Last year the hot topic in October was the offshore sailfish bite right here off of the coast of Charleston. The phenomenal bite continued into the month of November and it was truly a banner year with the number of Sails looking more like Costa Rica than South Carolina. It was not uncommon for boats to have tag and release numbers in the teens and many more fish missed. The question heading into this fall was of course, “will we have the same type of action this year as we enjoyed last year?”
If the early action is any indication we are indeed going to enjoy another great year of Sailfishing in the lowcountry. There have already been a few boats that have caught 10-15 sails in one outing and as local Captains begin more experienced in finding and targeting these fish I would not be surprised to see some boats approach and possibly exceed 20 fish. The best part about all of this action is the anglers that have fished for many years and never had a shot at a billfish now have a great opportunity to get out and catch their first billfish and possibly their second and third all in one trip.
Most of the fish are being taken at and beyond the 180’ ledge with a few fish being caught in a little bit closer.
I hope to follow up this article in a few weeks with some possible reasons as to why we have begun to see such a large number of these fish off of our coast in the last 2 years. I will ask for input from marine biologist as well as some of the local charter captains. We can all hope that this fishery will remain strong year after year and extend our offshore billfish season for a few more months.
Andy Pickett,
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