Sailfishing Tutorial

Gorgeous, acrobatic, and lit-up, Sailfish rank because the # 1 sporty catch of south Florida. There is however a lot active in the catch and release of these sought after game fish, after all their not the very best table fare. Just how much vacuum packed smoked Sailfish is it possible to eat? So what's involved in catching the Sailfish? What sort of bait? Is there a best fishing rod and reel set-up? What are a number of the techniques to use around the water? Let's start out and gain knowledge from the end result and work our approach to the beginning.

Truth be told Sailfish fight their heart out, displaying themselves in full view acrobatics repeatedly. Did you ever run the 100 yard dash in senior high school? What happened once you finished? If you were like me, you stood there together with your head relating to the knees and attemptedto catch your breath. A Sailfish does not have the luxury of sitting there and catching his breath, they'll sink. What exactly do you do when you are getting a Sailfish that appears half dead at your boat side? You need to resuscitate him! Put on your gloves, grab his sandpaper like spindle beak, remove your hook and hold him boat side, preferably with all the boat in gear. You need to revive him for 5-10 minutes before you let him go. This may take some patience, however the reward is excellent when your prize catch swims away in good health ready to fight at a later date.

The above scenario is a bit traumatizing for the Sailfish, big event? Not to mention just a little novice. Most cases when a Sailfish needs to be resuscitated it is because your struggle was prolonged. Fighting your Sailfish on anything less than 20 lb. test will prolong the battle if you don't chase down your fish. Personally I favor to fight my Sailfish without help from the boat, but I also have that luxury since i have fish from a center console. My clients have on numerous occasions commended me for not chasing down their fish, they appreciated catching fish all independently. As an example, if the using a 12 lb. set-up, you will have to hold at least 400 yards in your reel, and you might still get spooled from your average Sailfish unless you chase him down. Even if you don't get spooled what fun could it be seeing your fish jumping 300 yards from the boat not forgetting all that line dragging within the water increasing the risk for it to break. And lastly you might have your fish boat side 1 hour later.

Fast reels, Hot baits

Certainly one of my favorite set-ups for Sail fishing can be a Shimano TLD 20, spooled with more than 400 yards of Berkley Big Game 30 pound test, accompanied with a seven foot, medium action Oceanmaster rod. This fishing reel and rod set-up has caught tons of Sailfish over the years and stays unbeatable offshore. Keeping 4-5 pounds of drag emerge the strike position, most Sailfish stay within 150 yards from the boat and so are brought to the stern within Twenty or so minutes. I use Berkley Big game fishing line of all reels, it won't have a lot of stretch or memory and is easy to tie with, it's also abrasive resistant. With experienced fishermen aboard I'll tie a 5/0 Lazer sharp Eagle Claw Salmon hook right to the main line. It is possible to bring in the fish within Twenty or so minutes and the line supports very well, and you get a much more hits this way. You will need to retie your hook after each fish caught to be safe from any nicks or chaff in your line.

Putting the best bait on your own hook is important to your success. We have caught Sailfish on Ballyhoo, Pilchards, and Threadfin Herring, but my best success may be the valuable goggle eye. ( Literally at $50. to $100. a dozen) They are a soft bait with big eyes and strong swimmers which makes them great baits for all techniques. It is possible to catch this bait on size 12 sabiki rigs but only through the night, that's when the Goggle-eye becomes active. You'll find them around structure around about 80 feet of water and around anchored ships. When the sun pops up the bite is off unless there exists a full moon setting since the morning light breaks, then the bite can last just a bit longer. So prepare to fish for these Goggle-eyes 2-4 hours before sunrise giving yourself time to find them first.

The strategy

Setting up around the drift.

Mentionened above previously earlier, on my flat lines I love to tie the hooks right to the main line, otherwise I'll tie a brief bimini to the tag end and fasten my leader, 10 feet of 40 pound test Seaguar Fluorocarbon with an Albright knot. This knot takes practice, but as soon as you get the feel of how this knot works you will never change. Two to three flat lines are usually deployed at 50, 80, and past 100 feet out of the boat. 2 down lines are deployed at 40 and 80 feet down. The down line is rigged different since weights are attached and also the baits make more line twist, therefore I fasten a stainless steel ball-bearing swivel to my Bimini and 8 feet of 40-50 pound mono attached with 1 foot of # 4 wire Kingfish rig. You might not want Kings, but eventually your drift normally takes you over their zone, so be equipped for cut-offs. Most of the time I tie wire to all or any the rigs because the Kings bite on all lines. I personally use 4-6 oz weights about the down lines. The body weight can be attached a couple of different ways. I love to insert the Bimini twist in to the weight then tie on my snap swivel. You can also take a piece of dental floss, attach it to the weight and then leave a long enough tag end to tie towards the swivel. You may also use the breakaway technique in which you will lose the load. You take your line above the swivel and insert it with the weight so a loop appears on the other end, then have a rubber band, input it through the loop several times and pull the mono slowly therefore the rubber band gets stuck in the weight. Whenever a fish strikes, pressure on the line will release the load. Setting your lines for your kite is the same as the network without the weights. Tie your bimini, attach your ball-bearing swivel rated for 75-100 pounds, tie 8-10 feet of 50 leader material to the swivel and attach your tag end in the event you prefer, to at least one foot of # 4 wire leader attached with your hook using a haywire twist. I quickly will take a couple foot strip of red or orange ribbon and fasten it to my swivel about the Bimini end, this way I can monitor my baits easier.

Slow trolling

This method is more advanced than drifting. It needs dropping your baits back on the strike. Sailfish are very sensitive while they pick up your bait, if your bumping inside and out of gear a Sailfish can come up on your bait, mouth it, and when your drag is tight the boat will pull it from his mouth and the man might not return. I prefer to maintain my drags in free spool using the clickers on, or over a spinning outfit I am going to leave the bail open, attach a piece of copper wire for the arm that is attached to the rod and make a small hook to hang the line on, having a gentle tug, the sailfish will pull the fishing line from the tiny hook inside the copper wire and put this reel into free spool as it runs with the bait. Allow fish eat not less than 5-10 seconds, or until he will be taking off speedily, then put your drag lever in the strike position and reel down until line starts peeling off of the reel. When the kite bait gets hit, the Sailfish needs time for you to eat the same as above, while you reel upon the fish the fishing line will pop off of the clip, so reel fast to have tight before he jumps. If he jumps prior to getting tight, then you missed him.

Prime time for south Florida Sailfish starts from November through April when these fish are concentrated in 100 to 200 feet of water. On winter days since the wind arrives of the east it is not unusual to have 4-5 releases inside a days fishing away from Ft. Lauderdale, 3 or maybe more releases produces a good day. Through the winter season be sure to present a lot of baits down deep, a minimum of 50 feet or more down. We catch plenty of sails this way, it seems like the top part of the water column is too cold for the kids especially on those days when the winds are blowing from the north.

When targeting Sailfish with Shimano TLD, try to find the edge the location where the cobalt blue waters meets the green water. This is how the bait usually winds up as these two currents move against the other person. This edge always changes, sometimes you will not find blue water past 700 feet approximately. Don't neglect the bradenton area, many times I've put lines down from 75-100 feet and developed a beautiful tail walker. Observe the current also, a good 2 knot north current produces some of the best bites!