N.C. cherry popped!

[The BEAST]

If you remember reading the report of us fishing the Big Rock Marlin Tournament you might remember me mentioning CL, the mate on Capt. Troy's "Water Damage". That week in North Carolina all CL could do was talk about catching a Swordfish. He wanted to add a Swordfish catch to his list of species caught. Devon Amy, Sharon, and I extended an invitation for him to come to Miami and we’ll try to hook him up on a Swordfish and maybe do some Cubera fishing since these giant snapper are at their peak right now. He has never caught a Cubera Snapper either and it would make another nice addition to his catch list. He and his girlfriend arrived on Saturday afternoon and we scheduled a Sword trip for Sunday night.

Sunday evening arrived and we all met up at the dock at 6:30 PM for his trip. He, the Swordfish Virgin, as well as all the rest of us were excited to give this our best shot. After the dismal Sword trip of last week, we still had high hopes. After all, this is fishing and no two days are ever the same. We cruised down the bay which afforded CL and Ro-Ro a chance to savor an often missed look of Miami. As we ran through Caesar’s Creek they got a beautiful view of the sun setting over the creek between the mangroves. As we headed across the reef line to our deep water destination, CL was intrigued by the water visibility as he clearly saw the bottom passing beneath us. Finally arriving at my deep water drift site at twilight we deployed 2 jug rods and 2 tip rods in varying depths with different types of baits. We began the first drift.

The current was moderate at slightly over 3 mph and pushing slightly inshore of my waypoints marking previous hookups. We reached the 90 minute mark and covered almost 6 miles of water on this uneventful drift. We pulled lines and ran back for another drift. I started the second drift a bit more offshore. We passed the first GPS “bite” mark and nothing happened. We passed the second “double bite” mark with no signs of a look-see. Not wanting to prolong this drift I recommended we pull them up and head in to a shallower drift site. All were in agreement and we quickly brought the lines up. There ya go! We had a taker on the deep tip rod which bit the dead bait off at the head without so much as a rod quiver or reel click.

Arriving at my shallow drift site we quickly set out the lines. Once again we were spending time laughing, joking, moving tip rods up and down or anything else that would break the monotony of a fishless night. We were enjoying the meteor shower as were predicted by the local news stations earlier that evening. CL was in his concession mode as he was remarking that you can only do what you can do and it is up to the fish after that. At 3:10 AM we were all getting a bit tired and we decided to call it a wrap at 3:30. This drift was much longer than the first 2 and we were past the 10 mile mark. At 3:27, with only 3 minutes to go on our trip, the reel on one of the tip rods begins to walk off with a swift, steady, rhythm. “There he is! Get your harness on, CL!” I barked to him. I fed the bait to the fish while CL was readying himself and then the line stopped. “He’s coming to us!” I began reeling frantically and then the line came tight as CL arrived with the harness on. We buckled him in and the fight was on. 10 minutes later with some excellent angling by CL and a mortal hook placement the fish gave up and I grabbed the leather gloves and yanked him out of the water. Devon grabbed the gill plate and we flopped CL’s first Swordfish on the deck. The fish measured out at close to 55” and weighed approximately 75 pounds. Ro-Ro got all of her man’s action on video. CL was so excited that all he could do was hoot and holler while reminding us how stoked he was now. As the picture taking continued, Amy, Devon, and I broke down the gear for the trip home. On that final drift we found that the jug rods, which are hard to detect a strike, had both been molested. One Gulp bait was slashed almost in half and another natural was missing completely, hook and all.

With everything buttoned up for the run, we powered up The BEAST and pointed her bow towards the barn. Things were getting really quiet as 2 were nodding off in the bean bag chairs. This part of the trip is my favorite. It affords me a time to reflect and appreciate. Why do I do this job which has such meager monetary reward? It is not about the table food, flour, and hot grease. It is not about the size, quantity, or species of fish. It is not about bragging rights or competency! What it is really all about is making new friends and reinforcing old friendships as well. Most importantly , it is about making people SMILE. That alone, is priceless to me.

Reported fish... #1720

[psully]

Great Report, Thanks!!

[swordstalker]

Great report Jim. CL's smile says it all.

[catching]

nice fish

[LIGHTS OUT]

Nice report Beast. Many times I've hooked up with just a couple of minutes left. Hate to wait for it but it's nice when the hit finally comes. Congrats

[quack quack]

Good job Jim and great report.

[PURPLE FEVER]

Good job Beast

[Get Wet]

Nice fish It always pays to play. You can't catch fish unless you are soaking a bait.

[Old School]

Nice trip. I just have to ask what do you consider deep and what is shallow? I fish out of Ceasars also and normally fish in 1400 to 1600.