Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A Swordfight That Wasn't...

I'm used to taking pictures of KG sleeping.

The world is all backwards, upside down and inside out.

LOL

What you and your buddies do is called "crossing swords".



https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crossing%20swords

Great story and pics, I'm envious. Thanks for sharing.

Jeff, yessir. My buddy Davey is in Naples and he was supposed to join on the sword trip but as a result of crappy wx torpedoing his plans with fam', on the only day or two it cleared up he had to attend to his wife and so had to cancel fishing with us.

Some more pics.

Breakfast before setting out day 2. Blue crab cake benny.



The lads getting some calories on board before getting pickled at sea.



Brian with the catch of the trip.



Headed offshore to drag for anything that might hit us.



STX tight to a decent blackfin; biggest of the run.




C'mon lil' dawggie!

Tight to a nice little skipjack tuna.



Ten minutes later:



Me fixing Roger's frontal shot.



Ballyhoo rigged up for mahi/kingfish/whatever



Wash.

Japanese snacks. Dried/smoked oysters, snails and clams. Potato chips? You can do better!



STX with another wee mahi that jumped on flatlined cedar and feathers.



The Texans awaken.



Frigate. Rime of the Ancient Mariner, anyone?



Skipjack.



The skippa' on the flybridge.

Coupla' fish inna box.



Bonito.



PAN PAN. PAN PAN. PAN PAN.




Wheels in the sky keep on ternin' (80s Journey song, anyone?).




Some wildlife back @ at the barn.

That's great, that ya got ta catch your own bait.

Need some dried squid, if ya want the brews ta go down quickly.

A true friend will haul a requested dish 1600 miles for an amigo. South Texas real deal menudo. Gracias, muchacho! Que deliciosos!




OK then, that's about I have in me to post up for now. Look forward to Roger posting his peacock bass adventures and other shots he probably has when he gets on. They rented a boat today and got into some fish and pretty deep into the bourbon and 'gars. I think they head out tomorrow morning. Safe trip, brother and thanks for the comments, y'all.

KG

Looks like y'all had a wonderful time.That's what it's really all about.

Guilty. I crash out all the time fishing offshore. Contributing factors are usually hangovers, no sleep the previous night and for years, taking Dramamine. I do much better on Scapolamine these days. And laying off the booze a little. The mate on the first day said to us that we were sort of unique guests. Never before had there been three guys who actually knew how to fish and helped to the point where he didn't have anything to do. Rigging baits, clearing lines, setting outriggers, running gaffs, hand-lining fish, etc. He also remarked that we were group of swordchasers who were all dead asleep only 30 minutes into the trip.

Baldhunter, thank you. We had a great time indeed. Rog' is about to drop off the other Texan who joined them for the last three days at Miami Int'l. Greg ought to be home on his couch and well into a 6 hour nap long before the other two hit Alabama...

Safe trip, Roger and Brian.

That looks like a lot of fun.

The fishing part, not the drive.

Would you use the charter again or were you not real impressed overall? You mentioned the boat wasn't what you'd anticipated.

It was, and yes I would, and will. The guy who was running the show really knows his stuff. Problem was that his regular ride is his partner's 35' Cat, the same one he was running down to Islamorada from Ft. Lauderdale the day of our trip. I got a text just as we arrived at the house showing one of two counter-rotating props on one of the boat's 350s GONE. He'd stopped to try to pick up a couple golden tilefish on some numbers and all of a sudden heard a loud whistling noise. Somehow the back prop had sheared off the shaft and went to the bottom. As such, the rig I booked him to run us out on was now going to limp down to the Keys and head for the shop. He said that he'd try to find someone to lend him another boat, as finding parts and last minute mechanic is something of a trick . Problem was that everybody was booked to fish.

He managed to talk to a buddy who had a cancellation and thus, us heading out on the 38' Luhrs. I have never, and I mean never been on a rig of such a size that rode so horribly. We were in seas less than two feet and I swear it seemed like we were in 6'-8's. STX actually got quite seasick out on that tub, something I've never seen in dozens of trips with him, many in fairly rough seas. I was shocked at just now badly that thing rode. Also, the Luhrs is *slow*, and the 30+ miles to the sword grounds in the Cat would've taken an hour. With the Luhrs it took 2.5 hours plus. Then of course we lost an engine on the Luhrs coming BACK. What are the odds? It threw a hose and there was coolant everywhere. We were all like, 'JFC, what's next, we spring a major leak in the fuggin' hull and there are no PFDs aboard?'

The guy and his mate worked their asses off trying to get us tight. This kind of fishing is seriously labor jntensive. You have to watch the rod 100% of the time, and adjust constantly due to changing depth. You have to stay on the numbers and run the boat continuously. It is NOT an exercise in just dropping to bottom, cracking a cold beer and putting your feet up as you bob around. The gear used is highly specialized and the proper baits and presentations are also key. Experience in detecting a bite is also so. Swords do not mash baits like tuna. Bites can be almost imperceptible. They will use their bills to poke at or whack the bait before coming back to eat, and being able to recognize the difference is important. You don't want to be hauling up when you should be dropping down, don'tcha' know.

Anyway, there's more but I've gone on enough. I know how much I bore people here going on endlessly...

LD: I know how it goes dude, but thanks. We struck out with swords and had some crap luck with boats and no bite. The day we were out there were about 20 other boats chasing swords, including the famed Nick Stanz. Of all the guys out there, only a single sword pup was hooked. We still managed a few fish--that were all damned delicious, BTW-- and we had a good time amongst friends. And that's more than half of the point anyway, in my book.

Fugk that's rough. At least you made the best of it.

Work sure gets in the way of a lot of fun......

Boat troubles aside, looks like a great trip! Mahi and BF make for some great eats!

Nothing screams Texas like this food grade bucket!

Lol. I’m sure they wiped it out with a dirty shirt first😀

That is goldang beautiful, Leighton. Well done! You're one ahead of me on the mahi mahi tally, btw...