Baby Swordfish

I went sword fishing with Mark and two friends from the Galapagos on Friday night. We got left the dock around six, fueled up and went to go find some bait. We trolled small bucktails with small spinning rods and 12 lb test mono along the beach and after around 10-15 minutes managed to land two nice blue runners (both on marks bucktails).

The sun was going down so I made the call to head out to the swordfish grounds. We already had some squid that I had rigged up previously so I wasn't worried about not having enough runners. Two would be good enough to have a little bit of variety in our spread. We had 3 50 wides marked at 100, 200, and unmarked filled with 50 lb test mono and 80lb braided backing and an 80 wide filled with80 lb test mono marked at 150 feet.

Right as we get to the spot (15 miles out)... everyone becomes sea sick. ... I asked if everyone wanted to go (grudginly inside) but ever seemed ready to suck it up.. it just looked like I would be rigging and setting out the baits alone this time, which I was perfectly alright with.

First rod goes out with my favorite settup, second rod goes out with a live runner, and I'm settting up the third rod when I see the buoy moving across the surface and the 80-wide buckled over. I grab reel reel hard to set the hook... and the fish comes off .

I put out the next three rods and chill out. Have some food... talk with everyone who seem to be recovering due to the excitement of the first hit. The next rod gets hit! I hand the rod to Ryan, (whose never caught a sword) and he begins to fight the fish. It doesn't even take out drag. With in a few minutes I see the leader and because of the light of the boat I can see the fish circling up. At 10 feet from the boat it looks like a yellowfin tuna.. so I yell for Mark to grab the gaff. But as it comes boatside I see its a tiny sword.

The fish came up so fast that I didn't have any time to grab gloves. I grap the sword by tail and try to grab its sword really carefully. The sword is ridiculously green and I can't even hold onto it.

It shakes out of my hands and slizes my finger pretty good. It falls on the floor and starts beating itself up. I quickly took my shirt off and used it as a glove, and after snapping a quick photo with the crew, let it back into the water. It quickly yanked out of my hands and swamp into the deep dark water.

We stayed for about an hour more and got another hit, on the live runner and one on the 50 wide with a squid. Making it the most hits I have ever had in a night. We went 1-4. Most of the swordfish won that night... but it was an awesome trip.