This is a How 2 Tuesday conversation with Sam Milazzo — the captain who caught 76 sailfish in a single day, just eight short of the Atlantic record — about how to actually hook a sailfish on a circle hook. Tom sat down with Sam at Hawks Cay to talk through the drop-back, the bail, and the moment most anglers blow the bite.
Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page, or scroll back up to watch. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and iHeartRadio.
Sam Milazzo is a tournament-winning sailfish captain based in the Florida Keys. He captained the boat that caught 76 sailfish in a single day, placing him near the top of the Atlantic record of 84 in a day. He is widely regarded as one of the most experienced sailfish captains in the Keys and is a regular presence in major sailfish tournaments.
Sailfish have a long bill and an unusual mouth structure. When they strike a bait, they often grab it in the middle of the body rather than inhaling it headfirst. That means the hook is not in the fish's mouth yet, even though the bait has disappeared. Sam Milazzo explains in the episode how this changes everything about when and how you set the hook.
Sam Milazzo walks through his approach in the episode. The key principle is that a circle hook is not a j-hook — you do not set it with a hard hookset. The pressure of the line itself is what drives the hook into the corner of the mouth. The timing of the drop-back and when to close the bail are the critical decisions, and Sam explains exactly how he coaches his anglers through them. Listen to the full explanation in the episode.
A drop-back is the technique of opening the bail on the reel after a sailfish bites, allowing the bait to fall back freely so the fish has time to fully eat it before tension comes on the line. Sam Milazzo explains in this episode why getting to the rod quickly and opening that bail buys the angler critical extra seconds to let the sailfish transition the bait from the middle of its mouth to a hookable position.
Tom and Sam sat down at Hawks Cay in the Florida Keys for this How 2 Tuesday segment.
I have fished for sailfish my whole career in the Keys. I have hooked a lot of them and I have watched a lot of anglers miss them. The bite is the part where most people lose the fish, and it happens so fast that you almost never get a real explanation of what went wrong. Sam Milazzo is one of the best sailfish captains I know. Seventy-six sailfish in a single day is a number that speaks for itself. When a guy like that is willing to sit down at Hawks Cay and walk through exactly how he coaches an angler through a bite, I want to record it.
Press play and hear it from Sam.
The instinct in almost every kind of fishing is to set the hook the second something eats your bait. Sailfish punish that instinct. Sam talks about why the fish grabs the bait in the middle first, what that looks like from the tower, and why the angler on the deck has almost no way of knowing what is happening without the captain's eyes. The gap between feeling the bite and the hook actually being in the fish's mouth is where most sailfish are lost. Sam describes it in a way I have not heard anyone else put into words. Listen to that section.
There is a specific sequence Sam walks his anglers through — getting to the rod, opening the bail, and buying time. It sounds simple. It is not. The timing changes with every bite because some sailfish are aggressive and some sit there and chew. Sam explains how he reads each bite differently from the tower and what he is telling his angler to do in real time. The details matter here, and they are better heard than read. Watch it in the YouTube player at the top of this page.
Sam uses circle hooks exclusively for sailfish now. The hookset on a circle hook is the opposite of what most people learn growing up fishing with j-hooks. There is no hard pull. The line pressure does the work. Sam breaks down exactly how he instructs the angler to close the bail and start winding, and why fighting that instinct to swing is the whole game. It is a short explanation that could save you a lot of missed fish. It is in the episode.
This one is short and to the point. Sam Milazzo has caught more sailfish than almost anyone I know, and he sat down with me at Hawks Cay to explain the single most important moment in the fight — the hookset. If you fish for sailfish in the Keys or anywhere in the Atlantic, this is ten minutes that could change your catch rate.
Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page, or scroll back up to watch. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and iHeartRadio.
Sam Milazzo
Sam Milazzo is a professional sailfish captain based in the Florida Keys. He captained the boat that caught 76 sailfish in a single day, just short of the Atlantic record of 84. He is a multiple tournament winner and one of the most respected sailfish captains in the Keys, known for his ability to coach anglers through high-pressure bites in competitive fishing.
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