never caught one and would love to. any suggestions on how to land one?
Pulling dredges helps raise them for sure.
X2 for dredges. Never really saw many until I pulled dredges last two times out and had 3 sails and a marlin in the spread.
26 Seahunt
Angler’s Dream
Are you guys pulling squid, fake hoo’s or natural dredges?
Mayhem
Pioneer 197
Rubber ballyhoo or mullet on inside, natural on outside. Saves $$$.
its all about the dredges and teasers
Small ballyhoo, slower trolling speeds (just fast enough that they are still swimming), circle hooks.
And dredges of course as everybody else have said.
Don’t troll slowly, that actually makes the sailfish lazy and you don’t get aggressive bites. That causes a horrible hookup ratio. Most pros troll as fast as they can without making the baits skip which is usually 7.5-8.5knts. If you want to slow your baits make turns. Your outside baits will speedup and your inside baits will slow and sink then accelerate away from the fish.
Tight lines,
Michael Mattson
843-224-3542
captmattson@aol.com
Thanks for the advice Michael. Grew up in south Florida back in the day and was lucky to fish with some well respected captains and they would slow it down to 5kts if the baits were still swimming OK. Theory was that sails are lazy and don’t like to work to hard for a meal. So always have stuck to that. But, that was a long time ago…
Slow works if the sails are balling baits and you already know where they are. otherwise , its about covering ground and finding them. with sails a good long drop back works. they strike the baits with their bill and eat the ones that fall.
Sink the gaff in the front 1/3rd of the body for more control and make sure your report your catch to HMS (need permit). Fish must be 63" from front of the bottom jaw to the fork.
quote:
Originally posted by skinneejSink the gaff in the front 1/3rd of the body for more control and make sure your report your catch to HMS (need permit). Fish must be 63" from front of the bottom jaw to the fork.
Should I be using my billy club on them?
Need a baseball bat for those:smiley:
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
i thought that you werent supposed to gaff/keep sails? what permit do you need to fish? and what is a dredge?
quote:Why would you want to bruise up the meat? I put their head in a bucket until they drown.
Originally posted by itzsydquote:
Originally posted by skinneejSink the gaff in the front 1/3rd of the body for more control and make sure your report your catch to HMS (need permit). Fish must be 63" from front of the bottom jaw to the fork.
Should I be using my billy club on them?
quote:
Originally posted by sniper7i thought that you werent supposed to gaff/keep sails? what permit do you need to fish? and what is a dredge?
Of course you can keep billfish.
quote:
Originally posted by cape_fishermanquote:
Originally posted by sniper7i thought that you werent supposed to gaff/keep sails? what permit do you need to fish? and what is a dredge?
Of course you can keep billfish.
Just not in Charleston.
If you keep your boat at a marina.
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
- More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927
31’ Contender
“Touche”
250 HPDIs
Well I dont have a slot. What difference does that make? What is a dredge?
quote:
Originally posted by sniper7i thought that you werent supposed to gaff/keep sails? what permit do you need to fish? and what is a dredge?
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>A dredge is a teaser that mimics a school of baitfish.
Sure you can keep a sailfish to eat. Or even a marlin. To keep a billfish, or to even remove it from the water you need a Federal HMS permit. That stands for Highly Migratory Species. Sailfish have to have a FL of 63" from lower bill to tail fork.
You also need a HMS permit to take sharks from federal waters, as well as most tuna species. Permit is free and it covers the boat, not just 1 angler. You have to report your catch within 24 hours to the NMFS.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
I have kept a sail before. Gill hooked - a bloody mess - tried to revive until there was no movement - dead fish. Actually - it wasn’t bad! a bit fishy tasting broiled but great chunked and fried Big blood line