# Sailfish story



## ZombieKiller (Jul 26, 2010)

This past weekend, I had a college buddy from Nebraska and his father down for a few days of fishing. We took a head boat out of Destin on Friday since the weather was not so great. We caught the expected bunch of mingos with a few keeper reds. It wasn't what we hoped for, but considering the seas, it was better than sitting on the couch. When we got back in, we took a look at the weather and decided that we'd load my 21' skiff up on Saturday with inshore and offshore gear and hope that the weatherman was wrong.

Saturday morning, we were greeted by low winds and a slick calm bay. We took a look at the pass and decided we were going to head out and try our luck. We hit up the bait man then made a short run to a close-in public number. We made one drift on the first spot and boated a nice red snapper, so I decided to pull off the number a ways, drop the anchor, and put out the chum bag. We quickly put a couple more snapper in the boat, and at that point, I made one of the best fishing decisions of my fishing life. I put out a live line...the only issue was that the only setup I had in the boat that was close to worthy of a live line was a Penn 4500 with 15# braid on a 7' medium action rod. I figured, "Oh well...it'll be fun." So, out in the chum slick the cigar minnow went, wearing a 6/0 circle hook in it's face. I put the rod in the rod holder, loosened the drag, and went back to my bottom rod. Two or three minutes later, I heard the sound of screaming drag. I looked back and saw my whippy-stick doubled over, and in the distance, I saw a sailfish tail-walking about 30 yards beyond the boat that was bout 50' off my stern. It took couple seconds to figure out exactly what was going on, but once I did, panic mode set in. In my mind, I politely asked the boat behind me to back off my line (which was directly under their hull)...but I'm sure there was significant volume and urgency in my voice. I then realized that we were still on anchor, and that neither of the Nebraska boys on my boat would likely be able to take the helm in order to chase the fish. So, I asked if I could jump over onto the aforementioned boat. The captain responded with something like "Hell yes!" He got himself close, I jumped over like Jack Sparrow, and we were off to regain some of my line. It quickly came to my attention that I had jumped on to a charter boat, and instantly felt very bad about jumping in on a private charter. The customers were thrilled to be a part the fight though, and would hear none of my apologies. We chased the fish for 20 minutes or so, got a dozen or so amazing jumps, and finally got the fish close enough to leader. I assumed that the 20# leader wouldn't hold up...and was mentally preparing myself to call a leader touch and a couple of close-up pictures a "catch." Thankfully, the Seaguar held, and after a couple of attempts, the captain was able to get a good grip on the bill, and we hoisted the thing onto the bow for my first sailfish catch. We snapped a couple quick pictures, removed the hook, and got it back in the water. We gave it a few minutes of pull, swinging back by my skiff so that my buddies could get a good look at it. It gave a few quick thrashes, letting us know it was re-gaining strength. I let go, and it swam away pissed off, but no worse for wear.

I can't thank Capt. Royce from Locked Up Charters (and his crew) enough for his help in landing this fish. I doubt I could have done it without him. Thanks again, Royce!


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## CCC (Sep 3, 2008)

WOW !!!!!! What a story !!!!! I needed that since I am land locked right now. I have only had a chance at one, he jumped on the port side of the boat about 50' out and I never saw him again. Good for you bud, those experiences are priceless


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

Awesome story


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## OHenry (Apr 28, 2011)

Great day with friends. Congrats on a great catch and thanks for sharing.


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## GIBBS29REG (Jun 21, 2011)

Congrats.. Enjoyed reading the post!


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## YakAttack (Oct 8, 2007)

That's awesome! It sounds like you did a great job making the right decisions in a"panic mode" and were rewarded for it. Great pictures! I love that you can see the condos in the background. The detail in the close-up pics are great, too.
It looks like you definitely added some excitement to the charter boat's trip.


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## WhyMe (Apr 21, 2013)

Wtg. The last pix was great.
Whyme


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## Bodupp (Oct 3, 2007)

Wow. That was a fun read.

"Like Jack Sparrow", heh, heh.

I was thinking you should tip the charter Capt., but he can use your photos and honestly say it was caught on his boat.

Congrats on a great catch and stories to share with your Nebraska friends for the rest of your life. Wait 'til they get home and tell their stories - probably tell everyone, "He does this all the time!" :thumbsup:


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

:thumbsup::thumbsup: Great story and ending! Props to charter boat. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## NKlamerus (Jan 4, 2016)

Damn that's awesome!!! 

Really incredible to see the generosity of the charter too


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## Don White (Oct 8, 2007)

One of the best stories I've ever read on PFF! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Ozeanjager (Feb 2, 2008)

Man that's an AWSOME story . Well told, I'm sure it will get better each time you tell it.


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## cloring (Mar 1, 2016)

Great read and pictures. Thanks and congrats


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## ZombieKiller (Jul 26, 2010)

Ozeanjager said:


> Man that's an AWSOME story . Well told, I'm sure it will get better each time you tell it.


Indeed. The fish is already 240 lbs in my stories...


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## 2RC's II (Feb 2, 2012)

Nice job and congrats. Topping that may take a while!


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## Diverrite (May 17, 2009)

Wow, great being prepared and doing what need to be done.


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