Northern Gulf of Mexico

[bigcat12345]

Hows it going?

this summer, i will be fishing out of Venice for marlin and tuna. at night it seems that dropping deep for a sword might produce when we stop to sleep and eat for the night. I've searched the forum and have found lots of helpful information on most aspects of swordfishing, but not a bunch about my area. does anyone have any information about this fishery, and also when we stop to retire for the night we are in close to 3000 feet of water. is that too deep ? i have a TLD 50 II LRSA with close to 900 yards of 100lb. braid.- i hope this will be adequate . im going to try to keep my questions to a few per page, and am very excited to what you guys have to say.

[team_A_II]

venice has a lot of swords, most people dont fish for them out that far though, but i'm sure you'll find them out there. The tld's should do, only problem i have with those is that they tend to break off at the reel seat sometimes.

[bigcat12345]

yeah, ive heard of it and ive seen the picture of the one that just blew up. i like the TLD because its really light, and since it tis the new model i think it should hold up. it feels pretty good and beefy, but i know its far from a gold one does anyone have an opinion if swords are leader shy or not. im planning on over building the rig so it will last with 400lb momoi, but do you think before the hook i should put a heavy swivel and then some cable for the worry of sharks, or is it unnecessary. and from searching i have seen this many times, what is your drag set to i was thinking around 13-14 at strike and 24-25 at full.

[Relentless33]

If you click on my username there is a picture of one that broke while I was fighting a fish on the top right side. If you want to prevent the reel from flying off the rod and ripping into the guides just harness up. If you clip the reel to the haness and have the everything set right then the reel should just stay right where it is. If you are only using a belt than the reel will go flying...if it breaks... Shimano said they fixed this problem in the new model TLD's.

[team_A_II]

we use 300 - 400 # leaders, the longliners used to use 600 # and did fine, but I prefer not to go over 400. be sure not to go to heavy on the drag while fighting the fish cause they have soft mouths and the hook might pull..... I would pass on putting cable or wire on the leader for sharks (unless you dont mind catching them).... a quick break away from a shark is better than fighting the damn thing just to release it later, waste of time in my opion, unless ofcourse you dont mind catching sharks...