Sailfish Season

Report Date: January 20, 2023

2023 is starting off just fine. We have had some very cold cold fronts which always sparks up the fishing and it has. Sailfishing is consistent and getting better number wise. We have caught a sailfish on every trip this month except for one trip. Our best day was 7 sailfish on a half day trip. The key with sailfishing is having the right conditions. Blue water on the edge with north current is key. We have had some blue water but have been missing on the north current. Even without the north current we have been catching 2 – 5 sailfish per trip. The day we caught 7, we did have north current that day. People often ask how many sailfish is average for a charter during the winter. The answer is usually you should get 3 to 5 sailfish bites per day and if the conditions are awesome, you can easily go into double digit releases. Our personal best on the Double D is 28 sailfish releases in one day.

Besides sailfish, there have been some decent kingfish around as well as a few mahis and surprisingly enough some bigger blackfin tunas. We get the smaller 5 – 10 pound tunas in the winter but this year we have been catching 20 – 30 pound blackfins which are usually the tunas we catch in the spring. I can honestly say I have never in 30 years seen such big blackfin tunas in January. Not only are they big, but they can be plentiful. Just a few days ago we caught 8 blackfins on a half day trip and except for one small one, the rest were 20 – 28 pounds.

With all that said, 2023 is amongst us and now is the time to make your reservations for the year. January is almost over, and February is about half booked already. Book your winter/spring sailfish trips now as well as any wahoo trips you want to make to the islands. Wahoo fishing is generally good till end of February in Bimini. Swordfishing is good year-round but the next two months are my best months for daytime swords. Remember you can’t catch them on the couch. Let’s go catch some fish in 2023!

Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos

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