Report - Virginia Sword Release

[Fish Dad]

Been lurking for a while on SFC.com learning about this sword game so I decided to target them. Here is my report.

Whitey and Sword Video.

Saw a good weather break so I decided to try another overnighter offshore. Gathered up a crew of yours truly, Lanie, Naved, and some old boating friends, Chuck and Deb. Head out Saturday at 1:30 pm to a calm bay and headed SE towards the cigar. Saw a few well developed weed lines on the way out and dropped some squid to see if an mahi was around. Nada. We put lines in at 25 fathoms around the 200 line and headed SE towards the VB weather buoy. No hits so we continue SE in search of the break.

One of our crew comes from down below with 4 bananas...yikes we are in trouble. So we ask Chuck to toss them overboard.



Troll by the weather buoy hoping to get whacked by a mahi, nothing.



Find a 2 degree temperature break going from 79 to 81 on the 150 line at 100 fathoms but it was all weeded up almost un-fishable. We decide to push east to find the end of the weeds but it was weeded up all the way to 250 fathoms so we shagged all the lines and continued trolling. Seas were full of life in this gulf stream eddy. Porpoises, whales, flying fish, and other bait fish.

At 300 fathoms the port long starts screaming and I pass the rod to Chuck. We get a nice white marlin along side the boat for a quick release and he swims away strong. A few pics.

http://sea-duction.net/sea-duction/whitey%201.jpg







OK, now we are all pumped and excited. But we troll all the way to dark without another bump despite all the life around us. We change over for the sword gear setting up around the 150 line at 100 fathoms. Our drift is 0.7 knots to the NE. This time I change up and dye the squid with a little red and blue food coloring to make purple. This combination seemed to make the squid eyes stand out more. Put 3 squid lines out and 2 bunker lines. Put out the sword light and it's not long and we have bait fish all around the boat staying with us all night. The small bait fish appeared to be the same we saw a few weeks ago on the Norfolk Canyon.



Had a few runs not coming tight, one run on the bunker. Talked with the Healthy Grin who is a few miles to the south who boated a YFT early on squid. Our sword run came around 2 am with Naved, Chuck, and Deb on watch. Just a few tugs on the drag so Naved pulls the line to check the bait. As he grabs the leader to pull the squid in, he runs and Naved realizes he hooked a sword. Another sword hit that swims towards the boat, not away. Naved brings him back to the boat and he has tangled another line during his run. I grab the leader and his bill and Naved has the gaff in his hand and says, gaff him now? I say no, he probably ain't going to make the tape measure. Get him on board to measure him and he is only 42 inches lower jaw to curved fork tail. Get a quick pic and I bring him back to the water to revive him for a few minutes and he swims away strong.



Naved spotted a few Mahi checking out our boat, but they were not interested in anything he had to offer. Well that was it for the night. Soon our drift slowed to 0.2 knots and I realize we had crossed the northern edge of the break as the temp went back to 79 which was the reason we slowed our drift. In hindsight I should have gone back to the edge of the break because that is where we hooked up the sword but it was only 2 hours before light at that point. As we pulled the baits back in, we noticed some of the squid were missing their heads. Something picked off their heads leaving the squid body in place. I may try a stinger hook run through the head next time.

At first light, we get back on the troll. As we are putting out the first line, I put out the green machine bird combo on the center rigger and send it back. As we are raising the center rigger line, a big fish smacks it so freaking hard, it jerked the rod out of my hand. I watched in horror as my Tiagra 50 takes one bounce off the transom and is gone in a split second. I know my crew is thinking they were glad it happened to me and and not them. My thought was why didn't this happen to one of my Okumas. Oh well, I'll get over it.

So we troll, and troll, all morning starting out at 350 fathoms, around weed lines, inside the break, outside the break, nada. Troll inshore towards the cigar and work the cigar for a while in hopes of finding some mahi or wahoo but no joy. We stop and check out several huge weed lines but find just small bait fish on the ones we stop on, no mahi.

We are all getting tired around noon so I raise up my sword and whitey flag Lanie just bought for me and head home.



Great day offshore, 2 release citations aboard Seaduction so it was a great trip. Can't wait to go out again.

[mneptune]

Great report. Welcome aboard the best darn fishing forum going...

[Sopla2o]

Not a bad catch considering the Bananas onboard.....

[KWtuna]

Originally Posted by Fish Dad

Been lurking for a while on SFC.com learning about this sword game so I decided to target them. Here is my report.

Whitey and Sword Video.

Saw a good weather break so I decided to try another overnighter offshore. Gathered up a crew of yours truly, Lanie, Naved, and some old boating friends, Chuck and Deb. Head out Saturday at 1:30 pm to a calm bay and headed SE towards the cigar. Saw a few well developed weed lines on the way out and dropped some squid to see if an mahi was around. Nada. We put lines in at 25 fathoms around the 200 line and headed SE towards the VB weather buoy. No hits so we continue SE in search of the break.

One of our crew comes from down below with 4 bananas...yikes we are in trouble. So we ask Chuck to toss them overboard.



Troll by the weather buoy hoping to get whacked by a mahi, nothing.



Find a 2 degree temperature break going from 79 to 81 on the 150 line at 100 fathoms but it was all weeded up almost un-fishable. We decide to push east to find the end of the weeds but it was weeded up all the way to 250 fathoms so we shagged all the lines and continued trolling. Seas were full of life in this gulf stream eddy. Porpoises, whales, flying fish, and other bait fish.

At 300 fathoms the port long starts screaming and I pass the rod to Chuck. We get a nice white marlin along side the boat for a quick release and he swims away strong. A few pics.

http://sea-duction.net/sea-duction/whitey%201.jpg







OK, now we are all pumped and excited. But we troll all the way to dark without another bump despite all the life around us. We change over for the sword gear setting up around the 150 line at 100 fathoms. Our drift is 0.7 knots to the NE. This time I change up and dye the squid with a little red and blue food coloring to make purple. This combination seemed to make the squid eyes stand out more. Put 3 squid lines out and 2 bunker lines. Put out the sword light and it's not long and we have bait fish all around the boat staying with us all night. The small bait fish appeared to be the same we saw a few weeks ago on the Norfolk Canyon.



Had a few runs not coming tight, one run on the bunker. Talked with the Healthy Grin who is a few miles to the south who boated a YFT early on squid. Our sword run came around 2 am with Naved, Chuck, and Deb on watch. Just a few tugs on the drag so Naved pulls the line to check the bait. As he grabs the leader to pull the squid in, he runs and Naved realizes he hooked a sword. Another sword hit that swims towards the boat, not away. Naved brings him back to the boat and he has tangled another line during his run. I grab the leader and his bill and Naved has the gaff in his hand and says, gaff him now? I say no, he probably ain't going to make the tape measure. Get him on board to measure him and he is only 42 inches lower jaw to curved fork tail. Get a quick pic and I bring him back to the water to revive him for a few minutes and he swims away strong.



Naved spotted a few Mahi checking out our boat, but they were not interested in anything he had to offer. Well that was it for the night. Soon our drift slowed to 0.2 knots and I realize we had crossed the northern edge of the break as the temp went back to 79 which was the reason we slowed our drift. In hindsight I should have gone back to the edge of the break because that is where we hooked up the sword but it was only 2 hours before light at that point. As we pulled the baits back in, we noticed some of the squid were missing their heads. Something picked off their heads leaving the squid body in place. I may try a stinger hook run through the head next time.

At first light, we get back on the troll. As we are putting out the first line, I put out the green machine bird combo on the center rigger and send it back. As we are raising the center rigger line, a big fish smacks it so freaking hard, it jerked the rod out of my hand. I watched in horror as my Tiagra 50 takes one bounce off the transom and is gone in a split second. I know my crew is thinking they were glad it happened to me and and not them. My thought was why didn't this happen to one of my Okumas. Oh well, I'll get over it.

So we troll, and troll, all morning starting out at 350 fathoms, around weed lines, inside the break, outside the break, nada. Troll inshore towards the cigar and work the cigar for a while in hopes of finding some mahi or wahoo but no joy. We stop and check out several huge weed lines but find just small bait fish on the ones we stop on, no mahi.

We are all getting tired around noon so I raise up my sword and whitey flag Lanie just bought for me and head home.



Great day offshore, 2 release citations aboard Seaduction so it was a great trip. Can't wait to go out again.

Great work on that white captain,and nice job on the pup. Sorry to hear about the Shimano over the transom, I guess you lose some and win some. Better luck next time

[catching]

great report, sorry about your loss

[GENERALturtle.]

WTG

Great report! hope to see more of the same

[FinalPoint]

Nice report!
Two things:
1. Two hours before light means nothing but better fishing. Fish all the way until the sun breaks if you can - sometimes that is the best bite.
2. That something that knocked the heads off is almost definitely a swordfish. However, I advise against a stinger hook, because that will most likely foul hook the fish. They come in swatting at the bait. Often times people think they pull the hook on the fish when in reality the fish just had the leader wrapped around the bill because it swatted the squid. My point is, the stinger probably won't help your cause too much. What will help is sewing the head of the squid to the body with some floss. Another thing that helps is checking your baits often to make sure you are fishing full squids.
Good luck on your next trip.

[Fish Dad]

Originally Posted by FinalPoint

Nice report!
Two things:
1. Two hours before light means nothing but better fishing. Fish all the way until the sun breaks if you can - sometimes that is the best bite.
2. That something that knocked the heads off is almost definitely a swordfish. However, I advise against a stinger hook, because that will most likely foul hook the fish. They come in swatting at the bait. Often times people think they pull the hook on the fish when in reality the fish just had the leader wrapped around the bill because it swatted the squid. My point is, the stinger probably won't help your cause too much. What will help is sewing the head of the squid to the body with some floss. Another thing that helps is checking your baits often to make sure you are fishing full squids.
Good luck on your next trip.

Great points, appreciate the tips. I'll give it a try my next weather window.

[Thumper235]

Nice report..

[wahoomon]

Great post...