Sailfish And Swordfish

Report Date: March 21, 2018

Fishing is finally getting very good. The sailfish are definitely in Miami and although we are still waiting for our double-digit release days we are consistently catching 3 to 7 sailfish per day. The sailfishing has been good now for over two weeks and will continue to get even better for the next couple of months. There are a few ways you can tell the sailfishing is good and will stay good for a while. First we are seeing sailfish every day regardless of the conditions. We are catching sailfish in south winds, west winds, east winds and obviously north winds. We have benefited by mostly north current but have also caught a few sails with no current. The second factor is the amount of multiples we are seeing. It is now more common to hook a doubleheader or a tripleheader than hooking a single (hooking 2 or 3 at a time compared to just one at a time). We have hooked 5 at a time twice in the past few weeks. The first time we had terrible conditions. The water was green, it was raining and a front was approaching. The sailfishing is usually better after the front completely passes. I was fishing with Ian from England and Ian wanted to catch a sailfish and complete his bucket list item. I had taken him out once before on a half day trip but had no luck with sails. As the day was progressing the pressure was certainly mounting. With the front almost on us I moved a bit farther offshore and found some current and that's all it took. I looked back and there were 2 sailfish one almost every one of our 6 kite baits. I t looked like a sea of black and before you knew it we had 5 sailfish hooked and jumping at one time. Even with just one angler, Ian was successful in catching 3 out of the 5 sailfish and the bucket list item was checked off.

Swordfishing has also picked up quite a bit. We have caught swordfish on 4 out of last 5 trips. For the most part we are getting multiple shots per day, which is awesome. Most of the swordfish being caught including ours are 50 to 150 pounds, but in the past week there have been several fish in the 300 to 450 pound range caught. A swordfish is a swordfish regardless of size, but catching a 500-pound swordfish is a lifelong achievement for most people. For a while it was tough to take clients out swordfishing when the fishing was slow and even though I tell the clients when they book the trip that the swordfishing has been slow, most still want to go. It is actually pleasurable now since you can tell people the bite is on and you stand a very good chance of catching one. I think we are back in the upswing of the cycle and should continue to see good daytime swordfishing for quite some time.
We are also rapidly approaching spring, which means more variety. We are already seeing more kingfish and more mahis on our trips and soon we will welcome the blackfin tunas to the mix. Spring is absolutely my favorite time of year to fish in South Florida. March is almost gone but we still have a few days open next week. April is about 60% full already so now is the time to reserve your date and enjoy our best fishing season of the year.

Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos

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