Dawn of a New Season? Sailfish Alley in the Summer

I grew up with different heroes than any of my buddies. They wanted to throw a football like Bart Starr (yes, I’m that old) and I wanted to fly as many sailfish flags as Chip Shafer, the captain of the old Temptress out of Fort Pierce. You see, I caught my first sailfish in 1965, and very little else has mattered to me since. For years, I lived for the week between Christmas and New Years when the Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club would trailer their boats down to Fort Pierce where we’d pray for a break in the weather so we could go catch a few sailfish. We caught one or two a day while we watched Temptress seemingly going in reverse every 5 minutes with another one on.

When we came in flying two release flags, they flew a dozen. We didn’t know what the secret was, but it was driving me crazy. Over the next few decades, Chip moved on, and was replaced by guys with names like Ray Rosher, Scott Fawcett, George Labonte, Glenn Cameron, John Louis Dudas, and many more who seem to chase sailfish at a totally different level than us weekenders.

I have now been blessed to spend the last few summers fishing a couple days a week out of Stuart, instead of my home waters of Jacksonville. We catch a few sails most days, but if I had the job of sewing sailfish flags for the best of the best from Stuart, I could retire, with very sore fingers. At my age, fishing the slick days of July are a whole lot easier than trying to hold on during a 20-knot northerly.

Now, make no mistake, the best don’t come cheap, but I was frustrated enough to be more than happy to gather my regular fishing buddies together to charter Capt. Scott Fawcett for a day of summertime sailfishing out of Stuart. Somehow, I knew once we got offshore the top-secret bait would come sneaking out of a hidden livewell.

I was wrong. Captain Scott fishes the same threadfins, cigar minnows, and sardines as we do. Once we had caught three or four dozen, I asked Scott if we had enough. “We only need about a hundred,” came word from the tower.

Sure enough, mates Jimmy Peterson and Victor Feratto never stopped catching bait, and dehooking it without ever touching it. In no time the livewell was blacked out, and we were making the ridiculously short 6-mile run offshore.

No secret baits, same 40-pound fluorocarbon leader and 6/0 circle hooks, same baits bridled through the shoulders or nostrils that we fish from The Seven every day. Unfortunately, once the lines started going out, all similarities between the Off The Chain and The Seven ended.

Weekend fishermen like me think having a sailfish on is a big deal. For the pros, having one on means it’s time to start fishing, hopefully hooking two or three more.

Scott fishes a 10-line spread on his charters. Yes, I said 10. Six lines off two kites bow and mid-ship with each being steered by splitshots on the corner of the kites. Then he runs a four-line spread out the back while he bumps along slowly on one engine. He stays in the tower and both mates are ready to throw a pitch bait at a tailer, should one come within the range of Scott’s eagle eyes. More importantly, the mates never stop working.

Scott’s Contender boasts numerous rod holders along the gunnel, providing ample options for positioning a kite rod. Adjacent to the kite rod, you’ll find a trident rod holder, facilitating easy access to the three baits flying off each kite. The job of reeling a bait up that has sunk too deep, or dropping the bait that is flying through the air, is never ending. The very idea of a kite is to keep the tackle out of the water, while the bait appears perfectly natural swimming on the surface.

While the kite baits cover the entire area from just ahead of the console across the bow, the area behind the boat has four more live baits, as well as two teasers. Whereas I have always pulled my holographic-style strip teasers as deep as possible, Scott pulls the strips on the surface, adjacent to a chain with six rubber swimming tails rigged inline.

Obviously, fishing Scott’s way takes loads of practice, and ready hands. You have to keep your boat positioned so the trolled baits stay behind the boat, while the kites stay up and separated. Generally, that means tacking across the current at an angle to keep everything straight. Scott has perfected the art of continuing to fish with at least one fish hooked up. The sails are spawning in the warm summertime water, and it is almost guaranteed once you hook up, there’s more in the area.

You know, I think sailfish are one of those fish that really separate the men from the boys. After years of blue marlin fishing, I’ve decided that the best way to catch a blue marlin is to drive your boat over the top of a hungry blue marlin. With two in the spread they’ll fight to get to the bait first. Racking up double-digit sailfish releases, day after day, takes a team of topflight anglers. I showed up on the dock that morning looking for secrets. I came home realizing I was a little league pitcher trying to figure out why I couldn’t throw as hard as Nolan Ryan.

The truth is, I learned I’m never going to be Capt. Scott Fawcett. I’m going to fish with my buddies, my grandkids and their friends. We’re going to stay on our trolling motor all day while we fish a four-line spread. Okay, we do know how to fish a kite, and we’ll throw one up when the wind blows. We may even drop a deep bait by rubber banding a 6-ounce teardrop or egg sinker 20 feet above the leader on 40-pound braid. Oh yeah, I have also learned we get really cool surface strikes by running a cork 20 feet above the bait. Pull the plastic piece out of the top of a kite cork, half hitch a No. 32 rubber band around the line at the top of the cork, and push the stopper back in. Just break the rubber band when the fish gets close.

I love turning up the trolling motor enough to keep the baits apart, then stop every quarter mile or so just to let them swim around. I have found that a sailfish that gets after a bait that’s being pulled will veer off and disappear much more often than a sail that comes to a bait that’s able to make evasive maneuvers. Once a threadfin starts hopping out of the water and doing cartwheels, it’s game on!

While Scott is a professional fisherman, I can only hope to become a little better weekender every day. I’m okay with that, because after more than 50 years of looking for sailfish, each one I see makes me lose my sanity like the first one I ever saw. Better yet, everybody close to me that ever wanted to catch one has done it. Every one of my grandkids has screamed their lungs out at the sight of their first tail-walking sail. Every first sailfish that a guest of ours catches is celebrated just like my first one was.

We’re going to keep flying our three or four flags proudly, even when the pros are flying a dozen. The whole crew will sign the flag commemorating your first sailfish release, and yes, you’ll be just as wet when we toss you in the pool as you would be if we had caught 20 fish!

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• This article was featured in the June 2024 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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