The first cold front of the season reached the inlet on a Tuesday night this year, a line of cloud that came down the coast after dark and dropped the temperature twenty degrees by morning. By four the marina parking lot was full. By first light every boat with a kite rod was out past the colour change, and by nine the radio had gone quiet in the way that means everyone is busy.
Why the front matters
Sailfish move with the bait, and the bait moves with the water. Through the summer the Gulf Stream sits well offshore and the fish are scattered along it. When the first strong north wind of November pushes against the current, the edge of the stream stacks up a few miles off the inlet, the water clears, the bait balls up along the edge and the sailfish come to it. A captain who has fished here for twenty years can tell you the day it will happen a week ahead, from the forecast, and is right more often than not.
The fishing is at its best in the two or three days after the front, when the wind has eased but the water is still stacked. After that the fish spread out again until the next one. The season runs on fronts from November to March, and the busiest tournament weekend of the year is timed to the statistical likelihood of one.
What it looks like from the boat
Kites fly from the outriggers with live goggle-eyes dangling at the surface. The mate watches the baits; the captain watches the water for the dark shape and the lit-up sail coming up behind one. When a fish eats, the reel sings, the angler winds down, and for ten minutes the sailfish does what sailfish do, which is jump, until it is alongside, tagged, photographed and released. On the good days a boat releases ten. On the great days, which come once or twice a winter, the number stops mattering.
- Book the days after a front, not the day of it; the inlet is rough while the wind blows.
- A half day is enough in season; the fish are close.
- Every sailfish is released; the photograph is the trophy.
- Seasick tablets the night before, not the morning of.
The forecast is the only tip worth giving. Watch for a north wind of fifteen knots or more behind a front, give it a day, and go.