Canyon Fishing / Braid or Mono for Swords

[occams razor]

I thought I would run this buy all you folks. On my recent canyon trip I had my trusty 50W loaded with Momoi diamond 80 and a 100lb leader as well as 150 anti chafe lead fishing deep for swords ( Yellows were not cooperating). Anyhow this time of year with the wind and currents I was noting an issue with keeping baits where I wanted them to be. Here is my thought .

I have a Accurate ATD 50 in the box not in use yet and I was tossing the idea about just loading it all the way with 130 JB braid and using heavy wind on leaders. I figure I would have greater control over depth holding than with the big mono.

Just wanted to see if any guys out there are already doing this and if so what are the plusses and minuses if any. My only worry is I am going to sacrfice alot of shock forgiveness and that may be a major issue in some cases.

[toddbersuch]

google pacific coast sportfishing mag then search "swordfish" articles. theirs good intel. I' ve been prodging hard on going deep with a swordfish rig. definitely will have a rig ready by next season. have you had any luck?

[occams razor]

Have in the past few seasons but not this year. I took a late canyon charter for yellows this season and the water temp had dropped off drasticly so the yellows had scooted south. So I set up for Swords and spend a good amount of time at it . Thing was the damn current was ripping and I could not come up with enough weight to to hold where I knew I needed to be. I have founds swords could care less about gail force conditions but its the current that really screws up your offering and the majority of the time the damn blue dogs take you offering. I figured I could hold much better with going with strait braid and then a heavy anti chafe wind on leader. Before I set up I thought I would ask around about opinions. I know the west coast guys are baiting at 1000 or 1500 feet with a monsterous amont of weight. I will check the articles out west but I know they fish at deep depths.

I figure the full braid will help out, my main worry is chafing. Swords are relentles on chafing through anything but wire.

[sCOTT pRITCHARD]

Razor are you daytiming or nighttiming for your swords? It will make a difference on your terminal rigs but either way almost everyone in S FL has switched to hollow spectra (learned from CA guys). If you .do not have an electric reel, I would suggest night time fishing first as you will be fishing from the surface down to 300'. I use 130 hollow to 100 lb topshot to 250 lb leader. I fish 3 rods and I have a 100' topshot on 1 a 200' on the other and a 300' on the deep rod. That way at night I can easily tell how much line is out and the splice serve is where I attach my float jug (lighted).These lengths of mono give me plenty of shock absorbtion. I do not fish a heavy drag like the CA long rangefishing because alot of times swords are foul hooked from them coming up slashing the baits and its better to baby them a little bit. If you hook a monster that you cannot control after a long period of time you can gamble on increasing the drag. If you want to daytime (swords feed on the bottom in the day) you definitely will need braid and the rigging will vary depending if you want to have a breakaway sinker or a fixed weight system.In s. FL we daytime bottom fish from 1500-2000' hence the electrics. Just winding in to check bait will require a six pack of fuel for the body. But to answert your qustion in a nut shell braid is now almost a necessity. You can splice it if you need to add on and it has less resistance in the water allowing you to fish extreme depths without 50 lbs of weight. Also did I mention reel capacity. Your 50w is just ok for night time and probably too small for daytime even with spectra. If you go the the swordfish central forum you can learn alot about east coat swordfishing, alot more than I know.
Good luck and tight lines.

[occams razor]

Todd:

Thank you for the tip. That is exactly what I was looking for. Guess I had the rite idea.

[Ol Pedro]

I have one reel set up the same way that Scott P. does but I use 80 lb Izor to 300 ft of 80 lb Ande . I then use as many eggs as I need to hold depth , slide on a bead and tie on a Sampo Ball bearing swivel . I use 7' of 100 lb floro With a small green flasher and a large Ringed Super Mutu matching the size to the bait . We use this simple rig at night for Swords . We have also caught Yellow Fin Tuna and Eyes doing this .Most of our fish come at between 100 and 300 ft .

[occams razor]

Thank you very much for the info guys. My primary is nightime and that will be done on a headboat anchored in 600 or so. I have taken them to 175lbs on my 50w without a problem when everything is going just so. This time I was out on a headboat and the current was unreal so I figured braid would be the way to go. I really wan to stay away from another 50W and thinking of spooling my unused Accurate 50 to do duty in that dept with 130 JB sectra and just the wind on leader. I don't see nailing a 500 on any of these trips in the future. I don't get to go to the Canyons on the edge much so I just wanted to have the odds more in my favor. If I was doing it on a reg basis I would look at electrics or maybe a 80 loaded with spectra but It would hardly see any use other than that. I preffer my hard earned dollar to be usefull for several uses than just one specific. I can only afford so many Accurates.
Speaking of that I really wonder why Accurate decided not to go with a double dog design with the 600 , 30 and 50 extremes. I love my 600 as a jigger but those roller clutches have to be eyed constantly. Sorry I highjacked my own thread.
Anyhow my 50 will hold 650 of 130 JB and I think that will suffice what I plan to do with it. My hole issue was Mr.Sword slashing away. I see what they can do to mono leaders....

So as it goes with every damn thing in the world I have to compromise.
So it looks like going with my A-50 atd spooled with 100 JB and lengthened wind on leader to give me the shock resistance. I won't be dropping 1500 feet and I can use the set-up for tuna also. Going thin will drasticly help dealing with that viscious fall weather current too. Think I have a plan now..