600lb Swordfish Caught

[tyurke]

I was reading this on a friend in the states... He got this fish on handgear in about 3 hours of fighting time.

http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forums/fishing1698.html

http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/albums/Swordfishing-Pictures-2005/600sword3.jpg

http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/albums/Swordfishing-Pictures-2005/600sword2.jpg

Good job mate.

[wrasse boy]

holy shi* :D :D :D :D

[PanamaJack]

Wow! That's a tremendous fish!

And to think it was only 20 or so years ago that Florida straights fishery was in terminal decline through over fishing by long liners. Then came effective state regulation. Shows how it can work. Lessons for the UK, or should I more correctly say the EEC?

Just to put things into perspective though the World All-tackle Rod caught record's a fish nearly twice as big - 1182lbs from Chile in 1953.

[tyurke]

Yes, the fishery off florida and most of the states was at its doom up to 1999, when they closed the area off to longline vessels.. 6 years later, my friends in soutfl have a legit shot a swordfish every night.. average fish going about 100 pounds.. I just hope they respect the fishery...

[beefcake]

WOOOOOW!!! 600lbs
beefcake

[tyurke]

The fish may have been around 650.. they finally found a scale to weigh it about 8 hours... the fish was iced and lost water wieght... The crew opted to give the meat away and get a few mounts made.

[rubberfrog]

would like to have seen it swim free, now that would be a pic an half..........

[PanamaJack]

Hi Tyurke
I don't know whether you've had much of an opportunity to explore the other forums on that site yet? Just glancing through the SHARK forum there're some amazing shots of Great Whites being fitted with satellite tags I suspect off the Farallon Islands, Southern California. The scientists are working alongside the fish in the water in a net cradle - here's the url - Tagging Great Whites (http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forums/fishing1472.html). There's also some pictures of a 700lb plus Mako - 700lb Mako (http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forums/fishing1542.html).
Dave

[tyurke]

Nice.. just got word that the other 500 pounder pictures were just posted... the fish almost look identical.. caught just a few days apart.

http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/forums/fishing1682.html

The shark tagging pictures are unreal... I'd like to hear more about this.

[***simon***]

what do people get from killing such big fish?

[PanamaJack]

Hi Tyurke
From what I understand there are two programs currently in place - California and South Australia. Here's the url to the 'Stateside one - Tagging Great Whites (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0922_030922_tvgreatwhitesharks_2.html).

The tags, because of battery power, have a limited life. But certainly one of the Californian fish travelled from the seal colonies out to Hawaii, where it was tracked for a further 4 months. If anything it's making scientists re-assess their views.

The Aussie results also showed the migration of fish up their east coast.
Kindest regards
Dave
Sportfishing Club of the British Isles (http://www.scbi.org.uk)

[shaggy]

one hell of a fish shame had to kill it.shaggy

[i hate whiting]

nice fish but why did they have to kill it????

[PanamaJack]

If you read the finer points of that 'Stateside post you discover that it was caught on 'hand-gear' - just another way of describing what is in effect a 'mini' longline, albeit limited to 12 hooks.

So it was a commercial operation. I understand, although each line is limited to the 12 hooks with transmitting devices on the supporting buoys they can obviously fish, and effectively track, several sets at night.

That all said it's tragic because that would have been a female and, as such, still part of the breeding population. I'm unclear of the regulations in Florida governing the sale of fish but I would have suspected that, given that it was an apex predator, the mercury contamination of its flesh would have been quite high.
Dave

[kiwifisho]

A lot of food mate. :)

[PanamaJack]

Hi Kiwifisho
I thought I recognised your 'best catch' as an antipodean species.

Don't know whether you're staying up to-date with developments out past the Three Kings, north of the North Island? They're catching lots of Broadbill of high average weights, many bigger than that one the Florida anglers got so excited about. A lot though are getting attacked by Makos.

Unfortunately I suspect you need to win the National Lottery to fish in those waters!
Dave

[Codfather2]

sharks are my favourite animal. very sad to see one of that size and beauty dead hanging by its tail!

[PanamaJack]

Hi Codfather
Well that was nearly the 'curved ball'! Initially I thought you were referring to the Swordfish, the it clicked that it was the 700lb Mako - that I posted the url to - that you meant.

I suppose, and it's by no means restricted to our 'cousins across the Pond', of a desire - or as that photograph illustrated perhaps a macho need (?) - to display trophy-sized fish. Whilst I don't necessarily condone it I can of course understand it. And you can see from other threads in this forum that it's a subject on which anglers have very entrenched views.

It's always very much a personal decision - and I'd always support that - whether to take or release a particular specimen.

I recall a couple of years ago on my first trip to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic my friend hooking a very large Blue Marlin. The experienced crewman was convinced it was over the 1000lb mark and was suggesting that we took it in as a trophy. My friend though was adamant that he wanted to release it, which we did.

What would have happened though if it had been bigger, and the crew had believed my friend was hooked into a world record-sized fish? Another senario, and possibly the decision would have been different. Certainly, minimally from a publicity perspective, the pressure from the crew would have been much greater. Perhaps there was similarly that pressure in respect of the Mako?

I guess as a final observation it's likely that the fish would have been eaten. They're very similar in taste to Swordfish, albeit there would be similar reservations with mercury contamination.
Dave