Mahi Are In Fort Lauderdale

August 09, 2023 Dania Beach 5 photos
Dolphin (Mahi Mahi)
Dolphin (Mahi Mahi)
Tuna (Blackfin)
Tuna (Blackfin)
Bonito
Bonito
Sailfish
Sailfish
Snapper (Vermilion)
Snapper (Vermilion)
Snapper (Yellowtail)
Snapper (Yellowtail)
Barracuda (Great)
Barracuda (Great)

Trip Summary

Hello everyone, Capt. Vinnie here, finally the report that everyone has been waiting for, we will start offshore first, the mahi have been in full force off the coast of Fort Lauderdale finding floating debris has been a great way to find schools of fish but it seems that the birds have been the absolute best thing you can find plain and simple, schools of birds flying just above the surface is an indication that there is fish right beneath them. When locating the birds we have been trolling through them with mostly surface baits, keeping it simple, fresh bonito strips and mylar seawitches are always a great combination and our go to choice. There has been a mix size on the mahi right now some are undersize and some are 5-10lbs with an occasional larger one mixed in. When getting into a school it is important to have something that will keep there interest and live baits like pilchards is something that you can't go wrong with. We had some great days this week catching up to 30 mahi on one trip, granted not all keepers but still very very fun. Right now an all day trip of 8 hours is needed in order to look for mahi, they have been anywhere from 10 to 15 miles offshore and sometimes it takes time to find them. Moving inshore there still has been some summertime sailfish around which is always an awesome thing to see. Also plenty of bonito and a few blackfin tunas starting to show up in the mix, trolling the deeper part of the reef around 200 feet has been a good area to try and target the tuna and early morning has been best. Last but not least the snapper fishing remains very good as of late as long as the conditions present themselves accordingly. Yellowtail snappers have ben biting on the shallow reefs as deep as 70 feet and in the depths around 300 feet there has been some nice sized vermillion snappers too, all snappers are great to eat on the dinner table as well as fun to catch. This week please check out some of the great photos of some recent catches we had while out on our deep sea fishing charters, and remember to give us a follow on social media platforms like facebook and instagram **hidden content** for daily fishing content. The mahi finally made it to Fort Lauderdale and it should only get better from here, August is a great time to fish some if your coming down to Fort Lauderdale and looking to do some deep sea fishing please look us up we would love to show you a great time on the water... Capt. Vinnie
Vinnie Sacks
Dania-beach, Florida, United States
YB Normal - Port Everglades thumbnail
For over a decade, YB Normal has taken clients out for many great days of fishing. Check out are hundreds of reviews. YB Normal is perfectly docked right at the north Port Everglades, inlet-positioning us directly in the middle of Fort Lauderdale and Holl...

Other reports from this charter

Summer Time Fishing Heating up
Summer Time Fishing Heating up
June 21, 2026
Hey everyone Capt. Vinnie here with another great deep sea fishing report. Just like the title states summer fishing heating up that's exactly the theme right now, although the temps are hot the fishing is just as hot right now too. On the reef we have been seeing a good amount of bonito while trolling, even though there not the best eating fish they are a great fighting fish as well and a key role in catching everything else. They make great strips baits for trolling and great bottom fishing baits for snapper. Other then bonito there has been a few kingfish mixed in when the water is dirty, for some reason kingfish prefer the dirty water over clean. The kingfish have been good sized around 10lbs and have been biting best on our deep lines fished with planers and fresh bonito strips. Moving a little deeper off the edge the blackfin tuna have been biting pretty good earlier in the mornings as well as in the afternoons too, the key to getting more tuna bites right now is increasing your trolling speed to around 8 to 9 knots. The faster speeds let you cover more water and help entice the bite, the old expression "speed kills" is true trust me. Blackfin tunas have been decent sized but the bigger ones have been biting better in the late afternoons just before the sun goes down. Further offshore mahi have been somewhat plentiful right now but the only downside is the size, June usually yields strong numbers of mahi mahi off the Fort Lauderdale coast but sizes vary, I truly believe in the next coming months we will start to see more keeper size then undersize. If your heading offshore the best thing to look for is birds or floating debris, but there has been a lot of seaweed as a good starting point. Last but not least bottom fishing this week has been good when the weather allows, we have a great photo of a beautiful cubera snapper that we caught while fishing a deep ship wreck with live bait, that was probably the last fish that crossed my mind that we were going to catch but hey that goes to show you that you just never know and even the professionals get surprised sometimes. The vermillion snapper bite has been good as well on bottom spots around 300 feet of water, you want to use fresh bonito over squid because the bonito is going to stay on the hook a lot better and give you more chances to catch a fish. This week please be sure to take a minute to check out some of the great photos of some catches we had while out on our deep sea fishing charters out of Fort Lauderdale and remember to give us a like and follow on social media platforms like facebook and instagram at "Ybnormalsportfishing" for daily fishing content. Coming up for the rest of the month in June i would say the fishing is going to remain consistent and im hopeful for larger mahi on the horizon as well as a few wahoo showing up on the next full moon. Even though the temps are hot we have ice cold air conditioning aboard so there is no excuse not to come out fishing with us. Flat calm weather and great fishing all that's missing is you, so if your heading down to Fort Lauderdale and looking to get out deep sea fishing look up YB Normal serving Dania beach, Hollywood, and Fort Lauderdale. More later... Capt. Vinnie
Continue reading
A Special Catch
A Special Catch
June 10, 2026
Hey there everyone, Capt. Vinnie here, with another Fort Lauderdale deep sea fishing report for all of you. So for this week I would have to say the theme of the report is going to be honestly, now with that being said I would like to point out that in all reports I do my very best to give you the most honest and accurate report that I can, meaning good, and bad. Not every week the fishing is outstanding like others may make it seem it still is fishing after all and things change daily. Moving on to what you really came here for.... The report this week has been hit and miss meaning some days fishing is good and other days it has been a real grind and i think majority of what is making it a grind is the seaweed. If you have been watching the news or even social media I am sure you have seen a video or two of the beaches full of seaweed. Some days what's on the beach is on the fishing grounds before it gets to the beach. When the seaweed is on the fishing grounds it really makes it tough to troll and catch fish, you do get rewarded at times for grinding it out and fishing through the seaweed but it really is tough on the crew. As far as what has been biting lately on the reef there has been a scattered amount of king mackerel biting trolling baits fished below the surface and mixed in with them has been some bonitos. Kingfish are going to be caught on sea witches and bonito strips and the bonito are going to bite best on a drone spoon in the blue color. Moving just off the reef there has been some blackfin tunas, but they have been deeper then normal around 400 feet. Smaller baits are going to be best due to the bait they are eating naturally. Small baits would include squid skirts, spoons, or lures under 2 inches. The tuna have been active in the mornings but the afternoons seem to be more productive. For an offshore report this week the mahi have been biting pretty well but you do need a trip longer then 4 hours if you want to target mahi I suggest 6 or even 8 hours. There has been some nice weed patches out there as well as some floating debris which I have a photo I took of a floating wood pallet. This pallet that we found didn't have a bunch of mahi on it but it did have wahoo which in my opinion is better then mahi. That goes to show you never know and it always pays to be ready. Last but not least we did some bottom fishing this week with some old friends catching some really nice snowy and yellow edge grouper. In my opinion these types of grouper are the absolute best tasting fish in the ocean, they are somewhat rare and live in deep water where there is structure, they are a fish that is hush hush in the fishing industry. We were lucky enough to have the correct conditions to fish for these great fish and to get to catch them with some great friends brings it all together. The season is now closed on these deep water gems till next year. This week please take a minute 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 "Ybnormalsportfishing" on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram for daily fishing content. Coming up for the next few weeks I would expect the mahi bite to keep improving more and more as we reach the heat of summer, I also think we would start to see more and more kingfish daily as long as the seaweed stays controlled but that is a day to day basis so I am sending my prayers out now. Bottom fishing for yellowtail snapper should come into play soon as well so be on the look out in future reports, for the next few weeks availability is good if your looking to get out deep sea fishing, we have plenty of openings and trip selections to suit anyones needs, so look up YB Normal serving Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania beach. More later...... Capt. Vinnie
Continue reading
Nice Catches In Fort Lauderdale
Nice Catches In Fort Lauderdale
June 1, 2026
Hey there, Capt. Vinnie here this week we had some pretty good fishing although the winds were strong and the ocean was rough if you stuck it out it payed off nicely. Early in the week we had some very strong winds making the seas around 4-6 feet out there although it was rough that type of weather makes for pretty good fishing. The name of the game this week was trolling normally in the winter months we would be doing a lot of kite fishing in those type of conditions but bait is hard to come by as the summer approaches. Trolling from 200-400 feet seemed to be where all the action was this week. We were just a few days before the full moon which is usually a good indication for wahoo and that it was. We landed a few nice wahoo this week while trolling on our deep lines. Other then wahoo we seen a good amount of blackfin tuna this week while trolling, majority of our bites on those were on surface baits but fishing small lures like 2 inches long. Most of the tuna we been catching lately have had very small squids and fish in there stomachs so it makes the best sense to use something for bait similar to what we are seeing in there bellies. Majority of the tuna have been around 5-7lbs with a few as big as 15lbs. Other then wahoo and blackfin tuna we saw a few mahi mahi this week and i believe that is due to the heavy winds which in turn brought them in. It is a little bit early in the season for mahi right now which is why we haven't been getting a lot of numbers more just picking at them but any keeper mahi is a good mahi. Last but not least later in the week when the winds calmed down we seen a nice little flurry of kingfish while trolling the reefs edge. Majority of the bites have been on our deep lines but nice to see a good variety of fish biting. This week please take a second to take a look at 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 **hidden content** for daily fishing content. Coming up here the full moon is going to be in full force for a few days and i do believe that things will slow up for a little bit but after it passes things should be back in full force again. As for fishing charters we have plenty of available dates open for bookings and summer time is one of my favorite times to fish, usually calm winds and seas and good fishing so if your heading down to South Florida and looking to get out deep sea fishing we would love to show you a great time on the water.... more later... Capt. Vinnie
Continue reading