help a Rookie out

[Hookup]

I'm a greenhorn when it comes to swordfishing. I will be visiting my parents next week in the keys and want to give it a try. My father has a 32 stamas, although a terrible sea boat it will do fine on a calm night. Anyway my problem is I don't know the best way to attach the balloon or jug to the line. I'm not sure how to tie a wax line loop to the running line. When we shark fish we use those styrafoam pool floats cut down to about a foot long. But I don't know if the Cyclume stick will be visible attached to the outside of the float. Putting the cyclume stick inside a jub ballon makes more sense to me I just don't know how to secure it to the line. Any help would be appreciated.

[bullfighter]

You should be able to see a stick taped to a pool float.

However, to attach the rubberband is easy to do but difficult to explain. Wrap the #64 rubberband around the main line five times. You should have a loop at each end of the rubberband with the middle of it wrapped around the main line. Take one of the loops and put it through the other and pull tight. You now have the rubber band attached to the main line with one loop coming off the line. At this point you can tie the loop around what ever you are using, ballon or jug. Or a quick and effective way is to take the loop and hold it in your index and thumb. Take the loop and wrap it back on itself so you form a sort of lasso. put the tag end of the balloon throught he loop and pull tight. This is easy and quick to do but difficult to explain. You may want to just tie the loop around the balloon until someone actually demonstrates the lasso method. The key is to wrap the rubber band around the main line five times before attaching it to the float to ensure the rubber band does not slip.

The key to success i have found is in the details so take your time and make sure it does not slip. Also, if you are using balloons tape the stick to the very top of the balloon and put it out. If the balloon flips, it means a fish has eaten your bait and is swimming straight to the surface. There is not weight holding the balloon up and the stick at the top will make it flip.

[freezorburn]

:-k

Hey those are great tips Bullfighter. Thanks

[Hookup]

Great info Bullfighter thanks.

[RiskTaker]

Hey Hookup:

It is always good to have a few rubber bands in your pocket, so you can deploy a bobber, balloon or jug whenever you need to. Another thing to consider on your journey to proficiency is to be aware of how much line you have let out from the weight or up to the float attachment, if any.

Since you have used styrofoam bobbers before for shark fishing. I thought that this may be an opportune time to introduce you to the RT Super Swordfish Bobber, in case you have not already seen it by now.



This device is intended to be semi-permanently attached to your mainline with a captive loop waxline and a quick-release long-line clip. It is particularly good to deploy on your farthest lines from the boat. As you can see, the cyalume stick rides way up high above the water, and can be seen in rough seas in addition to well over the horizon on calm nights. This 93 oz. bleach jug matches well to a 32 oz. lead weight. This device is quite top heavy when not weighted down. Many times a swordfish will rise through the water column after snacking on something. If the swordfish lifts the weight, this stick will fall over very abruptly and the light will fall into the water and stay there, blocking most of the light, a pretty obvious tell-tale that the weight is no longer keeping the stick upright and moving around. If the fish tugs on the jug then the stick may stay in a more steady position and /or be tracking through the water. Balloons will do this too with the cylalume mounted on top but it may not be as blatantly visible. You may learn to discover that not all swordfish indicate that they are on the line by pulling drag or flexing the rod tip. Of course, that is the exciting part. But I enjoy just as much, picking up a rod and announcing that there is a fish-on before anyone else realizes what is going on.

You simply remove the jug off the mainline at the first opportunity to wind the line in. To me this seems like the only vulnverable time to detach the jug. But everytime I have had a fish on with the jug attached, the fish was in tension and there was enough time to simply slip off the long-line clip. If the fish decides to drag this underwater it will provide some additional resistance on the fish. But understand that below 33 ft. this jug will be compressed to 1/2 of its volume and the resistance decreases as the fish goes down. ( I mention this because all of the objections that I have heard to using such a thing is because of the added drag and being unable to continue cranking as a fish is cruising toward the boat. Even so, the tension will not go completely slack because of the float/dragging resistance of the jug) Granted, many still prefer to use rubber bands and copper wire to allow breakaway weights and balloons. I have chosen to try a method where I could save my jugs and keep my weights. So, far I have not been burned where I feel the need to change my method.

The captive loop wax-lines may also serve as predetermined measured distances from the bait. This allows for repeatable deployment of weight and electrolume in addition to providing a pre-defined mark for a bobber tie-off location and to determine the amount of additional line-out after that.

There is a more correct way to do captive loop waxlines. But if you simply start with a repeated series of half hitches around the mainline, then double the loop back after you have about an inch and 1/2 of halfhitches, you are getting close. Just figure a way to tie some extra knots to prevent the loop portion from slipping. For line length marks only you do not need a loop. Color coding or a series of different wax-line sequences could also be deployed to provide a unique description of the amount of line you have out. This is a lot more convenient than using a line counter or manually peeling line of the reel by armlengths, etc. If you can determine how much line you have out with your eyes closed or not having to remember where you left off by counting, you have advanced beyond the rookie stage and have a refined technique in your pocket. RT

(P.S. - Waxline loops are thinner than a Bimini Twist w/ 80 lb. Mono, and the Bimini twist is likely thinner than a knotted rubber band stuck on the mainline. Follow that order if you are concerned about passing a wind-on leader or extra stuff through your roller-guides.)

[Hookup]

Thanks for the help RT and I must say that swordfish bobber is quite impressive. You should patent that baby, I would by a few. Any way I live in NY and do alot of canyon Tuna fishing. On occasion a sword is hooked up by accident tuna fishing which leads me to wonder if they are attracted to the chunks being tossed in. On one partyboat trip a big sword was landed and its stomach was full of butterfish chunks. I would imagine that it would probably not be a good idea to chunk or chum because it would bring the sharks in. Any thoughts on this? Also do you feel it helps to Fluorocarbin? As you know its quite pricy and I don't know if it is necesary to use night fishing. Thanks again for the help.