Sailfish in the Gulf

Most people think of sailfish as a Florida fish, but in truth plenty get caught in the waters of the Gulf off Texas every year. That “plenty” could be “plenty more,” too, if more anglers focused in on catching sails. And this doesn’t require a major change from mixed-spread trolling. You want to try catching a sail or two? Then the next time you head offshore, remember:

Sailfish usually give a very acrobatic, adrenaline-pumping fight.

• Make sure there’s a small “dink” ballyhoo in the spread, or you at least keep one handy as a pitch-bait. Sailfish aren’t the largest billfish around, and they generally like to attack relatively small baits.
• Pay close attention to weedlines. Sailfish regularly congregate along them, and in a big, desert-like ocean, they present one of the few forms of visible structure that the fish can focus on.
• Pull a dredge teaser. These used to be fairly difficult to deal with but today, you can get a number of different types and styles that fold up for easy stowing (like Mylar strip teasers or skirt teasers) and don’t require any special gear to deploy. Simply rig them with a six to eight pound inline weight on 20 to 30 feet of 300 to 500 pound test monofilament, and drag the dredge from a stern cleat.
• When drift fishing or slow trolling, fly a fishing kite and dangle a bait right at the water’s surface. Nothing gets a sailfish into attack mode faster than a bait dipping in and out of the water. Actually, it charges up many different bluewater species. Learn how to fly a kite and dip a bait, and there’s a good chance you’ll never again leave the dock without a kite aboard in the future.
• When you hook a sail, work the area hard. Sailfish aren’t exactly a schooling fish, but they do hunt in packs and those packs tend to be close together, sometimes merging temporarily then breaking up and then reforming. So when you spot one, there’s a good chance several or maybe many more are close by. Work an area hard, before moving on to greener pastures.