November Swordfish 0 for 2 or 0 for 6 depending on how you count it!

Bad or good, I have to put it out there. We had a weather window on Saturday, and gave it another shot at a swordfish.

The plan was to go early, cross the reef and drop wahoo baits in the water as soon as we cleared the lobster pots, and high speed troll out to some Gray Tile spots, make a couple deep drops, and then move out to the Wall, and do the really deep drop for a swordfish.

The setup

In preparation, we dissected our setup on our last attempt. Although we did pretty well tackle and rig wise, we can always improve. So on the list: improve the connection between the braid mainline and our wind-on leader, upgrade the connection point for the weight, and simplify our light connections.

Paul bought a new spool of 200 pound leader, and we measured out 75 feet of line, and I tied it to the braid with an FG Knot (very smooth and strong knot). Then we put a hollow braid fingersplice on the leader to connect the weight. The final piece was we decided to just connect the lights directly to the swivel between the wind-on leader and the bait. Sorry about the picture, if you zoom in you can see the splice.

Finger splice for the weight – attached via longline clip

For bait I prepped a Bonita Belly strip bait, and Paul tied on a large trolling squid. Both were rigged with a glow in the dark rubber squid skirt. Paul also caught several barracuda earlier (he was going no-fish stir crazy) and we prepped as another strip bait that we held in reserve. We have a bit of a test underway. If you look at the Bonita rig (just below) the hook is sewed into the front of the bait, if you look at Paul’s squid, the hook is at the tail of it. Don’t know which is right, so we are trying both methods.

Let’s go fishing …

Off we went … we made it out to the Gray Tile drop area and made 3 drops in about 850 feet. No tile bites, but we did get a half dozen Black Belly Rose fish. Interesting little guys, colorful, big eyes, and spikes all over their heads.

Black bellied rose fish. Matt and Joe posing

Wild looking fish! Interesting taste and texture, somewhere between a fish and shellfish

We didn’t spend much time on the Tile drop, and rolled on out to the Wall. The area we fished was actually about 5 miles west of our previous attempt where there is a lot more aggressive drop at the edge.

This is the area we dropped in, note the steep contour lines

We ended up making 4 drops, all of it drifting easterly with the gulf stream, and we used three different baits (bonita belly, squid and barracuda). Two drifts we kept the baits 100 feet off the bottom, and the other 2 drifts we put the baits around 30 feet off the bottom. That translates to having 1500 to 1800 line dropped to the bottom and back in, driving for around an hour with the current. Each time, the baits went down to depth and came back up without drama – nice and smooth, no tangles, lights blinking and squid glowing. No bites …. ☹

As for sword fishing, we are now 0 for 2 on trips, and 0 for 6 on actual drops, but enthusiasm is still high. We are using the right baits, in the right place, and our presentation is spot on. It is a matter of time!

In other news ….

We had another storm hit us dead center … 2020 just has to end! Big blow, lots of rain, but no damage to anything thank heavens.

Unfortunately my Sister and Brother-In-Law (Beth and Jim) lost their dock (boat is ok). They live on Manasota Key near Venice.

And the latest WoodyToo upgrade – I bought a big off-road light bar, and installed it on the tower console. We are running more and more before sunrise and after dark, and trust me, it is like a pitch black hole out there! This will be a big improvement on safety, and my blood pressure!