Southern California Swordfish! Possible?

[jesse]

Stickboats get'm

[Rubberhook2]

Originally Posted by af dreamer

1978?

Correct Tom. What a summer for swords...

[af dreamer]

Grimes had 11(2 2fish days)Dickerson and Callan both had 7!I know we baited more diff fish in one day than ANY other year total I have been fishing.Can only dream of that year.Tom

[sdfishkiller]

Man, you old dudes were lucky to fish So.Cal in it's golden years.

I guess I was born too late.

[af dreamer]

im old,hes just middle age!AND that was a once in lifetime year,never seen one like it before or since.Marlin fishing was great also.One morning on the way to the 267 at grey light we found a sleeper marlin,got it,went a couple miles,found a two finner,it bit,came to the boat,was reaching for the leader,the angler said wait,the fished jumped and the hook fell out,just one more we SHOULD have had.No matter how quick you get a chance you take,just be prepaired when you leave the dock.We got one in 11 min that year.My personal fish took 2 hours.Tom

[Rubberhook2]

What made that year so unique was that if you found one there was a very good chance it would eat a bait. No 2 speeds in those days...my fish came on a Penn 4/0 that had a Newell kit I believe called the "broadbill special" that had a wide aluminum spool and frame bars and reelseat. Today I would use nothing less than 80lb on a 2 speed that I could cast.

I also pulled on one for 6 hours into the dark that we had followed for over 6 miles when my father told me to button the drag and either turn the fish or break it off. It was a long quiet ride back to the harbor after the line parted...

Old? Who? Just remember you are only as old as the women you feel...

Check out the retro shoulder harness, "Bent Rod" custom rod and smile while pulling on a local marlin...

[Eye Problem]

I baited two big fuckers (400 lbs appx) last year at the avalon bank, both gave me the middle flipper as they always do. My older son cracked me up, he was telling me to just pull up next to one and snag it with an iron

[fishbuster27]

Came up on a sleeper on the way back from SCI (about 10 miles south of Catalina). We had Mako rigs on hand and hooked on a FAT live mackeral as a snack to offer. We figured that if the rig could handle the "teeth" of a Mako then it could handle the "grit" of a billfish...YEAH RIGHT!!!! It took the mackeral, stripped off about 300 yds of 80# Izorline and snapped through a steel leader like it was a cobweb. I have some amazing pics of the fish as it let us get (literally) right over it but they need to be "scanned" as they are polaroids. Good luck and pack some extra food b/c you could be fighting it for a while if you find one.

[Pescador Paul]

I have baited two swordfish during daylight hours. In both cases they ignored the bait.

I agree with Biggest T in that I think trolling at night with rigged squid would give you your best shot at a swordfish in SoCal. Marlin magazine had an article a few years ago about night trolling for swordfishh off the west coast of Africa.

Pescador Paul

[captaindorado]

Originally Posted by Rubberhook2

What made that year so unique was that if you found one there was a very good chance it would eat a bait. No 2 speeds in those days...my fish came on a Penn 4/0 that had a Newell kit I believe called the "broadbill special" that had a wide aluminum spool and frame bars and reelseat. Today I would use nothing less than 80lb on a 2 speed that I could cast.

I also pulled on one for 6 hours into the dark that we had followed for over 6 miles when my father told me to button the drag and either turn the fish or break it off. It was a long quiet ride back to the harbor after the line parted...

Old? Who? Just remember you are only as old as the women you feel...

Check out the retro shoulder harness, "Bent Rod" custom rod and smile while pulling on a local marlin...

Love the old style harness on the upper body, the stuff we used to do! funny

[M/V Santa Rosa]

these fish will hurt you, nothing more nothing less. In many many ways.
Once that purple fever gets into your blood, it starts to hurt your pocket book.
then your relationship suffers with the wife,
One thing to remember is that these fish do not pussy foot around and they can hurt you for life, they are hot and are pissed off.
Most sword guys will tell a story or 2 about this one fish or that one fish, only because they all fight the same but one or 2 will stand out.

Those one or 2 are the ones that will ruin your day if not your life, they will bust you up no question about it..

have a nice day

[Smudge]

So is anyone deep dropping during the day for these guys? My buddies in the Keys absolutle slay them. I know one boat that put over 30 on the boat last season down there and two of those over 250. I would think that similar tactics would work on this coast no?