Live bait takes plenty of sailfish - no one will argue that. But many experts believe that time-tested trolling techniques with dead bait often represent the best method to catch sails. In a dead-bait-only tournament last year off Stuart, Florida, an incredible 382 sailfish were released in one day. The debate on whether to use live or dead bait cannot be better illustrated anywhere than in the 38-mile stretch of Gulf Stream known as Sailfish Alley between Palm Beach and Fort Pierce, Florida. The northward flow of the warm Gulf Stream in this area holds enormous schools of baitfish during the cool months of winter, a fact that sailfish - and anglers - are well aware of. Sometimes so many sails congregate off Palm Beach in the winter that anglers can catch them merely by trolling dead baits out the inlet or near the sea buoy only a ...![5 103 26222]()
