re: Small Sportfishing Boat

quote:

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2. Billfish Tackle is a whole different animal. Tackle is at a premium cost, and you will need a ton of it. Also, I always want at least one mate to help with rigging baits and tackle. For example, this is our bare minimum setup for fun fishing:
2: 80ws
3: 50ws
2: 30ws
1: teaser
1: dredge
2 moldcraft/black bart large
2 cedar chains
3 ilander
3-4 boxes ballyhoo
rigging needles and floss
brine
terminal tackle

Thats over 5k in the water, not counting another couple grand of replacement. I would budget 10-12k for tackle in the purchase price agreement with your buddy.

Number Uno before you got down the rabbit hole.... It is a money and time nightmare, but I love it!!!!

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It is not unusual at all, even in south florida where sailfish, at least, are regularly far closer to the hill than they are in the Gulf, to spend $1000 a day on fuel and bait alone. Billfishing is an expensive hobby. It is entirely possible to do it on your own and doing it in South Florida is surprisingly easy at times (again, sailfish mainly but stripes and whites are not uncommon) and affordable...but to target the damned things anywhere requires a LOT of very expensive tackle and bait.

That being said, outside of sails, I don't know why anyone would spend the time and effort to target the damned things regularly. For a few years, yes, it is something that gets in your blood...but to do it for 30 years? I like catching fish as much as anyone but at times bill fishing is actually pretty damned boring, after you've caught some of course. The first 20 or so is like nothing else on earth...but I would prefer a 60 pound sail to a 150 pound stripe any day. I am the same way with big Tarpon though...50 pounds of Tarpon is more than enough for me...being tangled up with a fish in the sun for more than about 30 minutes is just not a lot of fun after you have done it some.