Hey Doc... that is a cool Sailfish? would love to pull one of those in. What is the rule to keep them.. do they have to be so long? does it have to be within a certain season? And... are they good eating?
Let's Talk Tackle
- Thread starter Fishtales
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Doc Stressor
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- Nov 13, 2009
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- Location
- Homosassa, FL
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- Seafarer
They need to be 63" from the end of the lower jaw to the tail fork. You can keep one per day and there is no closed season. They aren't too good to eat except if they are smoked. We only boated that fish because it swallowed the hook and we thought that we might be able to get it out. You aren't supposed to take them out of the water if you are going to release them. We ended up cutting the leader, but the fish was hooked in the aorta and bled out. I hate it when you see a fish that could have kept float away like that.
That one was a really freaky catch and was probably the only one ever taken out of Homosassa. It hit a flatline set out for kingfish in only 42 ft of water. They are usually found at least 50 miles west of where it was caught. It was pretty funny except for the batched release. I grabbed the rod out of the hold and looked down to adjust the drag when the other guys on board yelled "sailfish!" Since we don't have sailfish in our area, I said: "yeah, right". I didn't believe them until the thing started to tail walk around the boat. We were anchored up with the top and antenna up, but one guy got the antenna down and I was able to hold the rod over the bimini as the fish went over the anchor rope. The guy holding the fish is a former charter captain out of Charleston and he knew exactly how to bill the fish. Otherwise, I don't know how we would have gotten it into the boat.
That one was a really freaky catch and was probably the only one ever taken out of Homosassa. It hit a flatline set out for kingfish in only 42 ft of water. They are usually found at least 50 miles west of where it was caught. It was pretty funny except for the batched release. I grabbed the rod out of the hold and looked down to adjust the drag when the other guys on board yelled "sailfish!" Since we don't have sailfish in our area, I said: "yeah, right". I didn't believe them until the thing started to tail walk around the boat. We were anchored up with the top and antenna up, but one guy got the antenna down and I was able to hold the rod over the bimini as the fish went over the anchor rope. The guy holding the fish is a former charter captain out of Charleston and he knew exactly how to bill the fish. Otherwise, I don't know how we would have gotten it into the boat.