A fish for Gray Taxidermy

Christian and Taryn Bergstrom from St. Petersburg, FL, who came over the east coast to do some fishing in Fort Lauderdale, chartered the Happy Day Today along with the Topshotfishing team. 

Christian was surprised when twenty minutes after we left the dock, I slowed the boat up to put the lines out in our drop off in 120 ft. of water off of Fort Lauderdale.  As he explained, it takes 45 miles out on the west coast of Florida before fishing lines are put in the water.  He was happy and impressed with the short amount of time it takes to get to the fishing grounds in Fort Lauderdale FL.

Our first strike was a double header – two fish on at the same time with just two anglers, Christian and wife Taryn – it made for a good competition.  Both fish were two Bonitos weighing in at the 15 lb. class.  Not too much longer the plainer rod bent over.  This one took out a good amount of line off of the reel.  At first I thought it was a Wahoo – the fastest swimming fish in the ocean clocked at 64 mph.  As Taryn brought the fish closer to the boat, Dave, our mate, grabbed a hold of the leader.  I could see the silver reflection in the water of an Anaconda (large Kingfish).  Taryn brought the Kingfish closer to the boat and Dave gaffed him with his mouth opening and shutting showing his razor sharp teeth and was put into the fish box – the Kingfish weighed 26 lbs.  So far, Taryn was winning the competition for the largest fish. A fish that he may turn to Gray Taxidermy to build a fish replica.  From there it was back and forth between Christian and Taryn bringing in the fish with a mixture of Kingfish and Bonitos. With a total of 10 Bonitos and 7 Kingfish, it was time to head back to the dock at Bahia Mar 801 Seabreeze Blvd. Fort Lauderdale 33316.