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Miami - Haulover to Fowey Light
Capt. Dean Panos
August 10, 2003
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
08/10/03
Continuing from my last report, as expected and hoped for, the swordfish bite turned on with the new moon. Although the sword bite was a bit slow for most in July, it has already picked up greatly for August. I had swordfish charters for 10 nights straight and caught 16 swordfish in those past trips. That’s better than 1 per trip. Half of those trips we caught 2 swordfish per night. The action some night was better than others. Some nights we only fought one fish per night, but there were other nights that we fought up to 5 swordfish per night.
We released quite of few of these fish, even though all of them were over the minimum length. Some customers also kept some for the dinner table. We had quite a few fish in the 100-pound class, and our biggest swordfish this past week was 160 pounds.
We had one trip last week that the action was non stop. We got to our swordfish grounds by 8:00pm, figured out the drift and set down our baits. After about 15 minutes from the last bait in the water, the long jug bait goes off. All we could see is the electralume light streaking across the surface. This swordfish went ballistic. He never went down deep, but stayed within 10 feet of the surface during the whole fight. He probably jumped about 25 times. Since this fish was going to be kept for dinner, we got the flying gaff ready while I leadered the fish. As I got the fish closer for the gaff shot, the sword pulled back and I ended up dumping the leader at least three times. On the last leader grab, the fish surged, I dumped the leader, and as the fish pulled away, we could see the hook pull from his mouth. I guess the swordfish was as stunned as we were, since he instantly stopped swimming and slowly drifted back to the boat. Since I only had one angler that night, I brought a mate with me. As the fish drifted toward the bought, my mate got him with the flying gaff, and now we had swordfish steaks on our mind. My mate earned his money that night.
As we cleaned up the boat, we headed back for another drift. As we were setting the 2nd bait out, it got hit. This was a nice a swordfish (160 pounds). My solo angler was pretty whooped from the first sword and only had about 10 minutes rest when he was at it again. Unlike the first one, this swordfish stayed down deep and fought for close to 45 minutes. As we got the swordfish close to the boat, he was pretty much done. He was hooked deep and even with the heavier tackle was not in any condition for release, so in the boat he came. All I can say is that both my customer, mate, all our neighbors and myself ate swordfish for a few nights. Now my angler is exhausted and we called it an early night at 10:30pm.
Swordfish are a prized catch anywhere in the world, and we would have elected to release that 2nd fish, but conditions did not allow it. Since he definitely was not going to go to waste, he was kept. My respect for these fish grows with each fish we catch. South Florida has definitely earned a place on the map as far as swordfishing is concerned. We have “World Class Swordfishing” in our own back yard and within the safety of the Unites States. You no longer need to travel outside the United States to catch a swordfish. We need to do everything in our power to protect this fish from exploitation, both in our local waters, as well as worldwide. While swordfishing may be good now, if commercial pressure was re-established here, this fishery would surely collapse as it did a decade or two ago. It’s still a fragile fishery that needs to be closely monitored and respected. In my opinion as well as many others, they are definitely the most prized game fish in the world. If you would like to go catch a swordfish, give me a call and lets go out and catch em.
Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Capt. Dean Panos
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