Swords on the night chunk (nj)

[BlueH20Boss]

Hey fellas,

Did anyone have good luck last season landing any swords on the tunafishing night chunk? We fished the Lindenkohl and the Wilmington religiously last year and i always had at least two sword rigs put out.... the only thing we produced off the sword rigs this year was a 9 foot blue shark at day break.... just curious to see if anyone had better luck with the swords off NJ. If so, tell me about it!!!

[JaySmalls]

Had a busy year at the office so we only got offshore one day but our main goal was to catch our first swordfish. Well we were in the Toms and ended up going 3 for 3 on swords that night with 2 about a 100 lbs.

We tried the previous year with no luck but also with no Hydroglow. I know this is a debated topic but that night last year was our first and only with the Hydroglow and it appears to me the results speak for themselves.

Hope that helps any questions let me know.

[lazyfatass247]

Out of 4 over nighters this season, I tangled with swords twice. 1 trip all I saw was a chaffed leader, 60 fluro, a tuna bait. The next trip I had a 250+ sword come up following a woking bait in the slick. The sword hit it but just as I drooped into free spool and swam right up to the back of the boat and off. 20 minutes later as est. 60# hits a tuna bait, fight it for 2 minutes before it shakes the hook free, I could have grabbed the bill it was so close to the transom. No hydro glow, used just spreader lights, the 60# hit a butter with a light stick on it. That same trip i had a yellow fin hit 200 mono, at 200 feet. I believe that was the only yellow of the trip. weird huh???? im always puzzled out there.

[Big Jay]

I know A LOT of guys who did really well with swords this year. We weren't able to get out on an overnight though.

Whole Squid + 100-150ft. down + hydroglow = hold on

I know two people personally who had swords come up and beat the hell out of the hydroglow next to the boat.

[TheBigI]

Well we were to busy reeling in yellowfin most of the trips to really concentrate on swords. I don't think the sword bite was as good as 2 years ago. We had released 2 small swords this year, 2 years ago we landed 3 swords.
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[ultangler]

Got this one in Washington Canyon, yes, under the Hydroglow. Squid bait at 100' at the 500 fathom tip. Did 2 overnighters and this was the only sword bite.


The dang fish swam right up to the boat with hardly a fight, I billed it (worried it might not make legal size, and it only did by 1/2 and inch!!!) and then this picture was taken during the wrestling match that followed. Even though this was a "small" fish, it took two of us to hold it down and it still put a hole in the gunwale bolster, tossed gear all over the deck, and caused one heck of a ruckas....ahhh, I can't wait for next season!

[Caveman Sportfishing]

We had many more sword bites eating tuna baits at 50-60 feet behind the boat from 30-50 feet down. Go figure as they ate live squid and butterfish. One night we had at least 5 swords fish bites with a couple on our deep lines and the rest on our tuna lines in close. No lights used other than two spreaders but the deep lines had glow sticks. Most of the swords were quite small under 60 lbs and were releashed. They often passed our deep rigs with glow lights and came up and took the tuna baits. Fished South Spencer down to the North Poormans only. We usually do not spend a great deal of time sword fishing as our primary target is tuna but the smaller swords seemed to be attracted to our tuna baits. We did have a few real nice ones probably in the 200 lb plus range hooked up but lost all of these when the hooks pulled. Crazy fish and they can be frustrating when they eat a tuna bait right behind the boat plus you cannot put too much drag on them or the hook will pull in their soft mouths. I have gotten to the point that I feel like fishing them on 130's with 50 lbs of drag in the swivel rod holders and we either get them or pull the hook but not waste hours fighting the bigger ones with light drags and then eventually losing the fish. I personally had a sword on for over 4 hours with a Shimano Tiagra 50 two speed and we backed half way across the Wilmington Canyon trying to keep line on the reel only to have the hook pull after all this time. On the HOOKED UP II two years ago with Capt Mark running the boat they fought one for 7 hours when it ate a tuna bait with standard tuna stand-up gear. This happened again last spring when he was doing an overnight trip out of Virginia Beach but this fight only lasted 3 hours before and Mark estimated the sword being in the 300 lb range. Very tough to boat the big ones but it is done and I always admire those they do it without pulling the hook.

Picture of a sword caught this past summer out of Cape May, NJ

[Double D]

No sword bites for me this year in 8 trips

[BlueH20Boss]

good stuff here guys! I've been planning on the hydro glow for this season, last year i use was bringing out my big heavy duty work lights that i use on my construction jobs. The lights really attracted a ton of squid and bait, but i don't think it penetrated the surface like an underwater hydro glow might do. Thanks for the replys guys.

[sideburns]

we got one sword on the the night chunk in the wilmington mid october released the fish to fight another day