Winter Sailfish: Tournament Time

While December for northerners means it’s time to pull the boat and winterize it or hang up the waders for another season, for those lucky enough to live in sunny Florida it is the start of the winter sailfish season. There is no better time to catch these feisty billfish than December and January when the occasional cold front accompanied by Northeast winds cause them to gather in large schools and go on the hunt. Early winter finds them concentrated in the more northern reaches of Florida’s east coast, but as water temperatures drop and the bait they pursue pushes further south, so do the sailfish. The migration will take them into South Florida and the Keys.

For the past six years I’ve been the director of one of the oldest billfish tournaments in the United States, the Buccaneer Cup Sailfish Release Tournament, which has been run out of the West Palm Beach area each January for the past 47 years! Since I got involved it has been operated as a fund raising event for the Recreational Fishing Alliance (www.joinrfa.org), generating tens of thousands of dollars each year for the important work the organization does as the sole political action organization representing saltwater anglers. AFW/Hi-Seas is a corporate sponsor of the RFA and the Buccaneer Cup and we would certainly love to have you come fish with us this year.

Last year the fishing during the Buccaneer Cup was nothing short of incredible! In fact the number of sailfish caught hit an all-time high with more sailfish being released in the three days of fishing than at any other time during the events long history! The teams successfully caught and released a staggering 585 sailfish and saw hundreds more in massive schools stretching from Ft. Pierce to Jupiter Inlet. They experienced fishing so fast, both trolling with rigged baits and kite fishing with live bait, that teams were returning to the dock at day’s end exhausted and telling stories about how many more got away. Release flags were flying everywhere and it was a sight to see.

Why has the fishing for sails gotten so good? From my estimation it is the result of the work of the Recreational Fishing Alliance in forcing the government to close several key areas in the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida to all commercial pelagic long line fishing. The problem with long line fishing is the gear not only catches and kills juvenile swordfish by the thousands, it also catches and kills sailfish and marlin as bycatch. The facts show that the number of sailfish being slaughtered by an out of control long line fleet was far in excess of anything the National Marine Fisheries Service thought at the time. In the 11 years since these regulations were put in place the sailfish population has grown rapidly to levels not seen in 50 years and the swordfish population has rebounded so successfully that there is a vibrant recreational fishery for them again up and down the East Coast.

There are two popular techniques for catching sails both for fun and in tournaments – live bait fishing with or without kites and trolling with rigged ballyhoo. We will take a closer look at both techniques in my next blog and pay special attention to easy ways you can get in on the fun without the expense of the techniques used by top tournament teams with unlimited budgets. So stay tuned.

Keep in mind that Atlantic sailfish are among the smallest billfish, and in Florida the average fish tends to be in the 40 to 60 lb range, so light tackle, both spinning and conventional, is all you need to enjoy the fight. The Buccaneer Cup prohibits line heavier than 20 lb. test during competition and sails are still caught and released in short order, usually after a spirited fight with lots of aerial acrobatics. They are truly a great sport fish to catch and the overwhelming number of anglers who pursue them releases every one they catch. They might make beautiful mounts for the wall, but all you need is a length measurement and any taxidermist can make you a fiberglass representation of your catch without ever seeing the fish.

If you are going to be in Florida this winter, here’s your chance to get in on one of the oldest and most prestigious billfish tournaments in the nation. Come fish the Buccaneer Cup with us by going to www.buccaneercup.com and singing up today. The dates are January 19 through 21 in sunny Florida, and if you don’t have a boat of your own that meets the requirements, there are plenty of boats available for charter for the event. We can help you with that, too. It’s for a great cause and if the action is anything like last year, the sails will run you ragged.