As “winter” approaches in the Florida Keys, many enthusiastic anglers know Sailfish season is upon us. After a record-smashing Sailfish season last year, the Main Attraction Charter Fishing Team is excited to see what this year brings. The majority of Sailfish tournaments in the Florida Keys are held between November and April, the typical windy months.

The Main Attraction Fishing team primarily uses two methods to catch sailfish, sight fishing, and kite fishing. When the gulf stream pushes in closer to inshore waters it creates a sort of highway for Sailfish. As the Sailfish travel along this line, they come up closer to the surface almost surfing in the waves instead of fighting the heavy current in the deeper water. This is one of the reasons our boats are equipped with tall towers, our Captains look for the long dark shapes of the Sailfish floating or “tailing” in the waves. It is hard to describe the excitement you feel when you scan the blue water and see a sailfish appear! The action goes from 0-90 very quickly. The captain screams to the mate to throw a live bait in front of the direction the fish is swimming. If the sailfish is interested in the snack being offered, he will “light up” and charge toward your bait and suddenly your Sailfish is hooked up and its game on!

When sailfish are not tailing, they can often be “raised” using kites and live baiting techniques instead. Kite fishing is a real work of art and you need an experienced crew to do it properly. Your crew needs to get the lines out just right, without tangling them as each kite will hold three lines, a flat, middle and long line. The Main Attraction will even fly several kites at once adding even more lines into the mix. The idea is to keep the bait just on top of the water splashing around and reflecting light of its silver scales to draw in a predator. We are in essence “dangling the carrot”, or in this case, a nice yummy live bait snack. When a sailfish, or even sometimes a group of them comes crashing in on your baits it’s all hands-on-deck. A heart-pumping moment of organized chaos where everyone is winding like crazy and cheering as they hookup on multiple Sailfish at once. If this sounds like something you would like to experience contact Main Attraction Fishing Charters and book your winter Sailfishing Adventure in the beautiful Florida Keys!