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Southeast Florida Swordfishing
– “Purple Fever”
Once you have your tackle
ready to go, let us describe a typical drift out in South
Florida’s Gulf Stream. We are basing this drift using 4
lines. Some of your center console fisherman may be able
to fish 5 or even 6 rods, but we believe 4 rods is
sufficient and will cover the fathoms needed to catch that
broadbill you have dreamed of. Swordfishing off the
southeast coast of Florida has really taken a turn for the
better. We are experiencing a fish size of 75-100lb on
average. Although we are deemed to be the breeding grounds
and anglers routinely catch “Pups”, we have our share
of three-hundred pound plus fish move through. November
thru January is usually some of our best months, as the
water temperature is cooler. But with all good comes some
bad. The seas are usually much rougher this time of year.
In the summer time, we don’t see as much action, but we
still get our share. This is a year-round fishery and will
be around for a long time as long as we don’t abuse it.
We ask that you please report you fish! Please report your
catches and releases. We know you are not required to
report a release, but by reporting that we are routinely
catching the numbers, lessens the chances of commercial
fisherman entering our waters. We cannot stress enough how
important it is to report our catch.
We also want to practice
safety especially while night fishing. We suggest that
each angler on your boat carries a glowstick and whistle
in his/her pocket. This way if they were to accidentally
fall over, you would have a means of finding them. Another
strong point is no sleeping! Cargo ships constantly are
running through the swordfish grounds and if you are
sleeping and they are on autopilot, trouble could be
approaching. We have had some close calls to where we
actually had to pick up and move to avoid a collision
course with some freighters. Bottom line, if you want to
sleep stay home.
Now lets fish!
Locating The Swordfish
Grounds:
As you may know
swordfishing takes place at night, as they are primarily
nocturnal feeders. Leaving the dock in the late evening
hours and coming back to the dock after midnight is the
standard, depending on the time of the sunset. Calm seas
have much to do with the decision of when to go out.
Swordfish can be caught when it is rough or calm, but we
must think safety first. The combination of a gps and good
fishfinder is essential when finding good solid structure
to start your drift. Off the South Florida coast, our
sword grounds are generally between longitude 79-51W and
79-49W. This is roughly 15-18 miles off our coastline. A
fishfinder that goes to at least 1500 feet is very
beneficial; as you will see the canyons and structures
that hold the bait, hence attract swordfish. *Tip – If
you want to find the fish, set your fish finder range to
just 100ft and you will find bait such as Tinker Mackeral
or Sardines. Where there is bait, there is Sword!
Swordfish are known to roam these deep depths around
ridges and valleys. With the two combined units you are
already ahead of the game. Radar is also an important
piece of equipment, but not absolutely necessary. Once you
are satisfied with your location, you want to spend the
next 5-20 minutes figuring out your drift. The drift is a
very important aspect. If you have heard that the bite is
strong along the 79-50W line, you want to make sure you
are drifting on this line. A top-notch sea anchor can work
to keep you in this zone. Deploy your sea anchor off the
boats center cleat for the best drift. But maybe, the bite
is fluctuating from the west 48 lines to the 51 lines. In
this case you would want to drift over and over these
grounds. Turn on your vhf or check out our reports to see
where the most action is for the night you are going out.
With the proper drift you can stay in the zone all night
and have baits soaking for the majority of the night.
Don’t be in a rush to put the baits out. Take your time
and factor the wind and current and decide, “Am I going
to push in shallow or out deep”. Which side of the boats
are the lines going to be on? How much wait should I be
using to get my baits to the desired depth? How fast will
my drift be? All these factors are worth considering
before you turn off the engines and decide where you are
going to ride out a drift.
Tackling
Broadbills:Although a live bait seems ideal when setting
out to catch any gamefish, don’t rule out your dead
baits! Bobby Boyle of RJ Boyle Studios came out with a
shirt that says, “Live Bait Sux”. Bobby definitely has
a point when it comes to swordfish. As a beginner in
swordfishing, we suggest sticking to just one live bait
and the rest dead baits such as squid. You ensure a much
better hookset when using a dead-bait, and your strikes
will definitely not suffer from not using live-bait! Your
sole livebait can be fished just under the boat around 85
feet down. It will blend in with the other baits that have
congregated around your boat.
Lets discuss rigging your
rods. We use mostly 50 wides, but have a few 80’s that
are ready for that big wintertime swordfish. A 50w is
plenty sufficient for swordfish. With the invention of
hollow-core braid, guys can load their 30’s with the
over 700 yards and be able to fish their light tackle rods
for broadbills. When spooling the reels we suggest marking
the last 400 feet of your line. Mark the line using
waxline half stitches. This will enable you to easily drop
your baits to the desired depth without having to count
every time you setup. A counter can be used to count off
the desired feet. If you can leave a loop in the waxline
marker on your line, this would be ideal. Later on we will
teach you how to tie the balloon or jug to that loop in
the waxline. It is very important to make sure the waxline
does not slip! Your first knot that will be used on your
mainline is the popular bimini twist (about 5 ft). The
knot acts as a shock absorber and is very beneficial to
the rig. Take your bimini twist right to the ball bearing
snap swivel and tie an offshore knot. Have this
combination on all four of your rods.
Lets discuss your rigs. We
first start out by measuring 15 feet of 200lb – 400lb
mono leader. On the top end we crimp a loop using a nylon
thimble so that we can attach it to our ball bearing snap
swivel with ease. On the other end, crimp a 8/0 – 11/0
hook. Make sure the hook is very sharp, if not sharpen it.
You should be able to press it against your finger nail
and make a nice dent. On the hook you want to place a
bridle that is used to bridle your live bait. It is a loop
that is about 6 inches in diameter made out of rigging
floss. Attach that bridle to the hook and you are set.
Attach your live bait rig to your rods ball bearing
swivel. At the swivel top circle you want to also attach 1
electralume and a flasher at your discretion. This helps
to make your bait visible to the swords.
Lets rig your other 3 rods
for a dead bait. A swordfish favorite is the squid. There
are a number of ways to rig a dead squid, but the best
method is to have the hook exposed half way down the
mantle. We find this much more effective that placing the
hook down by the eyes of the squid. . Once you have all
four rods ready to be deployed, get out your jugs and
weights, along with copper/telephone wire. Have the gaff
ready to be deployed as some days you may drop the baits
right into swordfish territory. We don’t know how many
times we seem to drop a bait right on a swordfish. Tip* If
you like to take your time in setting up, that’s fine.
Go ahead and put out a flatline while getting your other
rods ready. This way if you have a curious sword come to
the boat, you atleast have a bait in the water. We have
seen them come into the light on numerous occasions. If
you don’t have a bait in the water, most likely they
will just leave.
Setting up your first Drift
Drifting for swordfish is
very very effective. Providing that you have your baits
staggered, your chances of catching a South Florida Sword
are very good! Now that you have 4 rods that are ready to
be deployed, lets get some lines in the water. Once you
find your desired area to fish, shut off all engines. Here
you will analyze your drift. You can deploy a sea anchor
if you think you are going to need it. Once you are
satisfied with the direction and speed of your drift, get
the first line out. As a general rule of thumb, get your
longest lines out first, meaning jug/balloon baits. Check
out our forums and communicate with fellow swordfish
anglers regarding everything mentioned here. You may even
find out what depth the fish were biting out the night
before. But a general rule of thumb is on a New Moon, you
fish the baits shallower. And on a full bright moon, you
fish them deeper. Tip* Be sure to have a bait at 100 feet
and 300 feet. These 2 depths are critical. Once you get a
bite on one, you can adjust your other rods accordingly.
With the first rod, attach
the live bait rig, along with your electralume and
flasher. Then take about 12 inches of telephone wire or a
#64 rubber band and attach a 32-ounce weight to the
swivels top circle. Wrap the telephone wire about 6 times
and pull to ensure it breaks away. Put it back on and let
your bait down to desired depth. For this exercise, we
will go 300 feet on the first line. Once the 300-foot
marker on the line comes up, attach your jug or balloon to
the loop you left in the waxline using telephone wire. You
can attach the balloon or jug using telephone wire or a
small rubber band. Again, test to make sure it breaks away
when pressure is applied by fish. Let the float out about
50-80 yards from the boat. Don’t forget to put a
glowstick into your jug for visibility.
Do the same to the second
rod, but this time go to 200ft and let it out on the
jug/balloon about 30 yards. It is very important to test
different depths by the 100's. Don't forget to attach a
lightstick to the jug/balloon for visibility. Once you
have the 2 lines out on the jugs, lets move to your tip
rods. The tip rods are called tip rods because that is
exactly what they are. You will see the tip of the rod
bounce heavily when a fish is slashing the bait. These
rods are being fished right at the boat at varying depths.
Apply the same rigs as mentioned above and set these rods
at 150 feet and 100 feet. These will be your most active
rods, as they are in the direct light of the boat.
Now that you have 4 lines
in the water, lets get your 4ft light out and put it on
the opposite side of the boat, to avoid direct light into
your eyes. Turn off all boat lights and sit back and
listen to your rods. Check all lines as needed. If you
don't have any action within 30 minutes to an hour, start
by checking your tip rods. If the baits have been slashed
than bring in your balloon/jug rods and re-bait. The 4ft
green light can be a very important piece of the puzzle
when swordfishing. We have had bait by the dozens
including bar jacks, flying fish, and dolphin come to the
light. With the bait we have seen swordfish follow right
behind them. When swordfishing you want to have your best
game turned on. Without the light at the boat you might as
well stay home. We deem this light very effective. Think
about when you see a boats navigation lights about 10
miles away. Imagine a swordfish. Their eyes are enormous
and we bet can see much better than we think. This could
be the difference between a fun-filled night and a very
frustrating night. Check out the forums for more
information on the secrets and tips. Fish On? Now What?
Once you hear the drag
being taken out or you see a fish surfacing, you want to
jump on that rod fast. Each rod should have a different
color light that distinguishes it from your other rods.
The enables you to determine which rod the fish is on. You
should of had your drag set at practically nothing, just
enough to keep the bait from taking off line. Get on the
rod and start cranking until you get tight on the fish.
Once tight, start increasing the drag until you hit about
8-16 pounds of drag. Too much drag may cause the hook to
rip from the soft mouths of these fish. The hook will
automatically set and you are in for a fight of a
lifetime. Have a buddy put the belt on you, so you can
stand up and fight the fish properly. Do not arch forward
or your back will begin to hurt very quickly. Do not rush
the fish. These fish get in excess of 400lbs and have been
known to keep anglers on the wind for over 8 hours! Once
the fish is at the boat, it is ideal to have one guy
handline the leader and another guy with the gaff. We also
suggest using wind-on leaders. This will help avoid the
dangers of hand-lining a big fish. A swordfish has to be
at least 47 inches to keep. So before hitting it with the
gaff, you want to decide if you are keeping the fish or
not. We recommend not keeping a fish under 60 inches. This
will help the bounce back of the swordfish industry. If
you do decide to keep the fish, you want to gaff the fish
right in the gill plate to avoid ruining the meat. Always
wear tough leather gloves, as the bill is very sharp. *Tip
– Keep your hands together when leadering the fish. This
will help avoid the dangers of hand lining the fish.
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