Pitch baits are especially effective at catching sailfish. Capt. Skip Dana prepares to release one caught off Boca Raton by angler Glenn Sapir. Photos provided
By Steve Waters
The most successful offshore anglers never leave the dock without pitch baits. Dead or alive, those baits can turn a fair day of fishing into an unforgettable one.
Those anglers always have pitch baits rigged and ready to cast because the baits will catch fish that show up unexpectedly. They’ll also get the attention of fish that appear when you’re trolling lures or baits but show no interest in eating.
A fisherman might be trolling for wahoo when a big dolphin shows up, but doesn’t go after any of the lures. That’s when a live pilchard or a rigged dead ballyhoo pitched to the dolphin can spark the fish’s appetite. It’s the same for a sailfish that typically isn’t interested in eating a big lure but will happily wolf down a live herring.
A live sardine is the No. 1 pitch bait for Capt. Casey Hunt, with a live threadfin herring his second choice.
Anglers in the know have live baits such as sardines and herring hooked on spinning outfits and ready to cast.
Hunt, who grew up in Pompano Beach pitching baits in inlets from Hillsboro to Jupiter, said the keys to successful pitching are having a bait ready and immediately getting it into the water when a fish shows up.
Especially when a sailfish is hooked.
“If you’re fighting a fish, cast a pitch bait towards him and a lot of times you’ll hook another sailfish right away,” Hunt said.
He uses a 7-foot spinning rod with a reel that holds 400 to 500 yards of 20-pound monofilament fishing line along with a 15-foot leader of 30-pound fluorocarbon line tied to a size 5/0 or 6/0 circle hook. He hooks the baits through both lips so they don’t fly off when they are cast.
The technique and that outfit work with other species, most notably dolphin but also wahoo, kingfish and tuna.
When Hunt high-speed trolls at 15 knots for wahoo, if he hooks one or two fish, he’ll slow the boat and then have an angler cast a live goggle-eye with a wire leader in case there’s another wahoo around.
With dolphin, Hunt doesn’t pitch live baits until the colorful fish make it clear they won’t eat anything else. If he gets into a school of dolphin, he’ll have his anglers start off by casting lures such as jigs to the fish. When the fish lose interest in lures, he’ll switch to chunks of ballyhoo or bonito.
When the dolphin stop biting the chunks, Hunt puts out the live baits. And before leaving a school of dolphin, Hunt has someone drop a live goggle-eye well below the school in case a larger fish is lurking 50 to 100 feet down.
When you’re reeling a kingfish to the boat it’s not unusual for one or two other kings to show up during the fight, and they’ll usually jump on a live pitch bait. The same goes for when an angler is fighting a blackfin tuna behind the boat.
Pitch baits are most often used off Palm Beach County when fishing for sailfish. The fish typically travel in pods, which is why Hunt always has someone pitch a sardine when a sailfish is hooked.
Capt. Casey Hunt uses pitch baits when he spots free-jumping sailfish.
Other times when Hunt uses pitch baits are when sailfish pop up in a fishing kite spread, where he’ll have three live baits dangling from each of the kites he has flying behind his boat, and when he spots a free-jumping sailfish.
“If you’re sitting there kite-fishing and have a fish come up and look at a kite bait, you can cast a bait to him,” said Hunt, who always has at least one pitch bait in a live well or 5-gallon bucket of sea water that’s hooked on a spinning outfit and ready to cast.
“If you’re running along and see a sailfish jumping, try to get ahead of him and cast three or four baits at him, even if he goes down. He might come back up and bring more fish with him.”
Outdoors writer Steve Waters can be reached at steve33324@aol.com.
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