written by Evan Anderson

Love it or hate it, sailfishing can be one of the most exciting fights you’ll experience out on the water. In this episode of Into the Blue, Captains Scott Walker and Steve Rodger chase Walker’s favorite species, giving their best advice for catching these elusive acrobats. “Sailfish is the premiere game fish in the Florida Keys,” says a smiling Walker, “I’m possessed with catching them.”

KITE-FISHING

As they set up their gear across Rodger’s SeaDek-lined Yellowfin 36 Offshore, Walker gives an overview of his sailfishing strategy. “We usually do it live-baiting, we’re not trolling,” he explains, “The techniques are drifting and kite-fishing.”

In kite-fishing, the bait is hooked to a line connected to a kite that suspends the bait right on the surface of the water which causes some commotion from the splashing. “There’s no leader in the water,” explains Rodger, “It’s actually the best presentation possible.”

Kite-fishing is one of the more unique fishing methods out there, popular among offshore tournament anglers due to its ability to cover a lot of water at once. “Besides the perfect presentation,” says Rodger, “it’s the spread. The bigger footprint you’ve got, the more bites you’re going to get.”

FISH THE BOTTOM

In addition to the kites that they’ve set up, Rodger recommends also having at least one rod set up to fish below the surface. “It’s always good to fish the bottom,” he explains, “Cover the whole spectrum: put out a few kites, fish the bottom, get a couple flat lines out there. If you’re out there you might as well give it everything you’ve got.”

In the first spot that they set up, the two hosts got everything set up the way they wanted to, but their bait kept getting stolen by barracudas. “It was as fast as we could get a bait on that they were getting cut off,” comments Walker. It’s an unfortunate start to the day, but it demonstrates the quality that you must have as a sail-fisherman: persistence. “The thing about sailfishing is that you can do everything right, and the fish just might not be there,” reflects Rodger, “If they’re not there they’re not there.”

Moving to their second spot, Rodger begins getting their bait a little further beneath the waves than he was able to with all the cudas at the first spot. “After we moved to the next spot,” says Walker, “Steve started working the mid-depths with a jig and live bait.”

It ended up working out. Before they’d even gotten the kites up, Walker had a sailfish on the end of his line hooked 8 feet from the boat.

THUMB ON THE SPOOL

As Walker scrambles across the SeaDek fighting his sailfish, he motions to his setup. “With the right tackle it’s just a matter of working with your drag,” he explains, “The drag is preset and you can crank down on it, but the fish could take off in a second and break your line. It’s just as easy to use pressure on the side of the spool with your thumb or forefinger to create drag.”

After a long and highly visual fight, Walker proudly spreads out the sail on the back of his fish in victory. It’s a fairly easy release and the fish swims off, still healthy and ready to fight. Walker holds up his hook and notes how small, yet effective it is. “Just because they’re big fish doesn’t mean you need big hooks,” he explains, “I’m using a little 4/0 circle hook - works every time. Match the size of the hook to the size of the bait.” We want to make sure the ones we release are all released with minimal injury, and a smaller hook will help with that.

Ready to get a kite up in the air and some bait in the water? Check out the full episode below. Follow @intothebluetv, @captscottwalker, and @steven.rodger on Instagram for more Into the Blue content as well as @waypointfish, @waypointsalt, @waypointboating, and @waypointtv.