Sailfish are leaping into the fray

TIERRA VERDE -- As a boy, Bob Paver liked to go down to the dock and watch the party boats unload their catch.

"It was the thing to do on Pass-A-Grille beach," said the 46-year-old Pinellas County native. "They brought in everything. But I don't ever remember seeing a lot of sailfish."

Billfish such as marlin, swordfish and sailfish are a rarity here on the West Coast. Anglers catch a few scattered sails during the fall and spring kingfish runs, but nothing to bank on. In recent weeks, however, that has changed.

"We just couldn't keep away from them on Saturday," said Capt. Ken Orthner of the charter boat K.O. Kid. "We were in the kingfish tournament, and the sailfish actually became a nuisance."

Orthner, fishing in 40 feet of water near the Indian Shores artificial reef, had at least six sailfish take a shot at his slow-trolled baits.

"I have been chartering for 20 years, and I would say this is pretty unusual," Orthner said.

Paver, who grew up fishing off Blind Pass, said he was trolling for kings with two friends, Joe Saunders and Jim Quintessenza, when a bill suddenly poked through their boat's wake.

"I was at the helm and Joe was down on deck," Paver recalled. "He yelled "There's a billfish chasing our bait,' and I thought to myself ... sure there is."

But a few seconds later, a sailfish exploded on a baitfish dangling on a flat line a few feet from the transom. Saunders had three 9-year-olds on the boat, but the boys were tired after catching kingfish all day, so he grabbed the rod himself.

"I had 30-pound test line, but I was still a little worried about losing it because I had hooked it on a kingfish rig," he said. "Those little treble hooks are not made for billfish. They will straighten right out under that kind of pressure."

Saunders fought the fish for 45 minutes as Paver handled the wheel and Quintessenza the camera.

"The boys were just going wild," Saunders said. "It was pretty exciting."

When they got the fish alongside the boat, the youngsters reached out and touched the bill.

"That is something none of them will ever forget," said Paver, who has two preschool sons. "There is nothing like the colors on a sailfish when it first comes alongside a boat."

Saunders and Paver posed for a quick photo, then showed the young anglers how to revive and release a fish. They all watched it swim away.

"The whole thing made me start thinking," Paver said. "Maybe we should go out and start targeting sailfish?"

He has a point. The number of sails caught by kingfishermen in recent weeks has been phenomenal. The Times has received at least 12 photos of sailfish, some as big as 70 pounds, sent by anglers fishing for something else.

Some, including Paver, credit the recovery of local baitfish populations for the increase in sailfish.

"There is bait everywhere," he said. "It looks like the net ban has really worked."

Eight years ago Florida voters overwhelming approved a ban on inshore gill netting. Most anglers will agree there is more bait around than there used to be and that fishing for trout, red drum and snook has improved.

Whether larger bait schools have brought in more sailfish is a matter of debate. Mike Murphy, a biologist with the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg, said the sails being caught could be the result of ocean currents.

"Sailfish may come close to shore at certain times of the year, but they are still a deep-water fish," he said. "The intrusion of higher-salinity, oceanic water could be bringing them in."

Murphy's theory makes sense. But if he is right, that means the sails could disappear as quickly as they came.

So I for one would like to think that there may be another, less-scientific reason for the stellar sailfishing.

Perhaps Neptune, God of the Ocean, is rewarding local anglers for using more environmentally friendly outboard motors, recycling spent monofilament fishing line and practicing catch and release.

Let's hope so. The three 9-year-olds will get their own chance at a sail.

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