We ran an hour offshore and started dropping for swordfish at 8 a.m. We caught six squids the first four drifts, but no swordfish bites.

At 1:30 p.m., on the fifth drift, I thought it might be a “swordfish skunk”. A skunk, in fishing, (aka “bagel”) is never fun, but they happen to everyone if you swordfish enough. You just have to accept the fact that some trips will be unsuccessful and extremely boring staring at a rod tip for 8 hours.

However, only 5 minutes later, the birthday wish was granted and Blayze hooked up on the back rod. We might have a shot! We cleared the other rod and the fish slowly came up. Blayze asked me if it was a small one, but I said you never know until you see them; the biggest one I’ve caught in Florida swam to the boat and I gaffed it.

When we hit the 500’ mark, the fish scoped up super-fast, so I knew it had some size. We got the weight off and saw a glimpse of the fish way out. I thought the fish might go 200 lbs., but wasn’t sure.                                             

The next 45 minutes was an exciting experience for all as the fish raced on the surface and dove 500’ multiple times. At 2:30 p.m., the gut-hooked fish tired out and we got the harpoon and a pair of gaffs in it. When we pulled it over the gunwale of the 37 Freeman Boatworks, I knew it was pushing 300 lbs. We took a bunch of pics, Foster sang “Happy Birthday”, and then we punched it home to Bud N’ Mary’s Marina.

The fish tipped the scale at 315 lbs., and I’m sure Blayze won’t ever forget that birthday swordfish. It’s amazing how one bite separates the great days from the slow days!!

On the way out, we did a little deep dropping and Sandy put a couple nice queen snapper in the box.

An hour later, we were on the swordfish ledge and made our first drop. We drifted for an hour without a bite. For our second drop, I ran back south, but we started about a mile further from the first spot. We’ve been fishing two rods a lot lately, and,  within a minute of hooking our float on, we could see it burying in the water. Fish on!

Dave worked the reel and Sandy started bringing up the other bait. Before we could get the first line up, an electric blue swordfish was swimming by the boat! We finally got the other rod up and, luckily, the big fish didn’t tangle the lines when he swam past past us.  I estimated the fish at 250 – 300 lbs., and, when the fish made a blistering run, I knew she had some size.

Ten minutes later, the fish raced back to the surface and did a couple jumps half way out of the water. When we got a better look at her, we knew she was over 300 lbs.

The next 45 minutes was a tug- of- war, the broadbill would sound 500’ and then race up to the surface.  The fish did it multiple times. Dave kept steady pressure on her the entire time and, eventually, she started circling the boat. I kept the boat in gear and young James loaded the harpoon. James waited patiently for his shot, but the fish stayed just out of range.

Finally, the fish broke the surface and James took his shot. Direct hit! A few seconds later, we put a couple gaffs into a fat swordfish! It was high fives and everybody was fired up.

We used a block and tackle to pull the fish into the boat and it made for a couple great pictures. The fish had a short length of 86’’ and weighed in at 331 lbs. It was a pumpkin too!

Congrats to Dave and Sandy on a memorable trip!

Earlier this summer, I fished with Brad and his friends twice in one week for swordfish.  The first trip was on his boat and we caught a few dolphin early in the morning, but didn’t have any luck with the swords.  We spent 8 hours drifting with one cheap bite.  However, two days later, we fished on my boat and things were just meant to be.

We started out deep-dropping and wound up catching the biggest snowy grouper I’ve ever seen, tipping the scale at 44.5 lbs.  On the way out to the swordfish grounds, one of his friends caught a nice 20 lb. dolphin.  By 11:30 a.m., we made our first swordfish drop and hooked up within minutes! We caught and released that fish and sent down another bait.

Thirty minutes later, we hooked up again and landed a nice 165 lb. swordfish. It was only 2 p.m. and I asked the guys if they wanted to make one drop or call it a day.  They all agreed to make one last swordfish drop.

A rainstorm came through as we made our last drop, and everyone was trying to hide under the hardtop.  Moments later, we all saw the rod load up and we had our third sword of the day on!  The fish came toward the surface pretty quickly and then raced back down.  I knew the fish had some size after the moves it had made.

A little while later, he raced back up and we got the weight off the leader, but couldn’t see the fish. The fish headed back down, then slowed, and we started gaining steadily.

After twenty minutes, I could see a big fish coming up, but it looked funny.  The fish got tail wrapped on its last run and had drown.  We stuck the gaffs into a big broadbill and struggled to pull the beast over the side.  We all high fived and then took a bunch of pictures before heading back to Bud n’ Mary’s Marina.

Brad called his family when we got close, and all of his kids were waiting to see what their Dad and his friends caught.  When we hung the big broadbill up, the scale read 423.5 lbs.!

It was truly a day to remember, and I looked at Brad and said, “When it’s your day, it’s your day!”

Since 2016 has turned out to be one of my best years ever for broadbill swordfish, I want to tell you a little more about them. 

First of all, we are fortunate to live in the Florida Keys. They are one of the most consistent and best places in the entire world to target swordfish; people from all over the world travel here to fish for them.  Swordfish get their name from their bill, which resembles a sword, and they are the sole member of the family Xiphiidae.  Xiphias came from the Greek word for sword and, in Latin, Gladius was the common sword ancient Roman foot soldiers used.

I remember as a kid hearing a story from an old-time fisherman about the soldiers marching into the water with their swords above their heads.  These soldiers were gladiators on land, turned into gladiators of the sea.  Who knows if the story is true but one thing I can assure you of, is that swordfish are one of the toughest fighting fish in the entire ocean!  Anyone who has caught a big one would probably agree that the only thing that gives a broadbill swordfish a run for its money is a giant tuna.  No other fish can eat a bait 1800 feet down, race to the surface, jump out of the water, and then go up and down in the water column with ease for hours before giving up.

Landing a big swordfish is difficult because the fights can be drawn out and the longer you fight the fish, the bigger the hole from the hook gets.  They are also funny feeding fish, so foul hooking them is commonplace.  We typically have 2,000–3,000 feet of line out trying to hook the fish, so seeing the bite, and trying to figure out what’s going on at the end of the line, is very difficult.

When we day drop, some of the spots we hit are very small, and, with a 3 knot drift and 3000’ of line out, it takes some practice just to get the bait down where you want it.  The baits also have to be streamlined to pull straight, and stitched up to take a beating!  Most of the fish hit the bait multiple times before trying to eat it--sometimes for ten minutes!

The subtleties are the difference in catching swordfish consistently, or not.  One commercial fisherman told me that if you compared it to racing, everyone already knows the ten-second advantages, but it’s the tenth-second advantages that make the difference.

I recently caught a blue marlin here, and sure it was fun and exciting, but pulling around a couple plastic lures at 8 knots doesn’t come close to the amount of skill and effort needed to be successful when fishing for the “Gladiator of the Deep”!

Back in the day, fishing legends like Zane Grey traveled the world fishing for swordfish, and, some years, he’d be lucky to catch a handful all year long!  I know staring at a rod tip all day long waiting for a bite isn’t for everyone, but what keeps me doing it, is that you don’t know if it’s going to be a 40 pounder or a 400 pounder when you get the bite!

First, I would ask you how many days a year you get to fish? If not a lot, I would say a standard day with action would be a better bet.

You also need to ask yourself , “Am I willing to accept the fact that I may fish all day without a bite?” If you are fortunate enough to get a bite from a swordfish, there’s a good chance he’s going to get away. But, if you like to roll the dice and take a gamble, and try to catch a fish of a lifetime, then swordfishing may be right up your alley.

On my last few trips, we had one bite each trip; two of the bites at the very end of the day on the last drop. If it were baseball, it would be the bottom of the 9th. When you catch that fish, it’s like hitting a walk-off home run for the win. If it were football, it would be the 2 minute warning and driving down the field and scoring the go ahead touchdown. Fortunately, luck was on my side those three trips and we caught each bite we had. A couple of them were really nice fish over 200 lbs. as well.

Even if we wouldn’t have caught those fish, I would have enjoyed myself, but, the problem is, the charter customers wouldn’t have. So, make sure if you book a swordfish trip, or any sort of big game fishing trip, you know what you’re getting into and make sure your expectations are realistic. It’s called fishing for a reason. If it were easy, everyone would do it!

I hope we continue to see some beautiful swordfish throughout the rest of the year!

In January 2016, I took delivery of a brand new 37’ Freeman VH!  It’s a catamaran with an 11’6’’ beam, so it’s super stable.   What sets it apart from the rest, is the custom tower from Sherman Marine.  The tower was a must, since we do so much sight fishing in the Florida Keys.  The boat is powered by twin 350 Yamaha outboards that provide a 32–35 knot cruise, depending on the sea conditions.

There are three 70 gallon livewells in the boat, which are perfect for Islamorada since we do so much live baiting.  For electronics, I went with all Simrad touch screens and the new Halo 3 radar.  I put a 1 kw transducer for shallow water and a 3 kw transducer for deep water.

Of course, I needed a sound system and an 8 speaker setup from JL Audio was the only way to go.  I put on a pair of lightweight carbon fiber outriggers from Marsh Tacky Carbon and there’s an 800 quart coffin box for fish, as well as a 250 quart deck box.

Coming up with a name for the new boat was tricky, but, after months of thinking about it, I settled on “Broad Minded”.  I spend so much of my time chasing broadbill swordfish I want to let them know that I am thinking about them.

You won’t mistake the boat either, as it bears a red, white, and blue American wrap from Pelagic.

I’m super excited about the boat and it’s going to be such a change of pace from going 15 knots!  Let me know when you’d like to go fishing on the new boat!