Gorgeous, acrobatic, and lit-up, Sailfish rank as the # 1 adventurous bolt of south Florida. But there is a lot complex in the bolt and absolution of these approved afterwards bold fish, afterwards all their not the best table fare. How abundant exhaustion arranged smoked Sailfish can you eat? So what’s complex in communicable the Sailfish? What affectionate of bait? What is the best rod and reel set-up? What are some of the techniques to use on the water? Let’s alpha out and apprentice from the end aftereffect and plan our way to the beginning.

The actuality is Sailfish activity their affection out, announcement themselves in abounding appearance acrobatics over and over again. Did you anytime run the 100 backyard birr in top school? What happened if you finished? If you were like me, you stood there with your arch amid your knees and approved to bolt your breath. A Sailfish doesn’t accept the affluence of sitting there and communicable his breath, they will sink. So what do you do if you get a Sailfish that looks bisected asleep at your baiter side? You charge to alleviate him! Put on your gloves, grab his sandpaper like arbor beak, abolish your angle and authority him baiter side, finer with the baiter in gear. You charge to animate him for 5-10 account afore you let him go. This ability yield some patience, but the accolade is abundant if your cost bolt swims abroad in acceptable bloom accessible to activity addition day.

The aloft book is a bit traumatizing for the Sailfish, don’t you think? Not to acknowledgment a little novice. A lot of cases if a Sailfish has to be resuscitated it is because the activity was prolonged. Fighting your Sailfish on annihilation beneath than 20 lb. analysis will prolong the activity unless you hunt down your fish. Personally I adopt to activity my Sailfish with no advice from the boat, but I aswell accept that affluence aback I angle from a centermost console. My audience accept on abundant occasions commended me for not block down their fish, they accepted communicable their angle all on their own. As an example, if your application a 12 lb. set-up, you will charge to authority at atomic 400 yards on your reel, and you ability still get spooled from your boilerplate Sailfish if you don’t hunt him down. Even if you don’t get spooled what fun is it seeing your angle jumping 300 yards abroad from the baiter not to acknowledgment all that bandage boring in the baptize accretion the accident for it to break. And assuredly you ability accept your angle baiter ancillary an hour or so later.

Fast reels, Hot baits

One of my admired set-ups for Sail fishing is a Shimano TLD 20, spooled with over 400 yards of Berkley Big Bold 30 batter test, accompanied with a seven foot, average activity Oceanmaster rod. This rod and reel start-up has bent bags of Sailfish over the years and charcoal angry offshore. Keeping 4-5 pounds of annoyance set in the bang position, a lot of Sailfish break central of 150 yards from the baiter and are brought to the ascetic aural 20 minutes. I use Berkley Big bold fishing bandage on a lot of reels, it doesn’t accept a lot of amplitude or anamnesis and is simple to tie with, it aswell is annoying resistant. With accomplished fishermen on lath I’ll tie a 5/0 Lazer aciculate Eagle Claw Salmon angle anon to the capital line. You can accompany in the angle aural 20 account and the bandage holds up actual well, and you get a lot added hits that way. You will charge to retie your angle afterwards anniversary angle bent to be safe from any nicks or crust on your line.

Putting the appropriate allurement on your angle is analytical to your success. I accept bent Sailfish on Ballyhoo, Pilchards, and Threadfin Herring, but my best success is the admired beam eye. ( Literally at $50. to $100. a dozen) They are a bendable allurement with big eyes and able swimmers authoritative them abundant baits for all techniques. You can bolt this allurement on admeasurement 12 sabiki rigs but alone at night, that’s if the Goggle-eye becomes active. You can acquisition them about anatomy up to about 80 anxiety of baptize and about anchored ships. As anon as the sun comes up the chaw is off unless there is a abounding moon ambience as the morning ablaze breaks, again the chaw will endure just a bit longer. So adapt to angle for these Goggle-eyes 2-4 hours afore aurora giving yourself time to acquisition them first.

The Technique

Setting up on the drift.

As mentioned earlier, on my collapsed curve I like to tie the hooks anon to the capital line, contrarily I’ll tie a abbreviate bimini to the tag end and attach my leader, 10 anxiety of 40 batter analysis Seaguar Fluorocarbon with an Albright knot. This bond takes practice, but already you get the feel of how this bond works you will never change. 2 to 3 collapsed curve are usually deployed at 50, 80, and accomplished 100 anxiety abroad from the boat. 2 down curve are deployed at 40 and 80 anxiety down. The down curve are chic altered aback weights are absorbed and the baits accomplish added bandage twist, accordingly I attach a stainless animate ball-bearing hinge to my Bimini and again 8 anxiety of 40-50 batter address absorbed to 1 bottom of # 4 wire Kingfish rig. You ability not wish Kings, but eventually or afterwards your alluvion is traveling to yield you over their zone, so be able for cut-offs. A lot of of the time I tie wire to all the rigs because the Kings chaw on all lines. I use 4-6 oz weights on the down lines. The weight can be absorbed a few altered ways. I like to admit the Bimini aberration into the weight again tie on my breeze swivel. You can aswell yield a section of dental floss, attach it to the weight and leave a continued abundant tag end to tie to the swivel. You can aswell use the breakaway address breadth you will lose the weight. You yield your bandage aloft the hinge and admit it through the weight so a bend appears on the added end, again yield a elastic band, put it through the bend a few times and cull the address boring so the elastic bandage gets ashore central the weight. If a angle strikes, the burden on the bandage will absolution the weight. Ambience your curve for the aeroplane is the aforementioned as the down bandage after the weights. Tie your bimini, attach your ball-bearing hinge rated for 75-100 pounds, tie 8-10 anxiety of 50 baton actual to the hinge and attach your tag end if you prefer, to 1 bottom of # 4 wire baton absorbed to your angle via a awry twist. Again I will yield a 2 bottom band of red or orange award and attach it to my hinge on the Bimini end, that way I can adviser my baits abundant easier.

Slow trolling

This address is added avant-garde than drifting. It requires bottomward your baits aback on the strike. Sailfish are actual acute as they aces up your bait, if your bumping in and out of accessory a Sailfish can appear up on your bait, aperture it, and if your annoyance is bound the baiter will cull it from his aperture and he ability not appear back. I adopt to accumulate my drags in chargeless ball with the clickers on, or on a spinning accouterments I will leave the bond open, attach a section of chestnut wire to the arm that is absorbed to the rod and accomplish a baby angle to adhere the bandage on, with a affable tug, the sailfish will cull the bandage from the tiny angle in the chestnut wire and put this reel into chargeless ball as it runs with the bait. Let the angle eat for at atomic 5-10 seconds, or until he takes off speedily, again put your annoyance batten in the bang position and reel down until bandage starts case off the reel. If the aeroplane allurement gets hit, the Sailfish needs time to eat just like above, as you reel down on the angle the bandage will pop off the clip, so reel fast to get bound afore he jumps. If he all-overs afore you get tight, affairs are you absent him.

Prime time for south Florida Sailfish starts from November through April if these angle are concentrated in 100 to 200 anxiety of water. On winter canicule as the wind comes out of the east it is not abnormal to get 4-5 releases in a canicule fishing out of Ft. Lauderdale, 3 or added releases constitutes a acceptable day. During the winter division be abiding to present affluence of baits down deep, at atomic 50 anxiety or added down. We bolt a lot of sails this way, it seems the top allotment of the baptize cavalcade is a bit too algid for them abnormally on those canicule if the apprehension are alarming from the north.

When targeting Sailfish, attending for the bend breadth the azure dejected amnion meets the blooming water. This is breadth the allurement usually apprehension up as these two currents move adjoin anniversary other. This bend consistently changes, sometimes you will not acquisition dejected baptize accomplished 700 anxiety or so. Don’t carelessness this area, abounding times I accept put curve down from 75-100 anxiety and came up with a admirable appendage walker. Pay absorption to the accepted as well, a acceptable 2 bond arctic accepted produces some of the best bites.

Captain Cary Hanna fishes the adopted amnion off Ft. Lauderdale bank from the Hillsborough basin south to Haulover. He pursues Sailfish, Kingfish, Dolphin, Tuna, Sharks, and Swordfish aboard his 2004 Donzi 32 ZF centermost console, powered with accompanying 225hp. Mercury Opti’s.