January should bring some strong cold fronts to the area causing the ocean to stir up and the sailfish bite to turn on. A great method to target these fish will be to slow troll live baits. Goggle eye are one of the best live baits to slow troll, but they are also the most expensive if you buy them from a live bait boat. Expect to pay $100 dollars a dozen - yes $100! During a tournament time they may even hit you harder, but some will say that’s the price you pay to go live baiting for sails. Well there’s more than one bait to catch a sail and that’s the good news! Blue runners are another great bait and lucky for you, you can spend an hour or so and string up enough to go fishing. Shallow water rock piles and wrecks will usually hold blue runners. Do not hesitate to put a small trace of wire on your rigs to avoid cut offs from toothier fish. Big smoker Kings and Wahoo can show up at any time when slow trolling live baits for Sailfish. Normally, after a day of Sailfishing, captains will burn up any leftover blue runners or goggle eyes dropping them to the bottom to try to catch Grouper. BUT, Check your Fish and Wildlife regulations for the updated regulations for recreational Grouper fishing. GOOD LUCK fishing and always remember to give boats plenty of room especially when flying a kite. A little fishing etiquette goes a long way. See you on the water,

See you on the water,

Capt. Tom Schwier. Tomcatfishing.com ,
tom@tomcatfishing.com, 561-262-2301

Jerry Rugel of West Palm Beach with a
great flag yellow tail caught aboard the
Tom Cat.