Fort Lauderdale, FL - Offshore

Capt. David Ide
August 22, 2002
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report

Swordfish!

Last Saturday night (8/10/02) we went out Swordfishing. We set up in 1,500 feet of water off Dania. We put out 3 live Blue Runners. One at 100', one at 125' and one at 200'. We didn't have the baits out 5 minutes and the deep bait was bit! The rod was bent over and line was screaming off the reel. The angler took the rod to the chair and the fight was on.

The line starting to angle towards the surface, so we watched the horizon for the fish to jump. It was dark and hard to see. We heard a splash and looked over to see a fish jump. We estimated the fish at 200 lbs.

With 30 lbs of drag on the reel, we thought after one hour the fish should be ours any minute. We could see the lightstick. The angler was very experienced having caught several Blue Marlin over a thousand pound. The harder the angler pulled, the harder the Swordfish pulled back.

Just when we thought the fish was done, it took off. Over 700 feet of line just rolled off the reel. The angler would sigh and then go back to work. Pump and wind, pump and wind. The lightstick was in sight again and just when we thought the fish was tired, the fish would take off again. Hour after hour slipped by.

The angler kept repeating that those thousand pound Blue Marlin, never fought like this.

After four hours, the angler was able to get the fish to the side of the boat. The fish was dead! The hook was in the corner of the Swordfish's mouth. What a great fish and a great fish.

Back at the dock the fish was hoisted on the scale. 454 lbs. 138 " (11' 6")

Last night we caught 3 Swordfish for a group of guys who read the article in the newspaper and chartered us.

The fish were 50 lbs, 60 lbs and 130 lbs.

Last week, I took my brother (Capt. Skip Smith) out and we caught 3 Swordfish. One 50 lb fish for Casey Smith, age 10 who caught & released his fish. Travis Fitzpatrick and his dad Tom, each caught one too. 60 lbs and 80 lbs each.

The Kingfish and Bonita are still biting great. We've been catching our limit on Kingfish almost every trip.

We had one Sailfish this week, 2 Sharks and a couple of Amberjacks. One day we went snapper fishing and caught our limit of Yellowtail Snappers and a couple of Mutton Snappers.

Fishing is Great and the weather has been cooperating.

Let's Go Fishing!

Catch-em-up,

Capt Kunta

954-761-8045

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