Broadbill off Florida

[Captain Fred Archer]

Giant,

Too late, you've got it, you lucky dog!

And cartilege, you're hopeless too.

Thanks to you guys for fessing up and admitting how you're doing. Like I said, many don't. Good on ya!

Looks like The Fever might be becoming an epidemic. Yay! You're gonna love "getting sick"!

"Git away, doc...I don't want the damned cure!"

Website www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com

[SteveK]

Capt. Fred, is there a west coast forum about the swords out there? I'd like to hear more about your fishery.

As was said, we always get bit in the NE canyons here in the summer. We've had swords every year now going on five years. This year however we only got pups and didn't take one home. The last one in October measured 45 inches ( and very fat!! ) but it was just as impressive to watch that purple man swim away from the underwater lights, back into the darkness and depths of West Atlantis Canyon. The next night, one of the Frances Fleet boats landed the monster 500lb plus sword within a mile of where we fished the night before. What a beast!

That's what keeps us running 100 plus miles; you never know what's going to jump on that rod next in the canyons! Five months and counting................

[Captain Fred Archer]

Steve,

Well, there are one or two "marlin swordfish" or "shark and marlin" forums, but none are visited often and when they are the discussions are just about only about the sharks or only the marlin. It is the ultimate irony, but here in a place where there are still plenty of swordfish and lots of big ones, along with a significant plank boat fishery that accounts for very good numbers of swords, there is virtually no night swordfishing that goes on. And no daytime deep drop fishing, either.

The vast majority of West Coast swordfish excitement comes from marlin fishermen or others who encounter daytime swordfish finners and then cast live baits (not good) on inappropriate gear (not good) who often snag the fish, fight them for hours on the wrong tackle and leaders that are in vogue (much too light in both cases) then are usually and inevitably in many cases, if they manage to catch the fish, the anglers claim that "the fish ate the bait and was mouth hooked, but it pulled eventually and then snagged him in the butt or tail". It seems to be downright criminal for fishermen who have fought and lost snagged swords to pulled hooks to admit that the fish were, indeed, snagged. Hey, swordfish do get snagged, it's part of the game, especially when these guys toss live baits at them as far as daytime fish are concerned and if the fish does go, he has to run that bait down, slash it up and kill it and the likelihood of it getting snagged on that long bill or those stiff, irretractable fins and large dorsal of theirs is very high indeed.

I have heard guys claim that they saw a fish swallow the bait, only to have the hook "pull and wind up snagging them in the butt hole (now that's a real far stretch of the imagination and a swordfish)" or even more ridiculous, the tail. One guy who said this had it happen on a lure with a double hook rig. That is the alltime champ. Yeah, right, the hook (forget a double hook set and a lure) pulled out of the mouth, then travelled all the way back to the butt hole or tail and didn't re-snag that fish on the stiff, long dorsal and other fins that the hook and leader had to pass by in order to get to those nether regions. I can barely keep a straight face when I hear that bullshit.

I cannot explain the no night fishing thing. You guys would crap your pants if you saw how close our swords often get. Try a mile or less off in some areas, including my old home port of Dana Point in Southern California. I tried to get this fishery going for years, but realized a long time ago that it is a hopeless cause and gave up talking about it. Instead, myself and the others who do go at night (did, in my case anymore) say nothing about it, and we don't weigh or publicize our fish in any way. That's because, incredibly, California still allows the drift gillnets here that even third world countries have banned to operate and those guys would be all over it if they knew where, when and what we were catching, so we haven't said doodly squat about it for many years now.

A further irony is that many more than a few guys from here travel to Florida to try to catch much smaller swordfish, fishing the exact same way that they could here, with far less expense and time involved. I find that utterly amazing!

Ugh! I don't even like writing about this shit. I wasted way too much time trying to get these guys out of their racks and out on the water, fishing for and catching swordfish than I even like to think about.

Here's a shot of Gary Zell, one of my plank boat buddies right off of Dana Point with a sword - and not a particularly big one, that they just pulled and are putting in the boat. There's another one covered up on the deck and they stuck yet another twenty minutes later. No big deal, just a good day. See the beach? There are often plenty of swordfish well inside of this location. Terrible long run, eh? On another day a buddy who had never seen swordfish being harpooned and I got permission from and trailed alongside and just behind another buddy's plank boat, the famous Steve Lassley's Mirage, and watched them stick seven in row about six miles off on one tide.

Jeezum!

"Knowledge is the key to success...get it!"

Website www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com

[SteveK]

Oh man Fred, you are killing me. This means I could hit Donut Derelicts on a Saturday morning and STILL get out and catch a sword in the same day??? Let's not even begin to talk about all the snow and ice on the ground right now back here. Last night, I have to knock snow off the shrink wrap on the boat because it was starting to collapse the wood frame supports!

That is great to hear about your fishery out there. We long ago lost our inshore fishery just south of Marthas Vinyard, probably decades ago. While there are increasing reports of sightings, still most if not all the reported sword catches happen on or near the 100 fathom line. Someday, I'll make it a point to try a dedicated day trip just for swords just to see if we can have success with deep dropping. With a five hour - 100 mile trip one way though, it always becomes a time management ( and fuel management) game for us. Even with good intel from other friends, its a big ocean out that far, and finding the fish has become more and more difficult, especially these last 10 years. Enjoy what you have in your backyard and do keep it quiet!! Otherwise, you'll have guys like me flying in from all over just to catch big swords instead of visiting Disneyland!

[Captain Fred Archer]

Been there, done that, Steve. I am an old Jersey boy myself who used to go mad in the winters, but I did fish much later and earlier than most and that included for the swords, which a lot of people don't think about, but that tolerate cold water conditions extremely well. Hell, the temps down where they spend most of their time hunting and eating is 37 friggin' degrees farenheit! Cold water doesn't mean doodly squat to the big females. Heck, did you see or read where those longliners fished in Perfect Storm? Way up north. Hmmm.

My first sword was a Jersey fish. Three of them the first night we tried it, in fact. I'd heard about it, actually from the longliners and a buddy and I borrowed their tactics and ran out to the outside edge of the hundred line. I was actually dropping the first squid down when it stopped sinking way too soon, said "hey, looks like we got a bite. Probably a damned shark." And reeled into some serious weight. Then the shit hit the fan and I fought this thing on a huge Penn Senator that we used for GBFT fishing. It stayed on and as it came up into our lights I vividly recall saying, "Holy shit, Chuck, it's a giant friggin' squid!" It was all lit up and purple and the shape, if you weren't thinking swordfish, was just like a giant squid, with the bill looking like the tentacles together and pointing out, or back, or whatever.

Then I took another look and shouted, "Jumpin' geehossofats, it's a friggin' swordfish! Gaff, gaff, gaff!" Somehow we got her after she damned near killed us and ripped off the big flyer once. Man, I'll never forget her! She was over three hundred pounds, market dressed. And it wasn't over, either. We hooked three more big fish that night and landed two of them. It was incredible! We were legal pinhookers back then, but we didn't have anywhere near enough ice for all of those fish, so we pulled the gear and ran like hell for the fish buyer. This was in late fall or early winter and it was cold as hell, so the fish were primo when we sold them and we got top dollar for them - and I mean top dollar!

We fished them four or five times after without a sniff before we had another good night.

I believe that wherever they swim, except maybe South Florida, swordfish are the most neglected and least understood and most under utilized of all of the big game fish.

Funny that you should mention Disneyland. Back in the early days of thresher fishing I wrote that people from other parts of the country who wanted a great shot at catching one and learning how to fish them right could come out here, bring the wife and kids and have them go to Disneyland and we'd take dad thresher fishing, starting out about twenty miles from Mickey's house. We had some do it, too. That one caught on out here and threshers are now immensely popular catches. But swordfish? Noooo! It is so amazing that I used to say that those who didn't fish at night that they must be afraid of The Boogey Man, or other things that go "bump in the night".

Sorry you're stuck there in the ice and snow, instead of here, where you'd be saying, "Hey, the moon is prime and the weather is great. Wanna go swordfishing that early tide tonight? Yes? Great! Got charcoal for the barby? I'll get the steaks, and you bring the salad and corn and other veggies. "Fuel? We've got plenty - a little less than a quarter of a tank. Meet ya down at the boat at six. We'll be back by ten. Oh, how was your Christmas?"

Ho, ho, ho!

Square pegs in round holes, I guess!

[Mokarran]

I just got it from a very reliable source that a local longline sword boat(around 60') came in after seven days of fishing between N. Carolina and FL with 800 head of swords before x-mas. So i'd say they are around

[Captain Fred Archer]

Like I said, "I believe that wherever they swim, except maybe South Florida, swordfish are the most neglected and least understood and most under utilized of all of the big game fish."

Winter means one thing to us, but a whole other thing to Elvis. Here's a hint...swordfish move shallower to feed at night and deeper during the daytime. That's why deep dropping is required during the daytime, but not at night. The night fish aren't just higher in the water column, they are usually in shallower water at night. Of course, canyon edges are among the best areas for this, but down in Cabo we had night fish that frequently came into as little as 20 fathoms.

I sure would like to see more folks using great winter weather windows to experiment with swording, both in the very likely canyon and current edges and some of the likely more inshore structures. There is a lot of likely winter swordfish opportunity that goes by the boards due to the simple expedient that there's nobody out there after them but the damned longliners, which was just proven here.

I'd just love to see a lot of anglers figuring out the game and rules and consistently catching swordfish on a year-round basis. It would not only be pure joy for fishermen, it might help motivate them to get after those longliners. Eight hundred swordfish? A nice haul for one boat and crew, but can you imagine the economic good that eight hundred of them caught by rod and reel anglers would create for local and state economies that more than ever before, need that kind of help? If you stop and think about it, it is actually obscene to allow single boats to do that kind of economic damage to the rest of us, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Swordfish meat isn't an important staple for society. It is an expensive luxury, especially in the U.S., compared to most other fish. So why not ban the longlines, which would put a few people out of work, and make them a legal and controlled rod and reel commercial species instead, thereby putting a helluva lot more people to work and at the same time generating a helluva lot more local and state revenue? And those who desire and can afford swordfish will pay more for it, or at least many will. You can bet that the Washington, D.C. fancy eateries where the Senators and Congressmen go to chow down regularly and those that cater to the ones who ripped us all off and soared away on the golden parachutes will still be ordering nice, fat swordfish steaks!

What would be wrong with that? Plenty of one of the greatest gamefish of them all and least expensive to fish for and on a year-round basis, plus a solid stack of money if you are licensed and choose to sell them?

Do the math. Then sign me up!

Website www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com

[SteveK]

Swordfish meat isn't an important staple for society. It is an expensive luxury, especially in the U.S., compared to most other fish. So why not ban the longlines, which would put a few people out of work, and make them a legal and controlled rod and reel commercial species instead, thereby putting a helluva lot more people to work and at the same time generating a helluva lot more local and state revenue? And those who desire and can afford swordfish will pay more for it, or at least many will. You can bet that the Washington, D.C. fancy eateries where the Senators and Congressmen go to chow down regularly and those that cater to the ones who ripped us all off and soared away on the golden parachutes will still be ordering nice, fat swordfish steaks!

What would be wrong with that?

Website www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com

The problem is that your suggestion makes too much sense! This has to be the best post I've seen about our current situation. Fred, the Cape Cod boys are back having a ball with big bluefins on rod and reel. Why? Because they've cut back on the herring boats. Hmmmmm....... save the bait and the fish will come. Makes sense eh? Now if they could just get rid of the one group that has the last purse seine license on bluefins in MA, then the whole fishery could return to a sustainable rod & reel fishery. Even here in Narragansett Bay, the quahoggers long ago were not allowed to harvest the big clams any other way then with a bull rake. They also cannot harvest at night. Result: a sustainable shellfishery here in RI. I hope to see these changes in my lifetime.

BTW, our first sword was similar. I was jigging up fresh squids and handing them to my partner (a few years ago) He asked me how deep. Since the starboard rod was 50 ft. I said "let's put this one down 30' and see what happens" Well, he never got the mainline in the outrigger clip before the rod went down hard!!! About an hour later, up came our first swordfish. We were off the edge, south of Atlantis Canyon. I'll never forget thinking how beautiful and almost pre-historic this wonderful fish looked on deck. They are really special fish and pretty damn tasty too!!!

Yeah, I got the fevah ( RI acccent) too !!