Swordfish
sport fishing here in the
Florida Keys
from Islamorada
is thought of as the “Holy Grail” of billfish fishing world wide. The bite
is subtle, but the fight is notable. They are called the “gladiator,” Xiphias
Gladius. This is “Big Game Fishing”
right offshore Islamorada, and the possibility of hooking more than one in a
half a night is good. One must use at least #50 lbs. test on top quality rods
and reels. Do not kid yourself! Rods of #30 test
just cannot be relied on. The chance of hooking a swordfish over 500 lbs. is a
reality. Even though most swordfish now are under a hundred pounds, they are
known to fight like a blue marlin twice their size. Catching one pushing 200
or more pounds is possible as my last swordfish trip with my friend Jim Mulcahy
can attest; we caught two swordfish 180 lbs. and 98 lbs.
The
big swordfish hit first. It burned off 200 yards of line, then
sounded a little. I fought it up to the surface and 30 yards away (we could
see the L.P. light just under the surface) in about 30 minutes. Then it took
off another 150 - 200 yards, dragging the light just under the surface for the
first 50 yards before sounding. It stayed down till the end of the fight.
Fighting
this big swordfish while standing up, I paced myself
by applying constant pressure on the Braid kidney harness and fighting belt. I
had not caught a big billfish on standup tackle since charter fishing in Costa
Rica 15 years ago, which was a 200 lbs. Pacific blue marlin. (I
can assist you on the finesse of using stand-up tackle on big fish with my
extensive experience as an angler and as a captain/ mate on charter boats.
While charter fishing, I have landed 112
Atlantic
and Pacific blue and black marlin up to +800 pounds, many on stand-up tackle.
As an angler I've caught 6 blue marlin, the largest blue
was 396 lbs., and it was also on stand-up tackle which took
2:20
hours. This blue marlin was hooked in the mouth, but died after its second
blistering run that almost stripped the #50 test Penn reel a second time.
After both runs I could see the shaft of the spool through the line - wow! It
sounded, then died down below. It took another
1:30
hour to plane it up. Coincidentally, I caught it on the same type of boat I
have now, my friend Rick Stiener's 23' SeaCraft
in St. Thomas).
As
I fought the swordfish up, the closer it got to the boat the more stubborn it
got. It really dogged it, made short little runs this way and that way. We had
to really maneuver the boat to stay in position to the swordfish. It covered a
lot of ocean.
I
was a little worried about how I would do, but it was no sweat! I fought the
big fish for
1:15
hours, and never got fatigued. Once I got
the braid harness on, of coarse it was quite a bit easier. But I fought it for
about the first 15 minutes with out it. After the first 200 yard run, I just
held on to the rod as we chased it down to recover line. If it was a small
fish, no need to get all geared up, but as it started to bare down after we
got over it I got my kidney harness on.
When
it came up, we were ready! I had brought my flying gaff, and my friend Jim Mulcahy
had his 2 straight gaffs (we were fishing his open fisherman out of
Key Largo
, just the two of us). As the swordfish came
up off the port stern corner as we were going forward, it turned to it's
right crossing our transom about 10' down and 15' out. The small spreader
lights lit up the side of the fish and we could see it was a nice size
swordfish. As it came up the starboard side, Jim put his boat in neutral and
gaffed the swordfish in the head with a straight gaff. I put the rod in a rod
holder, and ran up to the bow, grabbed the flying gaff, and gaffed the
swordfish in the head again.
What
a swordfish! It was big, for a swordfish down in
Florida
, now. We estimate it was +180 lbs. (we
called the second swordfish 90 lbs. which actually weighed 98 lbs. at the dock
2 hours later). We had to core the fish out to get it in the fish box.
We got some great pictures which are in the photo gallery.
The
second swordfish hit about an hour later. I fought it for 30 minutes. This
swordfish again made two nice runs: one about 200 yards, the second about 100
yards. We got on the swordfish quickly after the second run. As it came up to
the surface it waved its broadbill out of water. What
a
sight in the "full moon!" We backed down to the swordfish
and gaffed it, right away. It was a respectable swordfish, about 100lbs.
These
swordfish trips will be a full day of fishing starting at
3 pm
. We will fish for dolphin, wahoo,
black fin tuna and blue marlin as we make our way out to the swordfish grounds
offshore. As we are trolling we could also catch a sailfish, white marlin or
yellow fin tuna. We will fish till about an hour before sunset. Then we’ll
get the baits out for swordfish and fish for half the night getting back at
around
midnight
. Not many charter boats are consistently
fishing for swordfish here in Islamorada. It might be because the grounds are
30 miles offshore and most boats here are 18 mph boats. In contrast, my boat
is +30 mph boat, with powerful head lights for running at night. We’ll get
there in half the time.
These
trips will be primarily in the summer, starting in July and ending in October.
This has been the best fishing in
South Florida
so far. Possibly due to the most consistent
calm weather which is best for fishing live baits down deep. I have friends
from
Palm Beach
to Islamorada that have caught swordfish
all year long, as long as you have fishable conditions. If the conditions are
good we can opt for a trip for swordfish any time. If we got a trip booked and
we get weathered out, we’ll fish for something else: sailfish on the edge of
the reef, the patch reefs, or gulf fishing.