This time of year,
The water cools off and the baitfish, (Ballyhoo), move out of the shallow water to the reef where the water is deeper and warmer. When that happens, lots of predators come in to feed. Barracuda, Mackerel, Kingfish, Jacks, and even Sailfish will come up into the shallow reefs to take advantage of the schools of Ballyhoo
I have seen more than a dozen Sailfish
In water as shallow as 10-15 ft chasing and feeding on the schools of Ballyhoo. With the clear water we have here, it can be a very exciting thing to watch and fun to catch. So far, the schools of Ballyhoo are not as plentiful as most years, so there hasn’t been as much feeding activity all up and down the reef as we usually see. That means you have to go looking for the bait, but if you find the bait, you find the fish.
Today we struggled at first
The bait was not easy and by the time we caught it and started fishing, the tide was switching and the fishing had slowed down. I kept moving to different areas and depths, but for the first half of the day, it was very slow. Finally, the tide started to run and the fish started to feed. One of the fish we caught was this Sailfish in 30 ft of water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS8Jj7QtSxk
This Sailfish
was released unharmed. On the Southbound, we release all sailfish so we can let them grow and maybe we can catch them again another day. Any Sailfish is a good one and makes for a good day!
End of a good day at the end of a good year