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Swordfish Fishing Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Capt. John Logan
August 8, 2012
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
About 15 miles west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida's coast is an excellent place to do some Swordfish fishing. Years ago, when long line fishing was allowed, this was a frequent area for the commercial fisherman. Since the ban and ease on this particular fishery, things have improved over the years and many recreational fishermen are now visiting these areas.
On our second day with Wiliud and his 2 sons, Terry and Colin (aka Carlos), Colin celebrating his 21st birthday, a large billfish was the birthday wish. We had caught a large Sand bar shark the day before with them and today was geared to be off shore.
This Chamber of Commerce day as far as weather went couldn't have been nicer, unless they wanted to drop the temperature a few degrees. Clear skies and calm waters was what we had today. You could see for miles and today shore never left our sight. We trolled to the Swordfish grounds in hopes of Mahi-mahi, Wahoo or Tuna but only came across one school of very small Mahi's. They were throw backs because of their size and we didn't waste our time with them.
My son Mike fished with me the last few days with these boys from Salt Lake and was willing and very able to set up for the deep drop in over 1600' of water where we fish a bait on the bottom. We use an electric reel for this, in that depth over 2100' of line is out and with the 14 lbs. weight? It would take a man over 30 minutes to retrieve it. The electric does it in about 10. Well, that's if you don't get a bite. We did and the battle went on for about 95 minutes.
We had the fish coming up and then he changed his mind and direction. While we had no idea IF we had a Swordfish on or how big he might be, he made quick work of our gear and took line at his leisure. We were at a standstill for a while and after about 40 minutes, began worrying about tackle failure. The real was literally smoking hot and Mike gave me a glance that said… well, you know what I mean. LOL
Finally the fish began to tire and we had a steady gain on him. We got the weight off the line and the fish close to the boat. We now knew we had a BIG Swordfish on but the battle wasn't over yet. With this fish next to the boat and Mike ready to gaff him, the fish gave one last burst of energy and we had to pull away from him as he sped off under the boat.
This turned out to be a stroke of luck for Colin, for when he swam off, he became tail wrapped and now was being brought in backwards. This inhibits the fish's ability to breath and also made for a clear gaff shot. Some heavy pulling got the fish in the boat, over 11' long and weighing somewhere in the 250 to 280 lbs. area.
While we did troll back to shore in hopes of more fish, the conversation and the beer were all about this fish of a lifetime.
Happy Birthday Carlos. So glad Swordfish fishing off Fort Lauderdale, Florida worked out so well…
Target Species:
Sailfish, Shark, Tune, Dolphin, Wahoo, Marlin, Swordfish and more
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