Chasing Daytime Swordfish in St. Augustine

Swordfish have always been a fish I’ve only read about or seen a few steaks of behind the glass at the fish counter growing up. Something that I thought was only attainable through commercial means, or with long-range offshore trips that required great effort and some luck. Then in the 2000s, daytime swordfishing was developed off the Florida Keys, where it was normal to drop baits down almost 2000ft down on underwater mounts and structure to target these billfish. Since then, this technique has spread throughout Florida and the Gulf, making swordfish more accessible to the determined angler. Over 20 years since first reading about swordfish in an old fishing magazine, I finally got to go after daytime swordfish this year out of St. Augustine. A buddy of mine has talked to me about targeting daytime swordfish out of Northeast Florida for years now, but timing and the weather have kept things from coming together. Well, this past summer, my friends over at Team Four Reel said Let’s go swordfishing after they finally got their big boat back after a repower, so, of course, I was down to go.

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After making the drive down to Jax, I met up with my buddies, and we loaded up the boat the night before with all the tackle, bait, drinks, and food we would need for the day of swordfishing. Early the next morning, we made the run down the Intracoastal to Camachee Cove to pick up our buddy and the ice we would need for the day. Then made our way out the pass and shot out east to get past the Gulf Stream to some previously productive numbers.

The ride out was a dream, with minimal wave action and wind, making great time. We even stopped out at a huge patch of sargassum hoping for a bonus mahi or wahoo, but didn’t stick long as we had a goal of swordfish in mind.

So after that short stop, we ran a bit further to the first numbers and stopped to check the drift. Seeing how fast the current was flowing and how it compared to the wind. Luckily for us, the wind and current were playing ball this morning. So with the current and drift figured out, we went up current a mile or so from the spot and got to setting up the rods and rigging baits.

With the conditions as they were, the plan was to set up one tip rod and two buoy rods. This is where things were a lot more technical than I had expected them to be for daytime swordfishing. Once each of the three rods was rigged with lights and baits, it was time to set them out. But there is an order to how everything must be done so you don’t tangle everything up while putting out over a quarter mile of line. The first rod to go out was the buoy rod that would be set the furthest out.

This is a process where you first drop the bait out to let it drift back behind the boat and zero out the revolutions counter on the reel. Then, when the floss loop on the line comes up, you snap on your lead to the mainline inside the loop. This is a 10- to 15-pound rod of lead or steel tied to a longline clip with 75- to 100-lb test mono. Then you let it go down while having the boat move forward to keep tension on the line, till you reach the preset distance marked on each spool and the floss loop you will clip the buoy onto. Once at the loop we clipped on the buoy, reset the revolution counter on the LP and let the buoy go back.

Once the first buoy bait was out, the process was repeated with the second buoy bait on the port side across from the first buoy. Just this time, the second buoy was not set as far back as the first.  Finally, the tip rod was put out, pretty much the same process, but this time no buoy was clipped onto the line. The guys had the process down to a science, with how well they were putting out lines. Definitely a lot more technical a process compared to what I thought would be just drop a bait down real deep and wait.

Once all three sword baits were down, it was just a matter of waiting on a bite and keeping grass off the line on the tip rod. Because the new screen for the bottom machine hadn’t actually come in yet, we were fishing blind to the actual depth. So we were regularly checking the bottom, dropping the bait down till it hit bottom, and bringing it back up a bit. This helped us keep the bait closer to the bottom but not dragging as the depth changed while we were drifting over sea mounts. It also imparted some action to the bait as the lead whipped it up and down some, hopefully enticing a bite.

I honestly don’t know if it worked, but we did get a bite on our first drift. A swordfish bite is very different from what I would expect; it’s incredibly subtle most of the time. Just a slight tick or slackening of the rod tip as it starts swimming up.  It was a tiny tick on the tip rod that caught Hayden’s eye, so he turned on the LP and started pulling line in, till it got tight and you could see the head shakes as the swordfish felt the pressure.

So it was on. Hayden put Blake on the reel while he and his brother started getting things ready for actually landing the fish. Any rod that didn’t need to be in the aft of the boat was moved to keep the gunwales clear. Gaffs were pulled out from holders and set up on the gunwales, and two harpoons were rigged up to their lines and buoys. At the same time, Hayden was maneuvering the boat to keep the fish on the starboard side, while making sure not to tangle up the two buoy lines.

So now we were ready to actually land the fish; it was time to wait while Blake was holding down the manual retrieve button. Pulling back in the quarter mile of line we had out. We were all stoked; a fish on the first drift before 10 am, we could potentially limit out before lunch, making for an incredibly successful meat trip. Unfortunately, it was not to be. All it took was a slip and a misplaced hand as the fish was almost to the boat for the reel into freespool, while trying to unclip the weight from the mainline. There was enough slack for the swordfish to escape right near the boat.

We were gutted, but what could we do but reset the drift and put out the baits again. We stowed the gaffs and harpoons and moved on; we kept at it for hours, going along a series of spots on the chartplotter. Drifting the baits over this underwater mountain range, occasionally swapping out baits when we made a move. Finally, as the day wore on, while we were pulling in all the lines for another reset, we noticed the starboard side buoy rod was looking a little funny as it was being reeled. There was a fish on; it was probably swimming up with the bait, making it hard to tell, but once we put some pressure on it.

It started running and fighting, scoping out the line away from the boat and stalling out the reel a bit. While that was going on, we again cleared the gunwales, setting up the gaffs and harpoons while taking rods up to the bow. After losing the first one, we couldn’t let this one get away. We made sure we were ready to unclip the weight this time. Once the weight was off, it was endgame. With two guys on the harpoons and two of us with the gaffs, if the swordfish got close, we were gonna stick it. As we finally had it up boatside, I stuck the long gaff right behind the shoulder of the fish, with Blake getting a second insurance gaff into the side of the fish.

We had gotten our sword; 1- 2 is a lot better than going home with an empty fish box. I’ll admit it, it wasn’t a monster of a sword, but it was a sword. A fish I had only dreamed of as a kid was finally on the deck in front of me. A fish that was surprisingly fragile compared to the idea I had in my mind. It had been hooked in the bottom jaw, and through the process of bringing it up 1800ft that hook had almost bisected the lower jaw. Besides the bill, a swordfish mouth is surprisingly soft.

Their bone structure is pretty soft as well, with you being able to use just a knife to cut through the bones and take off the bill. After the fish was cleaned and packed in ice, we celebrated with some more drinks, and a couple of the guys got to try a Swordfish “Starbursts”. I lucked out since there are only two to a swordfish and 3 of us who hadn’t landed a swordfish before.

After fishing for another drift after, hoping to maybe get another sword for the box and a quick stop to try and get some bottom fish, we called it and headed west, aiming for the St. Augustine pass. I need to say thanks again to the great guys over at Four Reels Fishing Team for taking me out with them and letting me experience this fishery.

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