BigBendFishing.Net

I know this technically doesn't belong here, but thought y'all would find it interesting.

I have only fished inshore and wanted to try a few really close numbers a friend gave me out of carrabelle to try and put my 12 yo son on a red snapper. So we are fishing in roughly 40 ft on the bottom with frozen bait. When I get a hit. I set the hook and the fish comes running to the surface like he's shot out of a cannon. Clearly not a snapper! I assumed a king Mack or something of the like. So I start trying to make ground on him with the reel. Absolutely no go. I'm using fairly light weight setup to enhance the snapper action. 7 ft medium action ugly stick with a flueger 6940 reel. 20lb fireline with 30lb mono leader. Well I can do nothing with the fish and he is just stripping drag. Finally he surfaces and I can't believe what I see. So we crank the boat and start chasing this fish. He's tail walking the whole way trying to make his run. After about 30min fight we get him boatside. And of course I'm way under prepared. No gaff. I get my dad leaning over the side trying to grab his tail, as soon as he touches him he jumps again and breaks my rod about half way down. My pa-in-law is videoing this debacle. Then he runs under the boat and we get a great video of him jumping boatside so I could pull out some still frames. And naturally, then he runs my line over the trolling motor and pops the line. So here's the culprit. I missed my once in a lifetime chance in these waters, all because I didn't have a gaff. Dang-it. My guesstimate is that he was roughly 6 ft long.


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Wow, I bet your son is still telling stories about that one. New depth to the old "one that got away" story. Congrats on the experience and not having to drop a grand to hook one!

Congrats on hooking the sail and enjoying the fight. I'm glad to hear you didn't have a gaff though. Sailfish are rarely killed anymore even in the big money tournaments. You got the best part of him and have video proof. If you'd like a keepsake, check out King Sailfish Mounts. They can make a beautiful replica mount that will last forever, give you a conversation piece to re-tell the story and the best part is the fish is still swimming so maybe you can catch it again.

Sailfish are a lot more common than most realize because sport fishers targeting marlin usually run on past them. Sails spend most of their time in depths less than 300 feet. Every couple years one will be hooked in Pensacola Pass or off Panama City Beach pier. For the boats competing in sailfish tournaments like the Silver Sailfish Derby, etc. 20- to 30-pound tackle is the norm since Atlantic sails average between 35 to 60 pounds.

http://www.kingsailfishmounts.com/saltw ... -1_67.html

Congrats on a fine catch and release complete with evidence

Must be the weather, baitfish or water temps or maybe they are always around that shallow but my buddy caught one in state water a couple of weeks ago near Mexico Beach while trolling for King Fish and I saw another picture of one posted on FB from the same area the next day.

Congratulations, that's awesome. Catch of a lifetime. Also glad you didn't have a gaff. Would have been a shame to kill that fish. A replica mount is a great idea.

Dang. Glad to hear I didn't have the gaff! I was reading in the regs and I was thinking it would have been fine to harvest him as long as he was 63+". But hey, the Lord is sovereign and knew I didn't need a gaff on board. Because I've almost bought one several times. I would have really liked a pic with my hands on him though!


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Not using a gaff of course. My dad needs to work on his hand strength.


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That's my lucky Dentist! Hope to see you soon!

How cool was that! Great job.

Awesome, saw where Miss Mary out of Mexico Beach landed one not long ago. Strange for them to be inshore with all the fresh water.