California Swordie

[ChicksWhoFish]

Hey Guys!
I have been lurking here for awhile now and thought I would give a Swordie report from CA! My husband, son and I leave tonight on the red eye to come to Pompano for the weekend to hopefully (weather permiting) get my 1st Swordie!

Anyhow here are some pix of my husbands 1st Swordfish in CA! He caught one earlier this year there in FL. It was a little guy that we let go.
However the one here we did not let go! Enjoy!

YES, Greg caught a SWORDFISH today on a smelt!!! We just weighed it in for the first Swordie of the year at the Balboa Angling Club and it weighed 118 lbs 9 oz !!! Congrats Babe!!! I will post pix and the rest of the story when we get home!!

Here are some pix, I will post our trip report in the morning. What more needs to be said other than Greg Stotesbury got the FIRST SWORDFISH of the year!!!!! Enjoy the pix!



A NOTE FROM GREG:

After 25 years of trying, 35 fish baited and 3 hooked I finally got the job done yesterday and landed my first California swordfish!! Dara, Zane and I fished Clemente aboard Kawakawa and had excellent fishing for bass, halibut and albacore. We baited 2 big swords (350-plus) on Saturday down in the albacore area, 16 miles south of Pyramid 38/26, no bites from the 2 fatties, but plenty of albacore.



Sunday afternoon we were on our way back to Dana from Pyramid at 2:40 pm and Dara spotted the fish on the surface. We only had one small spanish mack in the tank and a bunch of jack smelt that Zane had caught in the anchorage at Pyramid for halibut bait. I threw the spanish at the sword with a Calstar 765 marlin caster with a Trinidad 40 full of 50lb, and 120lb fluorocarbon leader. On the second cast the fish boiled on the spanish and cut the body off the bait with it’s sword. The fish disappeared but Zane picked it up down-swell and Dara ran us down on the fish again. I pinned on the largest jack smelt and cast on the fish again. The fish immediately blew up on the bait, chased it to the surface and ate it!



After I set the fish up we called the Wild Bill over and had them put David Herrera on board to help us land the fish. David and Zane did a great job running the deck, Dara did an outstanding job driving, and we landed the fish at 5:50 pm! The fight was uneventful and the fish cooperated at the boat. After putting the fish on Kawakawa’s swimstep we ran to the Balboa Angling Club at 22 knots to weigh the fish and collect the #1 flag.



The swordie weighed 118lbs. 9ozs. on the club scales. Many thanks go to my crew, and to the Wild Bill for loaning us David Herrera, who is a real pro in the cockpit!. Thanks, also, to all the guys that showed up at the BAC at 8pm to help us celebrate and weigh the fish!!





Greg just after he hooked up!








Swordie on the step, THANX DAVID HERRERA!!!





118 lbs 9 oz Hanging on the hoist at the BAC!!!


CONGRATULATIONS GREG!!!

[ChicksWhoFish]

It did not work, sorry! Here is a link to the thread at my site!
http://www.marlinnut.com/dcforum/DCForumID12/487.html

Hope this works for ya!
Dara

[J.P Freeman]

congrats, how far offshore do you guys have to run to get them in cali.

[ChicksWhoFish]

JP-
Fishing them here in CA is soooo very different then in FL!!! As you may know we look for them during the day up finning on the surface. So if you are lucky enough to come accross one anywhere you go for it!
To answer your question, we caught this one about 60 miles off shore.
Dara

[J.P Freeman]

that must be wild. i have always wanted to see one in the day light coming up from the deep. it never works out for me though. congrats on a job well done.

[Mike]

Who are you fishing with down here? I noticed the guys in CA are sportin RJ boyle Studios shirts... awesome!

Nice fish as well... I hope you get a big one down here. hb

[ChicksWhoFish]

Hey Mike-
We are fishing with Burt Moss out of lighthouse point. The swordfish shirts always bring us good luck! I'll give you a report when I get back to Cali.
Dara

[Kiwi Boy]

Baby Basher, I've caught Kingfish bigger then that Small Broady. Unless playing it on 6Kg tackle why would you even bother targeting such a small fish, let alone Keep it. You Da Man!!!!

[Darkside]

I quess everyone from down under has a poor attitude. Did you read his post or do you just like pashin anyone from over in the states for catching smaller swords that the get in NZ. It was his first boated sword in 25 years of trying and the first of the year for their club, i quess you would have let it go.

[adamscott]

I guess "Poor Attitude" depends on how you look at it. Down here everything under 300lb would normally get tagged so I dont view that as a "Poor Attitude" but a good one. Would I have let it go? Yes, as fish have to be a min of 200lb down here so it would definately be tagged. But we do live in different areas so what we are use to and what we see as small may be a trophy elsewhere.

[summertime]

hhmmm - agree with adam but as a kiwi i'm also not so impressed with 'kiwi boy's' response. we are pretty lucky (at the mo - will it last?) with our sword fishery down here but he has the right to be stoked with the 100 odd pound fish they caught after 25years of trying. how many of them would be killed in a night by a longlining fleet? you wouldn't keep that fish in nz but would you keep it after 25 years of trying up in the us kiwi boy?

[Darkside]

The fishery in S Fla is a whole different ball game then what you have off your coast. Let the longline fleets fish off your coast for 20 years and see how many big fish you'll catch. Not trying to start anything but the fish our rec. guys catch is a drop in the pond. Congrats on a nice Cal. Sword.

[hannaman]

Maybe one day you will grow up to be a Kiwi Man. :shock:

[joel]

Please leave Kiwi Boy alone it's not his fault, it's all the inbreeding with SHEEP down there.

By the way do you know why Kiwi"s have velcro for zippers in there trousers????.

SHEEP can hear a metal zipper a mile away.

joel[/b]

[ChicksWhoFish]

Hey Guys!
Well as you know the weather was up. We did get one night out, with no bites, one boat had a bite on their 200 but that was it! Oh well maybe next year!?!?

Now, I must say my peace in regards to Kiwi Boys post...I was taught if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all!!! You do not live or fish here in Cali so you have no place to talk!!! Catching a Broadbill here on Rod & Reel is VERY RARE! So go back up your tree KIWI and stay there! JM2Cents!
Dara