Man-O-War sword report 3-31-07

[Capt'n Shane]

Went out in the snot last night. Windy and tight 5-8's. I could not hail another sword boat all night. So around 11:30 I hear the 300' ft get wacked. Get tight and it's a stalemate for about 10 seconds then pulled hook. Bummer. Maybe too much drag. But that was the only bait to get any attention all night. Had big tailing/quartering and basically a confused sea coming back in and made for a long tricky and nerving ride back in the cat.

[cappy]

Nice try cap, better than the dock.

[Ambitious]

good try, takes brass ones to go in this crap in a 26' anything, good job, you earned credits and will get a beast next time for sure.

[Disco Lady]

Cheers! Cono!!!!!!! Next time Slob.......

[catching]

Shane you have the fever bad, went out on CMD Friday and it was 10-12 we actually had a full boat, went 0-2 pulling both hooks, one right away and another at the boat after 90 minute fight Never been out is seas that big before it was definatley wicked out there.

[CARBEN COPY]

Originally Posted by Ambitious

good try, takes brass ones to go in this crap in a 26' anything, good job, you earned credits and will get a beast next time for sure.

Brass is overated, just plain stupid if you asked me! I of course include myself in that category because we were out thursday night in a 20' and almost bit it when I had two 8 footers from opposite directions almost put my bow under. Same night another friend of mine nearly capsized coming into boca inlet (after swording) when rogue wave came out of nowhere. I will not be doing this anymore in those conditions, it's just pointless!!!!! You're in the dark and cannot see the rogue's and it just takes once, one accident and you are no more! On the news last night they mentioned that so far this year 18 people have died from boating accidents (which is a record) No reason to add to the statistic! Just my opinion

[P33JP3]

I know you guys have the fever, and so do I, but think about your safety first. I've always said any time on the water is better than being on the dock but in this case, stay at the dock. That being said, you guys have bigger balls than I do. You get an A+ for effort!

[GENERALturtle.]

Shane glad ya made it back safe.

probaly should have been sittin under a cypress tree with a 20ga proped up on yo knee.

[Ambitious]

CC, good point. if somethig goes wrong in the dark its bad x 5. Also, that pounding will tear you up. I did enough of it the past 15 years I have messed up my back. you young guys need to think about that before they start sticking needles in your spine (like I had today). And ebsides all that, its supposed to be a fun experience not a harrowing one!

[chummer]

I made the return crossing from Lucaya to Lake Worth on Saturday in 6-8' close rollers, with a solid 6' chop within 20 miles of shore. I had a following sea and the entire time I had to work the throttles to keep from punching waves. In this case, the crossing was a challenge and we stayed on top of things, but being out there at night - I simply could not imagine being out in that slop. Wow. I am so beat from last week's snot that it'll be awhile before I press my luck again.

Good to hear you made it back in safe. You think got the fever pretty bad there.
Chummer

[Reel Bonus]

Shane,

Glad you made it back safe. Take some tylenol for the fever and I dont to read about any of you guys being sacrificed to Neptune.

Don

[RiskTaker]

Chummer,

We departed West End Sunday morning and it settled down to a nice 2-4 with winds shifted to the SE.

We never focused in on the NW channel, and we did not find the YFTs.

We spent some time between Memory Rock and Mantanilla Shoal.

We found a boil of Tunas (Blackfins up top) NW of West End but lost them just about right away as a rain storm soaked us. (back-end front that moved through)

We got some Yellow Eye snappers nearby to the airplane, a couple of Blackfins, a nice dolphin and (5 wahoo from one day of high speed fishing).

We need to go back soon to get a nice Yellowfin in the boat. Cheers Mon.

I like Ollie's sloagan: better to be safe 100 time than to die once. The roughest part of our trip was the departure and arrival through the Boca Inlet. But if you sneak in through the south side it is not so bad.

Back in the Marina, we got to see a nice Ocean Yacht playing bumper boat with other Oceans during one of their Blue Flag Rendezvous: crunch crunch and dolphin piles pulling like match sticks. That made it look safer to be offshore fishing instead.

We thought about swordfishing but at the end of the day we were so tired that not going back out at night seemed the best option. Ok we are re-railed back to a swordfishing report.

[chummer]

Yeah RT, we cleared West End on the way over. A few guys came off their sportfishers and asked if we crossed, and kind of gave us the crazy look. But the blackfin around west end and all the way down close in around freeport and lucaya are spooky because everybody hunts for them.

If the weather had cooperated, we were going to try swordfishing along the dropoff one or two nights, south side or up near west end. I have to believe the swords are there, but it could be that not many have fished for them or it's not well publicized. Maybe this summer when things calm down.