Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Andrew Gets Sailfish/Swordfish Double Header

I have been fishing with Andrew for a long time.  He has never caught a swordfish and wanted to do so very much.  On the day we planned to go sword fishing, the winds had picked up to over twenty knots.  Normally a trip out to the sword grounds would be out of the question, but Andrew was determined to get out there so off we went.  After a long, rough ride offshore we reached our destination.  The seas were eight to ten feet and it made it very difficult to fish.   Shortly after we got the sword line set, the boys put out some baits on the surface (just in case).  As everyone tried to hold on and stay comfortable a sailfish came up and ate one of the baits we had just put out.  Normally we fish for sailfish from ninety to one hundred eighty feet of water, but this one took the bait in eighteen hundred feet!  It goes to show that a fish can be anywhere, at anytime, and it pays to be ready.  As the sailfish took line from the big fin-nor spinning reel, the sword rod bent over with the weight of a fish nearly a half mile away!  Now we had a double header!  It was very challenging for me to hold the boat in position to fight the sword up from the depths as well as keep the L&H from being rocked too bad from the big waves.  Twenty minutes later, Andrew had his first swordfish in the boat.  It was now time to chase his fishing partners sail that now had over four hundred yards of line out!  I spun the L&H to chase the fish bow first through the big waves.  Backing down was not an option, it was simply too rough!  After a very tough forty-five minute fight we had the sailfish in the boat!  It was a great accomplishment to catch two different billfish at one time, something that very few boats in our area have ever done!  After taking a few photos, we iced down the sword and made the long rough trip back to port!  It was a great catch and I was very happy for our friend Andrew.  It also proves that when you go fishing on the L&H, one can never be sure of what might happen!

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