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As I fought the swordfish up, the closer it got
to the boat the more
stubborn it got. It really dogged it, made short little runs this way and
that way. We had to really maneuver the boat to stay in position to the
swordfish. It covered a lot of ocean.
I was a little worried about how I would do, but
it was no sweat! I fought
the big fish for 1:15 hours, and never got fatigued. Once I got the
braid
harness on, of coarse it was quite a bit easier. But I fought it
for about
the first 15 minutes with out it. After the first 200 yard run, I
just held
on to the rod as we chased it down to recover line. If it was a small
fish,
no need to get all geared up, but as it started to bare down after
we got
over it I got my kidney harness on.
When it came up, we were ready! I had brought my
flying gaff, and my friend
Jim Mulcahy had his 2 straight gaffs (we were fishing his open fisherman
out
of Key Largo, just the two of us). As the swordfish came up off the
port
stern corner as we were going forward, it turned to it's right crossing
our
transom about 10' down and 15' out. The small spreader lights lit
up the
side of the fish and we could see it was a nice size swordfish. As
it came
up the starboard side, Jim put his boat in neutral and gaffed the
swordfish
in the head with a straight gaff. I put the rod in a rod holder,
and ran up
to the bow, grabbed the flying gaff, and gaffed the swordfish in
the head
again.
What a swordfish! It was big, for a swordfish down
in Florida, now. We
estimate it was +180 lbs. (we called the second swordfish 90 lbs.
which
actually weighed 98 lbs. at the dock 2 hours later). We had to core
the fish
out to get it in the fish box. We got some great pictures which I
will post
as soon as I get my software form my scanner reloaded.
The second swordfish hit about an hour later. I
fought it for 30 minutes.
This swordfish again made two nice runs: one about 200 yards, the
second
about 100 yards. We got on the swordfish quickly after the second
run. As it
came up to the surface it waved its broadbill out of water. What
I sight in
the "full moon!" We backed down to the swordfish and gaffed
it, right away.
A respectable swordfish, about 100lbs.
Congratulations to
Bob Stephens of Rutherford, NJ
Who caught a
13 ¾ lbs. Bonefish
on Feb. 23, 2003
Largest Bonefish We Have Ever Released
What a great fight it was. He hooked it up on the
edge of the flat and
fought it through the sea fans, getting hung up once. I thought it
was over
then, but the line pulled free and we still had him on. The fish
took a
while to get to the boat even though I was chasing him down with
the boat,
it was too deep to poll after it and keep up with it, plus you got
to be
close to them when they are in an area of sea fans (bottom obstructions).
Not only was this a very large bonefish, but it
was a very significant catch
for S. Florida and the world of bonefish. This fish had a relatively
old tag
in it, full of algae. I was very excited, because of the useful info
we
could get from it. I thought it had been longer period of time because
of
the algae, but it had just been about one year since being tagged.
What is very interesting is it was the exact same
weight as last year. March
19, 2002 Jim Bokar (famous bonefish tournament fisherman) tagged
this fish
and weighed it at 13lbs. and 12 oz. (at least my “de-lying
tool”, the
chattilion scale, is confirmed accurate by someone else’s scale.
I calibrate
it every year any way with known weights here at the house.). It
might still
have grown a little because in March they should be bigger do to
the spawn
and they will be heavier with row.
End...
Lets Go Fishing,
Capt. Rick Killgore
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