Bob Wilmouth and friends came to Key West in search of the elusive Sailfish.  Unfortunately, they chose the same week as the World Sailfish Tournament so getting bait could have been a big problem (live bait goes for upward of $1,500 a day) but fortunately for us, we had Capt. Steve catching bait for us!

After throwing a variety of live baits in the live-well, we headed for a wreck in 200 feet of water to get the party started with a bang.  Sunny skies, calm blue water and instant action was our reward and we caught and released several Hammer-jacks for warm up.

Then, we put out our live baits and waited…  and waited.  Sailfishing with live bait is usually a game of patience.  Sometimes it is instant.  And sometimes it takes a while .

As we were watching to the East, Bob spotted a Frigate bird up high apparently watching something on the surface of the water.  “Big Dolphin will move quickly from East to West this time of year following the Flying Fish,” I said to no one in particular.  A more excitable/inexperienced Captain would have tried to move the baits a bit further into the path of the bird/Dolphin, but I figured that with the speed that the bird/Dolphin was going, I didn’t stand a chance of directly intercepting him and thought that the distress vibrations coming from my unmolested baits would be enticing enough to lure a Dolphin from quite a distance away…  and I was right!

Courtesy of www.keywestfishtales.com