NOAA Southeast Fisheries, Jan. 14, 2022—Anyone involved in a tagging program is excited when they get a report of a recapture since these are the lynchpin of a volunteer, constituent based program. So when scientists with NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center were notified just after Thanksgiving that a few tagged sailfish had been recaptured, they were thrilled.
By Captain Nick Gonzalez
Kite fishing has been met by a number of innovations over the last 10 years. Electric kite reels have gotten faster, more reliable, and easier to use. To compliment these kite reels and increase efficiency, light, high-speed conventional reels with smooth drags and high gear ratios came into the market. A number of different rod manufacturers began making excellent rods with soft tips and moderate backbones that are ideal for kite fishing. In addition, circle hooks became mainstream and a number of different manufacturers make chemically sharpened circle hooks that are tournament legal and very affordable.
Derby Fleet headed out Palm Beach Inlet, circa 1950
Monday, Dec. 20, 2021—The West Palm Beach Fishing Club will again host the ‘World’s Oldest Sailfish Tournament’ on January 6th and 7th, 2022. In its 85th year, the Silver Sailfish Derby is rich in history with a lot of prestige on the line for participants. The tournament fleet is limited to 50 boats and already sold out headed into the new year.
Photo courtesy Mark B. Hatter
By Mark B. Hatter
“We know more about the moon than we know about the habits of billfish.”
Brad Philipps, captain, owner and operator of the charter boat Decisive and Guatemala Billfishing Adventures, introspectively remarked as we sipped whisky and smoked Cuban cigars on the rooftop of his Casa Philipps in Antigua, in January of 2020. It had been a VERY slow week, yet under the uncharacteristic circumstances, we raised and released more sailfish using fly tackle than any other boat in the fleet.
So, I am not so sure about Philipp’s moon and billfish remark.
In light of the recent dock records in the Florida Keys, we’ve dug up some material of notable catches we’ve published through the years.*
Heavy Hitter caught 41 sailfish trolling in a single day out of Ponce Inlet.
January 10, 2019, Grand Slam released 38 sailfish trolling dead baits during the Pelican Yacht Club Tournament
Floridian caught 32 sailfish trolling on dead baits in January 2004.
December 1997
Boneshaker caught 22 sailfish trolling.
2006
Get Lit caught 35 sailfish in the Silver Sailfish Derby.
Wrenegade caught 26 sails live baiting.
Feb 3, 1980 Elbow 7 caught 83 sailfish on live bait.
No Problem that same day caught 54 in three hours on live bait, the boat had to head in early in order to get someone to the airport.
April 9, 2009 Vitamin Sea Too caught 50 sailfish on live bait.
May 1, 2019 Sandman, captained by John Dudas, caught 43 sailfish and one white marlin off Miami.
Owls Nest, captained by Matt Tambor, caught 36 sailfish on live bait out of Government Cut, a host of local quality mates were the anglers and they believe they would have caught more if they didn’t run out of bait.
March 6, 2019
L&H, captained by Jimmy David, caught 41 sailfish off Miami.
April 23, 2020 Vice Versa, captained by Scott Martin, hold the record with 76 sailfish released in a day on live bait.
April 24, 2020 Shaka, captained by Tim Maddock, released 64 sails on April 24.
Was caught 38 sailfish on live mullet back in the 60’s.
Kalex caught 20 sailfish live baiting (unverified if single-day record).
January of 2007 Catch 22 caught 7 swordfish without the use of electric reels.
April 12, 2020 Captain Marty Lewis and the crew of the Main One, out of Marathon’s Main Attraction charters, broke the record with 70 releases.
May 10, 2005 Main Attraction, captained by Marty Lewis, caught 36 sails on live bait.
April 15, 2003 Main Attraction, captained by Marty Lewis, also caught 25 sailfish on live baits.
2004
Tim Greene was an angler onboard the Beachcomber when it caught 3 blues in one day.
The biggest blue marlin caught out of Key West weighs 784 lbs. and is hanging at the Key West airport.
1999
Petticoat II caught 6 blue marlin in a single day.
Outside the State
Born2run released 10 blue marlin during the two-and-a-half-day Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic
March 11 & 12, 2021 the Vaquero crew established a new proclaimed one day Pacific Sailfish release record totaling 164.
So that’s what we have so far! We are still working on this eastern region. If any information needs to be corrected, please let us know. Also we really want to give everybody onboard the recognition they deserve so if you see any unknowns or listings that have the captain, angler or mates name missing please fill us in. Once again amy@inthebite.com.
*Records are only used if they can be verified by reputable captains.
Do you have any comments or questions for us? We’d love to hear from you.
By Elliott Stark
Captain Marty Lewis and his wife Katie own and operate Main Attraction Charters out of Key Colony Beach, Florida. With five working charter boats, the Lewises are no stranger to the waters of the Lower Keys. It was this experience and familiarity that led to a hunch that turned into what may have been the best day of sailfishing in the history of the Florida Keys. On Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, Captain Marty Lewis and the crew of the Main One, a 49’ Cape Fear, released a Keys’ record 70 sails.
Here’s how it happened.
“I took my wife and daughter out tuna fishing on Saturday off of Marathon. It was a slick calm day but I could see that the Gulf Stream was running in close. I knew that the next day might be a good day to go sailfishing but it was Easter Sunday. I asked my wife if I could go and she gave me hall pass to go fishing,” Lewis explains with a bit of a laugh.
Katie Lewis with a nice, day-before-Easter blackfin
Upon returning to the dock after fishing Lewis’ mate, Digger Rodamer, sent out a group text to round up a crew for the following day. The next day, Digger, Shelby Bentley, Aaron “Nautical” Sutcliffe, Steve Fitzgerald and Joe Marino joined Marty to head offshore. Loaded up with 800 or 1,000 live pilchards the crew departed the dock at Key Colony Beach Marina at 7:00.
They started fishing about 25 miles west of Marathon. Captain Marty found what he was looking for—the spot where the Gulf Stream tucked in—off of the American Shoal near Big Pine Key. “Every fish we caught was tailing. We cast live pilchards to them. There was no kite fishing or trolling. We probably saw 100 fish on the day, but we couldn’t get to all of them. Almost all of those that we cast a bait to ate—only two or three turned away. There was no pressure on them, we only saw two or three other boats out,” Lewis describes.
Lewis and company caught their first fish at 10:00. Forty minutes later the tally was up to six. “We had a steady stream of groups of fish passing through most of the day. There were two rallies when we’d have a guy hooked up on the bow and a guy fighting one at the stern and then we’d hook others. One time we had a guy fighting a fish for an hour. We must have caught eight or ten fish while he was fighting his.”
By 3:15 pm the tally eclipsed 40. By 5:00 the total was 60 and the crew realized they had a shot a breaking the Keys’ record of 65 sailfish releases in a day. Lewis kept a running tally with his wife Katie over text message. The final text came through at 6:35—“70 and done.”
It was a record breaking day for the veteran charter captain and a group of his buddies. Captain Marty spent the day in the tower directing his guys where to cast as sailfish tailed into range. The fish were caught on Mustad ultra point 6/0 circle hooks using 30 and 40 pound leader. All of the fish were caught slinging live pilchards to tailers on Penn spinning outfits.
News of the epic day brought led 30 or 40 boats to fish the area the next day. While Capt. Marty decided to take Monday off (after all he wasn’t going to catch 70 again) the bite continued for the next couple of days. Monday produced 46 releases followed by 30 on Tuesday. The hot streak produced an incredible 146 sails over three consecutive days for Main Attraction Sportfishing Charters.
Captain Marty Lewis and the crew of the Main One– and all the a whole pile of sailfish flags! 70 of them.
To book a day with Marty and the Main Attraction Charters, visit them at: www.mainattraction.org or give them a call at: 305.289.0071
A trip offshore on the Outage, a 60′ Jim Smith owned by Hans Kraas out of Los Sueños, brought in a nice haul that included sailfish and blue marlin.
The highlight was when a blue came in on the left teaser, with 13-year-old Cole, Kraas’ son, throwing the left pitch only for it to then fade off before Cole’s mom, Nikki Bates, on the rod, fed it perfectly on the right long, and hooked it, making it the first blue she hooked herself.
This was Cole’s second blue on the wire, handling it like a pro.
In total, the group hooked two blues and 11 sails the first day and 31 sails and another blue the next. Not a bad couple of days at all.
By Katie Coeckelenbergh
If it is your goal to fish and place consistently in any of the world’s best release tournaments, there is a certain set of practices that you’ll need to follow. Teams that place consistently do so not just with skill, but by adhering to a strenuous set of standards…one that doesn’t often include rod holders or cold beer during fishing hours. Here’s an insider’s look. (If you are a captain, this might be a good read for your tournament team as well). — ITB
Photo courtesy Tim Rahn Photography
The 56th Annual Islamorada Sailfish Tournament kicked off at Whale Harbor hosting 80 anglers, plus friends and family with a grand buffet. Great Sailfish action started on Friday morning and continued over the next three days concluding on December 8th. Captain KC Spaulding of the Caribsea led anglers Kenny Spaulding, Sam Milazzo, Phillip Bryan and Lee Gahagen all from Islamorada, FL to the winner’s circle with a total of 19 sailfish releases. The team took home beautiful sailfish sculptures sponsored by Caribee Boat Sales and Yamaha Outboards. 141 Sailfish were released out of the 154 called in hook ups with nearly $55,000.00 going to the winners.
Captain Brad Philipps led angler John Cole to the rare grand slam on the fly. This included sailfish, blue marlin and striped marlin on fly tackle in the same day. Extremely rare, extremely difficult. What a feat by captain, crew and angler.
