Author: Capt. Charlie Ellis

Summertime in Miami, FL is one of the best times of the year to target BIG kingfish. These voracious and abundant predators arrive in force, pursuing the droves of bonitas which flourish in the warmer water. Targeting kingfish is pretty easy, as they can be found from 90′ to 140′ of water, often slightly shallower depending on the strength of the current. They are a blast to catch on light tackle and make blistering initial runs before settling into the fight. While there are still plenty of dolphin offshore should you happen upon floating debris, if you’re dealing with doldrum conditions, try these time tested kingfish tactics to keep the rods bent and the reels screaming.

Light Wire for Big Kings

Kingfish have exceptionally jagged and sharp teeth, but not sharp enough to slice through fine wire. The bottom line is that you don’t need excessively heavy wire to catch kingfish on light tackle.  Unlike wahoo, kingfish have wider gaps between their teeth that are better for shredding than slicing. Their feeding patterns are similar, but wahoo by far have a more devastating bite.

In the summertime, when conditions are exceptionally calm, using lighter gauge wire for your kingfish rig can make a world of difference.  Despite their insatiable appetite, kingfish have keen eyesight and can be sensitive to wire that’s larger than #3. While trailing treble hooks have their advantage when concealed effectively, it’s important to keep the bait as natural as possible – super heavy stiff wire makes this impossible.

If you’re not getting a consistent bite of kingfish, try downsizing the wire you’re using – or try 60 to 80lb flourocarbon with a 6/0 or 7/0 light wire circle hook. You will get cut off regularly, but the volume of bites you attract will increase and circle hooks increase the likelihood of staying connected.

Get Dirty

It’s no mystery that dirty water is where kingfish prefer to hunt. Fishing in depths of 90′ to 130′ when the water is cloudy usually affords the opportunity to target kingfish with tremendous effectiveness. Big kings often hold near structure (i.e. reefs, drop offs, or wrecks) with current, especially when poor visibility enables them to hunt efficiently. When fishing in dirty water, be sure to stagger baits in the water column until you start getting bites consistently at a particular depth.  Kingfish tend to swim in schools, so where one fish is chewing, odds are there will be more.  Monitor the depth you are fishing closely to identify whether fish are feeding – and hold to that depth, making multiple drifts.

Go Deep

While kingfish often skyrocket out of the water to attack kite baits, they primarily hunt in the middle of the water column, usually around thermoclines. While staggering baits at multiple depths is a best bet to catch quantities of kingfish, larger specimens are typically lazy feeders, dwelling deeper in the water column. If the current will allow, keep a dead rigged bait within 30 feet of the bottom, and a live bait 2o feet shallower.  Large fish will assault a cigar minnow, blue runner, or Goggle eye out if its element.

When you fish deep, be prepared to get tight on a fish once you hear the bite.  Kingfish are sneaky and will often take the bait and run shallower once they feel the sting of the hook. Going slack on a kingfish will cost you – it’s important to be prepared for a bite and react quickly.

Sting like a Bee

Using stinger hooks can be an extremely effective technique as kingfish tend to smack baits hard, often leaving just the head of the bait attached to the hook.  A trailing treble provides an extra opportunity to hook fish that otherwise slice a live bait in two, but this technique has a distinct advantage and disadvantage.  On the positive side, treble hooks are notoriously “sticky” and will take hold in just about anything that brushes them. Negatively, treble hooks are bulky and can be easily seen by Kingfish. Keeping the treble hook as concealed as possible when using a double hook rig for kingfish is a critical point of success.

Here’s one of the tournament proven stinger rigs demonstrated clearly:

Bet on the Bottom

It’s commonplace is kingfish tournaments for boats to locate “offshore live bottom”. These are ledges which can be found in 70′ to 100′ of water, usually a sharp drop off with significant concentrations of bait or small snappers. Live bottom can be the edge of reefs, rocks, or sandy shelves that descend down into the depths.  Typically, the current washes over this structure providing an eddy for bait to congregate.  Offshore live bottom can occasionally be found at the edge of a thermocline, where current tends to intersect.

When you find a ledge, slope, or wall that is holding bait, it’s likely that large kingfish will be holding in the area. Downriggers are ideal for fishing this type of structure, but are not critical.  Fish a deep rod using a three way swivel – typically with a long flourocarbon leader to a bite wire, rigged with a big bait.  Cigar minnows and goggle eyes are ideal for fishing deeper as they stay frisky and thrash wildly.

I could not believe my eyes when I came across these pictures on Marlin Magazine this morning.  I noticed the image that Pelagic Gear had shared on facebook, but did a bit more research on Oceanaerials.com and wound up taking a deep dive into some of the absolute best aerial photographs of giant tuna i’ve ever seen. I just had to share a few of these here.

Wayne Davis is the genius photographer/pilot who captured these images…and many many more. All of his aerial tuna pictures are literally astounding. His site oceanaerials.com is a wealth of visual treasure. I highly recommend you take a few minutes to check out his work and even order one of his prints!

We use circle hooks 80% of the time during our fishing charters aboard the Marauder and there’s no doubt they contribute to our stellar hookup ratio. It’s no mystery circle hooks are less harmful to fish intended for release than J hooks, but there is a downside when it comes to catching larger pelagic predators – circle hooks don’t set well during ferocious bites.

The debate between using circle hooks and J hooks offshore is a topic which comes up time and time again.  The argument could be made that it’s better to use J hooks when targeting fish that eat with vigor, but conservationists of all varieties would just as well ban them if possible. When you hook a fish in the gills, gut, or face with a J hook, it’s pretty much lights out if the fish is going back into the drink.

So is the great circle hook debate one of conservation?  Or is it one of effective fishing methods? Whatever your stance on the matter may be, we’ve found that circle hooks and J hooks have their own set of advantages and disadvantages – an issue which is specific to the species you’re targeting.

What we love about circle hooks

Now I have to say, some of the most epic fish i’ve ever caught have been captured using circle hooks. From bluefin tuna to tiger sharks, circle hooks made the successful catch and release of these titans possible. Just the other month, we caught a blue marlin on a 6/0 mustad demon circle hook that was bridled to a big goggle eye.

The strength and resilience of circle hooks constantly amazes me – even if the actual process of the hook setting itself remains a mystery. We regularly catch kingfish (to 30lbs) hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth – just out of reach of toothy razors.

But what I find truly amazing, is the gap between the hookpoint and the shank – It’s less than an inch if you’re fishing a 6/0 or 5/0 demon circle, but it sets seamlessly in the mouth of a sailfish just as it does in the mouth of a wahoo. Of the fish we do catch on circle hooks, less than a handful have ever been foul hooked.

One critical factor we’ve observed when it comes to using circle hooks is that each hook must be completely exposed if it’s going to set. If we’re using small baits like pilchards or sardines, we’ll often just hook the bait in the back, directly in front of the dorsal fin (as shallow as possible without breaking free). If we’re using larger baits like threadfin herring, goggle eyes, blue runners, or mullett – the hook absolutely must be bridled.

When we don’t bridal big baits, we tend to miss lots of bites. I’m of the opinion that the actual sharp point of the hook, if not cleanly exposed, will be ineffective.

When we’re dropping live baits on wrecks for grouper, cobia, or amberjack – we use mutu or 3x strong demon circle hooks bridled through the nose of big baits – it’s a surefire combo.

What we don’t love about circle hooks

If you’re slow trolling live baits, or pacing baits in a strong current situation – circle hooks can be a fool hardy decision. We’ve also found that fish which feed very aggressively at the surface tend to blast the bait right off the hook (i.e. skyrocketing kingfish, blackfin tuna, and wahoo).

Circle hooks need time to set, which is why it’s important to feed the fish for a few seconds after it grabs the bait – getting tight too fast or putting excess pressure on the fish while it’s feeding results in a missed opportunity. While circle hooks are magic when it comes to kite fishing, we’ve found they are relatively ineffective when live lining baits with wire leaders or drifting larger rigged baits for sharks or swordfish.

When it comes to using circle hooks for tuna – if we’re chunking it’s absolutely the way to go.  If we’re kite fishing for tuna, it depends on the bait we’re using. While i’m personally a fan of 6/0 circle hooks for all kite fishing applications, I feel like we catch more tuna off the kite when we use small aki J hooks baited with pilchards.

One other point of contention regarding circle hooks is that lighter versions will straighten out on big species. We’ve made the mistake of using light wire circle hooks when bottom fishing for mutton snappers and groupers – only to have our hooks pull straight or open up. We’ve since changed our tune and use only 3x strong demon circle or mutu hooks on the bottom – but those first few lessons in hook strength will never be forgotten.

What we love about J hooks

When a school of mahi-mahi are circling the boat or we’re drifting live baits with wire leaders – you had better believe we’re tying J hooks (typically aki or owner cutting point).

When we’re deep dropping or night drifting for swordfish, we break out the LP commercial swordfish hooks or big mustad’s. If it’s time for vertical jigging over structure – the sharpest J hooks available will do the job.

J hooks are tried and true when it comes to big game fishing and you’ll rarely see anyone hammering big species without them. J hooks can also be sharpened with a file which helps to set the hook in bone studded jaws or the throat of a billfish.

If you’re “meat” fishing, J hooks are always the way to go – especially if you’re using a wire leader.

What we don’t love about J hooks

If catch and release is the name of the game – J hooks are not well suited.  Most of the fish we catch with J hooks are gut hooked or snagged somewhere in the throat/gills. This causes massive damage to the critical organs of the fish and leaves them critically wounded. J hooks tend to snag wherever they can, which can tear big holes in the specimen’s digestive and respiratory system. It’s also common to snag fish in the back, gut, tail, or eye when using J hooks – all of which don’t bode well for successful revival.

What it all boils down to…

There’s an old proverb/guideline in sportfishing which I feel applies here: match the hook to the bait.

While I agree with that statement and I think it’s important to consider the presentation of the bait (as that’s what gets the bite!), there are thousands of hook varieties to choose from…and it seems hook manufacturers have created a science within an industry.

With so many choices for so many different species, picking the right hook, circle or J, can be a daunting task. I’m of the opinion that it’s best to understand the feeding behavior of the fish you’re targeting, consider the bait you’ll be using, then weigh the hook options for the conditions you will be fishing.

We carry about two dozen hook varieties (ot including sizes within each variety) on our fishing charters because we aim to be prepared for everything. If you’re fishing offshore, you need to be prepared for everything…and if you’re missing lots of bites on a regular basis – consider the hook choice you’ve made.

You don’t need big hooks to catch big fish, but you do need the right hook for the job. If kite fishing is the main technique, stick with circle hooks (unless you’re getting ripped apart by kingfish, then add a small bite wire and use a small J hook) of the 5/0 or 6/0 variety.

If you’re pitching live baits to schoolie dolphin, go with a J hook. Again – always consider the feeding behavior of the species you’re targeting and make sure the hook you’re tying doesn’t impact the presentation of the bait.

It’s best to leave the politics of the great circle hook debate to the people who have time to argue and no time to fish.   🙂

We just wanted to give a quick shout out to Steve at Black Point (loggerhead marina) for hooking up the Marauder with a high quality paint job.  It’s clear the team took the time to make sure the job got done professionally and quickly. No wondering, waiting, or hoping the job would get done right – pure confidence from start to finish.

If you need bottom paint in the Miami area – you absolutely need to call Steve at Black Point Marina (loggerhead). His direct # is 305-216-8174

A variety of anti-fouling paints are available, including some new hotness called Bottom Speed.   It’s a bit more expensive than traditional anti-fouling paint, which we went with on this occasion, but we’ll be checking it out in the near future.  The west side of biscayne bay can put some nasty stuff on your hull, almost the worst i’ve seen – even after boating on the Chesapeake Bay for 2/3 of my life.  After the new paint – we were running 5 knots faster and burning about a gallon and a half less per hour.  Looking forward to an open sea trial this weekend.

Wow.  What an amazing last few trips we’ve had on the Marauder. May fishing is in full swing and the dolphin, sailfish, cobia, and amberjacks are plentiful. The wreck fishing on our past few charter trips has been exceptional. Large schools of amberjacks, kingfish, bonita, and cobia have taken up residence on the wrecks as the water warms up and many species are moving into spawning mode. While conditions have been somewhat challenging – we’ve had several days with poor (or non existent) current, no wind, and a limited bait selection – the bite has remained extremely consistent. While  Pilchards have been scarce around the bug light, we’ve been picking away at large cigar minnows and keep a few goggle eyes in reserve.

This past week we fished with a crew from Texas who were looking to get into some BIG fish. With a well full of goggle eyes and calm conditions (with weak current), we dropped live bait over structure and wound up catching 7 / 10 cobia to 50lbs! The fish were so thick over the wreck at one point that we couldn’t keep a bait on the bottom more than one minute before getting bit. a 50lb cobia inhaled a live blue runner and put the hurt on one of our guests from Texas:

We finished the day with 2 sailfish, 2 kingfish, and plentfy of prime cobia on ice. We left the fishing biting and sa plenty of blackfins busting just offshore during our ride home.

After a steady two day bite of kingfish and bonita, we were definitely ready for a change of pace. Wind conditions today were just right for the ultra light kites and the bite was hot!  We put our first spread out around ~140 feet south of Fowey Rocks and the long bait gets CRUSHED.  10 minutes later and Dave brings a fat blackfin to the gaff:

We iced the fish and made the run south, just off Ledbury reef where a nice edge was just beginning to form. We stuck to the inside of the edge and put the spread back out – this time with a goggle eye on the left long and a fat pilchard on the short.  A few minutes later, the gog makes a terrified run for its life and then gets gulped – the fish charges the short and eats that too!  To our delight, a BIG bull erupts from the water and begins greyhounding across the surface trailing both of our baits.  A quick bit of acrobatics, and we’re able to bring the fish to the gaff…but man did he not want to come in the boat!

After boating the big bull (with no cow in tow), we switched gears for wreck fishing and headed a bit more to the south.  One pass over the wreck and its loaded up! Todd drops a pilchard down and WHAM!  The battle is on.  A nice 25lb amberjack puts the hurt on Dave, but he manages it to the boat after a 17 minute fight.

We made a few more passes over the wreck but the current was screaming at 4 knts and we could hardly stay in position.  After getting pushed off the wreck, we rode the current north and set up for the afternoon sailfish bite.

The sailfish action was intense the entire afternoon.  We had a triple come up, but one refused to eat the short, another spit the hook after a screaming run on the surface, and the other brought us to the 3 / 5 mark for the day.

We even tagged our last specimen before sending him home.

After releasing the tagged fish, we spotted about a dozen small schoolie dolphin chasing flyers about 50 yards away – so we picked up the spread and headed over to check out the action.  We caught about 6 undersize dolphin which all went back into the abyss – a colorful end to a spectacular day on the water.

The weather is warming up and the fishing is getting better by the day. The past few trips have produced sailfish, blackfin tunas, amberjacks, kingfish, and countless bonitas. While there have been a few reports of some nice dolphin being caught on the edge and offshore, we have yet to encounter the massive schools which are common in the month of May. We’ve focused our efforts on kite fishing since the wind has cooperated the past two weeks, chasing the morning and afternoon sailfish bite with consistent success.

With pilchards being scarce at bug light (although we’ve arrived early a few times and managed to get the net on them) after the bonitas rip them to shreds once the sun comes up – we’ve been catching cigar minnows and sardines at the monument buoy. Larger baits like cigar minnows and sardines are excellent sailfish and kingfish baits despite being not as hardy as goggle eyes. We’ve been keeping anywhere from four to five dozen cigar minnows on hand at the dock to stay prepared if the pilchards and threadfins remain elusive.

Fishing anywhere from 110′ to 150′ has produced sailfish, kingfish, and bonita bites with tremendous consistency.  Jigging the wrecks for amberjacks in 200′ to 250′ of water has produced amberjacks in the 30# – 40# class (a bruising battle with our custom jigging rods paired with Penn Battle reels).

The sailfish bite seems almost entirely dependent on the current – when we see 1.5 knots or more of current, the fishing is outstanding.  When the current is less than 1knt, it can be hit or miss. When the current is weak, big bonitas get the best of us.

Grouper season opens May 1st and we’ll be heading out first thing in the morning to see if our Grouper spots have replenished the past few months.  We’ve been catching lots of red groupers on the bottom rods with mutton snappers mixed in.  With any luck – the gag and black groupers will be hungry and feeding!

Tax day is a day of pain and regret for many Americans, but fortunately for Canadian salmon fisherman Guy Citrigno – this was a day of victory.  Bait was plentiful in the morning and we blacked out the wells before 8 a.m.  The bonitas were swarming, so just to get the skunk off the boat before heading offshore, we chummed up a big school of fat boneheads and pitched a bait into the havoc.  A 10lbr slammed the bait and began ripping line – giving Guy a glimpse of what was to come.  With winds from the southeast just hardly under 10 knots, we brought out the Bob Lewis ultralights for a few hours of solid sailfishing off Miami.

There had been some decent current off Brewster and Ledbury reef the past few days, so we planned to head south in the morning and gradually work our way back up towards Key Biscayne.  As we pushed past Fowey rocks, we decided to make a quick stopover at the county wrecks now that Amberjacks are spawning and stacking up.  We got bit on every drop.

We left the amberjacks biting at the wreck and pressed south to the reef lines just below the wreck of the Sir Scott. The water was royal blue all the way into 120ft and we knew the bite was about to be hot.  Lines in and not long after the first sailfish of the day chomps a big pilchard on the long bait.

After releasing Guy’s first sailfish, we set back up in the same depth and were greeted by a double header hookup!  Carlos and Guy went to work on the fish while I cleared the spread. Carlos brought his fish to the boat fast while Guy’s fish pulled its way offshore.  A quick grab and pop of the leader for Carlos’s fish and we went on the move to catch Guy’s second sailfish of the day. We were now 3 for 3 on sailfish with two nice AJs on ice. The current was still cruising right around 3knts so we decided to motor back south a few hundred yards and set up once again in 125′.  This time we drifted from Ledbury all the way back to the north tip of Brewster before getting another sail bite!  This fish was particularly acrobatic and danced its way offshore before settling into the fight. Guy wrestled the fish back to the boat in about 15 minutes and was hoping to grab a quick release picture, bill in hand, but the fish was having no part of it!  This frisky sail saw us reaching for his nose and started doing backflips at the boat, smacking the hull twice before wrapping up in the leader and breaking free.

The wind had just about died after releasing our fourth sailfish, so we decided to take a quick troll offshore for mahi mahi. We made a run out to 300ft, dropped the feathers back on the riggers and like clockwork got tight with a 8lb cow. Guy’s trolling experience with salmon paid off – he was quick to lock up the drag and get tight!  As the fish got closer to the boat we saw a nice bull tailing behind! We pitched a chummer but the fish just wouldn’t eat.  The remainder of the troll produced nothing, so we picked up and headed back in for some more kitefishing and jigging.  Our next few drifts on the kite produced two bonitas despite epic live chumming.  On the way back north, we stopped over at the pioneer for one more shot at AJs…they cooperated and I decided to get in on the fun a bit myself.

Spring fishing is here and in full swing.  The next few weeks should continue to produce some decent sailfish days and the blackfin tuna shouldn’t be far behind. Our favorite month to fish in Miami is just 14 days away.  We’re stoked.   🙂

It actually didn’t register fully in my mind when the fish took the bait this morning. We had gaffed a dolphin with bill marks on its side just 15 minutes before witnessing the left long bait ( a jumbo goggle eye left over from the Miami Billfish Tournament) cork go plumeting into the water. We were drifting in 145′ maybe 100 yards north of the monument buoy – I figured we had managed our first sail of the day, but this fish did not jump. It began ripping line off the 12v international like I haven’t seen before. With a few scattered reports of yellowfins being caught off the coast of Miami, my imagination began distracting me from the reality that we needed to clear the spread and chase the fish. Whatever we had hooked was peeling line off the reel straight to the east. We gave chase as soon as the florentino came into the boat and proceeded to follow the fish through a maze of weekend warriors on our way to the bluewater. The fish pulled line endlessly as we gave chase and i was beginning to doubt we had a shot at whatever was tearing full throttle towards the horizon.

After a dash offshore, we finally managed to gain enough line and get broadside to the fish for the first time. We had one clear shot at the leader early into the fight as the man in the blue suit wandered up to the surface to take a glance at us. We made a dash to grab the leader but he called the surface basking quits and sounded. The iridescent blue stripes and enormous pectoral fins of the fish were magnificent. That was the last we saw of it for another 30 minutes until a frantic sailfish began leaping around the boat and our fish followed. When we first saw the sailfish leaping around (a big sail) a bit of awkward confusion rolled over the boat. We were all somewhat stunned – we had seen the marlin on the surface, but did it suddenly transform into a sailfish? there was no line from the sailfish’s mouth and although we were tight our fish somehow followed under the sail – cruising deeper. More realistically, it was the sail hopping around flanking our fish.

Another 25 minutes passed and we remained in deadlock with the blue brute. We could simply not move him up on 20lb test and a 40lb flourocarbon leader. It was a miracle the 6/0 demon circle held in place (not to mention Todd’s perfection loop he retied after the bill whacked mahi mahi). Some risky additional pressure did the trick and the fish finally came back up to the surface just long enough for Todd to grab the leader – although fumbling with a camera in your right hand while leadering a 100# blue with your left was consierably inadvisable. The fish made a quick pause at the boat and then turned inshore fast – he broke free on the leader after throwing us a brilliantly pelagic blue broadside flash a few feet beneath the surface. The fish glided away into the abyss and was gone. With everyone a bit rattled, and disappointed from not getting an ideal photo, we took a moment to collect ourselves and realize it was only 1145.

Only a bit of iphone footage and shoddy gopro camera work remain as physical testament to our duel with the big blue – but the image of those radiant blue stripes shining beneath the surface will remain burned in my eyes for years to come.

I originally wrote this article for the April 2013 edition of Coastal Angler Magazine (Miami North Edition) but I figured it would be wise to post it here as well since it’s a valuable lesson that deserves to live on the internet! Yes it’s true – in my previous life I had a stint in journalism. While my writing for various newspapers never amounted to a career at a prestigious publication, it certainly gave me a head start in wordsmithing for the masses.

I truly enjoy writing for a fishing magazine and while I haven’t had the opportunity to grace the pages of Florida Sportsman or Saltwater Sportsman (yet), i’m hoping in time i’ll earn the right. For now, I’m privileged to share this article with everyone on the subject of live chumming for sailfish – a tactic we employ when the bite is slow but we know there’s fish in the area.

Live Chumming for Sailfish – You can’t go wrong!

By Capt. Charlie Ellis

Live Chumming for Sailfish – You Can’t Go Wrong    by Capt. Charlie Ellis

It had been a relatively slow day for us in sporty conditions – a solid 4 to 6ft seas with 18knt winds blowing strong out of the southeast. While we had managed to pick off a few mahi mahi during the day, the sailfish were no where to be found.  A single boat to the north, fishing off the double diamonds, had released a single sail around noon, and one of the most famous boats in the Miami fleet had just called their half day trip quits without a bite to the south. The odds were not in our favor despite fair conditions for sailfish.

With my customers growing wary of the progressively worsening sea conditions, we set up in 180′ directly off the yellow sea buoy and began heaving the last two or three hundred pilchards in our live wells out into the spread. After about 10 minutes of hardcore live chumming, a ferocious pack of brute sailfish came frolicking into the spread. One, two, three, four fish, with a fifth trailing behind began slashing and rolling on our kite baits. In what felt like a second stretched into an eternity – three big sailfish began leaping and cartwheeling in an acrobatic fury of terror as the hooks came tight and the fight was on. My customers were overjoyed as they went to work on a triple header sailfish hookup, but took just a moment to breathe and ask “why didn’t you live chum like that earlier?”

That question stuck in my head as one fish spit the hook while tailwalking towards the bow and we pressed on to release the other two.  Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in keeping as much bait as I can (in case a school of mahi mahi or blackfin tuna show up) that I forget how effective this technique can be for sailfish…especially near structure or current rips. That day, a weak bluewater edge was holding in 170′ – 180′ and despite a weak current of 1.5knts, I knew there had to be some fish in the area. Drawing schools of sailfish to you with live chum may be taboo in tournaments, but it’s consistently effective when the bite is slow and there aren’t a ton of fish moving through an area.

Making Live Chum Dance

It’s no mystery that pelagic species can see the flickering of injured baitfish from over a hundred yards away. Injured baitfish send a very different signal in the water than a healthy baitfish. It’s very important when live chumming with copious amounts of bait that you mildly injure them so they don’t dart under the boat or skitter along just beneath the surface.  When you pitch healthy uninjured baits into the water – while they may school up and swim around – they send no signal of distress. We pitch anywhere from six to ten live baits at once and always scrape them up before pitching them out into the spread.  Several captains i’ve fished with in the past simply dump them over the side and that never really worked.  When you injure bait and toss them in proximity of your kite baits or flat lines, they tend to just wallow around wherever they land rather than scream off in different directions. Using your thumb to scrape scales off the baits, squeezing their eyes, or crushing their belly will severly limit the baitfish’s ability to swim properly and escape. While you don’t want to kill them, use enough force to injure them so they can’t swim freely.  The goal is to put lots of crippled baitfish into the water consistently.

Batter up!

During our tuna trips to Bimini, we always pack a few plastic Cestas – imitations of the equipment used in Jai-Alai which can usually be purchased at Toys R Us or CVS stores near a beach. When you pack a few pilchards into a Cesta, you can really launch them away from the boat, which is handy if you see fish busting the surface or tailing down sea. One of our go-to techniques for getting more range out of our livebait is to fling a half-dozen or so pilchards with the cesta while casting a a hooked bait at the same time. We consider it a derivative of chunking.  If you see flying fish exploding out of the water near your spread – but they’re still a ways off from your long bait, load up that plastic Cesta with pilchards and whip them as far as you can.  You might just be surprised with how quickly a predator will end its pursuit of flying fish in favor of your crippled pilchards.

Don’t Over Do It

I remember watching Jose Wejebe on ESPN Outdoors when I was young use live chum for kingfish – with each bucketful of baits he would launch off the side of his boat, kingfish and tunas would rip through the school devouring it in seconds.  It seemed he always had a live well of bait no matter how much he dipped into the stash, producing bucket after bucket of frisky pilchards. While many of us aren’t as fortunate to have thousands of pilchards in the well before an average trip offshore, i’m of the opinion you don’t need thousands of pilchards to live chumeffectively. A handful of baits every minute will do the job as long as you’re injuring the baits before pitching them. Dumping your entire well in a few minutes is ineffective – the goal is to create a live chum slick of baits in an effort to create a trail which leads back to the boat – or to the spread. If you are consistently pitching a handful of chum baits near your spread with regularity, a fish will eventually find its way to you. If not, get back on the move in search of current and work the rips offshore.

Miami Sailfishing has been in full swing the last few weeks. While we’ve seen several slow days, when the current is strong…so is the bite. Bait has been plentiful and there are plenty of sailfish still moving through the area.  Cold fronts continue to push through the  South Florida area and most boats are catching fish anywhere from Fowey Rocks to the Double Diamonds.  Capt. Todd has been quick with the camera so far this year, producing several of the most epic pictures to date.  With the Miami BillFish Tournament just one week away, I figured now would be a good time to share some of our favorite sailfish pictures of 2013.

As I said before, the sailfish bite depends strongly on the current, but we’re hoping conditions improve in the next few days. As we approach the beginning of April, the sailfish should continue to get better as new cold fronts arrive weekly. Our preparations for the Miami Billfish Tournament are underway and we’re really looking forward to taking part in this year’s festivities. If you’re interested in booking a miami sailfish charter, please give us a call as our calendar is filling up for the month of April – and be sure to look for my latest article in Coastal Angler Magazine which should arrive in the next week!

Tight Lines,

Capt. Charlie Ellis