Swordfishing the Pacific North West.

[ONO]

Howdy,

I am from Portland, Or.

Just joined this forum hoping to get some advice on how to go about hunting for the elusive broadbills.

Heres a lil hush hush info.

No one has ever landed a swordie in oregon(sportboats it is)

We have a phenominal Albacore fishery. 30+ fish days are very common, most fish are in the 20-50lb bracket.

This ia a developing fishery, not many boats fish offshore Oregon. My guess is that there is less than 150 boats that fish offshore.

Out of those boats there have been a dozen or more sightings of VW sized bluefin, and Big Eye tuna surfacing. No body is targeting these species. No one has the right boats, or tackle.

Typically we fish 30-80 miles offshore, in accordination with Terrafin shots.

Last summer I went out on a overnighter on a buddys 40 footer. We caught plenty of Albies and proceeded to fish for swordies @ night. Used a large diver and 125ft of handline with a downrigger cable. Whole mackeral, professionally rigged, same as baitmasters of FL does with their mackeral. Damn sharks wouldnt leave us alone.

Switched over to Squid, used a 25' whole squid. with a glowstick, with zipties to keep it attached to the leader with a 20' purple hootchie ontop.
Slow trolled @ 2-3 mph. 7kft of water. Astoria Canyon, 50 miles offshore from the famous Columbia River bar. 60 degree water.

2 am, we got spooled. 500yrds of 80lb line. gone in 2 minutes. Mathematically, fish swimming @ 40mph can peel off 500yrds in 1 min and 22 seconds.

Commercial boats are prohibited to go after swordies and land them in Or.

California boats have been coming to our waters and picking our fruit, then returning back to Cali.

In the last few years, yearly harvest has averaged 400-800k lbs per year.

This is a pretty freaking significant number.

Last summer I only heard of 1 boat going out for swordies(the boat i was on). Saw 3 long liner buoys too, which i presume were swordie long lines.

Any advise would be GREATLY appreciated.

I plan on catching one next summer. I have a couple of buddies with boats that are VERY interested in doing whatever it takes to get one.

Thanks,

Dylan

[ONO]

Wanted to add, I do not think it was a shark that spooled us, one would not be dumb enough to take the bait and run 500 yrds without stopping for a breather.

Also, there have been several reports of grander swordies caught in hawaii, we both share the same water current.

Me thinks we got spooled by a freakin huge swordie!

[Shark Tagger]

Sounds like a swordie. Thats pretty exiting. Welcome to the forum and try again. You get one.

[quack quack]

Welcome wahoo! Maybe try drifting like we do in FL and up north. Bring the big guns 80's and up! Read some old threads on this forum lot's of good info Then you can post that big sword that almost spooled you [-o<

[FinalPoint]

Not saying it wasn't a sword, but mako's have a tendency to make blistering and long - very long - first runs. Good luck with the swords, keep trying what you have been.

[reel life]

could of been a mako.
with water in the 60`s i would look for the warmest water i could find. and put the bait in the water.
for reading , check out a book called THE HUNGRY OCEAN by Linda greenlaw. she fished up north in cold water.
good luck

[ONO]

Id like to obtain some advice regarding fishing for swordies.

Whats the typical rule of thumb. Lunar cycles and water depths.(bait wise)

Water temps.(In OR typically we get 64-68 degree waters from June to Sept.)

Have heard that swordies frequent waters as low as 52' degrees

Water temps and swordfishing- bait selection.

Do you have to worry about the sword slashing the leader?

Whats the minimum tackle you reccomend.

Do you fish along canyon walls?

troll with or against the current?

Thank you for all your help!

Ill make sure to give ya'll publicity once we land the first Swordie in the NW!!

[ONO]

Coulda damn well been a Mako.

We had 2 trailoring out boat while we were in a livebait fest for Albies during the day before the night came.

Capt and neighboring boat, a 30ft Proline didnt want to deal with one. On top of that, no one has landed one in OR before either.

These two mako's were only 7ish ft, we caughtg blue sharks that night up to 10 ft, and they couldnt peel an inch of line out.

I kept the drag at 50%-60% To insure a solid hookup.

[ONO]

One last question, do you fish in accordination with Chlorophyl chart readings?

[RiskTaker]

Ono:

Welcome to the SFC forum. From your initial posts it sounds like you could do quite a bit of reading on these posts. So many questions at once: and so many of them discussed on previous forum topics. Nothing wrong with repeats to keep the posts current but a lot of those inquiries are already answered. If you dig back far enough you will garner a wealth of information, that should get you "book-smart" on your intitial Swordfish outing of off Oregon.

BTW - Are you fishing out of Newport or perhaps somewhere from the Columbia River, Astoria, etc. One of these days, I am going to be heading back Portland way, in the summer: I have family there. Maybe I should bring my tackle box too and give you a call. I've got family in Newport too.

You know, last night I was just reading an article about the BFT fishery off of Hatteras (East Coast). That 40 mph description sure rang my bell to think that you could have also had a BFT on your line. Any reason, you dismissed that from your list of candidates?

Good luck. If the Albacore fishing is slacking and you can catch swordfish, why knot? I am not sure what/any season there may be. At least with the swordfish you are good to go year round. But that ocean looks pretty nasty out there at certain times of year. Perhaps just the fish don't mind.

I would imagine that the swordfish are eating 24/7 in your neighborhood. But just maybe the fishing tactic may be a little different due to the water temperature. But did you read that fishing report from Dean Panos when he went fishing off of Cape Cod for Tuna. At the same time setup of a swordfish rig "South Florida style" and nabbed a nice size sword. Maybe it would work for you just the same in the same style. Here is the link: http://www.swordfishclub.org/pastnews/newengland.php

[AkaUrDad]

sounds like you had a good sized humboldt squid

[ONO]

Thought, i'd bring this one back up to the top.

Its been a year since ive logged onto this site. And what a year its been. I was given the opportunity to deckhand down in Puerto Vallarta for 4 months this summer/fall. I also ran the Torture Chamber, its a 35' Cabo Express. First month on the job the marlin bite was insane! 5 hookups a day was the norm, lots of blacks averaging 500lbs. Then the cows came, got several Yellowfin tuna over 300lbs. Live skipjack was the bait of choice daily.

Now I need to get back to pursuing a swordie back up here in the NW.

[SteveMras]

Ono, read this thread and pm or e-mail (steven_mras@yahoo.com) me with any questions:

http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/f...ord-track.html

How deep were you trolling that squid? You could have hooked a bigeye thresher shark, like we did trolling a squid off the downrigger at night. They pull very hard. My angler was on his for an hour and it only weighed 204 lbs. They get up over 800 lbs and they fight every bit as hard as a swordfish.

[daysatsea]

Sounds like you ran into a big bluefin there on the night troll. They wouldn't have a problem spooling a reel like that. Speaking from experience BTW.

[Boboe]

Originally Posted by ONO

Also, there have been several reports of grander swordies caught in hawaii, we both share the same water current.

That's not entirely true. You have cold water which comes down from Alaska via B.C. That's why you have pacific salmon species there. They cannot and will not live in warm water. Pacific Sailfish will not stray your way, unless it's a freak weather issue like El Nino, pumping warm water into your area. That said, a swordfish is much more liberal with its tolerances of water temp, and could surely be in your waters.

Take a bit of time and check out the "RIGGING" section of the page. There's a lot of information with regards to drifting for swords as is done in South Florida, and also in the Gulf of Mexico. Your ability to drift like they do will depend on your current and wind. If you cannot do this, you can fish for them like the Baja boys do, and slow troll with downriggers.

[BIGG09]

WE FISH FOR SWORDIES HERE IN VA IN THE FALL AND INTO THE WINTER. WE HAVE SIMILAR WATER TEMPS IN OUR AREA. LOW 50'S TO LOW 70'S THESE TIMES OF THE YEAR. I KNOW IT IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENCT LOCAL, BUT IT SOUNDS TO ME THAT SOME OF THE SAME TACTICS THAT ARE USED HERE WOULD WORK OUT THERE, BUT DEPTS, TEMP BREAKS AND SO ON YOU WILL HAVE TO DEVELOPE ON A TRIAL BY ERROR BASIS. VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW HOW OR DO FISH FOR SWORDIES OUT OF VA EXCEPT THE LONGLINERS. THIS WAS OUR FIRST YEAR AND WE MANAGED 7 IN THREE TRIPS WITH THE FIRST TRIP NOTHING HAPPENING. I WOULD DEFINATELY WORK THE TEMP BREAKS AND FISH STRUCTURE(CANYON DROPOFFS) WHERE THERE IS A LOT OF CHANGES IN STRUCTURE. LOOK FOR BAIT ON THE EDGES. THIS WILL BE PROBABLY BE THE SAME AREAS THAT YOU ABLY FISH. DRIFT FISHING IS WAHT WE DO HERE LIKE THE GUYS IN FL. IT WILL FEEL REALLY GOOD WHEN YOU FINALLY GET THAT FIRST ONE IN THE BOAT AND BRING IT TO PORT. WE STARTED A WHOLE NEW FISHERY HERE. LOTS OF BOATS STARTED GOING OUT JUST AFTER WE DID. SOME WITH SIMILAR RESULTS AND OTHERS WITH NO LUCK, BUT THAT IS FISHING. GOOD LUCK AND KEEP US POSTED.
CASEY

[snappernapper]

Originally Posted by Boboe

That's not entirely true. You have cold water which comes down from Alaska via B.C. That's why you have pacific salmon species there.

That's not intirely accurate either.....

You are infact right about the cold water current which will hug the coast but he is right about the warm current. It ranges from 30(extremely close range)- 100 miles offshore... and is a Poleward flowing current which defines a warm current in the northern hemisphere...

In fact there is atleast a striped marlin a year caught way offshore by those guys....

Ben

[ONO]

Thanks for the replies folks.

There are several striped marlin, giant bluefin/big eye tuna spotted off the OR/WA coast every summer.

I just talked to my buddy who founded Cabo Yachts a few days ago, apparently last summer a 45' Cabo was en route from the Puget Sound, WA to San Francisco, CA, so it could be put on a tanker and transported to hawaii. They were 80 miles off the OR coast when they ran into a couple of giant bluefin tuna boiling, as luck would have it, they had 80 wides onboard ready to be deployed with feathers. They immediatly hooked up, 450-500lb bluefin, fought it for a few hours, got it up to the boat several times and ****ed up on the gaf job, and lost the fish. They have several pictures to back up the story.

Heres a problem i am seeing, we rarely come across livebait offshore(all out livebait comes from the docks, anchovies, herring, sardines) However i have caught a few mackeral on the Columbia River bar, incidential catches while fishing for king salmon. What I need to figure out is how to fish strictly for mackeral, and not catch those pesky salmon. Another option is to get hella lucky and catch a teeeeeny tiny albacore and bridle that sucker up. But we got blue sharks left n right up here. Have lost a few albacore at boatside due to blue sharks.

How do you guys keep the sharks away?

Dylan

[SteveMras]

For mackerel, use sabiki rigs and attract them with ground chum.

To avoid blue sharks, you troll. They are very lazy and it's rare to catch them on the troll.