UW Fish Pic - Sailfish

Interesting explanation about why sailfish have bills from Do Billfish Use Their Bills To Help Capture Prey? | Guy Harvey Sportswear Blog .

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Anglers have known for some time that that broadbill swordfish do in fact use their bills to help them secure a meal. For example, Southern California anglers have watched firsthand as swordfish cut their mackerel in half with a quick flip of the bill.
While sailfish are best known for their above water antics, Guy Harvey also depicts them below the water

While sailfish are best known for their above water antics, Guy Harvey also depicts them below the water

Marlin and sailfish, however, were a different story. There had long been a debate as to whether or not marlin and sailfish actually used their bills to stun and then eat a bait, or did they simply use their bills as a balancing mechanism to assist in their swimming motion?

When a marlin or sailfish rises in the spread and attempts to eat the trolled lure or rigged bait, the bill moves violently in that effort. Some have thought that the fish were attempting to hit the bait with their bill while others have speculated that the bill played no part in the effort and simply followed the movements and direction of the fish’s excited and hungry mouth. Even slow motion video of surface feeding billfish could not conclude this long standing debate.
Two Sails

Feeding sailfish as witnessed firsthand by Guy Harvey

This long standing debate ended during an underwater filming expedition where I was able to not only witness firsthand, but also film on different occasions both marlin and sailfish using their bill’s to stun and catch meal. It was a real thrill to witness off of Isla Mujeres using their extended dorsal fins to corral the bait into a tight school. It was an even bigger thrill to then watch the sailfish make a distinct motion with their bill to hit and stun the sardines and then circle back to eat them as they sank away from the school.

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Billfish Feeding on Vimeo

love that pic

Quote from Bulit 7

Thanks toptuna!

Dan, I have seen firsthand, topside, trolling for marlin and sails, as they slash the bait spread over and over. The correct technique, once that happens, is to freespool the reel and let the bait appear to have died. Next step after a pause is to set the hook.some captains slow the troll, others just freespool. It was clear to us that the fish were killin bait with their bills.

Blue Planet had some great UW footage of marlin slashing up bait alls and eating the bait. Complete with pics of the bait cut in half and trying to swim away from a cloud of its own blood, only to be aspirated by these marlins. Awesome clip.

X2 on the slashing, the only sailfish I've caught thus far was brought in on a kingfish rig's stinger treble. He got it wrapped around the base of the bill and the treble set in just hard enough to keep it from unwrapping. Awesome fish to catch.

That´s the most amazing uw pic of a sailfish that I´ve ever seen, I thought it was a painting at first.

Cool pic.