500 lb swordfish caught!

[Mike]

502 lb. Swordfish Caught in MA
Mon Oct-04-04 12:55 PM
Fishermen net 502-pound swordfish

By Paysha Stockton, Globe Correspondent | October 4, 2004

It was already a good night on the water. A harvest moon hung in a clear sky. Yellow fin and big eye tuna were biting. Then the three men fishing the moonlit waters of Hydrographer Canyon felt the unmistakable tug of something really big.

The 34-foot Venture open fishing boat soon creaked under the weight of a 502-pound swordfish, one of the biggest landed in the area in at least a decade.

"We never saw the fish," Ben Ross of Edgartown said of the bite that came just before 4 a.m. Saturday, about 100 miles southeast of Edgartown Harbor on Martha's Vineyard.

The men -- Ross, angler Steven Buckley of West Palm Beach, Fla., and mate Justin Rose of Mashpee -- suspected it was a swordfish, but they weren't sure.

"He fought like a swordfish," said Ross, 42, the boat's captain. "They'll fight until they're dead."

For the next 45 minutes, Buckley battled the fish, which dived 200 feet, thrashing to break free from the 80-pound rod and reel line.

Lured by the line's bait -- mackerel attached to a cylume light stick -- the fish was dead when it finally surfaced, Ross said. They spend another 45 minutes hoisting its carcass through the boat's transom door.

The female fish was massive, Ross said, about 14 feet long with an almost 4-foot-beak. Swordfish, fabled for slicing through small boats and stabbing fishermen, are considered some of the sea's fiercest warriors.

"It was a battle," Buckley said. "My arm and shoulder are very sore." The men had no clue what it weighed. Figuring their fishing couldn't get better, they headed for Edgartown, tilting with the weight, Ross said. "We were beside ourselves. We were all making bets."

They cruised into the harbor, where a crowd was gathered for a striped bass derby weigh-in. Harbormaster Charlie Blair went into action to find a giant scale, Ross said. "He was feverishly calling around the island."

The swordfish was unusually large, Blair confirmed. "Not too many have been caught rod and reel." Most are snared on long commercial lines full of baited hooks, or harpooned, he said.

Blair said he could remember only two other swordfish caught by rod and reel in his 10 years as harbormaster in the overfished waters. "It's not a world record, it's not a state record, but man-oh-man, it was a beautiful fish," Blair said.

The state's largest record-holder remains the 646-pound swordfish caught near Noman's Island by Albert Little in 1972, according to state Division of Marine Fisheries records. The world's largest recorded swordfish was 1,182 pounds, caught near Chile in 1953, according to the International Game Fish Association.

Swordfish, which live in oceans around the world, can weigh as much as 1,400 pounds, specialists say.

A scale couldn't be found on the island, so the trio crossed the bay to Hyannis and borrowed the crane and scale at a tuna derby, Ross said. The
verdict: 502 pounds.

They got a few offers to buy the fish, Ross said. But it didn't feel right. "We have a lot of friends and hungry mouths here on this island," he said. The men were busy yesterday gutting, cleaning, and chopping steaks for about 70 family members and friends.

Marie Larsen, owner of Edgartown Seafood, a market, said the fish tale spread quickly. "It's all over the island, like crazy," she said. Blair said it was OK that the men didn't sell the rare fish, which was worth at least $2,000. Blair added that Ross doesn't fish for money. He's more of a hunter.

"Fishing is like a disease," Blair said. "He's got it really bad."

© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Lamna]

Originally Posted by Mike

"Fishing is like a disease," Blair said. "He's got it really bad."

Awesome! I like the closing statement.....

[kai akua]

any pics?

[Mike]

I'm trying to get a hold of the pix. Maybe some of the guys on the site from New england territory will chime in.

Mike

[Captain Joe McGivern]

the guys i fished with on monday night,told me about it. they are from the same marina.they said that they didnt see the fish or any pics,i am really starting to wonder,noone has seen any pics yet :???:

[Shortfin]

They weighed it in at the Tourney i was fishing and was told by many it was a beast, i'll see if anybody has a pic