As many of you know... I got the bug... Screw work, responsibility or anythinmg having to do with common sense. I loaded my swordin gear up and was on a mission...
The marina where I keep the little boat I lovingly call the "Dump" as it is home to several shall we say less than savory types. Its often an adventure there and today was no exception. Todays action though was not the usual. They launched my boat and set it behind a derilict sailboat. They are common place in our area and serve as home to several of the people I descrbed. As i loaded my gear aboard my boat I saw uniforms below on the sailboat and watched as they carried out a body bag... I have no love for these vagrants of the sea but still a human passing alone like that just plain sucks... I wasted no time in getting out of there.
The inlet looked fair despite a prettty stiff wind. The first ten miles were bumpy enough to keep me slowed to about 15 then they steeped up a bit and slowed me to 12. I arrived early at my desired grounds and splashed a couple hoos while positioning. The wind was pretty stiff east so I compensated for that by heading off two extra miles.
A mile into the drag I saw a familiar purple shape and did a full deepin on a sail with a 50w outfit. Not much sport there but it was a fish.
I got to my desired spot and set em out with daylight to spare. The wind eased up a tad and the drift looked promising. As it got dark and a few other boats joined me out there. Just after dark. I saw the deep rod bouncing and I went to inspect. It was tight on a fish but certainly not a big one. I reeled it up to find a pup of maybe 10 pounds foul hooked. Oh boy a sword!
The hook pulled as I grabbed the leader and the bait was un marked so I sent it back down. I had just done a radio check with another boat at about 7 o'clock when the mid bait got hammered. This was a good one. as I watched about 3/4 of the spool vanish I set myself in for combat...
The fish ran down sea then ran up sea I followed... Almost an hour into it I was whipped and not gaining much at all. Its hard to even guess how big cause some swords are brutally strong and can surprise you. I just plodded along... Then I saw the line angle come up... "Ok Deep, it screwed up. Lets go get em..."
I pushed the throttle up and something caught my eye. A shape. A big black shape with a tiny green dot and red dot and a nice white one right between...
"Oh shit a ship!"
Now I pride myself on knowing where they usually run so I don't have to reset during the night but this guy was a couple miles out of his line and on collision course with me. In the dark you cant guage speed very well but I knew he was commin quick... I knew I had to either get forward enough to give me a green light or slow up enough to get red. I wanted the green but he was comming too fast so I had to hit the brakes and got the red light...
The line angle was high... Too high and I could only pray. I did but it did no good. I could hear his big loping diesels as the bow passed about two hundred feet away. I could feel that horrible hull rubbing on my nice shiny sufix mono and the end was near. The rod stood straight ...
I had one of those great debates go off in my head. Chew him a new one.... How do you say F*** Y** in croatian though... I don't own the sea but damnit neither does he and was two miles inside the usual north bound lane and his radar had to show him there was a line of boats along it...
So that was my night. I think I'm just gonna have to do it again tomorrow...
I heard the Deep-Phone bleeping and new it must be important... Our own Buddy H, who does not post near enough and who you might recognize from his time with team Undisputed, was on the other end... He had wiggled his way into borrowing a sweet 44 Henriques and even its owner for us to play with over the weekend and wanted me to point them the right direction for a multi species onslaught...
Being Jersey guys brings some bad habits....
"I guess we'll meet up at 6:00"
"In the morning? This is Florida! Nobody stirs before 7:30!"
Well, he couldn't be convinced of that so I had my sugarry sweet self at Sailfish Marina much closer to his desired time than to mine. A valet man wanted me to park across town and take a shuttle bus back and that was met with Deep disapproval... I parked up the stret at private house I had permission for.
We had to settle for second class runners for live bait as there was a couple tournies going on adding a couple hundred boats to the demand roster. We cleared the inlet into a foot of chop and a damn south wind ... We found a spot in the Atlantic parking lot and began a live bait pull.
Runners hate to behave and have a thing about rushing under the boat... Over and over I could be heard talking to the little ones..."No no no little bait, swim a way, the propellors are not your friends..."
A pair of sailfish did a drive by that had no bite involved.Then the kings started to wreck us. Hooks had to be retied over and over as teeth found the leaders. That damn wind from the south usually spells quiet and this day would be no exception. Quiet was the rule.
We switched to a dead bait and began a long quiet troll. Finally a good sized dolphin came from nowhere and piled on my bird. Buds son, Bud Light, jumped on the stick and the line just parted... Mo moi Diamond strikes again... I'll stick with Sufix. So we watched the dolphin do it acrobatics and dance across the horizon with my precious bird in tow...
The day had been a bust so we pushed up the sticks and put the big "S" on the compass. It was time to head swordin. Now I'll ***** and scream about any south wind when it comes to sailfish but I'll take it any time for swords...We set up for what would be a two drift lay out. The first section had three areas of good structure then a deeper line for the second would be in order.
I laid out the spread of squidlies and began the driftin and dreamin thing. The first two real "hot spots" of stucture came and went with nothing to show for it. The radio was quiet too. I could feel "it" ready to happen at the third spot... Like clockwork the 200' bait started going away. Buddy stepped in and came tight!
It was a few minutes of rough and tumble but the 80 we were using bested the long nose critter. A long enough sword was soon along side. Wrapped up in the leader and gills cut and legal made the decision to keep it...
The spread was reset but the last couple miles of drift "A" produced nothing more.
I had Art, the boats owner take us to my numbers for the "B" drift. A fres set of squids was dunked and as I just got done setting the second bait it got slammed! Bud Light jumped in the game and went to work...
It was a fair fight and we brought a small but chunky one along side. The eye ballsaid to put the gaff away and it was right. The fish though screaming with yumminess was gonna swim away comming up and inch short to keep...
With that I gave boat owner Art the honors of letting the wee one go...
We managed a blacktip late into the drift and I saw my pillow finally about 2:30 am.
Today we came out of the gate (early again ) into a stiffer south east wind. Again dunking the livies. The water was a shade dirty and again the fish were slow. We had a king of 40+ skyrocket our rigger bait but left us hook less. About 10:30 finally here he came. A way big sail all lit up. Floppin the sail and lifting its head. Tapping the happless bait on the scuppers with its bill it should have been a gimme... But Mr. Sailfish decided to just play games and wouldn't open up and say "aaaahhh..." That one went away and it got quiet for the rest of the trip. A few more toothy snips and that was that...
I got back here, answered a few PMs. The Deep-phone rang again. This time with a local fellow who has been trying to get his kids out with me for a while. I finally caved in and we sat on my inshore rock pile for a couple hours. The kids giggled with glee as each grunt, jack and lane snapper cleared the gunwales... Wasn't quite swordin but the kids liked it I think as much or more than. So that was myweekend fish athon.
When swordin you set up your drift just before dark and how long do you stay at it? Is there a marked differnce in winter and summer time tactics do to early darkness?
Yes we start earlish. A half hour Ibefore sundown I'll do a quick shut down and check set and drift. Then make fine tuning adjustments to where we will actuall set up. We shut down and set up with fifteen minutes of sun left in the sky. That allows me to get at least the first set just right with enough light to get every thing all neat and tidy before drifting...
Winter or summer doesn't make much difference but I do see an earlier bite usually in the winter related to when it gets dark. I like the winter better cause I can set up. Fish and get home earlier. Also I think we have a few more fish at this time of year.
Moonlit nights the fish bite higher especially after the moon comes up.
You all know how bad I wanted the wind to go north. It did yesterday. Then today it stayed that way for a while but it was smokin hard stuff and the gulf stream came inside to carry the monsters all the way into the sailfish hole.
Flyers blew out all over in 90 foot but the water was green. Although I knew some fish were there I wanted the mother load. My guest for the morning was Intruder Kenny...
Surprisingly the radio was quiet. Inside 100' the seas were about 4' and what you could call nice. By 125' they were 6' and still ok. At 155' there was a rip and some were peaking around 8' but manageable...
I stayed near the rip and it wasn't long before I had three goggle eyes doing the "Oh shit, sails!" dance !!!
I looked back and there were darting purple shadows all over. As they approached the baits though there was a big one rushing in and spooking them. I could plainly see two baits, at least ten fish but this big bugger bullying the average sized ones around. The third bait I couldnt see was down the throat of the horse and he felt steel. Launching clean I could see it was a big hog 80 class fish. Kenny responded quick and it was game on...
The fish at first just kinda went down and played nice nice... Then it went hard left...
That went on for a while ... Then it turned up the heat and went right... And went and went and went and went some more...
I catch a lot of sails. Have for years and years. Some stand out as special... Some stand out as something all together freakish! This fish was all that and more. This fish did more running , hard turns and longer tailwalks than I have seen one do in a very long time. Normally we have them bested in 10-15 minutes with some running twenty. At thirty they make a memory, at forty they earn a spot in my stories for a rainy day and an hour plus makes it a write home about one for the hall of fame... This firey purple ******* earned that title... Kenny is a great angler and I like to think I can drive a boat well enough. This fish kicked our ass!!!
Was he the biggest ever? Nope but a solid 80 would be conservative. Strongest? One of... I have taken pacific fish to 160 and though big they just havn't got the spunk of an Atlantic fish even a small one. This fish got my full respect!
I looked at the depth finder and had to kick it to 400' range to see where I was... I was dragged out to 397' of water under me. Remember the progression of the seas early in the story? They kept getting bigger and we had some towering monster 10+ stuff all over us...
I tried to slide in shallow but it was a two hand white knuckle ride. We got tossed by a violent one and my digi cam flew shattering into a zillion pieces. I was able to salvage the chip and up load off Mini's... $$$! 4 cameras just since October .
We got back to the rip and I could see Kenny was spent. The condition was no fun so I kept sliding to where it would let me up the tower to lift my riggers.
Blissfully we reached 100' and up the leg I went. I heard the rigger clip let go right next to my head and heard a real scream from below. A slob dolphin! Actually one of the biggest cows I have seen had drilled our one bait... No biggie ... Or so I thought... This fish had been sippin the same water as that sail and it musta been full of steroids... She worked us for a solid forty minutes before finding the box. Kenny will have to post her picture as my camera was in buckshot sized bits but she was right at 35lbs... We looked at each other and said "Lets get out of here..." Two freakishly strong fish were enough...
Kenny and I said our good byes at the dock and I started washing the Deep or at least knocking some of the bigger chunks off. A fellow named Sean I had fished last year was standing there with his friend. They wanted to go!
"Oh no you don't"
"Oh yes we do"
That went on for a few minutes and we went... I knew hell was waiting and braced for it. This time I stayed shallow... Nothing for an hour then the rods tellegraphed the message... "Here they come!"
Five or six fish raised and we trippled up cleanly... As they tried to "braid" the lines I played trafic cop and with enough up and over and under and downs was able to keep the three split up.
The first two came to the boat at the same time. I was in no mood to get poked in the neck like last year so I popped the leader on one and pulled the seconds hook.
The third took some gear grinding but not like the mornigs pig. That one gave the hook back too... I had blown back to 90' and was resetting against a changing and worsening sea when a single ate the bait I was trying to put in the rigger clip. Sean offered it to his buddy but the buddy was green and just shook his head "no"... The swivel touched the rod tip twice before the fish jumped off so we'll count that as a release... I was signalled to point her at the beach and gladly did so...[/
The wind just wont let go and today the towering spires of death kept me pinned inside. Intruder Ken and my good ol buddy Roo boinker were my guests as we decided to bet the rock piles for a few hours...
Out of the gate we got small lane snappers and it stayed that way for most of the day. The odd grunt or dozen of em mixed in. A nice deadly scorpionfish was brought up for them to take pics of. The spanish macks were there raiding us but we just couldn't get in the groove though we did get a couple. Kennybowed up on one nice mystery fish that gave a sizzing run before parting the 8lb line...
Nothing amazing but a great day with a couple great friends. And a few dozen rod bendings to boot.[/
Seeing the straight east in this demonic wind had me sure that it was gonna be a butt beating and slow fishing... The butt beating part was right. I tried to tell my people it wasn't gonna be nice and we should try another day but they just had to go... The Deep C has a deep vee hull and when they're tight and skinny she just kind of goes through em rather than over.
The water was blue green but fishable where I set up. Since it was shallow I used runners instead of the gogs in case of kings or cudas... Good thing because two got snipped by kings in the first fifteen minutes. As I plodded off into deeper water I replaced them with gogs. A trio of nice dolphin big enough to eat them responded and soon they were boxed. I re deployed and was now deep and it was bumpy but good in 160' . I was dead quiet for the next couple hours. The rigger went down in the blind and I wasn't sure what we had. It turned out to be a sail. Funny though because usually the gogs let you know when a sail is around. No warning. Just gobbled.
As I leadered it the hook came back and hit me in the sunglasses. Good thing I had them on.
Something with teeth nailed two baits and I decided to save the last ones for later. The troll was a bit more comfortable but about as slow as the fishing. A small dolphin gobbled a day saver after an hour or so and a few minutes later a sail came in. Bowed up nice and I figure we had him. Still some where in the depths the hook just decided to pull...
I went back to the live baits and instanly a cuda found two. With only two left it was time to start trolling again. I no sooner got the spread set than I got the signal to go home. I hate to go home early but it was so bumpy you really couldn't enjoy it...
I went to clear the spread and here they came! Sails all over... We had three in the air at once even if for just a couple seconds. One stayed glued, frisky, running down sea (for a change) and gave us a good going home gift...
Well my last thread dealt with being unloved on a day to beat all days for perfect weather... So I jumped in RTB2 (new rolling tackle box with my sword kit and some rigged hoos. As I drove along in a lonely frump, my phone rang. Shark JP to the rescue!
He met me at the dump and soon the skiff had us banging our way the 25 miles to the sword hole... Maybe a foot of head chop was all we had to deal with so it was a nice ride. Along the way there is a good ribbon of water that has produced marlin for me several times and we decided to roll from it to theedge of the planet where we would sword...
Not much happened for an hour. Very little life showing. I told JP how looks could be deceiving and that the area could go off at any time. A few minutes later I saw some birds sitting on the water. There had to be some reason for them to pick that spot some 14 miles off the beach and 12 miles south...
Just as I mentioned that my one rigger started singing out at the near freespool setting. The fish dropped and I started to tease it back. A second fish raised on the left rigger and yet another climbed all over the flat. It was poor lighting and tough to make out what we had cooking but they had bills and finally I got the steel to sink home... Not a slob and we were using heavy tackle. Still a nice show and soon we had this pretty one along side...
A shot time later we set out the squidlies and began to drift on what promised to be a great path... Just before dark I saw the high bait give a tug. A couple minutes later a second tug then a third. The fish just wouldn't commit and was quite happy doing its drive by's.
It got dark. We drifted... Mountains of bait showed up but no bites. We had macks and minnows and flyers to keep us company through the night but nothing big wanted to play.
One flyer came close... So close I had to try... I thought JP was gonna shit as I made a lightning grab as it swam by. For just a moment I had it firm but it squirmed out leaving me with a hand full of scales...
We had on quick tap on the mid bait about 8:30 but no take... Eventually we gave up the ghost. Bait inspection showed the first bait that was getting tortured was not only slashed up but the little crap sword that did it ate my light stick!
The second bait that we had the tap on had its tenticles sheared off clean around the eye???
As we ran in I was wondering why the night had been so slow. Everythiing was right or so it seemed. Then JP reminded me that they went all the way to Costa Rica last year and only managed a couple sails... So thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it... Oh well it beat sitting at the dock....[/
It was supposed to be a half on the rockpiles catching grunts for the boys. The Flag was limp enough though to permit a shot at fame and glory.
I slid out into a relatively crowded ocean and found a place to work. You could tell Kevin and Kyle were the apples of their dads eyes and I hoped the day would produce...
Two neeters obliged on the day savers and it mays as well have been giant bluefins as these kids were thrilled to be pulling on fish that pulled back. I love it when a kid enjoys his catch, better when there are two. We repeated the bonito thing and the score was still tied...
Big brother Kevin was in the chair for our next bite, a cuda. Actually one of the first I got all season... It was then I could see the competitive nature between the boys. Little Kyle was gritting his teeth tightly as he wanted to keep pace with his bro.
Action slowed a bit on the edge and I slid a touch deeper. Doink! Down went the rigger with a dolphin... Not very big but I played it up as a dandy score tying fish based on "quality points".
I worked it in and out hoping for more action. I could hear some sails to the north but being a half we just didn't have time. With that I beat my local spots hard. On a swing out therew he was on the flat. A dandy sail... "Don't screw it up Deep..." I did the drop swat and it stuck!
As it danced across the horizon I could see that Kyle was again feeling the pressure. He wanted his own! I had mixed feelings about the lack of sportsmanship he displayed but also knew the sting of being so competitive. I pointed out that catching a sail was a team thing but it didn't seem to work. Dad even had a hard time getting both boys to get in the picture at the same time.
Time was short. Basically enough of it to troll to the edge. The spread looked good but the last grains were evaporating from the egg timer. I thought little Kyle was gonna burst as I started bringing the set it. I was half way through when the left rigger went down. I was in about 70' of greenish water and figured cuda but out came the point. The fish launched and with tears still in his eyes from the frustration moments before, the little man begain to wind... I cleared the rest of the spread and popped the clutches in "R" we took some spray over the transom which added to their excitement. The swivel rached the tip and it took little if any pressure from me to pull the hook. High fives all around for the tie score....I had lucked out and memories were made. Not just for them but for me...
Back on the troll tomorrow...
A 2/3 day troll is becomming my mainstay. As long as its warm the troll has been better. 2/3 is just the right length for people wanting to just relax and have a good time...
My people made a request to pick up and I obliged... We slid out and were greeted with flyers by the acres right in shallow so I splashed a set of three day savers and three hoos... It took little time before the first set of bonitos found us. These folks wanted action and though kinda small and useless, the neeters do provide some entertainment...
Wave after wave of them brutalized the day savers and when the purple one went down this time we assumed it was another. But I saw purple... "Sail!" I slid to the inside rigger which held a hoo and slid that bait to the fish. No dice ity wanted the plastic and wouldn't look at the hoo. Over and over it tugged at the plastic. My passenger got a shade over excited and did a "saturday morning on ESPN" type strike... The lure ricocheted off my tower and dropped back to where the fish agin came on then I saw another loading up for a ponce on the rigger. It ate I dropped back smooth and .... "Whiff!" . No problem though ... here it came for a second clean shot... Same result... again and again and again. I know what a good smooth drop that should sting feels like and each was right just no planting the mustads. The other one tortured the lure and it was whiffathon 07. Finally the plastic pounder got steel then I guess it was clean shot number eight that stuck mine.
After that train wreck I reset but added an experimental circle rig to the mess. The bait pulled its pants down, stuck its toungue out, flipped the bird so thats one I'm gonna keep in my secret file. It wasn't out for ten minutes when a dolphin slammed it. Well ciecles and dolphin don't do so well and I was left with bare hook but I can definately see the potential for a way to rig my dinks this year that may give an edge...
Two more dolphin made fools out of us. We caught a zillion more neeters, missed a sail on plastic and caught a dandy rainbow runner... Second one this year!
The sunburns were setting in and I got the signal to point at the beach. As I crossed 100' the flyers were agin solid. Suddenly ahead of us there was a hell of a commotion. Flyers, neeters going everywhere and in the middle of it all a good sized blue was in there just gettin it! We made some passes but no sign of raising it. Still thats the first blue I have seen in a long time and got the old deep blood pumpin...
So that was it... Text book south florida day... Dropped off the folks at sailfish and slid back up the ditch to my marina...[/
WOw have I been lax about getting the reports up in here... I had no players so it was some skiff work this week. The first day was a lesson in toothy fish. I saw a couple sails but kings cudas and a shark wrecked my bait supply.
A second skiff run to the same spit tallied two sails...
This report I managed to salvage before sliding back through the pages of obscurity.
Couldn't sleep... Long tough night. So I broke the rules of Palm Beach decorum and slipped out of the house before the first hint of light. It was cold. Like severly so. 35 and South Florida don't mix. The skiff required a jump to light but I carry my batter box every where I go so it was just a few minutes of inconvenience.
The runners bit well at the inlet and though many were too big I soon had my customary half dozen and slid to the edge of the rip I had heard about yesterday. It was no longer towering 10+ stuff but it was frisky .
Steam from the warm water provided a fog in the troughs between the swells and I set the first bait out, Before I could get it in the clip, there were two sails up on it. One ate , I dropped back and stroked it. Good and solid hook up. Now mind you I'm alone. That right there shows I'm not always bright. So I benched that rod and fired another bait...
Ok doubled up. Call me greedy. I was using the speed masters this morn and their extra capacity over the spoin rods makes things nice. I don't worry about being spooled. So there in the icy morn I tugged at two sails as the sun cracked over the horizon. Both were stubborn. It was close to 20 minutes of dead boat before the first came to the boat. Deep hooked, I had to cut the leader. The second one though gave me the hook back on the second pull of the leader.
I ran back down sea to where I had hooked up. The current had taken me about a mile during the fights. The third bait of the day was fired out and again here came a sail straight for it. This one however just faded away. Surely this was gonna be a great day thoughI managed to get three out and the flat started getting jumpy. A six pound dolphin mauled but couldn't eat it. Ok just three baits left.
It was a while before I saw a pack comming. There were at least ten in the face of a wave just tailing down sea. Three of them peeled off the pack into the spread and soon I had a train wreck going. All the runners swam together and toward the boat in an attempt to avoid death. One fish shot through them dividing them up. Tha fish ate the lefty rigger bait. I tried to set up but the bait pulled out. The other two were also eaten and running in free spool as I tried to re feed that one.
I tossed the other reels in gear. One fish started grey hounding at the boat sopitting the hook and the other one bowed up. The bait I was working got mashed again and again the hook failed to set. I could see the bait spiraling behind me and knew it was dead. I also knew what had happened. The hook had been pulled through its original hole when I tried to bow up and pulled out of the fish's moth back into the bait with the point burried in the gill. No win...
I Fought the remaining fish and got a bit of a leader cut as it launched away from me as I went for the release.
Out of live, I switched to dead. Three nakeds went out behind. I worked shallow to the north to avoid the bigger seas then took a long swing down in the bumps. I saw more tailing fish but none wanted to play. I took the pass a few more times but chilled to the bone I waved the white flag early. I had taken three for five and had nothing more to prove to myself or the world back to the dump then back here to the warmth of Castle Deep.
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I parked up the stret at private house I had permission for.
... We found a spot in the Atlantic parking lot and began a live bait pull. 
