Swordin 101!

[Cowboy]

I voted it a five star on the rating yesterday also Box, must need more 5 star votes to get it to change.

[Proheat]

HEY PRO'.....BUT "DID YOU VOTE? ....ON "RATE THIS THREAD....IT SHOULD CHANGE I WOULD THINK

GO TO RATE THIS THREAD

Sorry Marty!- I didn't know where the rate this thread button was- Now I Do, and it is now 5 STARS!!!

I learn something new everyday!

[Capt. Jon Tennant]

Think god bft season is over! I can now shift my focus to other things. I really want to pursue this fishery off se NC. I would like to here any experiances between georgetown sc & morehead nc that any of you have had swording these waters.

[Caveman Sportfishing]

We were going to do a night sword fish trip out of MHC this January but never did as we kept devoting our time towards catching a mircle bluefin. We did run a trip out of Virginia Beach in early December the night before coming down to MHC in early December and had 10 legimate sword fish hook-ups during the night and kept two around 175 lbs and releashed the rest as they were pups. We did fight one over 300 lbs for over 3 hours on this trip but pulled the hook. We fish the lines right off the stern and a little different than some boats do but I was not on this trip so can not elaborate the techniques used but will try to find out. Capt Mark, which most of you know from MHC has it down to a science and I have limited experience personally but have caught them in the northern canyons at night in the past fishing with large trap squid but with the lines far away from the boat as we were tuna chunking at night and did not want the sword rigs to to get tangled with the tuna lines. We used to put them out at least 200-300 feet from the boat down at 150 and 250 feet with lights sticks about 8 feet from the bait plus a ballon with light stick in it on the surface so we could see where the lines were in the dark. We also have used clear colored milk bottles with light sticks in them wire tired at the surface for this purpose but do not recommend this technique. This is how we used to fish for them but the primary target was tuna and not too many swords were caught in those days by us or any one we knew at the time. I can still remember the ballon dancing around when we got a bite and the line coming out of the clip and line disapearing from the reel like a GBT. Pretty cool thing in the middle of the night and it sure got our charters up on their feet in a hurry as well as the crew. We only fished for swords on calm nights without a lot of current which limited how many trips we would put out sword line. We also gave up fishing for swords on many occasions as sharks kept biting off our sword baits and rigs and concentrated on tuna only. The best sword fishing was when we drifted from the flats which are around 400 feet to over the edge where it drops to a couple hundred fathoms fairly quick. We used run the lines from the most forward rod holders and had two release clips on the bow railing and pin the lines to the release clips to keep them away from our tuna lines. This technique did work but do not recommend as it seems there are much better ways to fish now a days as suggested in previous posts. We did fight a sword for over 5 hours one night on a 50 wide and backed up over 3 miles at night trying to keep line on the reel with about 18 lbs of drag and finally it spooled us when it dove deep and we just could not stop it. This was about 7 years ago in the Wilmington Canyon in the middle of the night. They are nasty powerful fish and it takes a bit of luck to capture one as the HOOKED UP 11 with Capt Mark and Capt Eddie fought one this past summer for over 6 hours and never even saw the fish. The sword ate a tuna bait and we could not put a lot of drag on the fish as we were using the new light weight small reels (16 T's) with 80 lb spectra for tuna and from what I heard the crew just could not do anything with this fish with the lighter tackle. From my understanding these fish cannot be fought with heavy drags as they have soft mouths and would like some comments this from those that fish for them on a regular basis. We plan to start night sword fishing out of Virgina Beach soon when the good water is within range and weather allows us to get out overnight. We plan to troll during the day for tuna and sword fish at night.

[Flyin By]

Hay Deep where you at, PBC. I'm in Sebastian. I used to use the straw rig and have changed tactic to make life easier. After catching several swords this way. I make my rigs and drop a crimp down the leaderalong with a large oval bead. I then lay the rig along side the squid and position the bead where I want it in side the squid. I then crimp the floating crimp to hold the bead in place. I went and bought a 1/8" piece of copper tube and sharpen the end to a point. I remove the beak from the squid and run the tube through the squid all the way through the mantle out the top. I pull the rig all the way through until the bead stoppes at the hole. Your rig is almost done. I put a couple stiches around the hole to ensure it won't slip and then complete the rig at the tag end. i have done many of these in a rush with out sewing the top with no failure. I do sew them when at the house when I am getting ready for the next day. The rig you are using will work fine But to me it makes the squid seem real stiff not natural. The 300lb leader allows the squid to move with the current and appear to be swiming. Hope this helped, need to get to the dark side to even up with a monster that almost spooled me before becoming unbuttoned. see ya on the dark side.

[Deep C]

I'm in PB Gardens...I use several rigs. I may do a 102 showing a quick rig we use when the bite is hot and heavy... Just need to get around to shooting it... I'll be swordin saturday night I hope...

[Flyin By]

Very cool, we need to do a traid a trip. I run out of SI down to the PSL area and drift the 1500' area north toward Melb beach. We have produced several nice fish out of here. I can also say we have never been skunked. Maybe I should not have said that? Any way I have hopes fpr a weather change.

[Kodi's_Options]

Thanks for the info. I fish the northeast cayons. Up until this year swords were more of a lucky catch then something we actively pursued. Last season we had at least one sword on all of our last 4 chuncking trips. Seems they are back on the shelf enough up north to actually fish specifically for them. We usually send one of our 4 chuncking rods down deep with a few live squid or frozen with a deep drop light. Last season seems we caught just as many by chance about 100ft down on the rods we were seeking out tuna on. Will definitely try your rigging method out this season and appreciate the info.

[reel fool]

...I have discovered that sticking to basics has served me best as chasing wild techniques and tricks has left me with nothing to show for it...First make your rig. Keep it simple applies here...

nicely said. basics gets it done. & a nice thread. good info shared.

[Flyin By]

It is great to her the differences of opinion on here this is what its all about. I have changed so tactics but when its all said and done, I almost always go back to the basics. I use deep drop lights, sword light and 12' of 300lb and LP or now Owner hooks. I rig squid and have all but one on the tip. I keep the 50' at the edge of the light on a jug because I have had more then one sword in the light at one time. Its easier to get a bait to them. Up my way we get a chance to go we do. North south, west no matter. I have hooked up on all the tides and winds. Gotta remember Im not on the 50 line either. It seems that the drag issue has a lot of intrest, I play it in the middle. We set up around 16-17 at strike, havent been spooled yet...but came close. I will say I hear about all the different colors used down and I think I have all of them. Most of my hits come in on either Green or Blue. I love to learn so keep it up and I will eventually get better at this.