Sailfishing has made some wonderful changes over the past 10 to 15 years. Combined with the acceptance of catch and release only, well, mostly, and with the advent of live bait fishing. And the improvements of both tackle and technique; circle hooks, kites, lighter leaders, etc.
We have gone from the days of catching 50 Sails a year to more than 200 in recent years. That’s not all because of us getting better, although I like to think we have improved our own skills, but more so because we understand and respect the fishery. And we show it by letting them return to the sea rather than throwing them in the dumpster!
You read correctly, in the past, we caught many species of fish (mostly inedible) brought them to the dock, hung them up by the eye-balls, and used them as “booking tools.” At the end of the day, we sawed off the bill and tossed the carcass in the dumpster. Sure, we always told the client that we used the fish to make fish spread or that we took it to the food kitchen to feed the homeless… Anything to make us sound less like the rape and pillage sea farmers that, in fact, we really were. It was all about getting that next charter. And it still is, only now we use a camera, some choice verbiage and the Internet:)
Well, to make a short story even longer, tournaments have now gone from keeping track of how big a Billfish is, to keeping track of how many are caught and when they are caught. No longer does size matter. And in such a testosterone driven sport such as sportfishing, that’s saying something! Time is of the essence. literally. If I catch one Sail and then you catch one Sail, I win because I got mine first. Even if yours was bigger. This motivates us to be faster and more efficient at catching and to quickly release the fish in order to move on to the next now that numbers are more important than weight. This has worked out better all around but especially for the fish:)
Bill Stevensen and friends chartered the Mr. Z and combined to catch 3 for 5 sails yesterday. At some times, it seemed that they were pouring through everywhere. Live bait wasn’t necessary, only patience since there seemed to be little else but Sails and Bonitas. As a small cold front passed the Keys, the Sailfish bite lit up!
Here are pictures of two Sails, both released with little damage, but both made for an excited experience regardless of the difference in size. We find that they are usually more acrobatic when they are smaller and seem to have more energy with blazing runs and water clearing leaps. The end result is a release flag hung in our outrigger to show all the world (well, everyone at our dock anyway) that we released Sails that day.
