Danish Sailfish?

Mads, Sana, and Niels Oleson from Denmark fished with Devon and I on Saturday. We exchanged introductions and shoved off. They announced that they had come all the way here to try and catch their first Atlantic Sailfish. First order of the day was, of course, catching bait. We hit our Blue Runner spot and put about a dozen and a half Runners, Goggle Eye and a small Jack in the live well. Next, we pulled up on one of our favorite Ballyhoo patches and found the wind pushing the boat off of the tide drift but we still managed to easily catch enough ’Hoo for the day. It really helped that the group were all Salmon fishermen and adept at using spinning tackle and catching fish. Sana really liked catching the baitfish and it showed as she caught most of the bait. I called a Captain out of Ocean Reef to see how the fishing was down that way and he said it was on the slow side and that they had just missed a double on Sails but that was about it. I opted to go north and try an area that we found to be really hot at times. I pulled the throttles back on The BEAST and Devon and I started deploying our spread. We had 2 lines out and I was working on the 3rd when Devon yelled his rigger just got hit. Sana took the rod and out of the water comes a beautiful Sailfish. Now she is feeling the power of this fish on the 20# spinning tackle. 2, 3, 4 jumps and the fish is charging the boat. That is when the fish comes unglued and it is history. With four lines on top, one off a kite, and one down on the downrigger, we worked the area for a while longer catching only a few Kingfish. The Danish family marveled at the sight of 2 different sea turtles and a free jumping Sailfish in the distance that must have leaped out of the water 10-12 times. I asked them if they would like to go hit a wreck for some brawlers but they were intent on catching Sailfish. Well, that makes the fishing day easier but not necessarily productive. After a short while we pulled our lines and ran south to see if the bite would pick up.



Arriving off the Whistle Buoy we put out the same spread again. We caught several more Kingfish and a Cero Mackerel. Suddenly the kite bait pops and we are thinking Sailfish. No, wait a minute, that looks like a little Silky shark. No, hold on a sec, it’s a Cobia! As we got the fish closer we began to speculate whether this fish might or might not be legal size. Devon leadered the fish and grabbed it for a quick measurement. I pulled out the tape and stretched it the length of the fish as Devon’s mouth begins to water. DANG! One inch short of the frying pan. Devon returned the fish to the water and it swam away to grow, at least another inch . As the day drew to a close we had a quick melee’ of peanut sized school Dolphin and we released them.



The Danes seemed to be extremely happy even though they didn’t get a complete catch on their Sailfish. We did go 0/1 on Sailfish but caught about a half dozen Kingfish, a Cero, 3 Dolphin and a Cobia. All fish were released except the Cero which was our dinner that night. It is very rewarding to end the day without a box full of fish to clean. After all, in fishing, it is the experience of the catch, not the kill.



Capt. Jim

The BEAST

305-233-9996

www.beastcharters.com

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