full moon sea monsters

[calypso]

I wish I were posting pics of the largest swords of my life right now, but instead I am going to have to tell the story of the two giants that got away. Last night, under the brightest full moon I have seen, we set up shallow on the 52 and got hammered on the tip rod that was about 500 feet down. Something ate the tinker and just didn't stop. I stepped over to the reel and slid the drag up to 30 pounds, which in my experience slows down every fish. This fish actually sped up! I pushed the lever past strike and continued to do so gradually until I had it to full! Still the fish didn't stop. I'm going to guess that I had 60 pounds of drag on that fish, and it didn't slow one bit. The fish just dove straight down. That's okay, I thought. We're in 1000 feet of water and I have like 5000 feet of braid. I was wrong. It wasn't okay. What happened next was unbelievable. I'm 99% sure that it broke me off on the bottom. Five minutes later I reeled up the line to see that the braid had been shredded beneath my weight! I have no idea what size that fish was, but if anybody out there has any experience with a fish that can dump a reel at 60 pounds without even slowing, I would like to get a size estimate. Well, we were obviously disappointed, but at the same time we were charged by the sheer power of that fish. We ran back and set up in shallow again and had another tinker on the deep rod get banged several times but no hook up. Later, just before moon over we set up for one last drift, and the deep rod once again got bumped. I noticed it, and began dropping it back. We got a solid take, and when I wound tight, the drag started screaming. Same rod, same rodholder, same crazy run. We couldn't believe that we had another monster. This time the 30 pounds was enough to noticeably slow the fish, so I didn't push it any. I handed off the rod to Jay and he fought that fish for over two hours before we had the weight in our hand. With the spotlight, we got a very deep look at the fish and it was a giant! I can only tell you that it was bigger than my biggest which was around 275. It was too deep to tell any more. Unfortunately, after watching my buddies struggle to get the lead within reach, I came up with the bright idea to hook the line with the gaff. It worked to get the lead within reach, but just as we were undoing the longline clip, the fish surged and the line slipped out of the hook of the gaff and parted on the cutting edge. My bad 100%. Defeated and exhausted we headed for home with visions of what might have been.

[bajakian]

Thats a heart breaking story, but its the kind that makes you want to get right back out there. Its cool that you saw the second fish so you know that was a sword. The first fish could have been anything from a tuna to a shark. We fought a fish on my LP for an hour just before the holidays. It dumped the LP which had over 30 lbs of drag taking out 1500 feet of line. We caught that fish and it was a hugh tail hooked thresher. The hook was only partially embedded in its tail. Before we saw it all the talk was how big could this swordfish be. If we had popped it off we would have been telling a story very similar to yours about the monster that we lost. We lost a very nice fish yesterday as well during the day and it was no more than 30 or 40 feet from the boat. Its a killer but its cool to know that they are out there to be hooked. Better luck next time!

[ameristrat]

Hell of a story but hey, at least you saw them!! Go get back on em' buddy!

[mneptune]

That is a "heart breaker" for sure but as Richard noted, that kind of experience provides a very long lasting memory and keeps you dreaming about going out again, and again. Keep the faith that you will land a big slob next time you are out....

Just a FYI....as far as the moon appearing large and bright last night...it was not an optical illusion. The moon, (which is actually a satellite), is not on a circular orbit around the earth, it is on a eliptical orbit. Last nights moon was in the closest postion relative to our planet that it will be all this year; that is why it was so bright and appeared about 25% larger than normal. BTW, the reason that the moon always shines brightly is because it is estimated that 40-60% of the surface is made up of glass particles, (much the same as how sand turns to glass when exposed to very high temperatures), that is why it reflects so much light.

Martin

[PUMPKIN]

Thanks for the sea monster story, trust me it beat working yesterday. Appreciated the opportunity to live vicariously through your battle with the beast....

Any trip in which there is a new lesson learned, is worth its weight in gold....Ive made that "touch the leader" mistake before.....and learned the hardway, when the big girl is within visual and hooked up, leave ALL terminal gear (weight, light, etc) alone and focus on pooning the girl a new pierced ear....when I do have one come up usually on the tip rod, and she is whacking but not biting, then I have had success quickly handpulling the weight and light off and freelining the calamari, which 9 out of 10 times she ends up enhaling.

Youll get the steel in her next time....

Frank

ps Richard, hope you had a good day on the water, was thinking about you guys while over in Tampa....buried until the 18th or so but will ping you on the rebound. Catch em up...

[Sopla2o]

Just fighting the damn thing for so long is worth the trip....

[Shockwave]

This just makes you want to go out there and do it again. Every time you don't catch fish, you know your odds have to be getting better. You'll get them next time. Great story!

[weekendbender]

I fished a few drifts from the 48 to around the 51 last night and didn't even get a slashed bait. We did see a big mako swim through the light but he wasn't interested in the flatline. We got into 15th street around 2am and the tide was so low I couldn't get the boat on the trailer. Parked it at a friends house and took it out this morning. It felt like I got kicked when I was down messing with the trailer after getting skunked. Congrats for getting to tug on a few monsters. Good luck next time.

[Boboe]

I've had an estimated 800# bluefin tuna skyrocket on a trolled bait in the daytime. It dumped an 80W with drag at full (~60#) straight down in 45 seconds. It never slowed, regardless of the increased drag applied. It hit the knot and broke off, causing the rod to recoil and crack a chunk out of the back rest of the teak fighting chair. Some sea monsters don't give a ****.

[calypso]

Thanks for all the encouraging words. I just scaled the drag on that rod and it was only 43 pounds. I am going to re-scale and re-set all my drags, so next time I can put on a little more heat when I need to. And I am definitely not going to try that gaff trick again!

[Hookup]

I haven't landed a big sword yet but I will tell you that a Bluefin or a thresher (hook in the mouth) will put you to your knees. They are defidently two different fights though. A bluefin will melt line off your real quicker than anything on the first and second run then it will duke it out doing a serious of figure eights as you inch it closer to the surface. A thresher has a powerful initial run but not as fast as a tuna however they are mighty powerful and they don't seem to mind 40 pounds of drag. I have never caught a Big Marlin or Sword But I have landed large threshers, Makos and Bluefin and I will tell you the Mako is a wimp compared to Bluefins and Threshers. So how does a large sword compare to a thresher or Bluefin as far as fight goes? Maybe one day I will find out for myself? Anyway great story though, you will get him next time, you got unfinished buisness out there now.

[flounder pounder]

We also lost a full moon monster Saturday evening to Sunday morning. We set up off Stuart @ 1350 feet made a 3 hour drift with nada. Went deeper for second drift 1500ish. After 3 hours into the second drift around 1am. We hook up on the 100 foot deep squid. I hook it and hand off to my brother( thank god), I wanted to run the boat. We fight the fish for @ 4 hours, he did not ever make a blistering run , good runs but we were able to keep in a safe zone with line capacity. After 4 hours the tld 50 gave out.The base where it connects to the rod busted, the rod went flying down the line and the reel stayed hooked to the fish and the harness. We loosened the drag and came up with a plan. We stripped line off another 50 to make room for the line that was on the fish rod. We then handlined enough line to feel safe about cutting it and tying it line to line to another 50. We got it done and were feeling great back in the fight. 4 gruelling hours later sun is up and we get him close. The fish was close one time earlier and jumped partially , we saw a massive sword but too dark to tell much else. Now about 9am we have the fish right under the boat. We now had to deal with the rod. It was stuck about 20-30 feet from the fish. We thought we had the sword worn out so we tried to get the line on the fish side of the rod. I hand lined it a few feet and then it pulled I let go but the snap when it came back ended it all. The snap was very minor we stayed tight, but it was enough, line was most have been rubbed from the rod somewhere. I dont think I have ever felt anything like that. Wanted to drive the boat into the side of a freighter. Made it home after 10:30, we ended up north of sebastion, after fight. I need 80's, the 50's were no match for this fish, I dont think it was near done when we lost it. I am guessing over 300 but could be much larger, never could tell real well it was too far down and well camoflauged. I woke up last night and still wanted to scream. My brother fought the fish the whole time. I have never been so frustrated.

[WhItEoUt 23]

Your fish sounds well over 300 i've had the samething happen to me on those tld 50's

[pipelayer2]

I'll second you on the big bluefin. Back in the early 80's off Louisiana, we had a double hook up on 130's (set on outriggers, but mounted on rocket launchers on the chair). Fish were screaming off line and suddenly crossed. The line on the right went over the rod on the left, cut off the fish and the rod tip like a band saw. That fish then dumped the 130 in 2 minutes on 65lbs of drag. Amazing fish. The next year we put a 803 lb in the boat in 40 minutes....Well, we had her to the boat and first gaff in 40 minutes, then after 3 hours and 2 broke gin poles we decided not to put her in the boat and insteaded towed her in to Port Eades.

Goes to show, each fish is different. Some can be beasts.

Sorry to hear about the lost fish. Hope you get another crack at it or one just like it.

[Boboe]

Originally Posted by flounder pounder

After 4 hours the tld 50 gave out.The base where it connects to the rod busted, the rod went flying down the line and the reel stayed hooked to the fish and the harness.

This is about the 6th story like this I've heard about TLD 50's. I was also the victim of this on a rat blue marlin that went about 150#. We didn't have the rod slide down the line, however, and had to do a similar splicing operation as you. The graphite saddle on the TLD 50's just can't handle all of that pressure like an aluminum bodied reel can. Upgrade to Tiagras and you'll never --and I do mean NEVER-- have that same problem.

[NightCrawler]

Originally Posted by PUMPKIN

and learned the hardway, when the big girl is within visual and hooked up, leave ALL terminal gear (weight, light, etc) alone and focus on pooning the girl a new pierced ear....

How do you do that?? really really long harpoon or do you put light weight
close to the bait?? I would need a 50-75 foot poon

[NightCrawler]

Calypso, those blistering runs sure get the blood pumping

[Ron Mexico]

Speechless, that sucks and makes me want to cry. How long was it before ya'll were able to look each other in the eye or talk for that matter. Man that story hurts me and I was not even in the boat with you.