Louisiana Swordfighting

[Captain Mike Ellis]

The swordfish bite lately has been very good. There has been about a dozen fish broght to the docks by only a few boats. I had four trips on the books but the weather only allowed me to run two of them. The first trip started out great with our first fish on within ten minutes of setting the baits out. It was a good fish but it ate the 300' line so I left the other lines out.And the 200' line gets eaten but I didn't try and come tight on the fish until the first one was in. I could feel the fish playing with the bait and swimming around with it. I figured that a sword was like a tuna and would just follow the boat until the first one was in. And then we could begin fighting the second. Well this sword didn't know he was just suspposed to not fight and peacefully follow the boat and got tired of us and spit the bait. That bite was the last of the night except for a slashed squid so the score was 1 for 2. But the conslation prize was some yellowfin and blackfin to go with what I am guesstimating as a 180-200lb swordfish. The following night was just a half night of fishing and we went 0 for 2. we did manage to get some hooks into a shark and we caught about a 3" sailfish so I guess you can say we had a billfish release. There was only one sword caught that night and they got him in the same depth we had our bites almost 40 miles away. I wouldn't think that they would hold the same depth preference for such a long distance. Our swordfishing is really starting to take off up here. We have on a average of 4 to 5 bites a night so we are still getting things figured out and perfected. Here are a few pictures of the one sword for us.
Capt Mike

[quack quack]

nice fish and report Mike

[GENERALturtle.]

Thanks for the report Mike. Looking forward to a tuna trip in the near future.

[David Markham]

Mike,

I am going this weekend out of Texas. Just wondering what water depth you think I need to be looking for and what has been the most productive bait? This will be my first attempt to go swordfishing and I know nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

David Markham

[knotreel]

Swordfishing over here in LA is heating up. I think's Mike's successes and his SF experience have added a lot more interest to this fishery. Me and a mutual friend of Mike and myself went 2/5 a week ago. And our friend has caught several more in the last two weeks. Even though I have not met Mike, yet, he success has inspired me to finally get out there and put my and finally get some. I will be back out soon. Since Katrina destroyed my comfy houseboat at the Marina it is easier to get away from that bed and shower that was I found was holding me back. A big plus is YF tuna in the afternoon and next morning are almost a given. I think we are all looking for that 300+! Soon it will happen.

[Captain Mike Ellis]

David, A swordfish is a swordfish no matter where it swims. There is all of the information you need on this site. Of course there are some tricks that help greatly even the odds in your favor. I have never even looked at a topo chart of your area jus look for a irregular feature or a very sharp dropoff. Good luck and let us know what you catch.
Capt. Mike

[Boboe]

Markham, where are you fishing out of?