I Caught My Second Sail Fish Today!

Way back about 1966, I caught an 8'10" Sailfish off of Acapulco. Today, I caught a fish on a Sail Line! It was a 25" Red. My neighbor uses a Sail Line when the wind's too high for boat fishing. I studied the concept and built a crude sail line rig, using 12 circle hooks on 18" wire leaders. I had to get a special license endorsement ($5.00) from TPWD. I went to Copano Bay for my first attempt. I used live croakers, which the fish had zero interest in. I had brought some frozen headless shrimp along as a backup. On my second "soak", I caught the 25" Red on the only shrimp on the Sail Line. A new experience for me. Further "soaks" resulted in bait stealers consuming the rest of my frozen shrimp. Maybe an old dog CAN learn some new tricks. IslandJim

Jim:

Glad you have tried it. What a relaxing way to fish.

Get some shad or big mullet, fresh or frozen, make big chunks and try them. They stay on the hook well and really big chunks don't get bothered by the trash fish as much.

I've been really sick with Afib the past couple months, but now have it under control and hope to be back to fishing in a couple weeks. We can go out then and have some sail line fun.

See you soon.

Randy

Hey, Randy: Good to hear from you. My sail worked fine. I can make it tack, or steer left or right. I only have about 400 feet of main line. I may add some to it. Not bad for a maiden voyage.
I learned a few things yesterday:
1. Find a windward shore with a shade tree. Thank goodness, I had an umbrella.
2. Take a book, or mp3 player.
3. Take a good chair.
4. Take snacks or granola bars, and plenty of water.
Hope to see you soon. The best fishing of the year is upon us. IslandJim

It won't be long until the winds are predominantly from the north. That really limits the number of places to fish a sail line where you have shoreline access and wind at your back. I'm always looking for such spots. The Port Bay bridge on Hwy 188 sometimes is fishable (if wind is from NW). About the only other places I know of are along the Kennedy Causeway on SPID, way over in Corpus.

So, now I'm in the process of building a pier cart so I can fish Horace Caldwell and Bob Hall piers when it's too rough to take the boat out, and wrong wind for sail line. That is all going to be new to me.

You're right about old dogs / new tricks. - (I hope).