The Friday Night Swordfishing trip was successful this past Friday Night, bringing in a 130 pound swordfish.  Doug Eilertson was the lucky angler who hooked into this fish.  He emailed me his fishing report yesterday with some photos of the fish which I will post below.  Thanks for the pictures Doug and great job on catching a big swordfish. 

To Captain Andy and Doug Eilertson’s Friends,

The pictures attached are proof! I finally got a keeper sword after six trips. During those night-trips… On my first run I caught my first swordfish–a throw back that was 1/4 inch undersized,then I got 2 dophin fish, next trip someone else got a keeper sword so we got to taste victory, after that my strong bite turned out to be a 6′ shark and the trip before this, someone had a nice swordfish break-off at the boat.

 Here are the details of my recent successful trip:

I caught the swordfish stand-up with no fighting chair. The fish hit my squid 200ft down Illuminated with a solid green light.)while I was using a Penn Int’l rod with a 50-wide reel–I fished it as a Tip Rod near the stern.

The fish took a long run but I brought it in solo in 25 minutes.

The fight ended on Oct 3 at 2:00am– 20 miles off Sunrise Blvd–Ft Lauderdale in 2000 feet of water. My catch was; 97.5″ overall, Body length 57.5″, Girth 32″.  We thought it was 120-130lbs but we had no scale. It was all the two mates each with a gaff could do to to bring it onboard through the tuna-door. The fish was thrashing with its tail and razor sharp sword going back and forth.

It was a perfectly executed effort by all on the boat to clear rods and support my effort. My special thanks to the Captain– He let us stay out a little longer to try to get us a fish. As it turned out, I had the only hooked fish that night although a couple other baits had been slashed by swords.(Swords do that before biting.)By the time we took pictures and cleaned the fish it was 5:00am. Since I had driven down to Florida non-stop to make the fishing boat’s 6pm departure, I was up 48 hours straight before I got to bed!

The next day I enjoyed some fresh swordfish steak and relaxed in the hot tub at the Lighthouse Cove Resort in Pompano Beach!

Keep in touch and let me know what you have been doing!

Doug

It was a beautiful night on the Friday Night Swordfishing Trip this week.  The weather was superb, and the fishing wasn’t half bad either.  We started off trolling offshore, out to swordfish grounds.  We hooked into and caught one small dolphin on the way offshore.  It was a little 5 or 6 pounder.  Captain Adam found a nice little color change offshore.  It’s still daylight out till almost 9 PM these days, and the days are getting longer.  Captain Adam and his mate Josh assisted everyone with getting their lines and buoys set. 

It wasn’t long before we got the first bite.  It ate the flat line, the one bait we had only 30 feet off the back of the boat.  It wasn’t a big swordfish, but a swordfish none-the-less.  We caught him in about 20 minutes.  It was strong for such a small one.  We had him on our closest line, which was also our lightest tackle rod accordingly.   The fish was almost legal, only an inch short.  We pulled the fish up and released him. 

We didn’t have to bring any of the other lines in.  The fish stayed remarkably clear of everything else we had out there.  We got our second fish on about and hour later.  This one bit the mid depth bait, which was baited with a tinker mackeral.  This fish seemed much bigger and fought for a good 20-30 minutes.  This second swordfish was plenty big enough to bring in.  We fished for a couple more hours, but besides a few slashed squids, we never got another decent bite.  Any swordfishing trip when you go 2 for 2 is a good trip.  Thanks to everyone that came and we look forward to fishing with you again. 

P.S.  Just to let everyone know, we are running an 8 hour Snapper fishing anchor trip this Friday night, May 15 from 8PM - 4 AM, if anyone wants to come.  The price is only $50 per person, and includes everything.  We still have plenty of open spots and the snapper fishing has been very good for us lately.  This is the first 8 hour open boat snapper fishing trip we’ve run on the Catch My Drift.  It may be a new monthly trip for us.  Sea you out there.

It was a helluva night at sea Friday night aboard the Catch My Drift.  We ran our monthly Friday Night Swordfishing Trip on 1/2/09 and as you can see by the photo above, Mission Accomplished!  The crew that night was Captain Adam Reckert and Captain Josh Mahan.  There were 13 folks signed up for the trip and the weather was wonderful.  We had about a 10 knot wind out of the South East, which aboard the 85′ Catch My Drift is perfect weather for swordfishing.  The trip started off on time at 6PM and we motored out the inlet and south easterly towards swordfish grounds, 15 miles offshore.  Josh was working the deck and was busy rigging up the lines for the hour and a half run out.  Captain Adam was on the wheel and listened on the radio for some good info about the bite so far out there. 

It was dark by the time we made it out to fishing grounds.  We were in the middle of the gulfstream and we could see the lights of Miami faintly along the shoreline.  Captain Adam set up on some GPS numbers where we’ve had luck in the past.  He killed the engines and went down to assist Josh and the anglers with putting out the lines.  We had gotten 7 lines out so far.  Each line was marked with a marker buoy that held the bait at the desired depth.  Each marker buoy had a different color light on it and the seventh bait out had the red light.  Josh was helping one of the anglers put out the eighth bait when we hear someone yell, “Where’s the Red Buoy??”  Captain Adam yelled, “Reeeeel!  Wind!  It’s Him!”  The angler reeled and quickly came tight to the fish.  Instantly, the angler was on his toes and hanging onto the rod for dear life.  The fish was running off drag as if the reel was in free spool.  Josh ran to get the angler suited up with the fighting belt and Captain Adam ran up to the wheelhouse.  He knew we would have to chase this fish down to catch him.  

Josh heard the engines start up and knew what that meant.  Josh shouted, “Everybody wind in fast, we’re going to have to chase this fish down.”  Great team effort by everyone because by this time, the fish had pulled off most of the line off the reel.  Captain Adam was forced to start chasing the fish down before we even had all the other lines in.  The angler moved up towards the bow pulpit and Captain Adam moved the boat in the direction the line was headed.  The rest of the anglers got their lines in, and we began the fight.  We had only just begun.

It was about 20 minutes into fighting the fish, when the first angler was spent.  He was exhausted from hooking the fish and holding on to all that tension as the fish made his initial runs.  After 20 minutes of trying to do battle with this beast, he was too tired to go on.  Fortunately, we had 12 fresh anglers all ready to jump in and help fight the fish.  We rotated every 10 or 20 minutes as the anglers would tire out.  This was not an ordinary swordfish.  We knew by now that the fish was very large and extremely strong, but we had not seen it yet and still did not know what species it was.  Giant fish you can catch while swordfishing are swordfish, sharks (a bunch of different species), marlin,  or tuna.  We had out hopes up it was a giant swordfish, but there was no telling at this point.

A couple muscle grinding hours later and everyone was begining to think this fish was just too large and too strong to catch.  We had him on a Penn 80W International,  which is one of the absolute best big game reels you can have a fish like this on.  We catch all our swordfish aboard the Catch My Drift using a fighting harness belt, standing up.  We have a great harness that we use, that redirects the weight from the upper and lower back and redistributes it from the butt and legs.  Still, with a fish this size and strength, it is very tiring.  After 3 hours of fighting the fish like this, Capt. Adam decided to tighten the drag and either make or break the fish.

Milking the line, a foot at a time, they finally got the fish to the boat.  4 and a half hours of fighting the fish and we finally saw the fish we were dealing with.  The fish was foul hooked from the very begining, hooked in the dorsal fin.  The line had gotten wrapped in his tail somewhere in the fight.  The fish came in backwards and finally drowned.  Adam leadered the fish close to the boat and Josh stuck him with the flying gaff.  A couple other gaffs went into the fish which our customers held and we dragged him to the boarding door.  It took the strength of everyone aboard to pull this fish in the boat.  No one could believe how big this fish was and that we actually caught him.  Even those who thought there was no way we were  going to catch this fish came over and hugged the crew.  It was an awesome experience. 

The ride back to dock was noted with hundreds of flashes going off as those with cameras  snapped shot after shot of them posing with the huge swordfish.  When we reached the dock, everyone was exhausted, both from fighting the fish and because it was 3 o’clock in the morning.  Captain Adam roped the tail of the fish and swung it over the 10 ft. high Gin Pole.  Everyone hoisted the fish up as high as the pole would let us, but the fish still touched the ground.  This swordfish was over 12 feet long and estimated at over 450 pounds.  We got lots of photos of the fish hanging and then Josh and Adam went to work on the massive job of fileting the fish. 

We left the fish hanging which suprisingly made the job of fileting the fish quite easy.  Any swordfish caught on this swordfishing trip gets divided among everyone that came.  There was so much meat, everyone who came will be eating good for a while.  This trip was a big game fishing experience of a lifetime.  Thanks to all that came and congratulations on a tremendous swordfish. 

The bite is on off the coast of Fort Lauderdale this month.  May is about over and the June fish are here.  Lots of schools of small dolphin are going to be showing up offshore and the tuna/wahoo bite is going to be on this summer.  Right now though, there is some great action to be had off the reefs and wrecks of Ft. Lauderdale.  Sailfish started snapping this week again, and what a great year on sailfish we’ve had already.  This is perhaps the best sailfishing this late in the season I have ever seen off the South Florida coast.  We aren’t getting the winter numbers of sailfish out there, but we’re still catching plenty.  On 4 charters this week,we’ve caught double header sailfish by either trolling artificial lures or kite fishing.  They are moving through and very aggressive. 

Sailfish aren’t the only fishing biting out there on our deep sea fishing charters.  Golden amberjacks are heavy on all the wrecks and you’ll be lucky if you can even get your bait to the bottom.  These fish are big(40-60 pounds) and they are very, very aggressive.  There are some larger groupers around the wrecks this time of year and also cobia, but its not often a big amberjack does not grab your bait first.  The amberjacks are showing up on just about all the artificial reefs we have off Fort Lauderdale, but there are some really big ones on the wrecks deeper than 250 feet. 

I almost had a really cool fish story to tell you all about on a daytime swordfishing charter we ran the other day.  Rod and Adam went out and did a few daytime drops for swordfish the other dayy.  The bait was down maybe 15 minutes and got slammed by a huge fish.  After a 45 mintute fight, the fish got close enough, they guessed the weight of the fish at about 200 pounds.    As soon as Rod grabbed the leader, the fish took off on a sick run which resulted in him pulling the hook.  It was a heartbreaker for everyone aboard.  They tried some more drops and a little fishing into the night, but no luck.  It was almost an awesome trip. 

There have been some smoker kingfish around on the reefs also.  The drift fishing boats are coming in with king mackerals, blackfin tuna, and a lot of snappers.  The drift fishing has been improving immensly from what it was like a month ago.  Its been great action on all 3 trips, especially the night trip.  Lots of yellowtails and mangrove snappers being caught on the night anchor trips.  Most of them 1-3 pounds, but a few of the mangroves we’ve been catching lately are upwards of 5-6 pounds.  Now thats a big mangrove snapper.  A few 20+ pound kingfish have been brought in on the day fishing trips.  I’m looking forward to a great summer.   

Yahooooo!  It was a helluva Friday night swordfishing trip this week.  After the last 3 trips of only getting a few bites and NO boated fish, this weeks trip, we finally got a couple.  The Friday night swordfishing trip on 3/14/08 was when we got these huge ones.  It was a nice night out there, good weather and a full boat.  We got our first bite in the first 20 mins.  It was a huge fish, probably about a 180 pounder.  We got him in the boat and you could hear the cheering for miles.  It was a helluva fish and it took 1/2 the boat to fight him in.  Well, we were aways from where we wanted to be, so we pulled up the lines and made a run to the south to set up again.  With baits set out again for a while,. we hear Kevin yell, “theres’s one on the surface back here!”  Everyone immediately ran to the back of the boat.  Kevin pitched out a live tinker mackeral and the swordfish swimming next to the boat swam  over and grabbed it quickly.  Kevin freespooled to the fish for 20 seconds and locked it up and started winding.  Nothing, and we came back with a bare hook.  Capt. Adam quickly pitched out a dead tinker mackeral that was all rigged up.  Amazingly, the swordfish came right up to the boat again and took the bait.  Adam freespooled to the fish for a bit, locked up and started winding.  Again, nothing and we came back in with a bare hook.  One of the customers that fishes with us every week had a rod ready to go and pitched a bait out as well.  The swordfish, who still had not been hooked, swam up a third time and took the bait.  This time, the customer got him on and hooked him good.  I don’t know if Captain Adam and Kevin were having a bad night or if it was just 3rd try is the charm, but we were laughing about it the whole way home.  The second fish ended up being an 80 pounder, give or take a few pounds.  Both fish were very fat and fought hard.  The second fish we caught took the entire other half of the boat to catch it, so everyone that came got to fight, land and take home some swordfish.  It was a great trip and the swordfish have been biting good out of Fort Lauderdale this week.  There are still some spots left for this week’s Friday night swordfish trip, so lets’s get out there and catch some sword fish! 

The Friday Night Open Boat Swordfishing trip, this past Friday night, was a blast.  We only had 6 people, but everybody paid a few dollars more so the boat could go out.  The seas were rough that night on the way out to fishing grounds.  We got broadsided twice by a huge wave.  That was what it was like for about the first half hour, and if it had continued like that, we probably would have turned back.  Well, as we got out farther, the ocean started laying down and it got really nice out.  The waves were only like 4′ when we stopped to fish, which isn’t bad on a boat as large as Catch My Drift.  Well, we started sending out the baits and low and behold a big mahi mahi starts jumping not too far from the boat.  He was jumping straight for us, so Capt. Adam quickly grabs the gaff out of the rod holder and snabs up the fish.  It was about a 20 pound mahi mahi.  So Capt. Adam actually got to catch the first fish that night.

Once we had all the baits out again, we get a nice bite on the tip line.  Hooked up!  We fight the fish up to the boat in about 10 minutes.  It was a windy night and we were getting pushed away from the fish, so the fight was twice as hard.  When we got him to the boat, the fish was a couple inches short so we released him.  So, we set back up and after a little while we get hooked up on something really nice.  Now this was a big fish.  It was stripping line off the reel almost as fast as the fish last week did.  We don’t usually do this, and only had a few people on the boat so it was easier to do, but we reeled everything in and chased the fish down.  We got the fish up to the surface and when he came into range, we harpooned him.  It was a sweet shot.  Adam ran down from the wheelhouse and stuck the big flying gaff into him and brought him aboard.  It was a slob of a swordfish.  The fish probably weighed closed to 200 pounds. 

By then, it was time to go in.  We caught 2 for 2 that night on swordfish.  The swordfish are biting out there.  The week before this trip, we had 6 big swordfish on the line, but only managed to catch 2 of them.  The bite has been red hot, so hopefully this week and next week, we’ll have a good Friday Night Swordfishing trip.  Sea ya out there on the water.

Well, I forgot to give a fishing report for last Friday Swordfishing trip and man it was a doosy!  Well, as soon as we got out there and got our first bait in the water, ZINGGGG!!!  Big swordfish, hooked up!  We caught the fish in about a 1/2 hour, good fighter.  I forget the forklength, but it was about an 80 pounder.  A short while later, we get another bite.  Swordfish hooked up again.  This fish we caught quick, probably only a few minute fight.  The fish was undersized, so we released him.  We get set up again and Wammo!  Another big fish.  The fish is coming to the boat for the first few minutes of the fight, so Adam thought it was a smaller fish.  When the fish gets just so we can see the light in the distance, he takes off.  The fish takes a run from hell.  He striped off line so fast off that 50W that the drag was actually smoking.  There wasn’t much line left on the reel, we could see the knot on the bottom of the spool and we still had a lot of lines out still fishing so chasing the fish down was not an option.  As if we didn’t have enough going on at the time, one of the other lines on the boat get a bite and its another BIG fish.  This fish starts screeming line off too.  We had this fish on an 80, but it was spooling us as well.  Well, we were about to get to the knot on the first fish, so Capt. Adam tightened the drag a nudge.  Immediately the hooks pulled, a total bummer.  A few seconds later, we pulled the hooks on the other fish.  It was heartbreaking to loose those 2 fish, no telling what they were.  They were probably a couple of huge swordfish, but we never got to see the fish.  You never know, could have been a giant tuna or a huge mako shark.  We’ll never know.  It would have been sweet to catch one or both of them though.

All that action wasn’t even the end of it for that night.  We got 2 more fish on that evening, but pulled the hooks on both of them.  Well, we brought one back home, so everyone had plenty of swordfish filets to take home with them.  It was a great night last week, very exciting.  2/6 on swordfish, with one brought in and one released.  Let me apologize for not putting the camera on the boat the night they went out.  I forgot to before the trip and I’m kicking myself now for not having any photos of the swordfish.  These photos of the hammerhead shark hanging were from our Friday night swordfishing trip 2 weeks ago.  We didn’t catch any swordfish that night, the fishing was slow.  But we did catch this monster hammerhead shark.  Here’s a photo of the 2 guys that caught the fish, what a nice one.  We’re going out swordfishing tommorrow night, so I hope the fishing is as good as last week was.  We’ve still got a couple open seats if anyone wants to go on Friday Night’s trip.  This last photo is a big grouper we caught on one of our sportfishing charters.  Its about a 25 pound black grouper that we caught bottom fishing around one of our shipwrecks here in Fort Lauderdale.  The sportfishing has been good in South Florida this past month and we’re getting into my favorite time of year to fish.  Let’s go fishing!

Wow, what a night.  The swordfishing was good in Fort Lauderdale last night, that’s for sure.  We actually had 2 swordfish trips last night.  One was out Friday night swordfishing trip on the Catch My Drift.  The other was a private swordfish fishing trip on one of our 6 person sportfishing boats.  We caught a whole bunch of swordfish and man was it an exciting night.  Both boats did great and caught them out there.  Here’s the story…

The Out of the Blue headed out of the inlet at about 4PM.  2 guys chartered the boat privately to themselves for a swordfish trip.  Capt. Eric and John were the crew on that trip and they were eager to go out there in search of the grandaddy of all the big game fish, Broadbill Swordfish.  Capt. Adam and Kevin were the crew on the Catch My Drift last night and they left the dock at 6PM.  The conditions were good last night and the weather was beautiful.  We couldn’t have asked for a nicer evening.  Capt. Eric and Capt. Adam put their heads together and consorted with eachother about what to do this night and where and how best to get some bites.  They decided on a plan of action and both boats had their baits set.  The boats were about a mile away from eachother, but both were fishing the same line of longitude, so both were about on the same drift.  They were set up on a small current edge they found. 

Capt. Adam on the Catch My Drift was the first to get a bite.  He hooked up with a monster of a fish.  The angler fought the fish for a long time and man, what a fight. When the fish came up to the boat, everyone guestimated him at about a 200 pounder.  The crew was all set to gaff the fish and everything was in place.  As soon as Capt. Adam grabbed the leader, the fish went balistic and started thashing wildly.  The fish was at the pulpit of the bow when he began to wire him, but suddenly swam fiercly to the stern.  Capt. Adam was literally dragged the full 85 feet toward the back of the boat.  He held on as tightly as he could, but there is no man in the world stronger than an angry 200 pound swordfish.  Before a gaff could be stuck into the fish, we pulled the hooks.  It was what we call, a Palm Beach Release.  DANG!!  Well, the rules state that if a mate or captain touches the leader, then it is a caught fish.  It wasn’t an intentional release, but heck, it was a great fish and we had it right at the boat.  And man, what a beautiful fish.  It was huge.  Fortunately, not long after, we got the hooks into another fish that night.  Later on, we caught a 100 pound swordfish that we got into the boat and brought in.  Everyone on the trip was ecstatic and everybody got to take home a ton of swordfish steaks.  It was a great Friday Night Swordfishing trip on the Catch My Drift. 

Capt. Erik had his own adventure that night.  Not one, not 2, but 3 swordfish caught on his private swordfishing charter.  He was set up a mile or so away from the Catch My Drift, pretty much along the same line of longiture and the same drift.  One of the fish was a small fish and had to be released.  The other 2 swordfish caught were both keeper sized and they got to bring both fish back to the dock.  One of the keeper swordfish was about a 70 pounder and the other was about a 110 pound fish.  There were only 2 guys on the charter, so each person got to catch their own swordfish on the trip.  It’s not often when 100% of the anglers get to land their own swordfish on a swordfishing charter.  The swordfish were certainly snapping out of Fort Lauderdale last night.  What a great couple of trips.  I wish the swordfishing was as good as it was last night every night.  Well, you can’t catch them if you never go out and try for them.  Swordfish are biting out of Ft. Lauderdale right now guys.  If you’re looking for a good time to go out there and catch swordfish, now is an excellent time.  We still have some room on next week’s trip.  Make sure to make reservations early.  Sea ya out there…

The Friday night swordfishing trip was a blast last night.  We had a full boat and all the guys were a lot of fun to fish with. The weather was beautiful, not a wave in the ocean and just a light breeze.  We ended up just getting one bite, but it was a good bite.  The fish didn’t bite until 1:15 in the morning, just before we were about to clear the lines to go home.  The swordfish put up a good fight and everyone was jubilant that we finally got one.  Fish was about a hundred pounder, 91″ overall.  It’s not everyday that we can go out there and come home with an 8 foot fish.  When we got back, we filleted the fish up and everyone that went got to take lots of swordfish filets home for dinner.  There was dinner for everybody.  It was a great night of swordfishing and next week should be good fishing too.  I love fishing on the week after a full moon and the week after that.  We should have good swordfishing out here in Fort Lauderdale for the next few months, so get out there if you can, the fishing is hot.

We got a swordfishing charter at the last minute last night.  It wasn’t on the books at all and these guys came up and said take me swordfishing right now!  Capt. Johan grabbed some squids and ran offshore a ways to swordfish territory.  The fish hit at about 11:30PM and took a huge run of line.  He definetly didn’t come in easy, thats for sure.  Fortunately for us, the fish got hooked right in the perfect spot:  the corner of the mouth.  Swordfish are notorious for getting off because the hook pulls through their soft jaws.  Well this one was hooked good and after a grueling 25 minute fight, we got the fish in.  The angler who caught him had never caught a swordfish before, but he took instruction from the crew great and got the fish in within record time.  The fish was about a 150 pounder but he fought like a 200 pound one.  There were so many swordfish steaks, the guys didn’t have room for them in the cooler they brought, hahaha.  The cooler was overflowing, and that was only after half the fish got cut up.  So they left the other half for the crew to stock their freezers with and give to friends, thanks guys.  The Fort Lauderdale swordfishing has been going great.  Our past 2 trips for them we’ve come home with big ones.  No matter what anyone says, the swordfish definetly bite better at night, even though day time swordfishing is the new thing.  A lot of the guys going out in the day are coming home skunked.  Thats not to say you can’t catch a daytime swordfish.  In fact, I really enjoy the new daytime swordfishing.  But its not as red hot as people are claiming.  The simple fact is that swordfish come up to the surface at night to feed.  Daytime they are on the bottom resting and only feeding on the occassional squid that happens to drift directly past them.  At night, swordfish are swimming all over LOOKING for something to eat.  Anyway, the swordfishing is good right now and I highly  reccomend a night time swordfishing trip.  They are the biggest fish out here to catch and what a prize when you come home with one.  Cya out there and schedule a Swordfishing Charter now!