10-11-11 Daytime Swordfish Action!

We had Dimas, Felix, Paul, and Billy out on the BNM today for a daytime swordfish charter. On the first drop we hooked up. I thought we had a decent sized sword probably foul hooked and after an hour we had the fish on the leader. Unfortunately it was a 175 lb cuban night shark (or day shark). We were all disappointed, especially Felix who sweated for over an hour. We dropped again and had a swordfish bite but we missed him. It was now after lunch time and I knew we needed a sword. I ran south about 4 miles and sent down a fresh bait. After 20 minutes of drifting I decided to walk from the helm back to the fishing rod and check for bottom. I started dropping the bait, but something wasn't right. A sword grabbed it on the way down. Matt ran to the throttles and put the boat ahead and I got tight on the fish. He was racing to the surface and broke the concrete weight off instantly. Dimas got in the chair and went to work. After 40 minutes we had a nice broadbill swordfish 10 feet away, unfortunately the harpoon shot was a poor one and angered the fish. She dove back down 800' and didn't want to budge. I don't blame her because this fish was going to be dinner! After 2 hours Dimas was about to give up and finally got the fish back on the leader. A few minutes later we sank the gaffs into a beautiful 230# swordfish. CONGRATS! We made one more drop after that and within 10 minutes we were tight again. Felix wanted to redeem himself after his shark encounter and 20 minutes later he had his first ever swordfish catch. It was a juvinile sword around 20#'s. We took a couple quick pix and got the fish back in the water to fight another day. Yesterday all the boats that fished offshore had their limit of dolphin as well as quite a few blackfins. Not too bad for the second week of October! Today the dolphin thinned out but the blackfin tunas were still around. Come on down for some Florida Keys Fishing while it's still HOT!

October 1st and 2nd Swordfish Report!

We had Brian Gilbert from Maryland on the BNM this weekend for a couple of days of Daytime Swordfishing. It was one fish he had never caught and I told him if we had a couple days to try I was fairly confident we could put him on a fish. We left Saturday morning and caught some bonitos on the way out for bait and then put out a high speed lure. We were running along at 16 knots when all of a sudden we heard the drag screaming. I slowed the boat down and 5 minutes later Brian had a decent wahoo in the boat. Not a bad way to start. We eventually made it to the sword grounds and made our first drift, but no bite. We reset and had a bite fairly quick, but missed it. The next drift we hooked up and Brian got in the chair. After 20 minutes we had the leader on the reel, about 50 feet away from the fish, but all of a sudden the fish panicked and shook lose. If there's one thing a swordfish knows how to do, It's to get unhooked! We reset and got a bait back on the bottom. A few minutes later Brian was back in the chair. After an hour, up and down, we sink the gaffs into Brian's first Broadbill! It was a nice healthy fish that weighed 148 lbs! Congrats! We call it a day and head home soon after. After weighing the fish we clean it up and send Brian with a bag of fresh swordfish for dinner. He said it was great and couldn't wait to eat some more with his family and friends when he got home. The next morning we leave early and hit the same spot. We had quite a few bites, but unfortunately we couldn't keep a hook in any of them. It just wasn't meant to be. We consider swordfishing "Big Game Fishing" and you have to take the good with the bad. All in all though it was still a great Florida Keys Fishing trip and Brian caught a beautiful fish.

455# Daytime Swordfish aboard the BNM 9-24-11

We had John and Pam aboard the BNM for a Florida Keys Fishing Trip on 9-24-11. Pam insisted they were lucky and we were going to catch a swordfish guaranteed. I told both of them we had a good shot, but there had been quite a few small fish around which can be very frustrating when trying to hook them in the daytime. John is a Navy vet returned to the U.S. and was very much looking forward to a fishing trip!  Well it wasn't long until their luck kicked in, on the way out at 15 knots our high speed lure starts screaming and 10 minutes later John catches his first wahoo, a nice 28 lber. I was thinking at least we didn't get skunked today. We continued out to the swordfish grounds and a few miles inside we found a nice weed line with some mahi on it. We hit one school and caught 15 nice schoolies and a couple small gaffers. Both John and Pam were all smiles and I though maybe they wouldn't even notice if we didn't catch a swordfish. An hour later we were on the bottom in 1500' drifting for a broadbill. After 30 minutes we hooked up, the fish seemed small, and after 10 minutes he threw the hook. We make another drift in the same area, but after an hour with no bite, we wind up. I run a few miles south and drop again. After 45 minutes without a bite, we get ready to wind up, and there she is. We're hooked up to a daytime sword. John gets in the chair and goes to work. After an hour I see the fish, I know she's big, but not quite how big. The fish dives all the way back to the bottom and John goes back to work. At 2 hours he has her near the boat again, I see the swivel behind her tail and realize the fish is foul hooked in the belly somewhere. After a couple quick loops the fish goes back to the bottom. Now we're 3 hours into the fight, and John gets the fish within 50' of the boat again, we get a quick glimpse, but down shes goes. At 4 hours into the fight, and everybody exhausted, John gets the fish 10 feet away! We get a harpoon shot, but it pulls out after a few seconds. The fish looks like it's getting tired though, but still dives back to the bottom. We've drifted 11 miles now and John has been on the fish 4 and 1/2 hours! It looks like the fish is dying, since we've been trying to pull her backwards, but she still keeps swimming. The fish makes one last dive, down to 700', luckily not the bottom again, and then races back up. I look at the clock and realize we've been on the fish 5 hours. Before I know it the fish is at the back of the boat, I run back, throw the harpoon in her, hit her with a straight gaff, Pam hands both Matt and John the other gaffs, and we get all of them in the fish. But she isn't done yet. For 5 minutes she kicks and throws water everywhere next to the boat. Finally the fish is subdued and we bring her through the door. It was the hardest fight I've ever seen on a swordfish. The fish was hooked in the anal fin, but John and Pam had good luck and somehow it stayed in the whole time. We steam for home, everybody exhausted and make the call to fire up the forklift. We hit the dock and the fish weighs in at 455 lbs! This is on the biggest swordfish ever caught on rod and reel in the Florida Keys! We also fished the day before and went 2 for 3 on swordfish, keeping a 65 lber and releasing another. This is the place for Daytime Swordfishing!

9-17-11 Box fulls of Mahi and Tuna

We had Wally and his friends out on the BNM today for some Florida Keys Fishing. The fishing was really good for the handful of boats that made it out. We caught our limit of 40 Mahi by 9 a.m. The fish weren't huge, but nice schoolies in the 3 to 10 lb range. Wally came down from Pennsylvania after having his house flooded from the storm and wanted to bring some fish back to his church. We went to the Hump after that and live baited about 15 blackfin tuna.  All of the other boats that fished also had a limit of mahi as well as plenty of blackfin tuna. The Mahi fishing is some of the best it's ever been in Mid September so if you want to catch some more Mahi before the winter comes get on down here!

The Fall Swords are here!!! Another Australian Strikes!

We've caught swordfish on our last 3 trips on the BNM. The Catch 22 also had a great day with 2 broadbills and a mako yesterday. On the BNM we had Luke from Australia out for some daytime swordfishing two days in a row. The first drop on the first day he caught his very first broadbill which was a 113 lbs. His girlfriend Sarah also released her first swordfish at the end of the day. On day two we had a very slow morning. Finally late in the afternoon we had a solid hook up with a nice sword. I didn't realize the fish was as big as it was until I saw him racing around the boat lit up with an electric blue colored back. After a quick swim on top the sword went down 700 feet and Luke went to work. After 1 hour and 30 minutes we had the gaffs into a fat 248# Broadbill! Congratulations Luke!