Much of the nation is under a severe winter storm advisory but in South Florida we are currently in the 80’s and sunny and warm. We have had a few cold fronts (low in the 50’s and highs in the 70’s) which is what we need to get the sailfish moving down to our part of the world. Sailfishing was very good in November and December but tapered off a bit the past two weeks. Luckily the bite picked back up this weekend and the sailfishing should now stay consistent well into the spring and we should get some incredible double-digit days after practically most cold front the rolls through, as long as we have the wind, current and water color needed.
I was honored again by The Billfish Foundation to win Top South Florida Release Captain for Atlantic Sailfish and second overall as Top Atlantic Release Captain. This award has thousands of entries so it’s quite the honor. We will continue to strive on competing for this award again next year.
One of the big highlights this year so far is the daytime swordfishing and the new technique we have honed to catch a daytime swordfish with IGFA rules – which means No Electric Reels. We are fine tuning a system to allow us to use a Penn 50 International with 50-pound braid and drop down to the bottom. Depending on the current we can employ two different methods, but it has been very successful. We have guided three different anglers on three different trips in either achieving their IGFA Billfish Slam or getting them one step closer to achieving it. An IGFA Billfish Slam is catching all the different billfish within IGFA rules. The Billfish species are Atlantic Sailfish, Pacific Sailfish, Atlantic Blue Marlin, Pacific Blue Marlin, Black Marlin, White Marlin, Stripe Marlin, Spearfish, Swordfish. Swordfish is usually one of the hardest ones to catch but we can make it happen. The goal is to become one of the premier guide services for that and for South Florida to become the premier are for that as well.
To sum it all up, now is the time to get out of the cold and come down to South Florida and enjoy some great kitefishing for sailfish as well as kingfish, mahis, wahoo etc. Or come down and take a crack at a big swordfish during the day either with electric or with manual conventional reels. The choice is yours and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos
