Magnificent, acrobatic and illuminated, Sailfish rank as South Florida’s #1 sport catch. But there is a lot involved in catching and releasing these sought after sport fish, after all, they are not the best table fare. How much vacuum packed smoked sailfish can you eat? So what does catching sailfish entail? What kind of bait? What is the best actual rod and setup? What are some of the techniques to use in the water? Let’s start and learn from the end result and move forward to the beginning.

The fact is that Sailfish fight with all their heart, showing themselves in stunts on sight over and over again. Did you ever run the 100 yard dash in high school? What happened when you finished? If you were like me, you would stand there with your head between your knees and try to catch your breath. A sailfish doesn’t have the luxury of sitting there and catching its breath, it will sink. So what do you do when you get a sailfish that looks half dead on the side of your boat? You have to resurrect him! Put on your gloves, grab your sandpaper like the beak of a spindle, remove the hook and hold it off the side of the boat, preferably with the boat geared. You must revive him for 5-10 minutes before letting him go. This may take a bit of patience, but the payoff is great when your prize catch swims away in good health, ready to fight another day.

The above scenario is a bit traumatic for sailfish, don’t you think? Not to mention a little rookie. Most of the cases where a sailfish has to be resurrected is because the fight dragged on. Fight your sailfish with anything under 20lbs. The test will prolong the battle unless you chase after your fish. I personally prefer to fight my sailfish without the help of the boat, but I also have that luxury since 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 are using a 12 lb. setup, you’ll need to keep at least 400 yards on your reel, and you could still get caught on your average sailfish if you don’t chase it. Even if you don’t reel in, what fun it is to watch your fish jump 300 yards from the boat, not to mention all that line drags in the water and increases the risk of it snapping. And lastly, you may have your side of the fishing boat an hour later.

Fast reels, hot baits

One of my favorite setups for sail fishing is a Shimano TLD 20, spooled with a 400+ yard test 30-pound Berkley Big Game, accompanied by a seven-foot medium-action Oceanmaster rod. This rod and reel setup has caught tons of sailfish over the years and is still unbeatable on the high seas. 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 within 20 minutes. I use Berkley Big Game fishing line on most reels, it doesn’t have a lot of stretch or memory and is easy to tie, it’s also abrasion resistant. With experienced anglers on board, I tied a 5/0 Lazer Sharp Eagle Claw Salmon hook directly to the main line. You can bring in the fish in 20 minutes and the line holds up very well, and you get a lot more hits that way. You will need to re-tie the hook after each fish is caught to be safe from nicks or debris on your line.

Putting the right bait on your hook is critical to your success. I have caught sailfish at Ballyhoo, Pilchards and Threadfin Herring, but my biggest hit is the valuable googly eye. (Literally $50 to $100 a dozen) They are a soft bait with large eyes and strong swimmers that make them great baits for all techniques. You can catch this bait on size 12 sabiki rigs, but only at night, that’s when Goggle-eye kicks in. You can find them around structures up to about 80 feet deep and around anchored ships. 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 bit longer. So be prepared to fish for these googly eyes 2-4 hours before sunrise, giving you time to find them first.

The technique

Drifting.

As mentioned above, on my flat lines I like to tie the hooks directly to the main line; otherwise I’ll tie a short bimini to the tag end and attach my leader, 10ft 40lb test Seaguar fluorocarbon with an Albright knot. This knot takes practice, but once you get the feel of how this knot works, you will never change. Typically, 2-3 flat lines are deployed 50, 80, and 100+ feet away from the boat. 2 descending lines are deployed at 40 and 80 feet depth. Downlines are rigged differently as weights are attached and baits make the line twist more therefore I attach a stainless steel ball bearing swivel to my Bimini then 8ft of 40-50 pound mono attached to 1 foot of #4 Kingfish rig wire. You may not want Kings, but sooner or later your drift will take you to their zone, so be prepared for hacks. Most of the time I tie wire to all the platforms because the Kings bite all the lines. I use 4-6 ounce weights on the downlines. The weight can be attached in different ways. I like to insert the Bimini swivel into the weight and then tie my swivel snap on. You can also take a piece of dental floss, attach it to the weight, and leave a tag on the end long enough to tie it to your kneecap. You can also use the breakout technique in which you will lose weight. Take your line above the swivel and insert it through the weight so that a loop appears at the other end, then take a rubber band, thread it through the loop a few times and slowly pull the monkey so that the rubber band gets 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 off your bimini top, 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 preferred, 1 foot of guide of #4 wire attached to its hook through an uncontrolled twist. I will then take a 2 foot strip of red or orange tape and attach it to my swivel on the Bimini end, that way I can monitor my baits much more easily.

slow trolling

This technique is more advanced than drift. Requires dropping baits on attack. Sailfish are very sensitive when they pick up bait, if you get in and disengage a sailfish can climb onto your bait, bite it, and if your drag is tight the boat will pull it out of its mouth and it may not come. back. I prefer to keep my drags on a free spool with the clickers on, or on a spinning rig. 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 from. forward, with a gentle tug, the sailfish will pull the line from the small hook on the copper wire and set this spool on the free spool while running with the bait. Let the fish eat for at least 5-10 seconds, or until it takes off quickly, then put the drag lever in the strike position and reel down until the line starts to come off the spool. When the kite bait is hit, the sailfish need time to eat as shown above, as you reel in the fish, the line will come loose from the clip, so reel in fast to tighten before it jumps out. If it jumps before you get close, chances are you didn’t see it.

Prime time for South Florida sailfish begins from November through April, when these fish are concentrated in 100 to 200 feet of water. On winter days, when the wind blows from the east, it is not unusual to get 4-5 casts in a day of fishing in Ft. Lauderdale, 3 or more casts make up a good day. During the winter season, be sure to lay out plenty of bait deep down, at least 50 feet or more deep. We catch a lot of sails this way, it seems that the upper part of the water column is too cold for them, especially on days when the winds blow from the north.

When aiming for sailfish, look for the edge where the cobalt blue waters meet the green water. This is where the bait usually ends up when these two currents move against each other. This border is always changing, sometimes you won’t find blue water beyond 700 feet or so. Don’t neglect this area, many times I have laid lines 75 to 100 feet and got a beautiful tail walker. Pay attention to the current too, a good 2 knot north current produces some of the best bites.

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