Captain Craig Davis, 43, didn’t have a charter scheduled for his Into The Blue guide service on Sept. 21. So he decided to take his two sons, Landen, 20, and Fisher, 3, for a day of fun fishing in a boat more designed for bass lakes than ocean prowling.
“My charter boat is a 46-foot Bertram and my charters usually are far offshore [to] bottom fish,” said Craig, a Destin fishing boat captain for eight years. “I knew there were sailfish around nearshore; for some reason they’re in shallow water every year at this time here.
“I don’t get to target sailfish much, so that’s what we wanted to do that day from my 17-foot johnboat.”
Craig said several sailfish had been caught from some nearby coastal-area piers. That tipped him off that the prized billfish were close to shore where even a small fishing boat had a chance at them.
The three Davis anglers headed out that morning, first using sabiki rigs to catch live baits. Craig wanted herring for trolling baits, so they had to work through catching cigar minnows and other baits before catching a couple herring that are ideal for sailfish.
He hooked two herring baits through the nostrils with Number 5 Mustad circle hooks on spinning gear. They used 40-pound-test monofilament main line and five feet of 60-pound-test fluorocarbon leader.
“It was about 11 a.m., the last of the incoming tide, and we were just outside the sea buoy at the pass,” Craig continued. “We finally caught a couple herring, so I tossed one bait far out with a Penn spinning rod and put that rod in a boat holder with its reel drag loose.
“Then I tossed out a second bait close to the boat, and the fish hit it right away while I was holding that rod.”
At that moment, the first bait he’d cast out got struck by a sailfish and his reel drag started to sing.
“I gave the rod I was holding to Landen, and I picked up the first rod,” he said. “That’s when the game was on.”
Each sailfish raced far from their johnboat in different directions. That was fortunate, said Craig, as it prevented tangles. They were close to the Destin Pass sea buoy, however, and he had to work the boat and fish carefully to avoid tangling lines in the buoy.
Craig’s fishing pal Josh Calhoon (owner of local Emerald Coast Bait & Tackle) was fishing in a nearby boat and recorded the Davis family as they battled and boated their sailfish.
Craig’s sail ran so far it nearly took all 300 yards of line on his reel before he turned the fish back toward their boat. Landen’s fish was an acrobat, jumping often and battling like a billed banshee.
“We got the two sails to the boat within a minute of each other after a 20-minute fight,” Craig said. “Josh got some great photos of us fighting the fish and then holding them up by the bills for his camera. After a few photos we unhooked them and they swam off perfectly fine to fight another day.”
Anytime anywhere a boat of anglers catches a pair of sailfish is a major event. But Craig was matter-of-fact about it, though excited it happened that day with his two sons.
“The sailfish are in real shallow water near Destin at this time of year,” he explained. “I knew they were there, and they’re still around the area now. I’ve not been out trying for them since that day with my sons. But since then some sailfish have been caught by anglers near the beach.
“It’s not every day that someone catches pelagic billfish in 40 feet of water – especially from a johnboat.”
