Finest Kind Tournament 9/9

[JupiterSailfish]

Met with Kieth, Dan, Bryan, Paul (JR.ANGLER1), and Adam(ALW) at the ramp at 5:30 p.m. After loading the boat we departed and left the inlet heading south.



Somewhere off Palm Beach we feel good and set out the drift and enjoy the awesome sunset. Shortly after a SeaVee decides a good spot is 500yds from us so sets up there. I really don't care, but I mean like





Get all the lines set and everything is looking good.



We fish and reset about three times by heading deeper and south after each drift. Finally around 1 a.m. in 1600ft I think the long jug starts drifting really fast away from the others. Jug is off, but no line coming off the reel?!

Paul starts cranking till he is about 50yds from the boat and for some reason the line keeps coming towards the boat. All of a sudden a fish rockets past us with our light in its mouth and we are tight. After a good 20-30 minute battle we have our 58" fish in the boat. Call it in and we are in the lead.



Me getting worked when pulling the fish over the side. Remember to move towards the back of the boat where the gunnels are lower.





Hear the boat Seahunter releasing fish throughout the night.

Drift around for awhile and around 3:30 a.m. this guy visits us in the Swordlight



Drift a lot more and the sun starts to come up. I look towards the bow and see my 80W Tiagra bent over. Run up and let the fish eat. Bump it up to strike (which I believe is 26lbs) and start winding. Wind, wind, wind, and nothing still. All of a sudden the fish is on the surface going crazy jumps. Pretty cool to see with some light out from the sun. Get tight on him and he pulls a little bit of drag and POW. Line breaks Basically brand new 80lb Momoi way above the bimini and wind-on. When reeling the line in it has some knicks and chafe on it. I guess it got wrapped somehow and the bill did something to the line.

Now the free fish is tangled in the short jug which is 50ft away from the boat and the fish is right on top. I run back to get the harpoon just incase and while Paul is leadering, the fish shakes off. I lost everything including my UV Seamaster

Call it quits shortly after and head into the weigh in at Finest Kind. One other boat weighed a fish which was 57 and 1/4 inch. Ours was 58" and weighed in at 77lbs which was good for 1st place and a split of 3rd place with the 2nd place team.

Over all it was a awesome night in my first Swordfish tournament and my first tourney win ever!









I was surprised how much it bled cause we didn't stick it with gaff or poon.

[Gaitor]

Great job and nice pics!
Congrats

[Another Grand]

Great report, nice job, and awesome pics.

btw....nice reels PJ

[Beerman]

Nice work, Congrats

[cappy]

pretty work

[quack quack]

congrats good job

[CARBEN COPY]

Nice pics! Congrats to Tater and crew!

[catching]

Congrates with the win

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Good Job. How many boats in the showdown?

[DORADOsteve]

Sweet win on the "Nothing Drift"

Congrats

[Relentless33]

Congrats on the win.

[Ambitious]

JSailfish, we heard you guys call it in. Bite was slow for most so good work getting the winner in the boat.

[mannyc]

JS, you guys use your trident for your 50's when drifting? Does it hold up well enough?

[JupiterSailfish]

DirtyFoot, there were only 11 boats in the tourney. We gotta fish sometimes.

Ambitious, I heard you on the radio at the start of the tourney. How'd you guys do?

manny, still experimenting with the trident. The Alutecnos reels are too wide to successfully reel all three, so we could only fish two. I know if you fished Internationals in it they would fit, and maybe Tiagras. The jugs line up real nice and I like it like that. We setup on our fish with it, the drag was set at 21lbs and it seemed fine.

[tuna candy]

500 yds did you say? WOW They should be shot
Especially when your at a secrete spot like 45 45
Some Nerve I tell ya.

[DIRTYFOOT2]

JS,
I'm game. Need more friends up this way to go swording w/. Trekking south while productive, leaves me wrecked the next day Drop me a PM We'll hook up for a north drift.
Later,
Butch

[mneptune]

Originally Posted by DIRTYFOOT2

JS,
I'm game. Need more friends up this way to go swording w/. Trekking south while productive, leaves me wrecked the next day Drop me a PM We'll hook up for a north drift.
Later,
Butch

Butch,

I'm in Lake Worth and fish out of Boynton. If you want to try to hook up sometime to go day or night fishing I'm game. Shoot me a PM if you want.

Martin

[DIRTYFOOT2]

I'm an equal opportunity fishin ho. Thanks for the invite Marvin, check your box.

[weekendbender]

Nice report and congrats on the "W". I'm curious about using the trident with 3 of your reels in your spread. Do you use a tight drag or a loose drag? Reason I ask is I always leave the trident at home but I could see how it would help at tournament time getting more lines in the spread and being able to jump on the correct reel peeling out line faster. My one concern though is getting a big hit with the line dumping off with 3 expensive reels in the trident. I have all of my rod holders backed and would be a little skittish of using a trident with a big hit. If it has worked for you I want to hear it and I will give it a shot on my next trip. Thanks and congrats again.

[JupiterSailfish]

Butch, I have your number and we will get a trip together. Martin, you, and I will have to put a trip together.

Originally Posted by weekendbender

Nice report and congrats on the "W". I'm curious about using the trident with 3 of your reels in your spread. Do you use a tight drag or a loose drag? Reason I ask is I always leave the trident at home but I could see how it would help at tournament time getting more lines in the spread and being able to jump on the correct reel peeling out line faster. My one concern though is getting a big hit with the line dumping off with 3 expensive reels in the trident. I have all of my rod holders backed and would be a little skittish of using a trident with a big hit. If it has worked for you I want to hear it and I will give it a shot on my next trip. Thanks and congrats again.

I'm experimenting with drag settings as far as setting up on fish. I'm leaning towards heavier settings. The 58" fish we caught, we setup on the fish in the trident and nothing bad happened. We only had two rods in the trident though, the Alutecnos reels are very wide so we couldn't effectively fish all three. I'm going to make three leashes to attach to the reels and tie them off to a cleat for extra safety. So far I've figured out if you fish less than 20lbs at strike and you setup on a fish from the trident, you will be good. All my reels are set at around 23lbs except for the 80W which is at 26lbs.



Another picture.