swordy on the flats

[inpursuit]

Yo - check ut this article - this guy was a far off the grounds....picture in the online herald eddition - outdoors


It's a tale of epic measure

BY SUSAN COCKING

scocking@herald.com


Here's a weird-but-true South Florida fish tale that few are likely to believe, except that there are photos, videotapes, and multiple witnesses:

On Monday, Islamorada light-tackle guide Skip Nielsen and his customers, Texans Michael Carter of Southlake and Judy Bailey of Irving, were returning to Bud 'n' Mary's Marina after a successful tarpon trip in the Upper Keys back country.

It was 11:30 a.m., and Carter and Bailey had each caught and released tarpon in the 120-pound range. The last thing the party expected to see as they motored through Florida Bay's shallow Matecumbe Bight was a six-foot-long swordfish.

Swordfish are most often encountered at night in the deep waters of the Straits of Florida -- not at high noon in five feet of water where you might find bonefish. But after Nielsen and his customers recovered from their initial shock, they decided to try to catch the sword.

''We had live mullet, and we put it on a 20-pound spinning rod and put it out about 200 feet,'' Nielsen said. ``We made a real slow pass, and he came over and whacked at it with his bill. He couldn't catch it, and we couldn't get him to bite after that. So, finally, we snagged him in the tail.''

Carter fought the foul-hooked swordfish for 2 hours and 15 minutes.

''It was brilliant. It literally attacked the boat,'' Carter said. ``It was 30 yards from us, and it would run toward the boat and try to go under it. The first couple of times, we thought it was an accident, but it happened 20 times. I was thrilled to death.''

While the battle raged, Nielsen used his cell phone to call Richard Stanczyk, owner of Bud 'n' Mary's, who rushed out to the scene in his flats boat and shot videos and still photos.

The disgruntled sword attacked Stanczyk's boat, too, Carter said.

Eventually, Carter subdued it enough to be brought on board Nielsen's 18-foot skiff. The fish weighed 65 pounds on the scale at Bud 'n' Mary's. Nielsen and company ate it for dinner that night.

What the heck it was doing in the back country, everyone wanted to know.

Nielsen and other long-time Islamorada fishing captains say they remember three other occasions -- in the 1960s and '70s -- when swordfish were spotted in Matecumbe Bight.

Nielsen believes all four were ''lost fish'' -- swords that took a wrong turn as they migrated out of the Gulf of Mexico headed north.

''Instead of going around the Dry Tortugas, they get stuck in Matecumbe Bight and swim around in Circles,'' Nielsen said

[Mike]

Unreal!!! I have seen them in 180ft and also had a buddy that saw one just outside the inlet of Port Everglades, but never on the flats?

Heres the pic:

[Captain Joe McGivern]

Skip is a good friend of mine.The fish was really sick.Who knows why i swam up on the flats,but it has happened before. I believe in the early 90's a lingliner was running out through stiltsville and he saw one up the the flats in there.