8/16 swordfishing

[thoward]

Well it had been a very long time since I had been able to soak some squiddies. My regular crew does not really like to swordfish so I had to rely on the power of the other forum. It all worked out and the 3 first timers were on-time and ready to go. We were in the water at FPI shortly after 3pm and went to look for some live bait just in case. No can do, so we pull some high speed over a couple wrecks in hopes of a wahoo. Again, no one home so we set off to the depths. We set up off SLI just off the axis. The sun went down and the moon came up but where was the bite? Finally, around 11pm the sweet sound of the Tiagra clicker. Jim grabs the 400' reel and comes tight on his first sword but just as we clear the lines the hook pulls. Strike one. We reset and shortly end up with a slashed bait off the 300' tip rod. We let it ride and just as I am thinking we need to reset ziiiiing we're on again. I ended up on the 400' rod this time. We had a harness malfunction and I did my best to stay tight. Somehow fish seem soooo much bigger without the harness. After a big run I decide the harness would be a good idea. Once I get harnessed up the fish comes up in short order. Bill bills the fat 49" target species and after three cheers and a beer, in the box it goes. We reset for a final drift with lots of bait and sargrassum around us. I was thinking we were going to find another but the NE wind finally pushed us off and we called it a night or morning to be exact.
So we ended 1 for 2 and a slashed bait. The bites came between 1400' and 1250'. All in all a good night hopefully it will not be so long until the next trip!

[Skip]

Nice fish!!!

[Avenger]

My regular crew does not really like to swordfish so I had to rely on the power of the other forum.

There's another forum?


Nice fish. Thanks for sharing.

[Bob Bradley]

My regular crew does not really like to swordfish so I had to rely on the power of the other forum.

Sounds like you need a new crew.

I fished under the same moon (although I suspect I was observing it from a slightly more northern perspecitve) Sat nite about 80 nm south of Montauk. We managed 17 yellowfin tuna and one fiesty white marlin on the troll before sunset, then set up off the edge for swords. Unfortunately, the only caller all nite was a lonely mako that messed up our rigs then quickly bit himself free. Still, we enjoyed nice fresh sushi on Sunday, and I just finished a wonderful supper of rare blackened tuna, fresh native corn on the cob, and fresh native tomatoes and cucumbers right out of the garden.

Life is good.

Now if you ever need a serious sword crew...

[thoward]

At least someone is catching the YFT. Nobody seems to be able to find them down here this year.

[Bob Bradley]

Well, they were yellow, but not big. No allisons. Biggest was about 50 - 60#, and most were 30 - 40. We probably released another dozen rats, including 5 or 6 'legal' 28" fish. Even at that, we came within 1 fish of a limit for the 6 of us. The marlin was a first for me. I got quite a charge out of watching it light up next to the boat. We wrestled it onto the fantail for a quick photo op and then released it unscathed.

I was on a buddy's Flexible Flyer, so we bounced a bit. I'll hold off on taking mine out until early - mid sept when the night chunk bite picks up.

[34Hatt]

Well Bob hope we don't have to wait until mid september.

Did a overnighter Sunday into Monday Had a Big bull Mahia up to the boat and got a 100lb Mako that night. 50 lb yellow on the troll in the a.m all reports were not great for sure. Many boats going home empty or 1-2 small fish.

Dan

[34Hatt]

Dan I started a new thread with the report of the trip....

Thanks for waking me up guess I am still sleepy