Hot bite going on.

[hannaman]

The last 2 nights there has been a great bite. Most of the fish have been smaller or right at a 100 pounds. We went out last night, Friday and put one in the boat just over 50 inches for a 1st time Swordfisherman, as soon as I put the first balloon out, there goes the electralume coming to the surface, I think we dropped it on his head. Then we released another undersized fish, then pulled the hook on one fish and cracked the line on another fish, don't know what happened. So 4 bites before 10pm, great action and as soon as the sun went down! I heard of a few big Mako sharks that were estimated over 400 pounds harrassing one boat. These smaller Swords will teach you alot on how to set the hook. We should be out there tonight.

[Mike]

I'm fishing again with Team Bluewater tonight.. I'm rigging up for a mako!!!! NOt letting one slip by!!!!

Mike

[hannaman]

Mike, those guys on the Mako were on the 49 5 and coming in. We should see you out there.

Went out with Brian, who is one of the people in charge of the wera sites thatare supplying currents, see [url=http://iwave.rsmas.miami.edu/wera and Barbie, who works with me. We set up at 49.5 and the 58.5 and the drift was a little over 2.5 knots and inside. It was near 2' seas and a nice night. Folks were talking about a hot early bite between the 48 and 49; it started slow for us. Of course the night I forget my fish tags,
we catch 2 small pups that we release. The first was at the end of the drift; we decide to go further offshore and I set up offshore of the 49. We release another pup who jumped in the air right in front of the boat. We miss the 1st opportuntity to go home and make it under the Sheridan St bridge, so we must fish longer. It's a little after 1:30 and the 2nd rod in the spread, with 2 dyed red squid at 125' starts singing and keeps singing as my crew gets all the other rods out of the water. The fish nearly dumps a
9/0 reel and we are off after it. For the next hour, mama sword has running all over the ocean trying to keep us from being spooled. This is the fish. After another hour, mama sword decides to go deep and now we have the inch per inch battle go on for another hour. Brian gets the fish near the surface and now the fun begins. The sword starts to swim
fast 100' wide circles and part of the circle is right next to and UNDER the boat. The 1st time we see the sword, it's about 3' from the boat but 15' down and my first impression is that we need a bigger boat. Mama sword does this 7 times! Each time we get her near the boat she won't give up the last 10-15' so that we can grab the leader. Everytime the
sword ends up under the boat; After 3+ hrs, the line frays and mama sword gets away. Very big sword, 200+ lbs. I marked the boat and I'll have to pull the tape measure and see how long, maybe 75+". The bill on this fish alone was bigger than the pups we released. That is why they call it fishing. I have this mental image of that sword that will no go away.
I'll have to go out next week to catch the thanksgiving day sword.

Maybe time for a harpoon or a cross-bow (NOTE This is a joke; I don't need anymore warning letters from NOAA fisheries). BTW, Are you suppose to call in releases?? cheers, arthur

[Time Out]

same story here - fished the south grounds - had a double header on within the first 30 minutes - put a 57' fish on the deck. two more strong bites that we pulled the hooks on. back at the dock by 11.
by-the-by - what is that call in number to report catches again?

[Darkside]

Had a bad night going 2 for 10 with about 10 more bites.

[cogzwell]

Yes sir! I cought my first sword. Small, 52", but I wasn't letting it go. Feels soooooooo good after 8 times out. Looking forward to the big one next time!!!!!!

[FinalPoint]

The number to report swordfish landings is 1-800-894-5528 (you are supposed to report within 24 hours of landing the fish). When you call that number you leave a message with the time and date of landing (arriving back at dock), a callback number, and your NMFS HMS permit number. Then somone will call you to confirm details. It is really important that we all do our part in reporting, so don't let it slip by.

[SM]

Was your angler Pat Maloney, an attorney from Los Angeles? If so, I referred him to you. Good job. I heard he got an 80 lb plus a smaller fish. I haven't met Pat in person, but he's a good friend and slip mate of a very good buddy of mine down in San Diego.

[hannaman]

Hey Steve Mras, I never got to fish with Moloney. We were supposed to go out but his plans had him coming back to Cal. early I guess. Thanks for the referal. We had a great time with another crew.

[Mike]

We went 2 for 3 tongiht.

Had 2 fish on within the first 20 minutes of setting up.. Kept one about 55 inches and released a pup. Got tight on antother out on the 48.5 and pulled the hooks on a legal fish at the boat.

Defiently a hot bite early in the night...

Went though about 12-15 squid.

2-4 foot chop the whole night... I'll post pictures in the morning.

Mike

[RiskTaker]

Cary, you were right: I was next, not to be captured, but we fared well last nightl: landed a plump 56" swordfish while drifting on the Southern grounds. I think we were somewhere around the 25:48 and in deep water, 1400+, although still around the Long. 50. We did not weigh this fish but I was estimating 85 - 95 lbs.

Congratulations Chris, on catching your first swordfish. I wouldn't fret about the size of the fish for your first fish. As a matter of fact, you now have superb motivation to keep trying for bigger and bigger fish. Bottom line is: if you have swordfish in the freezer already, you are in a better position to release the fish that you deem too small.

We will be chillin by Hillsboro Inlet tomorrow, with friends and family, a little birthday party too. We will be cooking some great swordfish on the BBQ grill. Not a bad weekend for this California dreamer. RT

[FinalPoint]

Nice!! Good job RT, I'll see you in a few days.

[cogzwell]

Thanks RT and good job!!!

I'm back at it again tonight. We are going to start at the 26.05 / 48.5 -- give it one drift and in early.

[Mike]

I went out again tonight (sunday). Had a fish on in the first 20 minutes.. put her in the boat about an hour later... 130-150lbs or so... Left the line at 8:30 and now ready to go to bed to be up in the morning for work

About 8 or so boats out there.. I bet they were all tight all night!

Pix to come.

Mike

[Mike]

Here's the fish we bagged tonight. Matt's first keeper sword aboard his midnight express.

Fish took a squid down 125 on the tip rod... We fought her for about an hour before putting her in the boat...

The bite is still hot!

[RiskTaker]

Admin. Mike:

(Oops - Congratulations guys. Sorry, when I first posted I thought that was a picture of fish team & Mike had caught.)

Thats the way to do swordfishing. Drop your line in the water with a nice piece of swordfish candy attached.. and BAM you're on. Wow.

Do you think it is the fish or could it perhaps be the angler?

Yeah, even if I can't get a 200 lb.er any time soon, fish this size is certainly where I want to be catching them.

If you use larger squids, does that change the equation any for getting slightly bigger one. So far, I have only caught keepers with the big squids, small squids too. But no pups with the big squids yet.

Anybody have any knowledge base on this? RT

[outerbanks]

i saw that some one got hit on a line with two red died squids on it why the red ?

[Mike]

Red-Dyed squid are like candy for swords. Right now it doens't matter what you have out there.. just soak a bait.

Mike

[CAPTINMITCH]

We were out also. Went 2-4, one marker (yes Drew, on my new 50 )and released one pup. Never waited more than 15 minutes for a bite. All hits were on the deep baits. Stomach contents on the keeper were about 6 pounds of big squid. Bite was definitely on the outside. Heard a bunch of boats inside moaning about no action.