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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
:D interesting discussion
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.
I use 17 to 34 lbs of drag. I only use J Hooks hooks
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"
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.