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Steve Winsor

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Sailfish on topwater stickbaits & poppers
May 02, 2016, 08:43:22 AM
Hey Guys,

Thinking about chasing Sailfish on stickbaits & skipbaits etc

anyone done it?

few questions what type of tackle would I do it with?

Pe5?
what type of lures work?
Rigging lures?
how do you raise them to the surface?
leader setups etc?

Thanks Guys


Cameron Mundy

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Hi Steve

I've been lucky enough to have quite a lot of sails on top water here's what has worked for me in the past.

Pe5?
Fine I've caught them as light as PE3

what type of lures work?
Small Stick baits preferably but smaller poppers will work as well, you want to cast the lure out as far as possible and work it halfway back like a pencil popper making as much noise as you can to get the fishes attention, Then slow right down and work it normally. The tricky bit is when the sail grabs the lure it'll normally sit and thrash its head around in one spot before taking off on its first run, you want to give one solid strike so the hooks find purchase then wind down on the fish to keep constant tension so the lure is thrown. when the sail starts running it'll drive the hooks home itself but its then safe to set the hooks a few more times.

Rigging lures?
Small sharp fine gauge trebles like Owner ST66 or preferably shout curve points are my favourite. Some advocate rigging with 3 long assists but its strikes me as very unsporting as you are trying to foul hook the fish in the face or bill wrap it, I've honestly found trebles to be far more productive.

how do you raise them to the surface?
Never set out to "raise" them just kept my eyes peeled in areas I know they hang out.

leader setups etc?
80 to 100lb Fluero is fine

Hope that helps you out.

Steve Winsor

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any particular lures worth looking into?

I have a ripple fisher aquilla 746 which ill use as a pe6 rod 40gram - 100gram cast weight with a 5500saltiga exp and pe 6

I also have a lighter casting rod which is a FCL labo UCB 73' M which is a pe3-4 rod which casts up to 70grams, I run a 4000H saltiga on this

these should be fine?

Cameron Mundy

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sounds good lure wise they aren't fussy sails are a bit of a daft fish if you can get them fired up they'll eat pretty much anything.

Brandon Khoo

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Re: Sailfish on topwater stickbaits & poppers
December 28, 2016, 02:57:28 PM
Steve
Late reply but hopefully, information can still be useful. The guys in Rompin in Malaysia regularly chase sails on surface lures. Their preferred rig is a baker rig made from very sharp thin gauged single hooks. If you don't know what a baker rig is, do a search on this forum. Trebles can be problematic with sails in terms of retention. The fish there love small Carpenter Gammas in the 60-90g sizes.
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Joshua Fifis

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Re: Sailfish on topwater stickbaits & poppers
December 29, 2016, 08:24:00 AM
I read a good article where they were using trailing assist hooks. Quite long too, like 6" off the tail.

Last Edit: December 29, 2016, 01:27:36 PM by Joshua Fifis
There's always a bigger fish!