SUPERLATIVE SAILFISH

The speediest fish in the ocean is also one of the fastest-growing, reaching lengths of 4 to 5 feet in a single year. Sailfish also have the largest dorsal fin of any fish, raised only when they go on the attack.

- RON BALLANTI

Studies suggest that the sail's purpose is to stabilize the fish's bill, masking it from prey at slow speeds and ensuring maximum accuracy when they tap or slash through bait.

THIS scenario repeated itself time and again this summer off the Southern California coast: Boats would pull up on huge schools of surface-feeding bluefins-known as foamers for the vigorous way they churn up the water charged with the expectation of multiple hookups on hard-fighting tuna. Lines baited with live sardines, anchovies or mackerel would be cast into the fray, while other anglers would toss a range of swimming jigs known as surface irons, including Colt Sniper spoons, surface poppers and other lures, working them right through the melee.

Occasionally, the fish would respond, and an angler or two would hook up on a bluefin that could range from a 25-pound schoolie to a 200-pound jumbo. More often, these tuna would disappear in a cloud of baitfish scales, never touching anything with a hook, leaving anglers stumped.

Such was especially the case over this past summer as bluefins of all sizes were often feeding on massive schools of "micro bait"-tiny anchovies, sauries and other finfish smaller than your pinkie finger. And as these oft-repeated angling experiences indicated, when tuna are focused on devouring small baits, it's devilishly hard to get them to notice anything else.