NZ Swords are back - Page 3

jbud · 04-08-2008, 02:48 PM

I guessed that b/w photo would catch your interest! Lol.
There are other photos of the fish, notably on the inside back flap of Paul Molyneaux's book and elsewhere at Fisherman's Voice. Having seen an 800lbs fish here in NZ the photo is of a fish bigger than that, but how much bigger? 200-300lbs? Maybe. Twice as big? No.

miamiangler1 · 04-08-2008, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbud

I guessed that b/w photo would catch your interest! Lol.
There are other photos of the fish, notably on the inside back flap of Paul Molyneaux's book and elsewhere at Fisherman's Voice. Having seen an 800lbs fish here in NZ the photo is of a fish bigger than that, but how much bigger? 200-300lbs? Maybe. Twice as big? No.

It was brought up too me .. even though it is a sword of good size ... the men are standing further back ... making the sword look really larger then it is ...is there any pic of someone standing next to the beast!

Tuna Devil · 04-08-2008, 10:30 PM

//////////////////////////////////////////////

Tuna Devil · 04-08-2008, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuna Devil

It is bigger than this one. I think this one was 650 or 680 dressed.

sorry for the bad pic.

I was wrong i talked to one of my ship mates, he said this one dressed 585. He is going to find some better pics (circa 1991). The one that started this thread is much larger.

By the way, I am 6 foot 1 inch.

Broadbill-Pro · 04-10-2008, 02:57 PM

Not sure if a photo exists, the biggest PLL swords caught are in the 480kg dressed weight range.

480kg = 1056 pounds dressed

+/- 32% loss H&G

That's +/- a 1400 pound fish, I doubt they get much bigger than that.

Biggest I know of from the Florida Straits was 843 pounds dressed (1,112 whole weight) caught off Matinella Shoal, Bahamas

jbud · 04-10-2008, 03:23 PM

Kip Farrington claimed, in one of his books, to have witnessed a 1565lb sword being weighed in Chile that was harpooned commercially in 1939. Also he reports a 1500lb sword in Peru in 1941 also harpooned.
There are some massive swords longlined here in NZ every year, I will post info once I get it together and so does the east coast of Australia.
Captain John Gregory of Primetime fame and the most successful with big swords in modern times and maybe all time, reckons the biggest they have fought so far to be circa 500kilos (1100lbs). Fish constantly attacked the boat and after 5 hours he was still running the boat off the fish until hook pulled. Biggest sword boat weighed so far is 705lbs 8 ozs in 2004 and has weighed 4 between 609-643lbs. Other fish NZ are of course the current 80lb record 813lbs 7 ozs in 2003 and previous record 732lbs 12ozs in 2001 and 4 between 629-676lbs.

Darkside · 04-11-2008, 08:19 AM

I wish a 1100lber would attack my boat JBud, I would give him something to calm his attitude. Steelllllllllll.

O-Sea-D · 04-11-2008, 10:38 AM

And there goes Drew...KASPLASH!!!!

Nick C · 04-14-2008, 09:29 AM

jbud · 05-07-2008, 02:16 PM

The latest news from the boat is that on the final trip they have so far caught 10 swords and 34 marlin, a truly amazing return. They will be back in a few days and I will get the exact details. Sounds like they have something to weigh, hopefully the new 30lb World Record.

miamiangler1 · 05-07-2008, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbud

The latest news from the boat is that on the final trip they have so far caught 10 swords and 34 marlin, a truly amazing return. They will be back in a few days and I will get the exact details. Sounds like they have something to weigh, hopefully the new 30lb World Record.

cool keep us posted

jbud · 05-08-2008, 03:13 PM

Well the boat is now back after it's final Charter, sad day.
I assumed that the reason they were coming back was because they had a fish to weigh. It was acually because whilst fighting three big striped marlin at once another fish, a big blue which was feeding unseen under the boat, got in the wheels and dinged 2 blades on a prop!
On this final 10 day venture they tagged 10 swords between 300-550lbs and 32 striped marlin between 200-400lbs. (they also lost 4 big blues). They were fishing for swords on 30lbs and the stories are immense and I hardly know where to begin. Incredibly they fought 34 swords and only got 10 to the boat. They got gaffs in 2 that were 500plus and green as Hell, but both ripped out and eventually escaped capture. They lost one at the boat that looked 700lbs after 9 hrs when the double broke, lost another big one when the swivel snapped and had a bite from a monster that followed the trashed squid right back to the boat on the surface, hung around tantalisingly for a couple of minutes eyeballing everyone, then slid off. The Captain assures me it was 900plus and maybe the biggest they have seen.
With only the one angler, 2 crew and Captain the action was non stop and the Captain actualy fought 7 marlin himself when they were getting quadruple strikes from the marlin in the daytime. The stripies were huge, 17 of the 32 he reckons were 150kilos plus (330lbs). Amazingly also, they were the only boat out there fishing!
For a "swansong" it would be hard to beat.

quack quack · 05-08-2008, 03:44 PM

That is just incredible what a trip.

SteveMras · 05-08-2008, 05:44 PM

JBud, after e-mail exchanges with Captain Matt Watson, then second ticket on Prime Time, I have been trolling swords off SoCal using the methods you're describing. However, our best depth seems to be about 50' to 80' off the downrigger. Shallower than that and we run into the numerous juvenile makos. Our thermocline runs at about 80' to 90' during the season with all of the bait at night above that.

Since I just went off the verbal description of the baits from Matt, the following are photos of my rigging. These are locally caught 20" to 24" Humboldt squids on which I trim/reduce and sew up the mantel so that it can be slid up into a 17" shell squid:

So far done a total of 7 nights over 4+ years (obviously not hard core, but better than most) and the last outing we got a 204 lb bigeye thresher at 65' on the same bank we were fishing striped marlin during the day. I'm assuming the bigeye thresher shares the same portion of the water column as the swords at night, so we're getting closer to our quest. Your feedback is much appreciated and would love to know where I can pick up the book.

Steve

jbud · 05-10-2008, 04:09 PM

Steve. The one thing I have found about fishing all over is that everywhere is different. I cannot think of two boats let alone two venues where people fish the same way. Whatever works.
We put the 13lb pancake downrigger weight(flat with long vane) down 150ft on a dacron cable so there is minimal drag. The line is almost straight down so the bait, which trails maybe 80 ft behind, is down pretty much all of that depth. Our baits are a lot smaller than the ones you show, for a couple of reasons. The first is the weight the second is that the swords here will slash more at a big bait than a smaller one which they are more likely to suck in. Where we fish there are often very strong currents runnning, maybe 3knots plus. We are where the Tasman and Pacific Ocean meets and it can be a pretty terrifying place at times. A heavy bait will sometimes break the rubber band attaching the main line to the downrigger weight especially in a turn. Unnecessary resets are to be avoided. We also only tow one bait. I have had a double of big swords once before back in the days when we drifted dead skipjack tunas, it was not pretty! We like to have an underwater dropback from the downrigger weight and another on the surface from the trip line on the starboard corner to the rod tip on the port corner. Boat is stopped on a bite and time is given until the lightsticks appear and it can be seen what is going on. Reel is in freespool with clicker on. Bites are noticed either when downrigger shudders, squeaks or complains when weight is hit, but most of the time the fish is marked on the sounder so expectations are high. Or when the the underwater dropback is taken up and the line trips out of the clip. By then action stations have been sounded and everyone is ready to go.
Thermoclines here tend to be around the 50 metre mark the bait can be either side but most of the time in the areas the boat has been fishing the last few years thermoclines have not been in evidence. The current, tide, wind, terrain and bait being the determining factors for fishing location. A lot of areas involve a big pyramid shaped bank with the swords feeding on the current side of the ledge where they have the bait stacked up, usually the west. Fish are also on the other side but there are usually more sharks, especially threshers. I have tried NZ methods in Kona Hawaii without any success at all. There the water clarity is so much better and the bait so much smaller and tends to be much closer to the surface if not on the surface at night. There drifting and chumming seems to work best as well as towing a bait faster, say 4knots, much closer to the surface.
Looking at your photos, the skirts would be too big here and we always cut off the two long trailing feelers from the squid. The hook also looks a touch small for size of bait and we would always use open gape.
Book was available at Melton Tackle in Kona.

savanna lynn · 05-10-2008, 06:10 PM

killer thread

SteveMras · 05-10-2008, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbud

Steve. The one thing I have found about fishing all over is that everywhere is different. I cannot think of two boats let alone two venues where people fish the same way. Whatever works.
We put the 13lb pancake downrigger weight(flat with long vane) down 150ft on a dacron cable so there is minimal drag. The line is almost straight down so the bait, which trails maybe 80 ft behind, is down pretty much all of that depth. Our baits are a lot smaller than the ones you show, for a couple of reasons. The first is the weight the second is that the swords here will slash more at a big bait than a smaller one which they are more likely to suck in. Where we fish there are often very strong currents runnning, maybe 3knots plus. We are where the Tasman and Pacific Ocean meets and it can be a pretty terrifying place at times. A heavy bait will sometimes break the rubber band attaching the main line to the downrigger weight especially in a turn. Unnecessary resets are to be avoided. We also only tow one bait. I have had a double of big swords once before back in the days when we drifted dead skipjack tunas, it was not pretty! We like to have an underwater dropback from the downrigger weight and another on the surface from the trip line on the starboard corner to the rod tip on the port corner. Boat is stopped on a bite and time is given until the lightsticks appear and it can be seen what is going on. Reel is in freespool with clicker on. Bites are noticed either when downrigger shudders, squeaks or complains when weight is hit, but most of the time the fish is marked on the sounder so expectations are high. Or when the the underwater dropback is taken up and the line trips out of the clip. By then action stations have been sounded and everyone is ready to go.
Thermoclines here tend to be around the 50 metre mark the bait can be either side but most of the time in the areas the boat has been fishing the last few years thermoclines have not been in evidence. The current, tide, wind, terrain and bait being the determining factors for fishing location. A lot of areas involve a big pyramid shaped bank with the swords feeding on the current side of the ledge where they have the bait stacked up, usually the west. Fish are also on the other side but there are usually more sharks, especially threshers. I have tried NZ methods in Kona Hawaii without any success at all. There the water clarity is so much better and the bait so much smaller and tends to be much closer to the surface if not on the surface at night. There drifting and chumming seems to work best as well as towing a bait faster, say 4knots, much closer to the surface.
Looking at your photos, the skirts would be too big here and we always cut off the two long trailing feelers from the squid. The hook also looks a touch small for size of bait and we would always use open gape.
Book was available at Melton Tackle in Kona.

Jbud, could not agree more. Here in SoCal drifting baits at night has largely resulted in sharks. We have a mako nursery with lots of little makos. Also tons of blue sharks. Also, we have virtually no discernible current. Plenty of banks, structure, high spots. We have a fleet of stick boats that hunt swords using spotter planes. We also have a seasonal drift gillnet fishery for swords. All that and we're lucky to see a dozen recreational caught swords each year and those come by pitching baits on daytime surface swords.

I troll one line at idle speed which is 2.7 knots. Downrigger has 200 lb spectra on it and the 13 lb pancake weight. I use 5' of 130 lb black dacron from the weight to the rubberband. Drop back is the same about 80'. Not sure about your description of the underwater drop back. Reel is barely in gear, clicker on. I'm using an 11/0 7691s hook in that bait, also use 12/0 7691. I hear you on the bait size, but these were the locally caught Humboldts and the small ones at that. You should see the pics of the 40 lb Humboldts which have been swarming our coast the past couple years. I can get smaller 12" to 15" squid at Asian markets here and will so once I've run through my supply.

At night our bait is from the surface down to about 80'. I've run a pattern of two surface lures with strips of squid off the down riggers and one bait on the downrigger at 2.7 knots (ala Kenya), and I get nothing but makos on the surface lures. I had one 6'+ mako I tagged which was recovered some 1,400 days later off Japan. That fish took with it a double stainless hook rig that I could not get out of it using a release stick. Makos are swarming here near the surface at night. Scientific studies show that they are in the top 12 meters of the water column 85% of the time at night. PSAT studies show the swords to be in the top 25 meters of the water column at night. So, I put my baits between 13 and 25 meters to avoid the makos and hope for some sword interaction. I just need to spend more time on it.

jbud · 05-11-2008, 05:09 PM

Given the amount of big swords we get here I have only ever seen 1 on the surface in the daytime and the boat has only ever seen 2. I put a PIER satellite tag in a 400lb sword 3 years ago and that fish was only occasionally above 1000ft in the next 3 days and never closer than 150ft to the surface and then only at night! Our swords eat a lot of bottom feeding fish like bass and they are usually in 700-1000ft or so. We have never fished for them in the daytime because it would be impossible to deep drop with the strong current and tides and more importantly that's marlin fishing time! Gerry Garratt's 800 pounder was hooked, deep dropping in the daytime but in a much different place even so the Captain, Geoff Stone, says it is still difficult to control his lines in even a minimal tide flow.
The "underwater dropback" is created by pulling off more line after it is attached to the the downrigger weight which has a short 6inch length of dacron to tie to the 32(or less if possible)rubber band. With trolling valves the boat tows between 1.5 and 2.5knots max. Subject to wind and tide, of course, sometimes certain areas can't be fished if the wind is too strong or in the wrong direction, controlling a heavy 58ft boat at such low speeds can be a mission.
A few years back sharks were always a problem but now we know the areas to avoid them or if we get a couple of shark bites move to a different spot. The mako becomes more of problem at the end of the fight and the sword is at the boat, that's when the "tuna bombs" are employed. Fireworks designed for seal control on the commercial boats. Fingers crossed, I have never had a sword shark bit but I reckon I must be the only one to be so fortunate, one guy lost 3 to sharks in one night and one would have gone 700lbs (the shark was a lousy 100pounder). Another guy was fighting his sword whilst it was fighting a mako of similar size, on that rare occasion the sword won before eventually escaping. As you can imagine the "sword tales" over here are as immense as the fish!

wheelwash · 05-12-2008, 07:06 AM

These storys of NZ swords are tremendus, To say the least. Here in south Texas were soon to be billfishing agin. We landed our first sword here last month. I am asamed to say we harvested a 70# sword last month. That was one of only 2 weather windows we had in April. I bet the NZ sword larva are that size at a week old. These are great reports you send from NZ. One question were are the pictures. I woud love to see some more photos of the mature swords of your country. But thanks for the reports you have posted they are truly awesome.

jbud · 05-12-2008, 04:14 PM

I am not aware that there are any larval billfish of any type in NZ waters, it would be too cold and the warm ocean currents that hold them do not extend this far south. (Although sometimes cyclones drag the warm water behind them, as happened this year and we had a tremendous run of big blue marlin). All billfish here are big and juvenile fish are non-existant. Striped marlin are normally 200lbs plus (the smallest I have ever caught would have been 140lbs

04-08-2008, 02:48 PM	#41 (permalink)
jbud Lines In Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Kerikeri, Northland,New Zealand Boat: Rybovich 39, Trophy 2352 Best Catch: Sword 550lbs(3 over 500), Blue 1100lbs, Black 12-1300lbs(4 over grand), Striped 400lbs Occupation: Retired Posts: 48	I guessed that b/w photo would catch your interest! Lol. There are other photos of the fish, notably on the inside back flap of Paul Molyneaux's book and elsewhere at Fisherman's Voice. Having seen an 800lbs fish here in NZ the photo is of a fish bigger than that, but how much bigger? 200-300lbs? Maybe. Twice as big? No. Last edited by jbud : 04-08-2008 at 02:51 PM.

04-08-2008, 10:30 PM	#43 (permalink)
Tuna Devil Grander Join Date: Nov 2005 Occupation: Pirate Posts: 1,823	////////////////////////////////////////////// __________________ What do you mean I'm not kind? I'm just not your kind. Last edited by Tuna Devil : 04-08-2008 at 10:42 PM.

04-11-2008, 08:19 AM	#47 (permalink)
Darkside Hooked Up Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 369	I wish a 1100lber would attack my boat JBud, I would give him something to calm his attitude. Steelllllllllll. __________________ SAVE THE DATES: Hydro Glow Summer Swordfish Slam - JUNE 21, 2008 Hydro Glow Winter Swordfest - DECEMBER 6, 2008

04-11-2008, 10:38 AM	#48 (permalink)
O-Sea-D Lines In Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Lighthouse Point Boat: 34 Venture Best Catch: wife 108 - Marlin 900# - Sword 500+# Occupation: Living Posts: 28	And there goes Drew...KASPLASH!!!! __________________ Charters Available: www.o-sea-d.com Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. "Daddy, after I put my pajamas on i'm a bust you up!"

04-14-2008, 09:29 AM	#49 (permalink)
Nick C Grander Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: 900-1600' of water Boat: 25' Bluewater(Rough C's) Best Catch: est. 120lb Tarpon on 16lb tippet(fight time was 12 min) Occupation: Squid rigger Posts: 2,095	__________________ "Put your buoys out... we're comin' in HOT!"

04-10-2008, 02:57 PM	#45 (permalink)
Broadbill-Pro Grander Join Date: Jan 2006 Best Catch: When I look at a Commercial Fishing Vessel I see 300 million Americans and you only see the Crew Posts: 1,190	Not sure if a photo exists, the biggest PLL swords caught are in the 480kg dressed weight range. 480kg = 1056 pounds dressed +/- 32% loss H&G That's +/- a 1400 pound fish, I doubt they get much bigger than that. Biggest I know of from the Florida Straits was 843 pounds dressed (1,112 whole weight) caught off Matinella Shoal, Bahamas

04-10-2008, 03:23 PM	#46 (permalink)
jbud Lines In Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Kerikeri, Northland,New Zealand Boat: Rybovich 39, Trophy 2352 Best Catch: Sword 550lbs(3 over 500), Blue 1100lbs, Black 12-1300lbs(4 over grand), Striped 400lbs Occupation: Retired Posts: 48	Kip Farrington claimed, in one of his books, to have witnessed a 1565lb sword being weighed in Chile that was harpooned commercially in 1939. Also he reports a 1500lb sword in Peru in 1941 also harpooned. There are some massive swords longlined here in NZ every year, I will post info once I get it together and so does the east coast of Australia. Captain John Gregory of Primetime fame and the most successful with big swords in modern times and maybe all time, reckons the biggest they have fought so far to be circa 500kilos (1100lbs). Fish constantly attacked the boat and after 5 hours he was still running the boat off the fish until hook pulled. Biggest sword boat weighed so far is 705lbs 8 ozs in 2004 and has weighed 4 between 609-643lbs. Other fish NZ are of course the current 80lb record 813lbs 7 ozs in 2003 and previous record 732lbs 12ozs in 2001 and 4 between 629-676lbs.

05-07-2008, 02:16 PM	#50 (permalink)
jbud Lines In Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Kerikeri, Northland,New Zealand Boat: Rybovich 39, Trophy 2352 Best Catch: Sword 550lbs(3 over 500), Blue 1100lbs, Black 12-1300lbs(4 over grand), Striped 400lbs Occupation: Retired Posts: 48	The latest news from the boat is that on the final trip they have so far caught 10 swords and 34 marlin, a truly amazing return. They will be back in a few days and I will get the exact details. Sounds like they have something to weigh, hopefully the new 30lb World Record.

05-08-2008, 03:13 PM	#52 (permalink)
jbud Lines In Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Kerikeri, Northland,New Zealand Boat: Rybovich 39, Trophy 2352 Best Catch: Sword 550lbs(3 over 500), Blue 1100lbs, Black 12-1300lbs(4 over grand), Striped 400lbs Occupation: Retired Posts: 48	Well the boat is now back after it's final Charter, sad day. I assumed that the reason they were coming back was because they had a fish to weigh. It was acually because whilst fighting three big striped marlin at once another fish, a big blue which was feeding unseen under the boat, got in the wheels and dinged 2 blades on a prop! On this final 10 day venture they tagged 10 swords between 300-550lbs and 32 striped marlin between 200-400lbs. (they also lost 4 big blues). They were fishing for swords on 30lbs and the stories are immense and I hardly know where to begin. Incredibly they fought 34 swords and only got 10 to the boat. They got gaffs in 2 that were 500plus and green as Hell, but both ripped out and eventually escaped capture. They lost one at the boat that looked 700lbs after 9 hrs when the double broke, lost another big one when the swivel snapped and had a bite from a monster that followed the trashed squid right back to the boat on the surface, hung around tantalisingly for a couple of minutes eyeballing everyone, then slid off. The Captain assures me it was 900plus and maybe the biggest they have seen. With only the one angler, 2 crew and Captain the action was non stop and the Captain actualy fought 7 marlin himself when they were getting quadruple strikes from the marlin in the daytime. The stripies were huge, 17 of the 32 he reckons were 150kilos plus (330lbs). Amazingly also, they were the only boat out there fishing! For a "swansong" it would be hard to beat.

05-08-2008, 03:44 PM	#53 (permalink)
quack quack Old Salt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: lake worth Best Catch: 25lb codfish 5 yrs old first hanger Posts: 4,425	That is just incredible what a trip. __________________ Either we can be a part of the solution or we can be the victims of a decision.

05-08-2008, 05:44 PM	#54 (permalink)
SteveMras Lines In Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 74	JBud, after e-mail exchanges with Captain Matt Watson, then second ticket on Prime Time, I have been trolling swords off SoCal using the methods you're describing. However, our best depth seems to be about 50' to 80' off the downrigger. Shallower than that and we run into the numerous juvenile makos. Our thermocline runs at about 80' to 90' during the season with all of the bait at night above that. Since I just went off the verbal description of the baits from Matt, the following are photos of my rigging. These are locally caught 20" to 24" Humboldt squids on which I trim/reduce and sew up the mantel so that it can be slid up into a 17" shell squid: So far done a total of 7 nights over 4+ years (obviously not hard core, but better than most) and the last outing we got a 204 lb bigeye thresher at 65' on the same bank we were fishing striped marlin during the day. I'm assuming the bigeye thresher shares the same portion of the water column as the swords at night, so we're getting closer to our quest. Your feedback is much appreciated and would love to know where I can pick up the book. Steve

05-10-2008, 04:09 PM	#55 (permalink)
jbud Lines In Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Kerikeri, Northland,New Zealand Boat: Rybovich 39, Trophy 2352 Best Catch: Sword 550lbs(3 over 500), Blue 1100lbs, Black 12-1300lbs(4 over grand), Striped 400lbs Occupation: Retired Posts: 48	Steve. The one thing I have found about fishing all over is that everywhere is different. I cannot think of two boats let alone two venues where people fish the same way. Whatever works. We put the 13lb pancake downrigger weight(flat with long vane) down 150ft on a dacron cable so there is minimal drag. The line is almost straight down so the bait, which trails maybe 80 ft behind, is down pretty much all of that depth. Our baits are a lot smaller than the ones you show, for a couple of reasons. The first is the weight the second is that the swords here will slash more at a big bait than a smaller one which they are more likely to suck in. Where we fish there are often very strong currents runnning, maybe 3knots plus. We are where the Tasman and Pacific Ocean meets and it can be a pretty terrifying place at times. A heavy bait will sometimes break the rubber band attaching the main line to the downrigger weight especially in a turn. Unnecessary resets are to be avoided. We also only tow one bait. I have had a double of big swords once before back in the days when we drifted dead skipjack tunas, it was not pretty! We like to have an underwater dropback from the downrigger weight and another on the surface from the trip line on the starboard corner to the rod tip on the port corner. Boat is stopped on a bite and time is given until the lightsticks appear and it can be seen what is going on. Reel is in freespool with clicker on. Bites are noticed either when downrigger shudders, squeaks or complains when weight is hit, but most of the time the fish is marked on the sounder so expectations are high. Or when the the underwater dropback is taken up and the line trips out of the clip. By then action stations have been sounded and everyone is ready to go. Thermoclines here tend to be around the 50 metre mark the bait can be either side but most of the time in the areas the boat has been fishing the last few years thermoclines have not been in evidence. The current, tide, wind, terrain and bait being the determining factors for fishing location. A lot of areas involve a big pyramid shaped bank with the swords feeding on the current side of the ledge where they have the bait stacked up, usually the west. Fish are also on the other side but there are usually more sharks, especially threshers. I have tried NZ methods in Kona Hawaii without any success at all. There the water clarity is so much better and the bait so much smaller and tends to be much closer to the surface if not on the surface at night. There drifting and chumming seems to work best as well as towing a bait faster, say 4knots, much closer to the surface. Looking at your photos, the skirts would be too big here and we always cut off the two long trailing feelers from the squid. The hook also looks a touch small for size of bait and we would always use open gape. Book was available at Melton Tackle in Kona.

05-10-2008, 06:10 PM	#56 (permalink)
savanna lynn Hooked Up Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 216	killer thread __________________ http://www.savannalynnfishingadventures.comFISH HARD DIE RICH

05-11-2008, 05:09 PM	#58 (permalink)
jbud Lines In Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Kerikeri, Northland,New Zealand Boat: Rybovich 39, Trophy 2352 Best Catch: Sword 550lbs(3 over 500), Blue 1100lbs, Black 12-1300lbs(4 over grand), Striped 400lbs Occupation: Retired Posts: 48	Given the amount of big swords we get here I have only ever seen 1 on the surface in the daytime and the boat has only ever seen 2. I put a PIER satellite tag in a 400lb sword 3 years ago and that fish was only occasionally above 1000ft in the next 3 days and never closer than 150ft to the surface and then only at night! Our swords eat a lot of bottom feeding fish like bass and they are usually in 700-1000ft or so. We have never fished for them in the daytime because it would be impossible to deep drop with the strong current and tides and more importantly that's marlin fishing time! Gerry Garratt's 800 pounder was hooked, deep dropping in the daytime but in a much different place even so the Captain, Geoff Stone, says it is still difficult to control his lines in even a minimal tide flow. The "underwater dropback" is created by pulling off more line after it is attached to the the downrigger weight which has a short 6inch length of dacron to tie to the 32(or less if possible)rubber band. With trolling valves the boat tows between 1.5 and 2.5knots max. Subject to wind and tide, of course, sometimes certain areas can't be fished if the wind is too strong or in the wrong direction, controlling a heavy 58ft boat at such low speeds can be a mission. A few years back sharks were always a problem but now we know the areas to avoid them or if we get a couple of shark bites move to a different spot. The mako becomes more of problem at the end of the fight and the sword is at the boat, that's when the "tuna bombs" are employed. Fireworks designed for seal control on the commercial boats. Fingers crossed, I have never had a sword shark bit but I reckon I must be the only one to be so fortunate, one guy lost 3 to sharks in one night and one would have gone 700lbs (the shark was a lousy 100pounder). Another guy was fighting his sword whilst it was fighting a mako of similar size, on that rare occasion the sword won before eventually escaping. As you can imagine the "sword tales" over here are as immense as the fish!

05-12-2008, 07:06 AM	#59 (permalink)
wheelwash Grunt Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Port Aransas Boat: 41' Tiara Best Catch: 265#sword 400#Blue 24# Tile Posts: 6	Most awesome reports These storys of NZ swords are tremendus, To say the least. Here in south Texas were soon to be billfishing agin. We landed our first sword here last month. I am asamed to say we harvested a 70# sword last month. That was one of only 2 weather windows we had in April. I bet the NZ sword larva are that size at a week old. These are great reports you send from NZ. One question were are the pictures. I woud love to see some more photos of the mature swords of your country. But thanks for the reports you have posted they are truly awesome.