Sword Fish

Has anyone on the board ever taken sword fish from the WA coast?

I would love to have a crack at getting one... the steaks are beautiful...

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I have caught a few, one

Fri, 2011-08-05 17:11

I have caught a few, one would guess into the thousands :)

They were a regular bi-catch on the Tuna boats. As for targeting them from a rec point of view, not sure how you would manage. The few tips I would give would be to run the temperature contours off the shelf and to go with just a bait on a big circle with no weight on some really decent mono (200lb min). Bait would be whole yellowtail or herring and whole squid.

There seem to be a lot more of them in the south.

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What's the biggest broady

Fri, 2011-08-05 19:38

you've seen in WA waters WADRay?  Most rec captures that I have seen are generally small fish.  Having said that I'd still like to have a crack at them sometime.

I recall hearing a long time ago that broadies were regularly being taken some 200 kms/miles/nm ?? west of Perth.  Too far for most recs.

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Biggest I have seen would

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:02

Biggest I have seen would have been 14 to 15 foot from memory it weighed in clean at just over 400kg (gutted and trunked) and was estimated to have been well over the 540kg mark (would have made it the WA record I believe). It was off the northern group of the AB's and I think we were 220nm off the coast, on a boat called business class. Average fish we were catching would have gone 150kg clean (needed the crane for almost every BB we pulled over the side).

Most Rec's would be crazy to target these out of metro areas. Honestly if you are that mad keen then go the south coast on a good weekend and spend the night at sea. Keep as close to accurate temp maps as you can and sit in the mixed water. You dont have to be any where near as far off the coast in the southern ocean as you do out of the west coast. This is always much safer if you have a second boat on or near station.

 

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A great response there tks

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:29

Also heard about changes in sea level heights being of interest when chasing broadies ...????  

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To be honest I am not sure,

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:47

To be honest I am not sure, maybe this is something the skipper didnt really explain to me. I was only a dirty decky, only reason I know as much as I do is that I was always one of the first on watch and used to sit and go through all the skippers notes while waiting out the 3 hours...

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This is the first and last

Fri, 2011-08-05 17:11

This is the first and last metro swordy I'm aware of on FW.

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Tis a little baby one too 

Fri, 2011-08-05 17:15

Tis a little baby one too 

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 i had a dream i caught one

Fri, 2011-08-05 17:21

 i had a dream i caught one at hillarys haha was an awesome dream :D

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 LOL a female that dreams

Fri, 2011-08-05 17:48

 LOL a female that dreams fishing?!?!?!?! Amazing!

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 haha i get comments like

Fri, 2011-08-05 18:02

 haha i get comments like that alot -_-

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I'm suprised the dream didn't

Fri, 2011-08-05 19:49

I'm suprised the dream didn't involve the guy in the third pic down from the Montes, unless he was gaffing the fish with no top on...

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 hahah aw i wish. That would

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:09

 hahah aw i wish. That would have made the dream even better =P

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Didn't beleive this story

Fri, 2011-08-05 18:56

Didn't beleive this story until I seen the photo, left of screen is my old shift boss. Lots of broadies caught in the US during the day on deep drop rigs. Should put the effort in at Rotto may produce.

 

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been looking for them...

Fri, 2011-08-05 19:30

But have nothing to share yet. seen nothing mid water on the furuno. WADray are you looking for the warmer or colder contours?

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Warmer water in the cold

Fri, 2011-08-05 19:53

Warmer water in the cold streams... they seem to travel in the mixed water that the bait sits in out deep. We would lay away in the warmer water and if the line floated across into the colder stuff then we would get broadies and big-eye if not then normally we would get the yellowfins. Also got more big sharks (whites) and more marlin if it stayed in the warmer water. More makos and the likes in the colder water.

 

We got a LOT of the broadies out of albany and off Augusta. Like every second hook was Broadbill. 

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Are they all year round or

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:42

Are they all year round or seasonal and any particular depth? If you don't mind, any info is very handy, the ultimate prize in my book.

 

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Only fished the crayfish

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:50

Only fished the crayfish offseason as the boats were converted after the end of season and the reconverted just before opening again. They were there the whole offseason though. But as I have said this is out much deeper, Dont know if they come in during the winter when the colder water pushes in closer or what, also never fished metro, we were either North or we were down southern ocean ways.

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cheers WADRay

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:44

whilst out there, locating fish was done by working the currents or searching for activity on the sounder or both? Do you find them more around structure or should we just focus on the current temps.

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Honestly locating the fish

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:56

Honestly locating the fish was done with the 8 to 10km long lines we set. Skipper would put us in the middle of the water band and we would just lay away massive amounts of line.

The few times we did have the sounder on during the down time you would notice "bait" balls (unsure what they were) on the sounder in the 40 to 50m range. We used to catch massive numbers of squid to suppliment our bait supplys - maybe the schools were squid, really not sure. We would sit about 4nm off the line and watch it for ships running into its path, normally you could see what was going on, what with the beacons and the likes.

Once you start running your line though thats it, even if you started based on sounder info you have to just set away so I would say it was mainly about temp. The line would "soak" in the water for 8 to 9 hours.

 

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thankyou

Fri, 2011-08-05 21:28

appreciate the info.

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Been a few caught out from

Sat, 2011-08-06 10:28

Been a few caught out from Exmouth  too, gets nice and deep pretty quickly, Rowley shoals as well.

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Time

Sat, 2011-08-06 10:45

Would be a great way to spend one of those warm still nights, couple of boats drifting the Trench with big squid and Lumo lights.

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shelf

Sat, 2011-08-06 19:41

def off the shelf. if you can get a hold of a map showing the warm water swirls and try fish on the edge of 22/23deg into the cold. hey WADray were you on business class with a little nutta named fletcha! the skipper wouldve been shultzy prob the best crayfisherman and tuna skip out there. i was on first class with doyly and on napoleon with benno johnson, awsome skippa he could smell the fish that guy! yeah def off the nth end of nth island 200fthm n deeper! there was always a nice warm current in those depths that ran parallel to the shelf! how good is it when u are 220miles out used to love it!

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Unbelieveable,My godfather is

Sat, 2011-08-06 19:45

Unbelieveable,

My godfather is Burtie, Ferral worked for Lattitude aswell

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poor guy

Sat, 2011-08-06 19:48

we used to love it when bertie would come down at 5am and watch us like a hawk unloading the fish into the containers for the airport. that mans dodgy eye would watch u n hed be yelling and carryn on! yeah i was on with stretch, scotty boongchooks, golding tossa! hard yakka but god i loved fighting those xos tuna by hand!

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HAHAHA Bert is great value

Sat, 2011-08-06 20:29

HAHAHA Bert is great value once you actually get to know him. He might rant and rave but he is a lot of fun.

I remember stretch and Boong.

Honestly the best fun I had out there were the Big marlin and the massive sharks.... I got a real good fight against a marlin grander on the old ropes.... they humoured me and let me fight it out (couldnt move the boat ofcourse cause of the line) was a blast I think I went trough 8 or 9 spools of fighting line.

You should come down to gods country and have a few beers with feral and I

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whr bouts

Sun, 2011-08-07 11:13

where bouts u at WADRay, im in perth still round sth perth.
yeah we used to go to the love shack when we got in early and wake whoever was in there up cos we were wide awake waiting to unload!

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We are down in Busso.

Sun, 2011-08-07 11:56

We are down in Busso.

southcity104's picture

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id be down for that Rick!

Sun, 2011-08-07 13:13

but only if you had a radar as my vessel doesnt

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Wish-List

Sun, 2011-08-07 13:48

Mate it's on the wish list, but think that is where it will stay for a while lol

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