Georgia Outdoors Adventures Article, Dec. 2K8 Issue: Sails School w/the ASWSC

The Atlanta Saltwater Sportsman Club (ASWSC) 21^st Annual Sailfish Tournament in West Palm Beach is January 10-12th. 

  If you have a trailerable saltwater boat, a few 30 wides or heavy spinning tackle, then this is a great chance to billfish on a blue collar budget.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to add a new species to your boat or life list, and even introduce friends and family to sailfish which are tremendously exciting to catch. If you don’t have a boat, there’s always seems to be a boat looking for crew.

While you can catch sails year round in south Florida, December through March is the peak season. As the bait migration pushes south in the fall, you can expect multiple opportunities at sails each day.   One of our boats in last year’s tournament released six fish in a single day.  Sailfish are known acrobats, and put on a great show. Often they are even seen free jumping in open water.  However, these spectacular jumps and greyhounding runs also explain why many fish are hooked but manage to get off during the fight.  Last year, many boats in the tournament enjoyed multiple hook ups, a few even landed doubles!  So not only is this a chance to add a sailfish to your species list, there’s even a good chance you can be a part of an even rarer event, landing a double on billfish.

So what’s this fishery like?  Well what extra time and effort it takes to get to south Florida, is more than offset by the ease of fishing there.  You can forget  notions of 50 to 70 mile runs to the Gulf Stream or blue water typical of fishing the Georgia or Gulf coasts.  From Jupiter to Miami, the gulf streams hugs the shoreline presenting the unique opportunity to fish within a couple miles of the beach.  A typical day is started by fishing only a couple miles out in say 500’ of water, and then drifting with the gulf stream a few miles until you’ve moved into too shallow water, about 70’.  You then pick up and move back out to the deeper water again, setting up the next drift.   Last year, our boat found our best bite between 125’ and 170’. 

By never being more than a few miles offshore and in constant view of the beach & condos, it’s  safer than the more typical offshore fishing, and it also saves a tremendous amount of fuel, time, & energy.  It’s almost “banker’s hours” type fishing, as getting up at 4 a.m. to be at the favored fishing grounds at daybreak isn’t necessary here.  In fact, if you want to head back in for lunch, pickup a straggling crew member, or drop off one feeling a bit green, it’s only a few minutes to the pass.  Also, because we stay so close to shore, you can likely fish all week on the same tank of gas, a huge savings considering the price of fuel these days.

While you can troll dead baits for sailfish, most boats will be fishing live baits.  For many the favored live bait is a goggle eye, followed by blue runners or herring. While in most areas we usually pick up our own live bait by fishing sabiki rigs off channel markers and live bottom, it can be hard to find bait during winter.  If you can’t find bait close in, plan B is to fish the 50-70’ reefs in the wee morning hours, say 2 a.m. or so.  OK, so what’s so bad about buying live bait?  You’ll be pretty motivated to find your own bait once you realize the bait man wants $7 per bait which was the going rate last year!   Remember all the savings you were thinking of by not having to fuel up each day…. plan on getting to know the bait man, and treat him nice! He makes his living off supplying the charter boats, so monkey boats often only get leftovers. Call him a day in advance to place your bait order.  Be polite, meet him on time, and maybe he’ll fill your order with preferred goggle eyes instead of the blue runners, or better yet, maybe he’ll have a few extra baits to share. 

Now you’ve spent all your savings on live bait, let’s talk presentation.  Generally there are two modes – slow trolling and kite fishing.  Slow trolling is also known as bump trolling due to the technique of slowly bumping the engines in and out of gear.  You want just enough speed to keep the baits from tangling, being careful not to go too fast, and drown your baits.   You can nose hook your baits, but bridling them with a Dacron loop will keep them livelier longer, and allow for a better hookup.  Usually a few baits are fished on the surface, and maybe one is put down by using a 1 oz. weight, planer, or downrigger.  Keep in mind, quite often the first indication of a bite is when you see the fish greyhounding on the surface around the boat, so don’t depend on a drag screaming as your wakeup call!  

Been awhile since you’ve thought about flying a kite? While kite fishing is the preferred method of the local tournament teams, only one boat in the ASWSC tournament fished a kite during last year’s event.  While they placed second, it was obvious it wasn’t any huge advantage over slow trolling.  There is a learning curve, but it can be an exciting way to fish.  A kite allows you to keep the bait on or near the surface, and well away from the boat.  You run your fishing lines off release clips attached to the kite line, usually fishing two lines per kite. The tension of the bite releases the line from the kite so you are free to fight the fish.  It’s a fun way to fish as the bait dangles in the strike zone, getting nervous, starts splashing and thrashing to escape, just before a sailfish erupts and pounces on the bait. Quite often you’ll see multiple sailfish circling the baits, all lit up in neon purple blue.  It’s truly a sight to see.

Roll all the challenge and excitement of this fishery into a tournament format, and it makes for life long memories.  Crews will reminisce about the adventure for years to come.  Sound like your kind of fun?  We’d be glad to introduce you.  Last year we had several anglers, young and old, land their first billfish and as a result, earn their celebratory ceremonial toss off dock once back at the marina.   And keep in mind; sailfish aren’t the only hungry fish out there.  You’ll run across dolphin, king mackerel, wahoo, and even an occasional marlin will munch your baits.

Never thought about boat club fishing? Not only will you find new friends that share your passion, but it makes a lot of sense when you consider peace of mind knowing there are a dozen other boats out there with you, only minutes away if you are ever in need assistance or have an emergency.  We’d be glad to share the experience, and learn new skills from you about other fisheries as we learn from our new members and tournament teams.  Drop me a line, and maybe we can go wet one.

The Atlanta Saltwater Sportsman Club meets monthly, sharing tips, techniques, and our latest adventures. If you would like more information about the club, its events, tournaments, or membership, please visit www.aswsc.org, or e-mail me at theseasickness@yahoo.com.   

Let’s troll………. Tom Adrien, Captain Team $EA $ICKNE$$

Special Thanks to Terry Todd, Editor/Publisher, Georgia's Outdoors Adventures, for supporting us and publishing these articles on behalf of the ASWSC.  If you would like subscription information, please visit http://www.teamgoa.com/