drag for swordfish

Started by bill19803, April 10, 2017, 07:36:47 PM

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bill19803

To  the   sword  chasin  brothers    HELP

Had a long   discussion   with   someone  i   think   is  knowledgeable  about   catching   swords.    HOW  MUCH  DRAG??   Some  say they have a  soft  mouth   and  stay  under   20  lbs,  others   say   at   20 lbs   youll  never land  a    big one. To  those   across  the  pond      who  get   to   chase     these   critters  often   how  big a hook  and how  much  drag   do   you use   when   using  12 inch  (30    cm) tube   squid   for   bait  ? Me ive been using    27  lbs    cause  thats  all i  can personally handle  in a   stand up  situation.  But  ive  been   spooled   at    27   with   80stw    full of   80 lb  jinkai  mono. Normal   fishing  depths  here    300-500   down   at  edge of   shelf.

handi2

On our boat we use 2 Krystal electrics and 2 Shimano 50WLRS spooled with braid with mono to the leader.

We are in 1000 plus feet of water to almost 2000'. We use break off weights to get the bait down that deep.

The drags are at 25lbs while drifting but we do loosen up when the fish gets to coming up. We haven't ben lucky enough to catch one over 150lbs. Only 4 have been caught on my boat.

Keith
OCD Reel Service & Repair
Gulf Breeze, FL

boon

#2
The women's world record was landed here recently, 361kg off the top of my head. Caught on a Talica 50 spooled with 130lb Hollowace. I've never gone chasing them myself but talking to people that have they use a whole houseload of drag. 40lb+ is not unheard of.

That said there were also 2 record claims recently for 15kg and 10kg tackle, still very large fish (>200kg I believe) and obviously they weren't using heaps of drag but I have no idea what the fight-time was like. A 80w spooled with 10kg line gives you a lot of scope to let the fish run.

Hook size on a bait like that is usually around the 16/0 mark. J-hook if you're planning to eat the fish, circle if you want to maybe let it go. Mustad 7731A or similar.

conchydong

 In South Florida, due to the currents, 60-100 lb spectra on (mostly) electric reels are used for daytime swordfishing 1500-2000' down. once hooked, a sword usually will  come to the surface to fight against the weight (sinker) which in our case could be between 10- 15 lbs. Like Handi said, 25 lbs drag is plenty enough  because once they are on the surface you have already retrieved a enormous amount of line. Then once you get the weight off  the real fight is on but you can use the boat to gain on them.

bill19803

the     4   fish i have seen landed  all  came   to  the  surface  rather  fast     with  minimal   weight  (  oz  not lbs)   but   did  crazy  stuff   then  and     the boats i   go on   anchor    and  no  chasing   so it   gets tense. In  fact  i use   82   ft  of   200   flouro   to  protect   against boat bottom.  It aint  cheap  but it   did   save   the one i landed   as  leader  was  frayed   to point one more  good  tug  and it  would have been over.
But the  two i  am  sure  were   swords  that i lost   just  got  tired of  fooling   with me   and  left    dodge  One   wrecked  (literally)  a  80   stw,  took a    reel  full  of   80  jinkai  and  kept   going. The  other one  dumped  80   stw  (after repair) full of   100  moi moi   .  Both   times   drags  set    at    26-27  lbs  at  strike    and  fish  fought  at  strike.  Second  fish  did  its damage  slower   and  didnt   wipe  out the reel  like  first one   who   was  honking out  of here.

So i  guess  that  the      27  lb limit ive  set   for myself   is  reasonable based  on   what  ive  heard  here   tonight.
Thanks   to all   who  shared info

Tightlines667

Swords do have relatively soft mouths.  I have never tangled with one of recreational gear, but have seen thousands of fish brought yo gaff on longline gear.  Small fish have relatively weaker mouths, which can easily be torn off with less then 25lbs of pressure.  Larger fish do rip hooks too, but you are usually talking bigger numbers.  Most fish that are lost are lost within 50-100' of the boat either under higher pressures (>35lbs tearing the hook out, or when the line rubs on the vessel's bottom or running gear.  Mind you, branchlines are typically made of 500-600lb mono.  Most commercial Swordboat captains will use a 3 prong 'spider' gaff that is attached to a rope, clamped over, and then slid down the branchline and additional rope running line on any fish that can not be brought boatside with 1-handed type pressure.  The fact they routinely use these devices, and are careful about applying excessive pressure is proof that the fish have more than enough power to rip a hook through tye corner of their jaw.  I have seen maybe 1 in 15 or 20 big fish lost boatside.. especially in heavy seas. 

Slow and steady and careful boat handling will win the day here.

Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

seacane

I live in South Florida and fish either a Penn 80 or Penn 50 wide with a combination of first 300 yds of 80 LB dacron to 65LB spectra. I use to have a top shot of 150 yds of 200 LB mono but have basically eliminated it and now I go from the spectra to a 20ft wind-on leader of 300 LB mono followed by a swivel and 8 ft to the hook. We normally set a strike drag of 25 LBS and only go that high towards the end of the fight when we have less line in the water.  We get the bait down using an electric reel with a 15 LB lead ball. 10 feet above the lead ball is a Diesel Outrigger Clip to which we clip the fishing line. When the sword strikes, the fishing line (hopefully) comes off the clip! This way you are not fighting the weight and the fish. 
There are some very good videos on youtube on how people set up, in particular there are some by RJ Boyle that really go into detail. Also, a few years ago Florida Sportsman Magazine featured an article with Bouncer Smith on this subject which was very helpful. 

MexicanGulf


Bryan Young

Between 20#-50# of drag.  Dependent on reel, rod and whether you are in a boat to chase it down.  Also whether you plan to keep it or release it.
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

MexicanGulf

I use 17 to 34 lbs of drag. I only use J Hooks hooks

Cor

Quote from: MexicanGulf on March 21, 2023, 04:32:55 AM:D interesting discussion
For sure.  I have only once seen one, next to our 18ft boat and seemingly longer.
Very few are caught down this end "across the pond"
Cornelis

Squidder Bidder

One of the things some guys who deep drop talk about and that you don't necessarily think about is that over 1,000 feet of line off the reel and in the water creates some drag of its own. Think about the combined surface area of all of that line in a more compact shape as an underwater sail and you're adding a few more pounds of drag that the fish is pulling around down deep. Obviously, as you retrieve line, that extra drag diminishes (evidently based on the comments here by some pretty bright people, drag also decreases as the spool fills back up with line for independent reasons).

On the other view, I've heard guys say that they are aggressive with the drag - their thinking about it is that they would rather lose a fish early on than after retrieving 1,000 feet of line with weight and fish in tow. Those tend to be the guys who fish a whole lot and fish for swordfish a lot (and my guess is that they sell fish) so their interests are probably more towards numbers and meat in the boat than sportfishing and maximizing every bite.