Day-Time Sword-Fishing (10/16)

[Latimeria]

I was wrecked after a night of hooping, followed by a big night of gambling, and now after 5.5 hours of sleep in 3 days, I'm heading out Sword Fishing.  I've always wanted to do this and was surprised to get an unexpected call to deckhand a trip!

I was wrecked with little sleep, hung over, and beat up from the past few days... but I was there on time and ready to go.

These Shimano Tiagra 80W electric reels cost as much as my boat that I still don't have since it's still in the shop.  We didn't bring any gear for anything else except for swords.  No plan A, B or C when you're fishing for swords.

Beautiful morning heading out.



You can cover ground in a hurry with 600 HP!! Man, this boat is awesome and the morning was just as beautiful!



I can't say enough how much I love this boat.  The electronics were just unbelievable also!





Lets just say I learned a ton from deep dropping swordies.  The rigs (Both tackle and riggings) are incredibly complicated and the system to get them out is unlike almost anything I've ever had to do.  They were incredibly detailed on where they fished and what drifts and speeds were required to get to the appropriate depths.

Rigged squids were beautiful!  Even after a full day of soaking.  One squid got hit by a swordie, but for whatever reason let it go.  The tell tale bite mark was on the squid, but I wish I would have gotten a picture of it.  Here's the rigged squid  which can be rigged with multiple ways, but this was the way for this rig on this day.



What drove us crazy was the amount of jumping yellowfin out there in such dirty water!  Not to mention we didn't have a single other rod on board so as not to be distracted from the task at hand!  lol, most people couldn't get the YFT to stick as they were fixated on tiny baits and super picky.  Not to mention, they were only small roving packs of tuna and really no mass to the schools.

We metered multiple "Something Huge" throughout the day, but never got them to take our baits.



It was hard not to take a nap between drifts, but I was afraid I'd go unconscious and miss out on a fish!  We kept an eye out on the flags and I was flabbergasted every time I looked up and saw all of the rod storage, as well as a permanently mounted helium tank oh the tower.





Well, we didn't get anything, but was an awesome experience anyway and think I'll be getting calls to deckhand in the near future.  Man, I walked away with a lot of experience after this trip and cant wait to do it again.

I wish I was rich... then I'd totally get a boat like this...



Thanks for reading... This was one of my favorite "no catching" days I've had in a long time.  I got home, gave my family a hug and next thing I opened my eyes and it was the morning already and time to go to work.  I was going to go in for a half a day, but of course my boss shows up and now I have a long Sunday ahead of me... <sigh>

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

[Tim524]

 Beautiful boat, always cool to learn something new and give it a go What did you think of the Sea Deck ? 

[Latimeria]

Beautiful boat, always cool to learn something new and give it a go What did you think of the Sea Deck ?

The seadeck was awesome! So impressive!

[jrodda]

Wow that is one tricked out Parker. Cool that you got experience on the water with the swordfishing tactics. I'm well read on the topic but don't know anyone who would go. I've considered targeting marlin around Anacapa on my pool toy but I know for a fact that swords not only have much sharper bills but they charge the boat.

Tough to watch yellowfin sail through the air I bet! But it would only take one sword to make all the concentration pay off in magnitudes. Cool that the larger fish still show up on the finder at 800'.

[vdisney]

Great write up and super nice boat.  I had no idea swordfish were that deep   

[Latimeria]

Wow that is one tricked out Parker.

Steiger Craft.   Parkers aren't truly even in the same category as these vessels.  One thing is for sure, I'll never be rich enough to own one.  lol

[skrilla]

Plan A catch swordfish. Plan B use 200lbs of ice for margaritas.

[KogaHead]

A deckhand who brings kneepads is always welcome:)