soundownsam
09-25-2005, 04:41 AM
Well its late but after a long night in the water I'm not quite ready for bed so perhaps I'll try my hand at a fish story. Tonight was LDYC's annual Sword Fight a sword fish tournament fished by a relatively small number of South Florida's best crews.
I had the luck to be fishing with one of my regular crews aboard a 46' Bertram. Unfortunaletly teh weather was not excatly ideal for drifting all night in the Florida Straights. Sporty 6'+ swells with a side order of wind chop kept us rocking and rolling through the night.
It didn't take long for us to get tight with the fish and by 8:15 we we already tight and had our first fish to the boat for a series of manuearvers that should more aptly be caller perforating than gaffing. It seams that being poked with a gaff and a harpoon hauled half way into the boat and then dropped was rather upseting to Mr. Swordy and he took off for Cuba. Fortunately, we had a more than qualified angler on the rod and he was able to work throught this period of difficulty and return the fish to boat side for a promt dispatching into the fish bag.
Shortly after the first fish (and during my nap) we had a hot fish eat one of the middle baits and wrap it around the 2 long baits and a clump of sea weed about 60lb. Needless to say this fish did offer himself up for a ride to the scales.
After this fiasco it was time to get clear of the weeds and run back top our original numbers. After setting up we had one fish pull drag briefly as we were setting out. Unfortunately swordies have a difficult time getting live baits into their mouths and we never got a solid set up on this fish. Once the spread was set and we were sitting back to enjoy our sandwiches fish number 4 jumped the tip rod and was quickly brought to the boat. As we did not know if this fish would make tournament minimum for length we billed him and pulled him into to pit for a date with the measuring tape. After several quick readings on the tale of the tape we decided the fish really was 3/4" too short for the tournament minimum.
After the short fish the evenings excitement was over until weigh in time. We made the scales at 2:15 and jumped into the lead, always an ominous sign. As more boats made their way to the scale we were dropped to 2nd then 3rd in a slow agonizing succession. Until we were feeling pretty god about 3rs place 3minutes before the scales closed when the dreaded shadow of a black Conch edged up to the dock. This particular vessel is an very unwelcome sight to anyone sitting in the money, especially the boat on the bubble. When the scale stopped bouncing we managed to hold onto a bitter sweat 3rd place. While we fished against quality competition and placed in the money, we were also 3/4" away from winning it all.
What a night, now its bed time.
Sam
I had the luck to be fishing with one of my regular crews aboard a 46' Bertram. Unfortunaletly teh weather was not excatly ideal for drifting all night in the Florida Straights. Sporty 6'+ swells with a side order of wind chop kept us rocking and rolling through the night.
It didn't take long for us to get tight with the fish and by 8:15 we we already tight and had our first fish to the boat for a series of manuearvers that should more aptly be caller perforating than gaffing. It seams that being poked with a gaff and a harpoon hauled half way into the boat and then dropped was rather upseting to Mr. Swordy and he took off for Cuba. Fortunately, we had a more than qualified angler on the rod and he was able to work throught this period of difficulty and return the fish to boat side for a promt dispatching into the fish bag.
Shortly after the first fish (and during my nap) we had a hot fish eat one of the middle baits and wrap it around the 2 long baits and a clump of sea weed about 60lb. Needless to say this fish did offer himself up for a ride to the scales.
After this fiasco it was time to get clear of the weeds and run back top our original numbers. After setting up we had one fish pull drag briefly as we were setting out. Unfortunately swordies have a difficult time getting live baits into their mouths and we never got a solid set up on this fish. Once the spread was set and we were sitting back to enjoy our sandwiches fish number 4 jumped the tip rod and was quickly brought to the boat. As we did not know if this fish would make tournament minimum for length we billed him and pulled him into to pit for a date with the measuring tape. After several quick readings on the tale of the tape we decided the fish really was 3/4" too short for the tournament minimum.
After the short fish the evenings excitement was over until weigh in time. We made the scales at 2:15 and jumped into the lead, always an ominous sign. As more boats made their way to the scale we were dropped to 2nd then 3rd in a slow agonizing succession. Until we were feeling pretty god about 3rs place 3minutes before the scales closed when the dreaded shadow of a black Conch edged up to the dock. This particular vessel is an very unwelcome sight to anyone sitting in the money, especially the boat on the bubble. When the scale stopped bouncing we managed to hold onto a bitter sweat 3rd place. While we fished against quality competition and placed in the money, we were also 3/4" away from winning it all.
What a night, now its bed time.
Sam