Sailfish jumping line art Patch#

While both fisheries produce numbers in the double digits on a good day, sailfishing in the Florida Keys employs several methods that are unique to the region. The plateaus found in other areas produce bites from traveling sailfish rather than ones that are actively hunting and feeding. He says that the structure, the amount of schooling bait and the sharp edge creates a trifecta, which gives the fish a definitive area to congregate. Chris White of the 64-foot Spencer, Sweet Release, it’s the sharp reef line that sets the Florida Keys apart from the rest of the South Florida sailfish fishery. Jessica Haydahl RichardsonĪccording to Capt.

Throwing a cast net can yield ballyhoo, but Keys pros prefer to catch them using hair hooks and tidbits of shrimp. It’s a common sight to see mahi, bonito, tuna, and even grouper and snapper chasing these showering ballyhoo it’s here, in a National Geographic display of hunter versus hunted where the seasoned Keys captains can really rack up the numbers.

Sailfish jumping line art Patch#

In late fall and early winter, sailfish are in the shallows hunting ballyhoo, along with several other species of pelagics, reef fish and birds, as they intercept the bait either moving around the patch reefs or in and out from the edge. And when the fishing is good, it’s damned good, so you wouldn’t dare leave the patch reef until you’ve caught at least five dozen by hand and cast-netted dozens more for chumming. Responding to tide and wind, schools are located, caught on hair hooks, and kept alive for the day’s fishing. With populations in the millions, hundreds of individual ballyhoo schools are plentiful enough to catch your own, if you know where to look. In early fall, the bait begins migrating from Hawk Channel - extending from Biscayne National Park to Key West, between the shoreline and the shallow reef line - to congregate on the protected nearshore reefs just west of the edge. Unlike dead-bait trolling, Florida Keys captains fish their ballyhoo live, and have been doing so for nearly 50 years. And since the Florida Keys is regarded as a grade-A hot spot for catching Atlantic sailfish, it’s no wonder the sails hang around. Sold worldwide on the commercial market, the majority of the stock is caught from north of Key Largo down to Sombrero Key, with strict boundaries and bag limits in place to control overfishing of this high-demand commodity. Just about everything that swims in the ocean eats ballyhoo, and they are plentiful, especially throughout the Florida Keys. Florida Keys Sailfish Fishing and the Lost Art of Live Ballyhoo © Doug Perrineīallyhoo: the perfect bait.