Whether the fish are traveling in large bodies, small pods or even as loners or pairs, one key to catching them with live bait anywhere on the coast is to use the species they're currently eating. That may require catching several kinds of bait or locating and catching bait in the area of the fish. In general, offering up a scaled sardine when the fish are eating threadfins might get a bite or two, but it won't get a dozen.

Live goggle-eyes seem to be the exception to the rule. They're a favored sailfish morsel, and one that few fish will turn down, even when they're targeting another bait species. Goggle-eyes are hardy baits that exhibit speed and splash when fished from a kite, and will last all day if the fish don't bite.

Bait size is another consideration. In the winter months, the threadfins will run large, but the sardines are small. If a body of fish are on a large school of sardines, then threadfins, although in the same bait family, represent a noticeably larger food item than the fish are after. There are times when the larger meal will seem more attractive, but that's rarely the case when the fish are focused on consuming quantities of small bait. That's why many of the hardcore experts insist on catching their bait while actively fishing for sailfish.

Bait catching takes time, effort and familiarity with the local scene. Off Stuart, there is a strong winter population of threadfins in proximity of the St. Lucie Inlet. Sardines and cigar minnows can be found around the shoal buoys to the north, and on some of the artificial reefs. Goggle-eyes are occasionally mixed in with the other baits or are caught at night off some of the reefs. Blue runners are numerous along the beaches and at the mouth of the inlet. When the seas are too rough to catch bait in the ocean, mullet and pinfish can be caught in the Indian River.

When the sailfish bite gets hot off Stuart (sometime between late December and mid-January), it's easy to locate the bait schools by looking for a congregation of charterboats along the beach just north of the inlet. Threadfins seem to hold in 30 to 40 feet of water along the tideline. Be sure to bring plenty of sabiki or bait-catching rigs, because sailfish and Spanish mackerel migrate through the area the same time of year, and there are days when the macks are so thick it requires sacrificing a number of rigs to catch a well full of baits.

In the time you spend catching your supply of livies, the boats pulling dead baits will have found the fish, and all you have to do is run out and join the fleet on the horizon. Often, the fish will be in the same area as the previous day, or a mile or so in either direction depending on the wind. Once you find the boats, it's up to you to make your baits more attractive than the baits fished by the competing boats.

Trollers accomplish this by slowing down and going into a turn when they mark a bait school. The drop in speed allows the teaser chains to drop slightly in the water column, while the change in direction also lowers the baits and presents teasers and rigged baits at different angles. As the boat comes out of the turn, it powers up to normal speed, pulling the teasers and baits back to the surface--hopefully with excited sailfish in tow. Once a fish leaves the bait school for the teasers, the baits in the wake are the only game in town.

Livebait fishermen employ a similar tactic, working their baits around the outskirts of the schools so they look like struggling, disoriented prey. You can let a frisky herring or goggle-eye linger to one side of the school for as long as it takes for a hungry fish to maneuver to that side of the school.

Live baits should be fished at different depths to cover the entire water column. Fish feeding at 40 feet might not leave a bait school to rise to the surface to eat a lone goggle-eye, but they sure will move up to 30 feet to eat one, and if the fish is traveling with a pack, the others might follow and eat too. Downriggers are one way to get a bait down, but since the baits will be actively swimming around, they often tangle in the cable. Slow-trolling to keep tension on the lines can remedy that problem, but if you intend to drift, only one or two baits should be put down on the bait school using the rubbercore sinker or sash weight method mentioned earlier.

When the fish are concentrated, the action will get crazy and there will be fish in the air all over the place. Remember that boats trolling baits require more room to maneuver and any boat actively fighting or backing down on a fish should be given the right of way. The body of bait and fish will be quite large, so there's no need to squeeze any other boats. In most circumstances, the boats that are hooking fish are the ones that are doing everything right and have gone the extra distance to make their spread of baits attractive. Do the same, and the rewards will be similar.

Rigging the Swimming Ballyhoo

The key to any successful dead-bait fishing is to obtain the freshest baits available. That usually means digging through brine solutions for the ballyhoo with clean, clear eyes and firmness to the touch. Most charterboat mates will not put fresh ballyhoo directly in brine, instead opting to place them in a cooler on a sheet of aluminum foil stretched on top of the ice. The baits are then covered with a liberal sprinkling of kosher salt to keep the outer skin tough.

Ballyhoo season runs from September through January in South Florida, and after that, frozen ballyhoo are the most readily available baits. Buyers of frozen ballyhoo should examine the package carefully to make sure the baits aren't scarred and the skin isn't broken. Blood in the package is also a bad sign, and ballyhoo should have a whole beak. Clear eyes are better, but sometimes, the eyes will cloud in the brine.

For sailfish, small ballyhoo in the 6- to 8-inch range are selected for the rigged baits, while ballyhoo 10 to 12 inches long will be used for the teasers. Many anglers feel that the eyes of the ballyhoo should be removed to avoid bulging, which may make the bait spin. Mates do this by punching a dowel or arrow shaft through the eye socket.

Next, empty the digestive cavity by squeezing the belly starting at the gills and working back to the anal vent. Without breaking the skin, gently flex the ballyhoo from one side to the other to separate the spinal column. This gives the bait more side-to-side swimming action. The terminal half of the ballyhoo's bill is broken off and removed, and the remaining bill is split with a rigging knife.

Jimmy Grant, mate on the Fort Pierce charterboat Temptress, uses a 1/4-ounce sinker and a 6/0 Mustad 9175 hook which are secured to a 60-pound Jinkai leader with an aluminum crimp. A 12-inch trace of 20-pound Monel wire is attached to the leader just above the hook, and the hook is threaded through the gills of the ballyhoo with the point exiting in the middle of the breastplate. The sinker should rest under the chin and between each gill plate. The leader is then run under the chin of the ballyhoo and between the split in the bill. The eye of the hook rests beneath the chin of the bait, and the wire is then wrapped several times through the eyes, eventually moving up the bill on either side of the leader.

Rigging Live Baits

Ask any experienced sailfish anglers and they will tell you it's the lively baits that attract the fish. The first key is an efficient livewell system, the bigger the better, which cleanses and aerates the water. Catching the bait with hook and line, such as the popular sabiki rigs, does the minimal amount of damage to the bait. Be sure to cull out any injured or bleeding baits that have been hooked in the gills.

Threadfins can be caught along the beaches, in the inlets, and along inlet tidelines during the last half of the outgoing tide. Goggle-eyes seem to bite best about an hour before dawn, while sardines and blue runners can be caught around buoys.

Hook placement is critical when rigging live baits, which is why many charterboats opt to bridle the baits to the hook with dental floss that's of much thinner diameter than the hook. Surface drift baits can be hooked through the nostrils or eye socket, and if there is no current or wind, a bait can be hooked behind the anal fin and allowed to swim away from the boat.

Since light tackle is the norm, most anglers like to fish with 20-pound spinning or conventional gear spooled with at least 300 yards of line. A 10-to 15-foot 60-pound monofilament leader will draw more strikes than wire or heavier monofilament, and will usually hold up during the course of a fight.

Smaller baits require smaller hooks, and there should always be at least one runt in every bait spread. A 3/0 bronze bait hook is ideal for most small sardines, threadfins or pilchards, and a 6/0 better suits the normal 6- to 10-inch baits like blue runners and goggle-eyes.

Kite baits and deep baits should be bridled using a 6-inch section of dental floss or wax thread tied in a circle. The loop is attached to a rigging needle, run through the back of the bait ahead of the dorsal fin, and back through the loop. The point of the hook is inserted in the top of the loop, and the bait is spun several times to wind the thread. The point of the hook is then placed under the thread at the top of the bait.

Palm Beach sailfish aficionado Nick Smith has been utilizing circle hooks the last few seasons with excellent success. The hooks typically catch a fish in the jaw, increasing the chance for survival, and Smith says he's noticed a better hookup ratio with them. Offset circle hooks will sometimes hook a fish in the tissue of the mouth and throat, so in-line hooks are the standard. Smith uses the light wire 7/0 Eagle Claw 2004ELG for most livebait sailfishing.