| Hat Time |
Swordfish
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We were lucky enough to be able to book a prime time slot with Bouncer for some S. Florida swordfishing. Henny, Jimmy, myself and Alex caught up with Bouncer at
the Miami Beach Marina a little after 6p and were pulling away from the dock by 6:20. The ocean was flat and Bouncer's Dusky transported us towards the deep depth
at high speed. Bouncer found a bird on his radar which turned out to be on a board which turned out to be harboring some mahi mahi. So 2 boards and 4 dolphin later
( each angler got a warm up dolphin) , Bouncer headed off to the sword grounds. We arrived about 15 mins before sunset and were treated to a spectacular sunset.
Bouncer and mate adrian put out 2live blue runners and 2 squid on the tip rods and we enjoyed about a 4 knot North current. It was decided that Henny would be first
up on the sword deck. While we were monitoring the lights and chatting, we heard a tremendous splash pretty close to the boat. Since none of the rods were singing
out, Henny had to move between two rods before he got tight with the one attached to the sword. We all saw it in the lights and Bouncer said it was in the 100 # club.
Henny had his hands full trying to stay tight on this fish from a dead boat. He quickly maneuvered up to the bow while keeping the pressure on. Seemingly as fast as
the rukus began the fish was gone. It had taken the live blue runner but was never actually hooked and we brought the runner in whole. As it goes with live bait, lots of
missed hook ups. Probably a swordfish eating a blue runner with a 200# leader and a 10/0 hook in pitch darkness except for the eerie glow of a cyalume is about as
grace ful as the proverbial monkey and a football. (The football analogy is likely a result of the Hurricanes game. Thankfully they are ahead at half time against the
Cro-Magnon hoard of FSU).
Next batter up is Alex. Bouncer and Adrian get the lines out again and in quick succession a 100# fish comes in on one line right at the boat and is lost and just as fast
a second smaller fish goes for another rod and we fail to get tight on that one too. Damn it to hell.
Next up for the home team, Grego. Now to already have had three shots at some nice swords was beating most of the odds. I mean I know we were out with Bouncer
and all, but to think a 4th fish was coming to the dance was long odds in my book. Sure enough the tip rod w/ a dead squid lights up. I pushed up the drag and started
to reel....and reel...and reel and Holy Schnikeees the fish is right in the lights and I even get the Dacron splice of the leader on the reel. Bouncer called out that the
fish was a 300# class fish from what he saw and to get ready for a long fight. The fish decided she was done with us and took off at a respectable clip with that 50
International singing. Bouncer got me squared away with a fighting belt and harness and the safety line to the reel. A grudge match, tug of war ensued. Several times
the fish got deep into the braid backing from which I had to fight for inches of line for long periods of time. The line markers are a great tool to judge how you are doing
against a fish of this size. They can also be demoralizing when you see the fish claim your hard fought for markers back. Over an hour of struggling with the beast and
I started to make good progress. At last, I could hear Bouncer making the preparations to boat the fish. Jimmy was given a field promotion and pressed into flying gaff
service to asssist Bouncer and Adrian. Finally, the moment of truth as the fish got boatside Jimmy sunk a flyer, Bouncer grabbed the bill and along with Adrian
manhandled the fish into the boat. As the fish was coming in over the side it just kept getting bigger and bigger.
Even though the fish was fought hard to the boat on a 50, it still had a lot of fight left in her. After all of that and this fish fish was still a dangerous animal. After the fish
finally settled down (albeit w/ a slight headache), we broke out the tape and measured it as 80 inches lower jaw to fork............No words left but..........
AWESOME.....Enjoy the pics. A huge THANK YOU to Bouncer and Adrian ! The Hat Time crew came out that night to represent !
Link to Bouncer's Web site http://www.captbouncer.com/fishing-reports/index.htm?rid=126
| August22, 2006 |