Sails are Definitely Here

Report Date: January 13, 2009

Sailfish are definitely here and pretty plentiful in our waters. It hasn’t even been two weeks into January and we already have had some great days sailfishing. Our best day so far has been 11 sailfish caught out of 17 strikes. We’ve also had days catching 9 out of 12 and 7 out of 12. You know that there are a lot of fish in the area when you start getting multiple bites, that is hooking more than one sailfish at a time. We have had a lot of doubles a few triples and one quad (4 sailfish on at one time). You also know that there are a lot of fish in the area when the boat north of you hooks up with a multiple and a few minutes later you also hook a multiple. This is my favorite time of year to fish for sailfish just for that reason. The chaos and exhilaration involved when 3, 4 or 5 sailfish are hooked up at one time is simply crazy! Believe it or not as long as you keep your cool and follow directions well, we usually catch most of the multiples. There are times though that the fish cross lines and you end up burning some off. Just last week when we caught 9 out of 12, it was only one angler and I. We had two tripleheaders that day and caught all three from each triple. There are two cold fronts scheduled for the end of this week, and if the current stays strong to the north, the fishing is going to be outstanding for quite a while.

Besides sailfish, there have been only a few dolphin around and some kingfish in shallow. There have also been a few cobias in hawk’s channel and just a few cobias on the edge. We have done well with big dolphin in Jan and Feb and hope the big bulls show up soon. We are also hoping for a stray yellowfin tuna and even a white marlin as January is known for both of these fish to show up on occasion in Miami.

Night fishing has been a good or bad depending upon what you are fishing for. The evening swordfishing has not been very good now for bout 3 weeks. We went swording one night and never got a bite. I know of another captain who went last night with similar results and also another crew went the week before with no bites as well. I really think this will change as the winter months are usually outstanding as long as the weather is good. On the other hand daytime swording is OK. There have been a few big fish caught including a 575 pound sword caught a week or so ago. The action at night that has been very good has been tarpon fishing along the beaches. I haven’t gone yet but do have two tarpon trips booked in the next few days. Almost all the boats are catching a few with some boats getting 5 or 6 bites in a few hours.

I still have dates open for the end of January and have about a dozen days left in February. I also have sailfish tournament dates open. Whether it is tarpon, sails, swords, or tournament fishing, give me a call and let’s go catch some fish!

Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos

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