Beautiful, acrobatic and illuminated, sailfish ranks as South Florida’s # 1 sport catch. But there is a lot involved in catching and releasing these highly sought after game fish – not the best table fare, after all. How Much Vacuum Packed Smoked Sailfish Can You Eat? So what does catching sailfish entail? What kind of bait? What is the best rod and reel setup? What are some of the techniques to use in the water? Let’s start and learn from the end result and work to the beginning.
The fact is, Sailfish fights with all her heart, showing off stunts on sight time and time again. Did you ever run the 100-yard race in high school? What happened when you finished? If you were like me, you stood there with your head between your knees and tried to catch your breath. A sailfish cannot afford to sit there and catch their breath, they will sink. So what do you do when you get a sailfish that looks half dead on the side of your boat? You need to resurrect it! Put on your gloves, grab your sandpaper like a spindle pick, remove the hook and grab it from the side of the boat, preferably with the boat running. You need to revive it for 5-10 minutes before letting go. This may take a bit of patience, but the payoff is great when your prize capture walks away in good health ready to fight another day.
The above scenario is a bit traumatizing for the sailfish, don’t you think? Not to mention a little newbie. Most of the cases where a sailfish has to be resurrected it is because the fight dragged on. Fight your sailfish under 20 pounds. The test will prolong the battle unless you chase your fish. I personally prefer to fight my Sailfish without help from the boat, but I also have that luxury as I fish from a center console. My clients have praised me numerous times for not chasing their fish, they appreciated catching their fish on their own. As an example, if you use a 12 lb. setup, you will need to hold at least 400 yards on your reel, and you may still be knocked off your average sailfish if you don’t chase it. Even if you don’t get tangled, what fun it is to see your fish jumping 300 yards from the boat not to mention all the string that is dragging in the water, increasing the risk of it breaking. And finally, you may have your fishing boat an hour later.
Fast reels, hot baits
One of my favorite setups for yachting is a Shimano TLD 20, wound with over 400 yards of 30 pound Berkley Big Game test, paired with a seven foot medium action Oceanmaster rod. This rod and reel setup has caught tons of sailfish over the years and remains unbeatable offshore. Maintaining 4-5 pounds of drag in the attack position, most sailfish stay within 150 yards of the boat and are brought to the stern in 20 minutes. I use Berkley Big Game line on most reels, it doesn’t have a lot of stretch or memory and it’s easy to tie, it’s abrasion resistant too. With experienced anglers on board, I will tie a sharp 5/0 Lazer Eagle Claw Salmon hook directly to the main line. You can bring the fish in in 20 minutes and the line holds up really well, and you get a lot more hits that way. You will need to re-tie your hook after each fish caught to be safe from any nicks or straw on your line.
Putting the right bait on your hook is critical to its success. I have caught sailfish at Ballyhoo, Pilchards and Threadfin Herring, but my best success is the valuable spectacle eye. (Literally $ 50. $ 100. A dozen) They are a soft bait with big eyes and strong swimmers, making them excellent baits for all techniques. You can catch this bait on size 12 sabiki rigs, but only at night, that’s when the Goggle-eye kicks in. You can find them around structures up to about 80 feet of water and around anchored boats. As soon as the sun rises the sting goes off, unless there is a full moon setting when the morning light breaks then the sting will last a little longer. So get ready to fish for these googly eyes 2-4 hours before sunrise, giving yourself time to find them first.
The technique
Getting ready in the drift.
As mentioned above on my flat lines I like to tie the hooks directly to the main line, otherwise I will tie a short bimini to the end of the tag and attach my lead, 10ft 40lb fluorocarbon test Seaguar with a knot Albright. This knot takes practice, but once you have the idea of how this knot works, it will never change. Typically 2-3 flat lines are deployed 50, 80, and over 100 feet from the ship. 2 descending lines are deployed at 40 and 80 feet depth. The drop lines are mounted differently as the weights are attached and the baits make the line twist more, therefore I attach a stainless steel ball bearing swivel to my Bimini and then 8 monkey feet 40-50 lbs. attached to 1 foot of # 4 Kingfish rig wire. You may not want kings, but sooner or later your drift will take you above their zone, so prepare for cuts. Most of the time I tie cables to all the platforms because the Kings bite all the lines. I use 4-6 oz weights on the lines down. The weight can be positioned in different ways. I like to insert the Bimini twist into the weight and then tie my snap-on swivel. You can also take a piece of dental floss, attach it to the weight, and leave a tag end long enough to tie to the kneecap. You can also use the breakout technique where you will lose weight. You take your line above the swivel and insert it through the weight so that a loop appears at the other end, then you take an elastic band, put it through the loop a few times, and pull the jumpsuit slowly so that the elastic band get stuck inside the weight. . When a fish hits, the pressure on the line will release the weight. Setting your lines for the kite is the same as the downline without the weights. Tie your bimini, attach your 75-100 pound rated ball bearing swivel, tie 8-10 feet of 50 guide material to the swivel, and attach the tag end if you prefer, to 1 foot of wire guide n. 4 attached to his hook through a crazy twist. Then I’ll take a 2 foot strip of red or orange tape and stick it to my kneecap at the end of the Bimini, that way I can monitor my baits much more easily.
Slow trolling
This technique is more advanced than drifting. It requires dropping the baits on the hit. Sailfish are very sensitive as they pick up your bait, if your blows in and out of gear, a sailfish may appear in your bait, put it in your mouth, and if your drag is tight, the boat will pull it out of your mouth. and it may not come. back. I prefer to keep my reel drags free with the clickers on, or in a swivel outfit I will leave the bail open, attach a piece of copper wire to the arm that is attached to the rod, and make a small hook to hang the line. Continue, with a gentle tug, the sailfish will pull the small hook line on the copper wire and put this spool on a free spool as it runs with the bait. Let the fish eat for at least 5-10 seconds, or until it takes off quickly, then place the drag lever in the hit position and roll down until the line begins to come off the spool. When the kite bait is hit, the sailfish need time to eat just like the above, as you lower the fish the line will come out of the clip, so move fast to squeeze it before jumping. If it jumps before you squeeze, chances are you’ve missed it.
The best time for South Florida sailfish begins November through April, when these fish are concentrated in 100 to 200 feet of water. On winter days when the wind is coming from the east, it is not unusual to get 4-5 casts in a day of fishing from Ft. Lauderdale, 3 or more casts make a good day. During the winter season, be sure to present plenty of baits at depth, at least 50 feet or more. We catch a lot of sails this way, it seems that the upper part of the water column is a bit cold for them, especially on those days when the winds blow from the north.
When targeting the sailfish, look for the edge where the cobalt blue waters meet the green water. This is where the bait usually ends when these two streams move against each other. This edge is always changing, sometimes you won’t find blue water beyond about 700 feet. Don’t neglect this area, many times I have laid lines from 75-100 feet and came up with a beautiful tail walker. Also pay attention to the current, a good 2 knot north current produces some of the best bites.
