Up at 6am as usual, the rocking and rolling was having an effect on me. (That does not mean that I was out all night in Duval Street, I'm talking about the motion of the sea). I hate to say it but I was aching all over. The wind was howling and the forecast was for a 20mph easterly. That limited the options but the best one was to fish for Sailfish.

Keith and I were with Damon and Radomir our cameraman was with us once again. We desperately needed to catch a Sail to complete a program. Crispy and the Hammer had the same plan with Captain Chris.

I had a couple of the new Penn Wave blaster Evo rods with me and thought today was a good day to test them. I matched one up with some 30lb Fireline braid and the heavier model with some 65 lb braid.

First job was to catch some bait. We soon had enough Threadfin Herrings in the bait well using our Sabici rigs.

Catching threadfin herring on Sabiki rigs

Harry and Crispy were next to us and they were catching 6 at a time, Keith commented that it must have been solid.

It was a wet ride to put us over the reef and on a perfect drift on the 185ft depth. We had a good colour change and prospects looked good. Keith and I free lined our Threadfins and we also had a Goggle Eye on the kite. Damon has developed a special way of hooking our live baits with an elastic band. We called it a bridle, a mini version of what the Marlin anglers use. It is a brilliant method, rather like the hair rig that we use when carp fishing. The other plus point is that the baits last 10 times longer.

It is not not terribly clear here but the rubber band is pulled through the nose of the bait fish and the large hook is attached to the rubber band, rather than simply impaling the bait on the hook

After about 30 minutes I saw a Sail around my flat line bait, the shout of Sail on the bait certainly gets the adrenalin running. The fish disappeared only to come up on my kite bait. A perfect hook up and the sail went ballistic and airborne at the same time.

The Sailfish doing a full 360 in the air. In this shot it is totally inverted at the very top of the loop

This was a great test for my light New Evo rod. I got it to the boat surprisingly quickly where Damon skilfully released it. What a good start a 40lb Sail on film.

One acrobatic Sailfish about to be returned

I desperately needed Keith to land a Sail for the camera but he was very unlucky (that means angler error in Marlow speak !) when one came off after a very short fight, needless to say he was gutted. I was into a fish next, it turned out to be a huge Bonito, and well it was huge but right next to the boat a massive barracuda decided to chop it in half. I reckon this was a 40lb plus cuda and it was nasty.

Keith and I hold our flat line rods all of the time with the bail open and the line trapped with a finger when drifting for Sailfish. It is amazing because every time before you get a hit you can feel the bait trying to escape, then it is the classic take and a slow count to five. Close the bail and wind to set the circle hook then jab it to really set the hook. The good thing about Sail fishing when it is windy is that you often see them riding the waves and suddenly Keith shouted, “sail on the bait”. A standard count to five, then close the bail and set the circle hook.

Keith playing his Sailfish

(You can tell a lot from how a photographer labels his images. Roy called this one "Keith Happy". Could this mean that before this time Keith was UNHAPPY ?. I bet that after losing that first Sail, and seeing Ray catch two fish he might have had a full "monk" on - admin)

Anyhow, this time there were no errors from Keith and the Sail half jumped and half swam about 150 yards on its first run. Dozens of spectacular leaps followed and it lit up big time. In a six-foot swell it put up a great fight, Radomir got the footage and I released it.

Back you go and grow bigger

You may have heard us whooping back in England.

The other team was being counselled by Captain Chris, the new medications were working and apart from camera errors they also had a great day. Crispy caught his first ever Sailfish

He surely didn't need a girlie belt for that tiddler !

and some Barracuda.

The Barracuda's teeth are his own !

The Hammer had a big Bonito.

We have had many better days Sail fishing but there are no guarantees, it is just so good to see the fish and for us to fish for them in this way. We do not do boring trolling and the toothy critters keep you on your toes.

Pictures are not so good this time as it took most of the time to stand up and fish let alone take pictures. Everyone is exhausted and gone to bed, I am pacing myself but the rough sea really takes it out of your body.

Tomorrow is another day, Plan A is to go Shark fishing. hopefully we will have some good pictures.