Walker's Cay Chronicles - Sailfishing in Stuart, Florida - 99

come with me on a trip into angling adventurer we'll ride the ragged edge where the fish are big a wild from the fabled walkers kay will travel to the ends a year to the loneliest oceans and the farthest rivers in search of the best light tackle action will pick the smallest lures and the lightest rods against the toughest fish and will burn the stories into the memory of film on the walkers K chronicles these are the sun-drenched waters off the west coast of Panama it's mid-may and the northward rushing currents sweep close to the shore carrying ton upon glittering ton of baked fish the fish move in unison like a single organism surrounding them are some of the world's largest sailfish creatures of extraordinary beauty power and grace each with lines pure and more functional in the best design powerboat about 10 feet long in between ninety and a hundred and fifty pounds they are high speed hunters using their bills like fencers use their foils their dorsals act like sails stabilizing them in turbulent water they also use them to frighten predators unfurling them like capes so they'll appear larger and more threatening but what most of us know is what they do at the end of the line sailfish jump and jump and jump in a bid to shake themselves loose into the half bird they use the air as they use water riding it like men-of-war this fish however is not hook there are lots of theories as to why a sailfish jump voluntarily I think it jumps for the same reason Edwin Moses ran the hurdles for half his life because they're so good at it if I could jump like sailfish I'd do it every morning [Music] the closest we get to being a sailfish though is by fishing form with a fly rod this is one of my favorite things in the whole world riding the big blue water while down below the sailfish shadows the hookless bait as it comes closer to the transom I wait with my fly rod at the ready in my heart pounding watching the sailfish charge up behind the baits its quivering body lit up like neon its cape unfurled is like nothing else that I know of in fishing [Applause] and when you hook one your world goes into orbit the Sailfish seems to spend more time in the air than in the water during the first phase of a typical fight the hope is that the hook will not break or fall out but the leader knots will hold against the tremendous strain and that I do what I'm supposed to do bowing or genuflecting each time the fish comes out of the water so as to create plenty of slack line if the line is too tight the fish can fall on it and break off there's a lovely symbolism in my Bali as the Sailfish sword I caught hundreds of sailfish and most of the tropical oceans of the world and the patterns of their jumping can vary dramatically here in the Atlantic waters off eastern Mexico the sails seem to be trained by gymnastic teachers they did one cartwheel after another which was fine they tired themselves out quickly one sail however took a novel approach to the game preferring to employ a wicked breast book I had never seen a fish stay on the surface for so long as it approached the boat I had the distinct feeling it had a plan that was not in my best interests but the bigger sailfish especially the Pacific variety can dig in and hold you hostage for a real long time by tilting their pectoral fins downward they leverage tons of water against the upward pull of line they're they'll stay until they weaken where you change the angle of the line when they are finally brought to the boat the goal is to tag them and releasing them as quickly and efficiently as possible more sailfish are damaged at the side of the boat than at the end of the line for all their strength and toughness there's a fragile Center these Warriors with their oxygen low and their adrenaline pumping wildly every second is vital once the streamer fly is detached from the sails leathery mouth the mate and angler give the fish some artificial respiration and when the proper depth of color and strength returned the fish is released back into its world with its cape unfurled it regains its machismo and once more Swagger's through its domain fully recuperated and ready for whatever danger may be out there such was the nature of my daydream as I drove to Stuart the plan for the day you guessed it to do battle with Atlantic sailfish and by the time I pulled into the community where my fishing friends were waiting my fishing engine was running hot [Music] [Music] little bit longer hey hello malware nothing Stuart good to see you good to see you again there's some chance we're gonna get out today on this stuff and we'll get it right yeah I don't like nothing out there and they're biting pretty good too so boy you go get something for it I'll go hide the truck I'll meet you down at the boat alright man alright sit down no more than 15 minutes later I was feeling the familiar role of water under my feet the briar patch did not deserve its name this fishing machine was more comfortable than my living room its cockpit more spacious than my porch and its twin engines a good deal smoother and quieter than my refrigerator at 3 in the morning we headed out at eight bells looking to catch the flood tide that is gathering in the Gulf Stream just offshore from Stuart Florida plip you want to take one of these put it on that other line for me what is that turtle look how are these things working out for you really really good we started out using them on bottom fish and bluefin tuna and now we're using on everything from sailfish to black marlin real good conservation hook the hardly ever got hook fish always got it right in the corner of the draw I think the mortality rates gonna drop like crazy MLE I'm wondering feeder I wonder how this would do for a fly hook I've been trying to talk some of the guys into using them on flies Brandon that's the secret for tarpon on made anymore well I wonder if we can ever get these things made in the thinner wire that would be easier to cast in this size circle boat I think this might even make a pretty neat kind of a fly huh I absolutely am sure but I've been talking a couple of the manufacturers I think we're gonna have it shortly boy I wish you'd keep me posted on that project unless you tell you oh great thank you good oh you can't hurt that slightly things okay here we go I put a Paterson hitch on that circle hook so it cool wing free well he listened to him Colton and grunt now he's got a nice life made close I carefully dispatched the live bait into the gray chop then set the spinning reel on free spool okay Carl we're business it show these guys something off her you fish or what that means in the it was the only corpus where look at that it's a second one for sure he's flaunting his flutes in us how whatever hey flip get a little jig ready look at this bait up here being pushed by the Spanish national look at that that is beautiful you think that's because of the net ban that they passed a couple of years ago I don't know if it's all because of the net damn quick but it certainly has a major factor this is truth with conservation works we haven't seen fishing like this here Spanish mackerel these numbers 30 years [Music] [Applause] the Spanish mackerel were cutting and slashing through the school of baitfish and with no sales showing themselves at the moment I cast into the fray almost immediately I was rewarded [Music] there we go all right oh that was such a great fight with I love these fish I love these little guys Wow smokers they give a good account themselves on this light stuff don't they love this fish here we go Peter egg look at these gloves on yeah what a pitch huh this is a beautiful Spanish pack see the yeah that the spots on him here that's what shows that it's a Spanish king mackerel doesn't have the spot from zero there's no spots and whines this is a beautiful time in Spanish backwards streamlined fish by the way they fight I was judge ah oh yeah incredibly hydrodynamic sleep beautiful pulse date dinner and a great bait or marlin or agenda and there's still some out there so if you don't mind touching other one shouldn't have any problem of that we respond to fish here after several more mackerel were voted Carl wound up the engines and headed northeast he had seen something crashing at the surface something that looked suspiciously like sailfish and now as we trolled across some major seas we awaited the arrival of our guest of honor [Music] okay I mean at this point [Applause] wait a minute see there [Music] okay get ready to let him eat it any questions mister drop no he didn't that's a great show by day dream now real I felt the old primitive response surging fruit [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I don't see how there he is everything all right long into the fight this fish was still going to the air when he finally went downstairs he felt stronger than he should have maybe the heavy seas were giving him added strength but I felt his every move every head shake every swing of his tail and so far he was in charge finally I could sense he was weeping boy oh boy I'll play this tackle is so great today this is fun huh it lets you do things that we really used to struggle with now let the guys got your six pound bass up and bound about selfish he's close to the boat there is right on the top good job Karl well you're all over this fish nice job on a flip Daria's right now I can see color is only down about 40 feet right now Papa pack there he was a dark wavering shape in the living blue sea seeming closer than he was and I pumped carefully aware that he had probably worn a large hole around the hook a touch of slack line and he could be gone nice here it begs in flip I dumped the leader accident hey Jimmy okay I'll bring him up real soon out of it one more pump let me get a word yeah don't watch the fight - lizards up there go tanks in installation good job got it building this foundation tanking that one right good job you know what that was not a good touch the release had been short and sweet which was just fine with me the sale was still strong for the rest of the morning the briar patch prowled the blue waters for another sailfish but it was not to be not today as Carl turned the boat toward home I was content to study a visitor from another video [Music]

Channel: Flip Pallot Outdoors

Views: 4,354

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Walker's Cay Chronicles, Flip Pallot, Sailfish, Fly Fishing, Florida Fishing, Offshore Fishing, Stuart Florida

Id: 57q3Jrwq0e0

Length: 19min 22sec (1162 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 17 2019