SFC Fishing Forums - Swordfish Reports

SFC Fishing Forums - Swordfish Reports http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/ Swordfish Reports including catches, releases, and unsuccessful trips. en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:08:10 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/images/sfc/misc/rss.jpg SFC Fishing Forums - Swordfish Reports http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/ Sword Fishing Mind Bender learning Curve (pictures) http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16865-sword-fishing-mind-bender-learning-curve-pictures.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:29:12 GMT No Swordfish but have some interesting information & some thoughts I would appreciate your opinions as we are a sportfishing team.

Some thoughts about my research is Swordfish move in shore during the day and off shore to feed at night.

Keep in mind banks canyons currents and the Swordfish depth average of 900' - 1500' average day depth night is at the surface.

Swordfish are caught in gillnets as far north as Oregon.

They are not like other Billfish they prefer much cooler water.

Rich up welling areas teaming with life are common areas Swordfish are taken in commercial fishing.

The California current and Davidson current are really good areas as they are nutrient rich with plankton
from the canyons and under water sea mounts combined with currents. (currents Gulf Stream Florida)

Another part of the process of elimination is commercial landings of Swordfish are full of Humboldt's.

Areas with large numbers of Humboldt's are a potential area of interest as they are an easy area for Swordfish to hunt.

There is plenty of water up north that could easily hold Swordfish especially temp current breaks combined with up welling and currents.

The area off Point Conception is a known spawning area for many HMS including Salmon sharks.
The females come from Alaska & males from across the Pacific.

I decide to watch the weather and wait for a window and loaded up and headed for Morro bay with my little truck & boat 60' 20'000 pounds
durramax 10 miles to the gallon.

Left the harbor Morro bay at about 8:00 PM headed about fifty miles off shore started trolling at 25 nm. right at the edge of the warmer water according to the SST chart where the life was concentrated.

The moon phase was new the air was clear and the milky way was bright combined with the nutrient rich waters ( chlorophyll ) from the up welling and
cold water.

This seemed to be a combination to learn a few things.

Once I put the boat on auto pilot and set out the 4, 80 Accurates with 2 pound squid at 150' 100' and 60 & 20' depth on the auto retrieve down riggers & out riggers
I noticed the bait was still bioluminescent strong off the bow.

Seals dolphin sharks lots of life present and the bait kept breaking the bow for 20 miles to my dis belief.

The bioluminescent was so strong I saw it was breaking the bow at a 45 degree angle leaving a bioluminescent trail about 100 yards back port & starboard.

I could see predators coming towards the bioluminescent by the bioluminescent they were emitting.

What I saw I did not like at the surface level they would head right down the 45 degree angle after the prey not going any where near my rigged weapons of mass destruction.

I had a day old SST chart from Terrafin, I noticed the water seemed much cooler than my chart and knew a cold water plum must have pushed in and rolled the water over.

I was content with learning as much as I could make the best of the situation as the phone was out of the question to get an up date from Jeff at Terrafin or anyone on the radio as it was devoid of sportfishermen no Sea tow on the radio available and only saw two ships in two days.

Heard the AFB broadcasting sections 1-3 were open and 4 was closed, guess I better figure those areas out before the next trip.

At first light I dropped down three lines at 1250' 1000' & 700' I noticed something was acting weird pulling like a smaller predator on the heavy gear and could not pull the 30 pounds of drag but had the out rigger bouncing pretty good.

Pulled the line up to find only the squid tail in the singles strand wire left with V shaped bites out of the squid Humboldt's.
I rigged up another 2 pound squid and a squid jig up with LP light and sent it back down and caught a Humboldt.

I noticed for hours I could not keep a 2 pound squid down with out getting HS ( Humboldt squid ) slammed all most instantly.

I started thinking after being able to get all the HS I wanted over a 20 plus mile area why a Swordfish would be interested in chasseing down one of the 2 # squid
I had been trolling?

Then I started thinking why are the gillnets only 130' catching Swordfish?

Then I decided to understand more about the prey to better understand the Swordfish.

Over all the miles about 20 I was breaking my back over a 30 some hour time period drifting day and night monitoring the HS behavior to the best of my ability.

I wanted to know if they were coming up to the surface at night as that is where the gill-netters get Swordfish at night.

I know HS live at 600' -2300' and they are a large part of the SF (swordfish) behavior patters as it's an arms race in the dark.
(night vision middle east)

Remember SF are mostly full of HS so I believe this to be very important.

I was dropping the HS jig down 100' increments every minute from 100 - 1000' depths waiting 1 minute in between every 100'

I only caught 1 at 600' the rest were at 900 or 1000' but mostly 1000' I never waited more than 5 minutes for a hook up in 20 miles.

If they were at a certain depth the heavy drop would be slack indicating a pick up so I would stop drop the 80 W accurate in low gear and start reeling slowly
then the rod would usually load up HS on.

It was all most a wrist breaker in high gear and takes a long time to get one to the top.

Remember this is a process of elimination prey & predator learning curve.

With this HS depth information obtained at a great physical price of reeling in hundreds of times from 1000' I started thinking why would the Swordfish be interested in my micro squid of 2 # ?

I believe the Swordfish can get a massive meal at depth easily as HS school in schools of 1200 up to 100 pounds.

After SF get their meal that is readily available at depth in an amazing abundance of HS they have plenty of time to spawn or what ever in the nice warm surface water
where they can be caught in Gillnets.

I can hear the SF saying hey look at the baby 2 # squid scared to death running from me, if that baby squid only knew I just ate his momma
and am as stuffed as a can of biscuits and would not chase him if I had to. Not worth the energy to slash my bill at.

I decide to stitch up some HS and send them down.

They ripped loose so I caught some more and set them out at 100' & 150' as it was night time at this point with the 100' HS getting hammered by a large blue shark and seal sucking down a nice 40 pound meal quickly.

I kept them on by sticking a 12/0 through the tail where it is like bone VERY hard area., this allowed them to swim nicely but the hook was totally consumed.
I set two more 12/0 J hook 400 # mono leaders in the snap swivel and stuck them in the mantel with the J portion sticking out and up so if a SF was to Bill slap them head first I would have a good chance of sinking the 12/0 right through his bill just like a threshers sharks tail slap hook up.

While it was still dark I wanted away from the surface and wanted to test a HS at 1000' and 1250' to see if I was able to bring them up bridle them and send them back down in a timely manner so they would be in good condition to defend them self's from other HS.

They were on the out riggers to keep the MONSTAA bait away from each other at depth.
They were just fine.

Had another one at 250' off the center transom.

I would like to try the HS fishing increments on the inner banks to monitor the HS behavior in other areas.

I would like to check out the diet of the stomach of HS on the next trip.

I will bring more fuel to stay longer next trip and a current SST chart.

Slow trolling HS might be a good idea as if I get one in front of a hungry SF ready for another meal or possibly provoke a reaction strike.

Better meter as mine only goes to 1000' so I can drop my super lighted LP light HS in the middle of the squid that SF is hopefully stalking.

When Thresher fishing they tend to be where there are large bait schools and we can see the red balls of bait on the FF with a red target ( thresher ) on the under side of the ball close.

Should be able to do the same with Swordfish as they attack from the under side as well.

I will leave it here for now.

Attached Images

	DSC01719.jpg (64.6 KB)
	DSC01725.jpg (49.4 KB)
	DSC01727.jpg (66.1 KB)
	DSC01729.jpg (42.8 KB)
	DSC01740.jpg (66.1 KB)
	DSC01757.jpg (34.0 KB)
	DSC01755.jpg (46.4 KB)
	Dsc00197.jpe (14.8 KB)
	Dsc00176.jpe (14.9 KB)
	DSC01313.JPE (14.1 KB)

]]> Swordfish Reports Keith Poe http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16865-sword-fishing-mind-bender-learning-curve-pictures.html 11/18 on the Final Point http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16859-11-18-final-point.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:23:15 GMT Finally made it out. Nice night out there. We had one bite on the shallow tip around 8:20 on a Big Game Bait from Disco Luis that I got from the... Finally made it out. Nice night out there. We had one bite on the shallow tip around 8:20 on a Big Game Bait from Disco Luis that I got from the sword club meeting. We landed the fish in about 20 minutes or so and it was about 57 inches.

Seems like Arthur and I were opposite - my fish was outside the 50 and on the green squid. No other bites and we packed it up around 11:15 (should have stayed another 20 seeing as Arthur got his bite around 11:30).

]]> Swordfish Reports FinalPoint http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16859-11-18-final-point.html 11/18 PE Report http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16855-11-18-pe-report.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:20:55 GMT Inside of the 50, north of PE, 77" LJFT, 50" Girth, FAT, approx 250 lbs caught at 11:30 pm on the tip rod at 300+' using a red Big Game Squid that I had picked up at the Swordfish Club raffle, courtesy of Disco Lady, with red blinking lights. Here's a couple of pictures of the sword with the two captains,

nice night for sword fishing with long period swell and some shooting stars. We set up south of the port at the 49, expecting a hard inside
drift, and it was for a few hours. We had a bite on the frankensquid on the far jug at 40' for a few spins of the reel and some mangled bait.
The drift became almost due N and then a little offshore and the seas had laid down. I was working the tip rod in our last 1/2 hr of desperation
before we had to pack it in to go home and face work in the morning, and I get a few solid whacks, fish on and then fish off; I free-spooled it and
the fish was back on and dumped 3/4 of a 50 W size reel. Doyle went on the reel and he got a nice jump from her, and a few runs to the boat where
we thought that we had lost her. She went real deep and he fought her hard for over a 1/2 hr and started to make some slow steady progress. I came
in for relieve and reeled her to the boat where Capt Ray, aks Reel Life, stuck her with a harpoon. She came in tail first. We ripped the lower jaw a bit getting her into the boat.

This fish was a present for all the ones that get away. The fish was tied up from the front pelvic fins to the anal fin and the kneel fins twice, and one wrap
diagonal across the fish around the tail to the front of the dorsal fin. The hook was not in her when we landed her, though the Red Devil was devoured.
We packed it up and headed up. Formula yields 240+ lbs, but this one was fat and solid, maybe as high as 260, so I'm calling it 250. cheers, O ]]> Swordfish Reports OBAMA http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16855-11-18-pe-report.html day time sword on the lucky dog http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16831-day-time-sword-lucky-dog.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:13:01 GMT caught this on an lp broke the rod first minute into 2 hour fight yesterday caught this on an lp broke the rod first minute into 2 hour fight yesterday

Attached Images

	IMG_0361.jpg (41.7 KB)
	IMG_0351.jpg (67.4 KB)

]]> Swordfish Reports stephen garrison jr. http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16831-day-time-sword-lucky-dog.html Islamorada 11/14/09 http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16818-islamorada-11-14-09-a.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:16:35 GMT Nick, Richard, and I went for a day of fun fishing on the Bn'M yesterday. On our first drop we had a bite in under 5 minutes but couldn't come tight. It seemed like a small fish that just kept wacking the bait. On our second drop we came tight on a fish as soon as we hit bottom and caught a 60 pounder. Our third drift ended up without a bite but we did snag a squid. A little ways in to the fourth drop we hooked a nice fish. He came up tailwrapped in 25 minutes on manual gear. He ended up going 223. We made one more drop without a bite and came home ending the day 2/3.

Attached Images

	223 tail wrap.jpg (64.5 KB)
	223 boat.jpg (55.3 KB)

]]> Swordfish Reports Slbraves http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16818-islamorada-11-14-09-a.html Sword-fishing, Then all Hell broke lose http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16747-sword-fishing-then-all-hell-broke-lose.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:33:35 GMT Left out of Long beach California los Angeles county Monday at about 2:00 PM headed for Osborne bank 50 NM out with a cooler full of 2 pound salt... Left out of Long beach California los Angeles county Monday at about 2:00 PM headed for Osborne bank 50 NM out with a cooler full of 2 pound salt brine red dyed squid.

The weather said it was only blowing 12 knots but seemed much more as I was taking them over the windshield on the fly-bridge.

Stopped and tossed on the Grundens then proceed towards Catalina side ways from the wind about mid island.

Worked up the side of the island very close till I got to the west end.

Saw severail guys lobster fishing

The wind had calmed down some as I headed on wards.

Got to the bank and headed towards the SW corner metering across the bank.

A little further towards Nicolas there was a decent break according to Terrafin SST charts but I believe the Swords might be after the Humboldt's
that seem fond of banks where I believe Humboldt's are after the market squid.

Saw some decent marks and set up 4 accurate 80W at just above the bottom and 250' 200' & 150' as it was a full moon and very foggy the entire trip for the most part.

Picked up a Mako that got tail wrapped in two lines. She seem very interested in the boat and Hydro glow lights. Set her free.

One good thing about the full moon Swordfishing is they are usually below 230' because the Humboldt's and other prey are usually at least that deep
as they want to stay out of the moon light. This creates an advantage to stay away from the Makos as they rarely venture below the thermocline.

Then a blue shark gets it's self hooked in the side trying to get the bait, released it. Pretty much it till first light picked up another mako on the 150' bait.
The 12/0 hook was right in the top of it's head. Did not seem deep or bother it at all so I left it in place as the release stick would not remove it.
I thought about slicing it out but figured it would be better off with the hook rather than a slice potentially allowing an infection or causing bleeding.
I ain't no brain surgeon. So if you see a mako with a really interesting hook piercing you will know how it got there.

Sent some baits down 1250' 1350' 1500' on the out riggers with 5 pounds of lead on them and one out the center of the transom.

Drifted all the way across the bank to the explosives dump all day and picked up another Mako on the sink after checking the baits.
She got it right in the side of the face infront of the gills. Released her.

Just before Tuesday night I got set up to start trolling again still in the explosives dump & set the auto pilot towards the west end of Catalina.

Set up 4 accurate 80W at 300' 250' on the auto retrieve down riggers fully extended port & starboard spread out with the out riggers.
The deeper they are the harder it is to keep them apart.

I set the other two at 200' & 150' then tied balloons on the sending them back away from each other and the deeper down out rigger ones.

The balloons have chem. lights in side them so I can see them incase they get picked up.

At 3:00 AM all hell broke loose when I saw a large mako right behind the transom checking things out in a frenzy.

At first I thought it was cool as everything was deep out of site out of harms way WRONG all of a sudden the starboard down rigger went off dumping cable
as fast as you can imagine along with the Accurate 80W with 30 pounds of drag. I am not sure what amount of drag the down rigger is capable of but has held 2, 15 pound weights and the 2 LB of squid LP light & another 2 LB of lead. I'm guessing at least 30 LB of drag along wit the 30 LB the Accurate is set at plus the salt slicer.

The gimbal pin in the rod holder snapped as the down rigger twisted aft when the cable came to it's end digging in the gel coat.
SNAP it broke at the end knot. The ATD 80 W still screaming out rigger bouncing violently as the release clips are set tight because of all the pressure and in the moon light I get a look at this monster silhouette rocketing flipping skyward crashing down.

On the second running out of the water flipping it was free.

I was happy it was gone not my target but had a really big smile on my face from ear to ear as I felt she was saying see what you are missing.

As luck would have it some how I got the salt slicer and all the cable back still attached to the 80W as the angle of the attack did not allow for the release clip to
trip.

Set back up minus a down rigger but could have spooled up some of the spectra as the cable was wasted in knots.

I rounded the west end and rolled in to twin harbors to re fuel at 6:45 AM Wednesday morning.

Waited till 8:00 Am to refuel then ran out 1 mile and set up 2 baitomatics and two of Fred Archers Out laws with squid attached.

Set the Auto pilot for Los Angeles gate at 4 knots for an un eventful crossing as the sun was up and the wind was as well.

Trolled right in side the harbor adding a Rapalla to the mix and raised the down rigger up.

Heard the commercial halibut guys on channel 88 talking threshers.

Trolled all the way to Queens gate saw little life inside till I got to the queen marry inside the 5 knot markers.
The bait was solid with well over 100 birds crashing down.

It was now Wednesday night and I had a lot of cleaning to do and the low tide left the ramp only 1.5' deep.

Swords a big fat zero as I hear the commercials inside are having a really bad year that's why I tried out side.

The 12/0 is deadly if anything gets near it and if that does not work if I ever get near a swordfish all the gear in the water
will snare it like the sharks.

I am learning a lot every trip dialing everything in sorting different things out in different conditions trying everything different ways different ideas getting ready for a showing of swordfish as when the makos Marlin or threshers show I hope to be as ready as I can be to try my best, I think I can I think I can.

Till then I am all ways interested in what will happen next what will show up, big eye thresher thresher mako tuna marlin so much fun so much to learn and enjoy.

Purple twin fin or bust till next time your admirer an Elvis fan the one and only true King"

Life's journey is not about what you acquire but who you become.

310-562-6205

sharktagger@roadrunner.com ]]> Swordfish Reports Keith Poe http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16747-sword-fishing-then-all-hell-broke-lose.html Islamorada 11/2/09 http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16746-islamorada-11-2-09-a.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:08:59 GMT A little late to report this because I was waiting for some pictures but we took a charter on Monday and made a couple of drops. On the first drop we... A little late to report this because I was waiting for some pictures but we took a charter on Monday and made a couple of drops. On the first drop we hooked up and boated this fish 45 minutes later. The length was 82.5 with a 48 inch girth and a pumpkin. The fish was caught on manual gear. We made a couple more drops and had no bites and headed home. The fish was reported the # was SWO11/02/2009Fl352. Fishing has been decent.:reeling:

Attached Images

IMG_2333-2.jpg (66.2 KB)

]]> Swordfish Reports Slbraves http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16746-islamorada-11-2-09-a.html Cool Pict Tues http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16728-cool-pict-tues.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:57:57 GMT SWO 11/03/2009 FL 353 Image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/CaptKen/4.jpg?t=1257353734 SWO 11/03/2009 FL 353

]]> Swordfish Reports CaptKen http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16728-cool-pict-tues.html Caught a PIG http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16721-caught-pig.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:32:14 GMT Did a daytime/night trip yesterday (actually just woke up to post). Did a drop at 4:15 and came tight at 4:30pm on something. Let the s1200 do its... Did a daytime/night trip yesterday (actually just woke up to post). Did a drop at 4:15 and came tight at 4:30pm on something. Let the s1200 do its job while assisting by pulling line onto the reel. Fought her for 3hrs and it was an awesome battle. Up and down. I was fortunate to get the lead off on the first shot :cool:. She seemed to like 300ft for a long time, but we got her back up inch by inch. She popped out and I stuck the dart through her massive gillplate and into her spine. My buddy sunk the gaff, I sank a second, and we got a tailrope and gillrope on. Then we motored away from the blood to avoid sharks. Called a buddy boat out there, and took 4 to pull her in. Since we were commercial, no camera on the boat :bang:. The fish measured 102 in LJFL and the core went 377. Pumpkin. Props to jamie for sticking with her on the reel and guiding her away from the props. And thanks a ton to the guys on the Competition. Couldn't have done anything without the help. We have pics of the core, and I hope to get them up soon. ]]> Swordfish Reports Capt. JJ http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16721-caught-pig.html All our bait was eaten http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16709-all-our-bait-eaten.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:07:26 GMT Went sword fishing Saturday nite, 10/31. set up at 2550/7950. When we finished our drift and pullled our lines, allof our squids and the one tinker... Went sword fishing Saturday nite, 10/31. set up at 2550/7950. When we finished our drift and pullled our lines, allof our squids and the one tinker mackeral had ben eaten. Had the reels on light drag. I was told that triggerfish eat them, any ideas? ]]> Swordfish Reports KEVIN9164 http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forum/swordfish-reports/16709-all-our-bait-eaten.html