Originally Posted by
Captain Fred Archer
Night, day deep or day surface, Baja style, I apply the right drag for the line that I'm using, no matter the size of the sword. That goes back to my belief that if I have a fish hooked right (which is usually the case if you're doing it right in the first place) and I have the ultimate confidence in our rigging, whether it's for swords or anything else. So I simply do not worry about tackle failure and put the boots to anything that we hook. If I am going to pull a hook, I want it to happen early-on, not later.
It's unknown to all but a few of my old Shimano mates, but they used to call me "The BeastMaster" for the way that I fought fish. And in fact, that is exactly where the "BeastMaster" name came from for the original reels of that name. I didn't know what the hell to call our new two speeds and several of my guys said, "Well, you say they're tough as hell and will really beat up fish, so why not call them "BeastMasters", BeastMaster? And so it was, but without any reference to where the name came from. That's not a brag (facts can't be), but more a confirmation that I am a heavy drag, rig right, and kick their asses kind of angler.
In spite of that, I simply do not recall pulling a hook on a swordfish once we switched over to the circles, and I'm mighty certain that it didn't happen or I would remember it. I believe that any credit for that goes first, to the circle, second, to using the right baits and rigs, and pure, professional quality rigging and quality tackle and, I suppose, a bit of bar fighting attitude on the angler's part - and that was a long way from always being me. But if you were in my chair, using my gear, and I found you a sword, you didn't mess with the drag or anything else and you worked your ass off, or you got booted out of that chair and someone else took your place. No pussies or wimps need to apply when it comes to duking it out with Elvis.
While we are sort of on the subject of swords and what magnificent, incredibly tough warriors they are, here is the best example I know of. Years ago I used 12 or 13/0 kirbed, forged Sea Demons on heavy cable or 5-600# mono leader on our daytime swordfish rigs. Probably surprisingly to some, we filed and sanded and buffed double knife blades on those hooks. Why? Because our avowed objective was to back down slowly on any biters to allow them to completely swallow the hook (and small, sewn on bait). Then, when the time was right, we'd hook the fish with the boat and the strike drag that we used then, and throughout the fight, hopefully slicing up their innards, causing massive internal bleeding and thus shortening the fight and the beatings that our anglers took.
One day on a crew trip with all captains and one very good fisherman, we spotted a monstrous sword tailing out on the Cabrillo Seamount. I baited the fish. She gobbled the bait down and we slowly backed down on her for at least a full minute. Then I locked and loaded and my friend, Captain Bobby Dobson of Checkmate, who was driving my boat, put the pedals to the metal and The Archer leapt forward and we stuck the hell out of her. She stopped and I could feel her shaking her bill and head back and forth while Bobby thundered back and we hoped for an early gaff shot...thank God she sunk out a little before we got there!
She jumped completely out of the water at that point - a mere forty feet behind us; straight up she went, her huge tail winding up several feet from the surface. She absolutely blew our minds with her impossible size. None of us, including me, who had caught some big ones over the years and had seen some monsters killed by my harpoon buddies, had ever seen anything approaching her. She was an absolute behemoth!
I can still see that jump, these many years later. It literally looked like it was slow motion video. I retained enough of my sanity while she hung there, shaking her head and great bill, to note the huge gouts of squid and blood gushing from her mouth and gills. When she went back in the water and I'd gotten the 80 two speed bent butt spooled with 130 Dac in the chair with the angler I said. "Did you guys see all that blood and those stomach contents? She's hooked bad in the engine room and that hook is hurting the hell out of her. She's ours, just as long as we stay calm...let's do that."
Three and half hours later after three hours of 43# of drag and a half hour at sunset on 130# Dacron (she had died), we lost her at boatside and within inches of the gaff. Bobby had slipped up in the tower as a result of exhaustion and trying to eyeball the end, the boat spun out the wrong way and over her, and we busted the leader on the covering boards. My mate Chicky broke several fingers in his hand when he shove the gloved hand under the leader to try to cushion it.
How big was she? I don't know, nor do I have any idea. All that I know is that she was far bigger than any fish of any kind that I had ever seen in my life.
My God, I still dream of her to this day. My only regret, and it is a deep one, was that we killed her. I have never gotten over being saddened by that.
Yeah, the glorious, mighty broadbill swordfish. I hope that all of you get to meet yours one day. You'll never be right after that, but man, it's worth it.
Just don't ever underestimate them!
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