Many years ago, Kona skipper George Parker made ­headlines around the world when he caught the first certified, world-record grander Pacific blue marlin. Since that 1,002-pound giant in November 1954, Hawaii’s lee eddies have churned up a stream of 1,000-pound blues that continues today. Kona waters usually average two or three granders per year, along with more Pacific blue marlin IGFA records than any other sport-fishing hot spot. That parade of records continues. In March 2013, Alex Nuttall boated a 958-pound blue marlin with Capt. Chip Van Mols on the Kona charter boat Monkey Biz II to claim the IGFA women’s 130-pound-class record.

Kona’s consistent billfish success sparked a worldwide revolution in big-game fishing because these big fish were caught on lures pioneered and developed in Hawaii waters. Meanwhile, big-game fishermen elsewhere had been saying you could catch billfish only with bait. Even those doubters caught the Kona wave and started catching marlin on Kona-style lures. Kona is also the perfect starting point for novices who have never caught a fish in their lives. It happens every day, 365 days a year. Newcomers are well served by a well-maintained fleet of top-of-the-line boats and expert captains.

Plus, Kona’s big fish hunt in deep, calm waters near shore. The 100-fathom line is a 10-minute run from Kona’s two main fishing fleets at Honokohau Harbor and Keauhou Bay. What’s more, the biggest fish of any week is usually a marlin in the 500- to 900-pound range caught by a complete newcomer on a four- or six-hour trip. On any day of the year, a visitor can find a suitable charter and hope to catch one or more of Hawaii’s mighty four: billfish, ahi (yellowfin tuna), mahimahi (dolphinfish) and ono (wahoo).

Billfish of Every Kind

Blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin, sailfish, shortbill spearfish and broadbill swordfish — Kona’s waters are home to every billfish found in the Pacific. But each has a different story, and you should know those stories when you make plans.

Big blues are the billfish that pay the bills in Kona. Blues of all sizes are here year-round, but they are usually most common during the summer tournament season, from June through early September. Mid-Pacific currents can supply a fresh run at any time, however. For example, sometimes April surprises offshore trollers with fish heavier than 500 pounds on every day of the lunar cycle. Catches like these show that the lunar cycle has little, if any, influence on billfishing in Kona (unlike the effect different phases might have in other fishing areas).

Kona granders have also been landed in January, March and July. March, which might otherwise be considered the offseason elsewhere, has turned up more of Kona’s historic granders than any other month, and that includes the 1,649-pound Kona all-time record in 1984. The 1,376‑pound IGFA record for 130-pound class was caught in May 1982. Indeed, granders have been caught in Kona waters every month of the year. Licensed commercial fishermen are allowed to sell blue marlin in Hawaii, but professional skippers prefer tag-and-release for clients who want to let vital fish go. In any given week, more of Kona’s blues are tagged than kept. Visitors should make their wishes known when setting up a charter.

Hawaii’s Striped Marlin

Striped marlin cruise through Kona water’s year-round, but the big run extends from December through March. The Hawaii state record, 212 pounds, turned up here at the end of March 2011. That’s big for a north Pacific stripe, which is noteworthy because South Pacific stripers max out at more than double the weight of their northern cousins. Striped marlin are most attracted to Kona when winter waters cool down into the mid-70s. During those “chilly” times, the luckiest trollers might get up to a dozen striped marlin bites, and hook about a third of them.

Those same striped marlin ­conditions also attract shortbill spearfish of world-record size. Kona’s frisky shortbills ­presently hold 16 IGFA marks for tackle as light as 4-pound-class, and even on fly gear. Record-seekers troll hookless teasers to draw a spearfish within range, and then present a lure, fly or bait on the most sporting gear available. For most visitors, however, the spearfish is a surprise catch when trolling for blues and stripes.

For black marlin, Kona is outside the normal migration range. The entire Kona fleet sees only a handful each year, and these are much smaller than the giants of the Great Barrier Reef far to the south. Old-timers will remind you that the state record weighed 1,205 pounds, but that once-in-a-generation fish was caught in 1980.

Broadbills are the secret sensations for fishermen who know when, where and how to catch them. Most of Kona’s rod-and-reel swordies are caught at night during ika-shibi (traditional hand line) trips that target tuna. With its giant staring eyes, the broadbill is readily attracted to lights at night and to the squid schools that gather in the glow. The state record 503-pounder took the bait in June 2006 at the start of what are usually the three best swordfish months. Only a few boats cater to the night-fishing trade.

Hawaii Tuna Fuel Jet Revolution

More than fifty years ago, Hawaii troller Henry Nishikawa ignited the jet revolution when he caught a world-record ahi on a metal-headed lure drilled through and through with holes. His 269-pound yellowfin didn’t last long in the record books after anglers in the eastern Pacific discovered a tribe of bigger tuna off Mexico. Yet the IGFA record book is still overwhelmingly Kona on the ladies’ side: Kona catches made by women hold the 16-, 20-, 30- and 50-pound-class marks.

Though Kona waters attract ­resident schools of yellowfin year‑round, ahi are most abundant in late spring and throughout summer. As schools migrate west to east through the islands, the big runs reach Kauai first by Mother’s Day in May and Kona by Father’s Day in June. When the action is wide open, lucky boats can catch as many as 10 a day, all in the 100- to 220-pound range, by trolling or live-baiting with aku (skipjack tuna) or opelu (mackerel scad). During the rest of the year, ahi specialists target them with green-stick gear, and continue to catch a few each trip.

Hawaii’s state record ahi (a July catch) of 325 pounds is unusually large for central Pacific yellowfin tuna. Kona’s biggest ahi each year normally hits 250 pounds (258.5 in 2013). The state record bigeye (277 pounds in July 2013) and the biggest albacore (89.2 pounds in April 2011) both were caught on the Big Island’s windward (eastern) coast. The albacore weighed more than any on the IGFA record list but did not qualify for world-record status because it was caught on commercial-fishing gear. Kona ­fishermen regularly catch albies (tombo ahi) in the 60s and 70s on sport fishing tackle.

Mahimahi, Hawaii’s Gift to the World

Almost 70 years ago, Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club official George Perry set the 130-pound-class IGFA world record for dolphinfish with a 72.5‑pounder. That record didn’t last long, but the name “mahimahi” is Hawaii’s gift to the world, because it replaces the confusing name “dolphin” on restaurant menus. Though Hawaii has no current IGFA mahimahi records, the state-record 82-pounder confirms the potential. That record fish was a September Kona catch, but mahimahi are available any time the current drags a “floater” within trolling distance.

Mahimahi live up to their name (it means “very strong”), and the brightly colored, agile acrobats do their muscular tricks in Kona waters year-round. Occasionally huge schools gather around flotsam and jetsam for a wide-open bite that can go on for days. Then, skippers gear down to match the catch with sporting 20- and 30-pound-class rods. Unless a Kona skipper finds a floater, mahi are incidental catches on marlin and tuna trips.

By the way, the mahimahi record aside, Perry went on to catch the largest blue marlin in each of the first two Hawaiian International Billfish Tournaments (HIBT). The HIBT became an annual Kona fishing feature in 1959 and soon inspired dozens of other Kona tournaments. During the most popular tournament months of June, July and August, events compete with each other every week

Ono Blitzes, Summer Phenomenon

A Guide to Big Fish off the Big Island

Ninety years ago, a mysterious fellow known only as “J.B. Stickney” caught a 124.75-pound wahoo in Hawaii waters to set the world record. That was five years before the IGFA was founded, a time when records were compiled by Van Campen Heilner of Field & Stream and Francesca R. La Monte of the American Museum of Natural history. Ono — what wahoo are called in Hawaii — average 30 to 40 pounds, which makes J.B.’s catch even more extraordinary.

Big ones do show up now and then — state-record-holders Tom Brandt and Sky Mullins surprised their 133.2‑pound ono off the windward coast of the Big Island in December 2000. The major ono run reaches the Big Island in May of each year and hangs around into early September. Some ono are caught year-round, with early morning being your best chance. Kona skippers typically troll the 40-fathom line at the start of each trip to pick up any ono that might be harassing the nearshore bait schools.

To ward off the ono’s sharp teeth, skippers rig their special ono lures with single-strand stainless leaders. Ono slash at heavy-headed subsurface lures like weighted jets and lead-head feathers. On a typical trip specifically for ono, a successful boat might catch three or four fish. In years when ono blitz the summer currents, boats are known to hook as many as 40 on a single trip.

Other fishing areas might see the diversity of big-game fish that Kona has, but few have them in the sizes regularly seen here. In Kona, your next strike could come on any day of the year, in any phase of the moon, at any turn of the tide, on routinely comfortable seas, and be one of the Pacific’s biggest and most exciting game fish.

Shore Fishing off the Big Island

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California’s state record swordfish was boated this fall by three dedicated and enthusiastic anglers. They like to think a fourth fisherman had a hand in their success, at least in spirit. Dillon Houston, Ezekiel Cruz, and Mason Karafa caught the swordfish on Oct. 27, a broadbill 68 pounds heavier than the previous California record.

They had spent the day fishing but not catching at La Jolla Canyon off San Diego. With the sun sinking in the sky, the moved to 9 Mile Bank, closer to the coast, where Houston — a co-owner of Brothers Sportfishing — last year met and became friends with Capt. Ron Ellis. A skipper from Santa Barbara who had relocated to San Diego, Ellis was lost at sea in February.

Help From a Friend

Houston, Cruz, and Karafa toasted his memory, dropped a squid-tipped hook nearly 2,000 feet, and within an hour had caught the 520-pound swordfish they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.

“We all looked at each other and said, ‘Capt. Ron had to have helped us do battle with that fish,’” Houston said.

The group fished from a 25-foot Davidson Bahia that usually sees bluefins, yellowfins, California yellowtail, mahi, and rockfish on Brothers Sportfishing charters. They only began swordfishing last year, so it’s no surprise they had never caught one this big. No one had, at least in California waters. The former state record fish weighed 452 pounds.

Using squid rigged on a J-hook and 12 pounds of lead, the group hooked up fairly quickly. After watching the rod tip intently for 10 minutes, Karafa jumped up and said, “we just got a bite,” Houston recalled. Karafa felt the rod come tight, and the 45-minute fight was on. A welder and son of a commercial swordfisherman from Chincoteague Island, Virginia, Karafa stayed on the rod throughout the fight.

They were able to unclip the sinker early in the fight, but the swordfish then sounded 900 feet (they watched it on the fishfinder). “When we got it back up, we saw it was a sword, and a big one at that,” Houston said.

The Challenges of Boating a Big Swordfish

The fish made a blistering run at the surface, then abruptly turned and charged the boat. As it thrashed near the stern and tried to spear the motor, Cruz attempted to secure it with the flying gaff, but the fiberglass pole broke on the fish’s bill and the gaff hook came out. The fish, meanwhile, got the line tangled around the motor.

Eventually the line was cleared, although the crew had to cut off three deep-drop lights to get the loop through the guides. Then, Cruz successfully gaffed the fish. Houston was at the helm and drove to the sword, the crew recovering line as they went. As they got close, it became apparent the fish was nearly finished. The flying gaff line had wrapped around the fish’s bill. With the fish expiring, “we gave it our all and it finally got it into the boat,” Houston said.

Along with all the other challenges of boating a record fish is finding a scale big enough to weigh it. Back at Dana Landing, the scale only went to 499 pounds. Phone calls were made and the group drove another half hour by boat to Chula Seafood at Driscoll Wharf, where the weight was recorded on a certified scale. The fish was processed, vacuum sealed, and split three ways, with plenty going to family and friends.

A Record Breaker

The record sword was caught on an 11/0 J-hook tipped with squid and tied to a 5-foot, 300-pound bite leader, followed by 200 feet of 100-pound mono, with 80-pound Izorline braid spooled on a Hooker Electric Shimano Tiagra 50-wide reel.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife certified the record Thanksgiving week. Big as it was, the record sword was only about half the size of the International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record. That fish, caught in Iquique, Chile, way back in 1953, weighed 1,182 pounds.

Houston noted the broken gaff, the combative fish, the tangles, and the sheer size of the fish, and marveled that the group prevailed. “It was insane, honestly,” he said. “Nothing was normal about the fish, from the start all the way to the end. If the stars didn’t align the way they did, we would have been fighting that thing all night.

“To this day, when we’re sitting having a beer, we say, ‘Thank you Capt. Ron for helping us find that fish,” he added. “We honestly think that even though he’s gone, we still feel like he’s out there. We honestly feel like if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have landed that fish.”

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On August 23, 2023, a young Florida angler with an adventurous spirit and a fondness for catching big fish on the smallest of vessels has achieved a personal milestone off the Gulf coast: he caught, fought, and boated a 100-pound swordfish from a personal watercraft.

Emmanuel Williams, 23, of Miami, drove 14 hours to Venice, Louisiana, to get on the water at sun-up on August 20. He then motored 20 miles to open water and another 20 to the fishing grounds on his 12-foot Sea-Doo FishPro Trophy, a craft built for fishing. He was on a quest to make good on a plan he had announced four years earlier: to be the first person to catch a sword from a PWC.

A Swordfishing Group Effort

Williams was accompanied by his friend Capt. Sebastian Noel on the trip. In Venice, they connected with Capt. Blake Rigby, who provided the local know-how and accompanied Williams and Noel from his boat. Tyler Fischer was the fourth member of the party, shooting content as the adventure unfolded.

“Capt. Blake got us rigged up, and Sebastian hopped on the ‘ski with me,” he recalled. “We sent our bait down to about 1,400 feet of water.” They were using a 12/0 J-hook tipped with a squid, 60-pound braid with a 150-foot, 250-pound leader, a Shimano Talica 50 and a Check’n Bottom custom rod. The wait began, and the anglers’ patience was tested.

“I was pretty anxious and really wanted to get this fish,” Williams said. “After a couple hours of waiting morale got a little low, but we ground it out, and then we got that bite and cranked down on that fish. I was super excited to be locked in battle with this fish.”

The lead came to the rod and was removed. “Now we were directly connected with that fish. I told Sebastian, get ready with that gaff, this is our time, this is our moment. We saw that white glow of the fish coming up. I’m screaming at Sebastian, ‘Stick him, stick him, stick him!’ I couldn’t fathom that fish getting away.”

The Swordfish End Game

It did not get away. “Sebastian put the first gaff in him. I followed up with the second gaff, and then the fish realized what was happening and went absolutely ballistic — thrashing its bill, swinging its tail non-stop, and literally pulling the Sea-Doo in circles.

“And then that was it,” he said. “We definitely rejoiced. We were all very happy. As far as I know this was the first swordfish ever landed on a PWC, and it was documented.” They transferred the fish to Rigby’s cooler and began the long run back to their houseboat in Venice. The sea was flat while they fished, but by 10 a.m., “it was rolling 3 to fives the whole way,” he said. “But it wasn’t a bad ride home, knowing we completed the mission.” They cleaned and filleted the fish.

Williams is a content creator who works with Sea-Doo, Salt Life, and XTRATUF, and his YouTube channel is not to be missed. Fishing from a PWC is a personal choice that feels closer to the sea and the fish, he said.

The Allure of PWC Fishing

“I could definitely get a boat if I wanted to,” he said. “The first time I ever fished offshore was on a PWC. I just fell in love with the process and the challenge. It’s another kind of connection with the water, and it’s more intimate. There’s definitely more of a challenge to it. Just the weather — PWCs can handle super rough weather, but it’s a lot when you’re mixing weather with fishing.

“Space is a thing — you can’t bring a whole arsenal of rods. But in other ways, you kind of have an advantage, because if I happen to see, say, a school of tuna, I can roll up on them more quietly than a boat could.”

Twenty-three is young to have achieved a major goal, but Williams has further aspirations, all from the seat of the Sea-Doo.

“I have a lot of big plans when it comes to fishing,” he said. “I just want to travel and catch unique fish. I definitely want to do big tuna, both yellowfin and bluefin, and black and blue marlin. Those are the next fish I’m going after.”

You can see Williams’ catch the first-ever swordfish on a personal watercraft in this video on iBelongOutdoors.

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Part of the fun of fishing is not knowing what you’re going to catch — even if you’re an avid and experienced angler. Jeremiah Elliott, his brother Zach, Chandler Butler, and Trevor Burns were wrapping up an afternoon of swordfishing on Jeremiah’s Regulator 26 center console 60 miles off Morehead City, North Carolina, when they hooked something strange.

Jeremiah began retrieving the buoy line on a rod with a manual reel, only to find he had a fish on. It was not a species he recognized. It was probably a world record. And it tasted good.

Unusual Species from the Deep

Pomfrets are a deep-water fish belonging to the Bramidae family, which contains about 35 species worldwide. Though they can be found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, most species are somewhat rare. The bigscale pomfret, which is what Jeremiah hooked, is the largest in the family. And Jeremiah’s is as big as they come.

Pending World Record Pomfret

Heading in, the anglers called Chasin’ Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle in Atlantic Beach, “making sure we had the scales ready at the shop as they were coming through the Beaufort inlet with a possible world record fish,” the shop reported on Facebook. “We really had no idea what they had as it was hard to hear them over the phone.”

The rod was rigged with 80-pound braid, 130-pound leader, a 10-pound weight, and an 18 inch squid. The 35.5-inch pomfret took the bait 1,700 feet down, salvaging the afternoon. “No luck on the swords,” Elliot said. That morning, the group caught three mahi and a number of bottom fish.

The paperwork is being prepared to submit Elliot’s 26-pound, 11.4-ounce bigscale pomfret to the International Game Fish Association (IGFA). The current IGFA bigscale pomfret record is 20 pounds, 10 ounces, caught by W. Gordon Davis in St. Augustine, Florida, in Oct. 2004. Along with the pending IGFA record, Elliot’s catch is also tops in North Carolina, which had no statevrecord prior to the catch.

“We’ve already cleaned it and it was delicious,” Elliot said. “Odd fish, but it tasted good.”

The post Unexpected Catch Leads to Potential Record appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

As soon as the photos hit social media, skeptics started calling bull. The images showed an angler standing on a rocky shoreline, fly rod dangling over his shoulder, holding a hefty swordfish. The post described how Thomas Paulsen, a Maldives flyfishing guide, spotted, enticed, hooked and landed the trophy swordfish. Catching a swordfish with a fly rod is almost impossible, but pulling off the achievement from the beach is unbelievable.

But this fish story is true.

Silencing the Critics

When people question his story, Paulsen laughs and says, “Some people are always going to be a pain in the ass.” Of course, the photos and story are real. Paulsen is a professional guide at GTFlyfishing, specializing in catching giant trevally from coral beaches in the middle of the Indian Ocean. His day job is unbelievable — he doesn’t need to stretch a fish tale for internet clout.

Paulsen says the overall reaction has been positive with congratulations and kudos coming from all over the globe and every corner of the fishing world. Still, he admits, “I can’t believe what happened.”

An Unbelievable Wade Fishing Catch

Paulsen was fishing on his day off, wading the edge of a coral reef, looking for fish swimming close to shore. “About 150 yards off the reef crust, the water depth drops 3,000 feet,” he says. “It’s not uncommon to see billfish hunting in the area.” Two days earlier, he spotted a school of marlin from shore.

When he saw a huge fish making a big commotion in the distance, Paulsen moved in to investigate. “I noticed a bill come out of the water and I thought it was a sailfish,” he said.

Sight Fishing A Swordfish

The angler waded deeper as the fish moved toward him. Paulsen uses a Winston Air Salt 9-foot, 12-weight rod and Hatch Finatic 9 Plus reel. His reel was loaded with 350 yards of 80-pound braided line beneath RIO GT 475 gram line and 9 feet of 130-pound-test Momoi Hi-Catch fluorocarbon, ending in a custom black and green fly on an 8/0 Gamakatsu hook.

When the fish moved into range, Paulsen made three casts without answer. On the fourth cast, the fish turned, zeroed in on his fly and attacked. After Paulsen set the hook, the huge billfish ran 200 yards parallel to the reef. “If it escaped to the deep, I would never have stopped it,” he said.

Then, the fish turned toward the reef and swam into shallow water where it flailed helplessly in a shower of spray. Moving closer, Paulsen finally got a good look at his catch. “That’s when it hit me, I caught a swordfish.”

How to Land an Angry Swordfish

Tackling a green swordfish in knee deep water on a sharp coral reef is dangerous, so Paulsen called a friend over to help him subdue the trophy. “By now my adrenaline is pumping and I almost fainted,” he remembered.

Catching a swordfish with a fly rod is a lifetime achievement for any angler. Landing the fish from the shore requires so many things to go right. No gambler would take those odds. Paulsen’s unbelievable catch weighed 102 pounds and measured 5 feet long, from tip of its chin to the curve of the tail.

“In 40 years of fishing, this is the craziest thing that has happened to me,” Paulsen says. He doesn’t expect to repeat this achievement or even best it. “I just can’t understand the huge amount of luck,” Paulsen said.

The post Unbelievable: A Swordfish Caught on Fly from Shore appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Have you ever wondered where swordfish travel day and night when they’re not hanging out at your favorite deepwater canyon? Gray FishTag Research tagged three swordfish in 2021 and documented some surprising movements of the deepwater species. If you’re not familiar with Gray FishTag Research, their efforts make up the world’s largest cooperative tagging program, relying on recreational anglers to help track and tag fish. All the data collected is shared with anyone interested for free.

Swordfish Tagging Results

One satellite tag was fitted to a 53-inch, 65-pound swordfish caught by Capt. Nick Stanczyk on the Broad Minded off Islamorada, Florida, on Feb. 9, 2021. More than seven months later, on Sept. 10, 2021, the tag released from the swordfish about 70 miles east of Fernandina Beach in Northeast Florida — far north of where the fish had been fitted with the device. The swordfish was tracked free-range swimming for 213 days up Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

The innovative tags used to track swordfish are called a “MiniPAT.” A MiniPAT is a pop-up archival transmitting tag designed to track movements and behaviors of fish. Depth, temperature, light-level and other data are collected in the onboard memory. Then on a preset date set by a researcher, the tag releases from its fish, surfaces, and uploads information to satellites for recovery.

A second MiniPat was tagged to an 80-inch, 240-pound swordfish on May 1, 2021, by Capt. Chris Koulouvaris, 38 miles off Ft. Lauderdale. The sword roamed open water for 242 days, before the MiniPat tag released from the fish on Dec. 29, 2021 less than 40 miles from the Cayman Islands.

Capt. Bouncer Smith, off Fort Lauderdale, fitted a third MiniPat on a 120-pound, 72-inch swordfish on May 1, 2021. The sword was tracked by satellite for 180 days before the tag released offshore Nova Scotia, Canada, on Nov. 3, 2021. That’s one heck of a distance to swim, covering the entire US Atlantic Coast.

Swordfish data learned from the tagging research is valuable to scientists studying the species. It also helps fish regulators better understand how to apply rules, especially if the data show swordfish don’t stay near a particular state’s coastline or even country. In total, all three tagged swordfish in 2021 showed just how far they roam. Whether they headed toward the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic or as far north as Canada, the swords didn’t call one place home for long.

Full Moon Swordfish Activity

The Gray FishTag Research team verified that most swordfish travel from the surface to the depths in daylight and darkness — Atlantic swords head to the bottom during daybreak and ascend to the surface at dusk. That’s the traditional movements, we as anglers, can expect from swordfish.

Research also showed that water temperature likely plays a role in where swordfish live. Swordies don’t like hot water (although there were instances where swordfish were recorded basking at the surface by the team).

During a full moon, swordfish act a bit differently. Researchers learned that swordfish moved into slightly deeper depths during a full moon. The fish maintained a depth of 50 to 300 feet even at night, and lived within 300 feet of the bottom during the day due during this particular moon phase. That makes one wonder, do both light and temperature affect the up and down movement of swordfish in the water column? well, the recreational tagging data definitely suggests it.

The post Where Swordfish Roam appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Veteran Outer Banks N.C. Capt. Michael Tickle runs the 67-foot Jerrett Bay boat “Wasteknot” out of Morehead City. But on Dec. 29 he headed offshore on a friend’s much smaller 28-foot Southport boat with his 13-year old son Kelson, and 28-year old boat mate Zach Grantham for a go at swordfish.

“The weather that time of year can be iffy, but we had a beautiful day with great conditions,” said Tickle, age 38. “There was just 2.5 knots of northeast current, and we headed 60 miles east of Beaufort Inlet and started fishing in 1,600-feet of water.”

They used a 20-inch eel bait rigged with an 11/0 Mustad 7691 hook, and a pink Fathom skirt. It was connected to a Tiagra reel spooled with 80-pound test Power Pro, and 150 yards of 250-pound wind-on leader, and taken deep with add-on weight.

Read Next: 393-Pound Swordfish Caught For Likely Maryland State Record

They drift-fished until almost noon, before a sword struck.

“The swordfish took a few hundred yards of line on the bite then raced to the surface,” said Tickle. “We never saw it initially. But after about an hour we were able to get the weight off the line (to aid the fish fight).

“As I was getting the weight off, the fish jumped twice beside the boat. After that it went back down and it took Kelson another 4.5 hours to get it back up where Zach was able to get a dart in it.

“Once we’re able to get the fish alongside, it took us around 30-minutes to get the fish in the boat with the aid of a block and tackle.”

It took the anglers 5.5 hours to land the massive swordfish.

The anglers ran back to port, weighing the sword at Big Rock Landing in Morehead City, NC with the aid of friends from EJW OUTDOORS. The huge sword scaled 560-pounds, with a 165-inch total length, and 106-inch girth.

“This was my third swordfish over 500-pounds,” said Capt. Tickle. “But this one was extra special fishing with my son as the angler.”

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The 65-foot custom Carolina charter boat RoShamBo, captained by Wille Zimmerman, pulled out of Ocean City Fishing Center early on Sept. 21, destined for a long and fish-filled day far offshore.

“We first targeted tilefish and boated about 30 of them, then got into schoolie dolphin, and put about a dozen in the boat,” said RoShamBo mate Daniel Ames. “Next with the sun high, we tried for swordfish, drifting very deep water with a couple baited lines with three flashing Diamond lights fitted above the leader.”

That’s when the action really started to heat up, as a swordfish took a bait in over 1,000-feet of water and 12-year old Bubba Stamp got into the fighting chair.

It was Bubba’s birthday, and after an hour battle on a 50-pound class swordfish set up, Bubba got the billfish close to the RoShamBo and Ames gaffed a 130-pounder. It was Bubba’s first swordfish and a heck of a birthday present.

“We got right back to fishing, and pulled the hook on another swordfish,” said Ames, age 28. “We thought we were about done for the day, but at 2:15 p.m. we hooked a third sword on an eel bait, and Jeffery Jacobs got into the chair for what became a helluva fight.”

The fish fought deep and tough, but Jacobs (from Leonardtown, Md.) was physically up to the challenge. He pulled the fish to the surface time and again, only to have it stubbornly dive hundreds of feet below the boat, renewing the fight.

Ames says each time Jacobs got the fish near the surface it got mad and made a jump or two, launching itself out of the water 6 or 7 times during the over five-hour battle.

“The swordfish never charged the boat,” said RoShamBo Captain Willie Zimmerman. “I think it was bothered by the sun because as the sun started to set, the sword seemed to calm down a bit and we finally got him to the boat.”

Two flying gaffs and a long-handled gaff were used to subdue the fish, and a block and tackle was employed to haul the giant aboard the boat – 5 ½-hours after the fight began.

“Jacobs was tired by the swordfish, but he was up for it, and he said could have fought the fish longer if that’s what it took to get it in the boat,” said Ames.

Near the end of the fight the sword came beside the boat and regurgitated an estimated 50-pounds of digesting food, including large baitfish and squid.

“Everyone saw it throw up that food, which was too bad because I’m sure it would have weighed 50 pounds more than it did when we got back to the marina,” said Ames.

After a long 65-mile run back to Ocean City Fishing Center and well after nightfall, the fish on certified scales weighed 393.8-pounds, with a 101-inch length and 56-inch girth.

It almost surely will be a new Maryland state record for swordfish. A official paperwork currently is being filed with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. It should easily surpass the current state record swordfish weighing 318.5 pounds, caught in Aug. 2021 by Jake Bertonazzi.

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Brandon Carney, 33, pointed his 32-foot Contender boat the “Willow-B” offshore out of Beaufort Inlet, N.C. on Aug. 21 to begin a day no one aboard will soon forget.

The deep-water target was swordfish, and the boat crew of Stephen Beaman, Joshua Meekins, Justin Meekins, Shelly Carney, and Cary Carne were all primed and prepared for the challenge.

“We stopped in 1,300 feet of water and dropped our bait down, but had no takers, so we moved to a new location at 10:30 and sent an albacore belly on a 10/0 hook with a glow skirt down,” says Carney. “We were 50 to 60 miles offshore, using an 11-pound weight rigged 100 feet above the bait to get it deep.”

Often swordfish just lightly tickle a bait before taking it and starting the fight. But Brandon says this fish slammed their bait and screamed off on a run pulling 26-pounds of reel drag like it was nothing.

The fish was hooked with an electric fishing reel ready to be pressed into service, but the reel wouldn’t function because of a faulty fuse. So, Brandon’s dad, Cary, jumped into action and began a 2.5-hour brutal battle of reeling, cranking, and fighting the biggest fish any of the anglers had ever seen.

“The fish never jumped and after about 30 minutes, dad brought it up to about 20 feet of the surface and we could see how huge it was,” Capt. Brandon says. “We got the 11-pound weight detached from the line, then the swordfish came back to life, going deeper and deeper and deeper, pulling a lot of 65-pound test line with him.”

The same 26-pound drag pressure stayed on the fish and Cary cranked and cranked and cranked.

The fish fight lasted 2.5 hours, with the boat being pulled and drifting about 12 miles. Finally, while hovering over 4,000 feet of water, the massive swordfish came up, and now the anglers had to figure how to get it in the boat.

“It wouldn’t fit through our open tuna door, so we brought it in tail first, wedging the body against the hull,” says Brandon. “We fitted a rope around its bill, then tossed it over the T-top frame, then hoisted it into the boat. It took us about an hour of trying to figure how to get it into our Contender, and then muscling it in that way.”

The anglers curled the fish around the boat console from the stern, packed it in 100 pounds of ice, and started the run back to Beaufort Inlet.

About 90-minutes later they pulled in to Portside Marina where the fish was hauled out of their boat with a fork lift, measured and weighed on certified scales, according to Brandon.

The massive swordfish weighed 504.4 pounds, with a 53-inch girth and 104-inch length from lower jaw to fork of tail. The sword’s impressive bill was 47-inches long.

A regional swordfish tournament was underway at the time, but the crew of the “Willow-B” (named after Brandon’s daughter Willow) was not entered in it or they’d have won the event.

The current North Carolina record swordfish is a 441-pounder (1979 off Wrightsville Beach by Horace Murray), so their fish would easily eclipse that mark.

Their catch has been submitted as a potential state record for North Carolina swordfish, and authorities are reviewing it to ascertain that the catch was indeed made by sporting means and not using an electric reel, which would disqualify it.

“We have nothing to hide, and my dad did a great job fighting the fish,” Brandon says. “We’ve filed all the paperwork with the state and have offered to do testing to show how valid the catch is.

“We’re thrilled to have caught that fish and be a part of hopefully a record catch.”

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The hard strike happened around 2 p.m., several hours after they’d already lost another deep swordfish off the coast of Beaufort, S.C. But the crew of young anglers had been team fishing for years and previously had boated big swordfish. Everyone knew what to do, and they all pitched in for a monumental battle that would last 3.5 hours, covering over 11 miles as they fought a deep, heavy fish 90 miles offshore.

On board the 27-foot Sea Lion boat christened “The Black Top,” were brothers Nathan and McNeal Finley, Bailey Scarborough and boat owner Owen Savage – all Palmetto State friends and coastal resident anglers.

Nathan Finley, 31, an inshore charter boat captain, said they were fishing with a single swordfish electric reel set up. They used a bonito strip bait rigged with a Diamond LP green light to draw attention to the bait that was taken down 1,800 feet with a removable 10-pound weight.

An LP electric rod and reel holding hundreds of yards of braided line was used, with a heavy wind-on monofilament leader at the terminal end. It was set up with 16-pounds of lever reel drag pressure, and Nathan says the drag pressure never was changed during the fight.

“After the fish slammed the bait we had him within 150-feet of the boat in just 20 minutes,” says Nathan. “We have the removeable 10-pound weight positioned 150 feet above the bait. So when that came topside, we knew the fish was close when we unsnapped the weight.”

That’s when the fish fight really kicked into high gear, lasting over three hours more.

“The power of that swordfish was incredible,” Nathan reports. “Several times he dove deep and fast, then would come up and jump. The fish jumped three times clear of the water, and a couple times he charged the boat, targeting the motor.”

Swordfish are well known for charging boats during a fight, and the South Carolina anglers were ready for it.

“He’d charge the motor prop and we’d surge forward to stay ahead and away from the fish when it came at us,” Nathan explains.

The only time they thought they might lose their big swordfish was about three hours into the fight.

“The fish jumped completely out of the water, and burned off 400 feet of line in a blistering run,” Nation recalls. “I know that jump covered 40 feet. I couldn’t believe he still had that much energy. He acted like he was just hooked, and the fight was just beginning.

“He turned toward the boat and went under us acting like he was going to jump again. When he cleared out from under us, I ran the boat up to him and McNeal hit him with a harpoon while standing up at the bow.”

McNeal’s harpoon throw was a perfect shot, hitting the fish behind a pectoral fin, and driving deep about half way into the sword. The harpoon has a detachable barbed head, so they now had a line leading to the mortally-wounded fish.

“He was red hot, but I ran the boat up to him fast, and we got a big gaff into him, then we got a rope around his tail,” recalls Nathan. “He was done soon after that and settled down. We got two more gaffs in him, loosened the tail rope, and slid him into the boat at the stern headfirst.”

Nathan says from where they’d first hooked the swordfish to the spot where he came aboard they’d traveled 11.5 miles.

The weather was good and as they iced the fish down and prepared to run back to Beaufort, they spotted a second swordfish estimated at 350 pounds swimming around their boat.

“That smaller fish just stayed with us, circling,” says Nathan. “I think it was with the bigger sword we pulled aboard the whole time we fought it. We never even considered trying to catch the smaller fish. We had all we could handle with the one we had in the boat. It took about 15 minutes to get ready to run home, and the smaller swordfish was there the whole time.

“We finally left him in our wake as we got the boat up on plane for the run in.”

The 95-mile run home took over four hours, and they came into a Beaufort boat landing area where a friend had a forklift type mechanism to lift the swordfish out of the boat, and weigh it on a rugged, accurate scale. It weighed 490 pounds.

“This isn’t our first offshore swordfish rodeo,” says Nathan. “We’ve been fishing together for 7 years. But no swordfish trip like this ever happened before, and no fish was ever like this one.”

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