller sized fish that indicate we've had a large spawn of fish. Now with a few cold fronts to push the bait south and a little current, we could see high numbers indeed! Last week, we tried pulling live ballyhoo around which is one of my favorite methods over kite fishing and we managed to raise over 7 sailfish in an hour. Later that day, during our afternoon trip, we raised a few more, only this time it was on dead bait while trolling! Very exciting stuff! If you're planning a fishing trip, follow the cold front patterns and try to book a trip with a minimum of 4hrs, 6 being optimal. See you soon, Capt Matt.
Matthew Fann
Fort-lauderdale, Florida, United States
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Ft. Lauderdale has a fish with your name on it, so let Capt. Matt Fann and the Fish Advisor help you catch it! With Captain Matt at the helm, you’re in knowledgeable and experienced hands. Captain Matt Fann has 25 years of local experience fishing i...

Other reports from this charter

Mahi on the move!
Mahi on the move!
April 11, 2025
We're entering into mahi mahi season and it's starting to show decent numbers. We'd like to see bigger fish but we are at least seeing some at all. during summer months, when the seas are calmer, we will venture further offshore in search of floating debris or weed lines. Now finding weed alone isn't a guarantee, in fact it's just one factor. Mahi do not eat seaweed but simply hunt around it, finding small bait fish, minnows, shrimp, crab etc. It is often that we will find seaweed lines that are miles long yet we won't have a single bite. The reason for this is that the weed might have already been hunted on and the fish have moved on or it's a new patch that hasn't been found yet. The recent trips have shown this exact example. I've found fantastic looking weed lines and have trolled up and down without a single bite and then "kapow"!! Fish on! As mentioned earlier, a lot of these fish are young and are simply too small to harvest but we are seeing a few that make the mark and get a free boat ride home in the cooler! The best method for mahi is often by trolling ballyhoo or bonito strips matched up with various skirts. Many captains prefer to use live bait but those only come into play once you've made contact with the fish and they seem to be in abundance. You'll have a live bait to offer up when multiple fish come to the boat. Live bait isn't always necessary though. If you're considering booking based on this report then please consider a few things. The ocean is vast! It's simple massive and mahi are highly migratory fish. They can swim thousands of miles per year and eat as much as they can but sometimes they are nowhere to be found. We spend the majority of our lives in pursuit of the perfect moment but often times we are left to dream of a better trip... Next time!
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