Swordfish and Cubera Snapper!

If you remember reading the report of us fishing the Big Rock Marlin Tournament you might remember me mentioning CL, the mate on Capt. Troy's "Water Damage". That week in North Carolina all CL could do was talk about catching a Swordfish. He wanted to add a Swordfish catch to his list of species caught. Devon Amy, Sharon, and I extended an invitation for him to come to Miami and we'll try to hook him up on a Swordfish and maybe do some Cubera fishing since these giant snapper are at their peak right now. He has never caught a Cubera Snapper either and it would make another nice addition to his catch list. He and his girlfriend arrived on Saturday afternoon and we scheduled a Sword trip for Sunday night.

Sunday evening arrived and we all met up at the dock at 6:30 PM for his trip. He, the Swordfish Virgin, as well as all the rest of us were excited to give this our best shot. After the dismal Sword trip of last week, we still had high hopes. After all, this is fishing and no two days are ever the same. We cruised down the bay which afforded CL and Royalyn (his better half) a chance to savor an often missed look of Miami. As we ran through Caesar's Creek they got a beautiful view of the sun setting over the creek between the mangroves. As we headed across the reef line to our deep water destination, CL was intrigued by the water visibility as he clearly saw the bottom passing beneath us. Finally arriving at my deep water drift site at twilight we deployed 2 jug rods and 2 tip rods in varying depths with different types of baits.

The current was moderate at slightly over 3 mph and pushing slightly inshore of my waypoints marking previous hookups. We reached the 90 minute mark and covered almost 6 miles of water on this uneventful drift. We pulled lines and ran back for another drift. I started the second drift a bit more offshore. We passed the first GPS “bite” mark and nothing happened. We passed the second “double bite” mark with no signs of a look-see. Not wanting to prolong this drift I recommended we pull them up and head in to a shallower drift site. We quickly brought the lines up. We had a taker on the deep tip rod which bit the dead bait off at the head without so much as a rod quiver or reel click.

Arriving at my shallow drift site we quickly set out the lines. Once again we were spending time laughing, joking, moving tip rods up and down or anything else that would break the monotony of a fishless night. We were enjoying the meteor shower as was predicted by the local news stations earlier that evening. CL was now in his concession mode as he was remarking that you can only do what you can do and it is up to the fish after that. At 3:10 AM we were all getting a bit tired and we decided to call it a wrap at 3:30. This drift was much longer than the first 2 and we were past the 10 mile mark. At 3:27, with only 3 minutes to go on our trip, the reel on one of the tip rods begins to walk off with a swift, steady, rhythm. “There he is! Get your harness on, CL!” I barked to him. I fed the bait to the fish while CL was readying himself and then the line stopped. “He’s coming to us!” I began reeling frantically and then the line came tight as CL arrived with the harness on. We buckled him in and the fight was on. 10 minutes later with some excellent angling by CL and a mortal hook placement the fish gave up and I grabbed the leather gloves and yanked him out of the water. Devon grabbed the gill plate and we flopped CL’s first Swordfish on the deck. The fish measured out at close to 55” and weighed approximately 75 pounds. Royalyn got all of her man’s action on video. CL was so excited that all he could do was hoot and holler while reminding us how stoked he was now. As the picture taking continued, Amy, Devon, and I broke down the gear for the trip home. On that final drift we found that the jug rods, which are hard to detect a strike, had both been molested. One bait was slashed almost in half and another was missing completely, hook and all.

Wednesday night we met at the dock at 5 PM. CL and Devon brought along Al and Neno (Devon's Uncle and Dad). We headed out on a mission to catch some Yellowtail Snapper and the largest of all snappers, the Cubera.

As we headed out the channel we jigged for Blue Runners and caught about a half dozen. We ran down the bay and through the pass heading for the patch reefs. I pulled back the throttles in 10' of water. Devon and All brought their mask, snorkel and fins and were over the side within minutes. A 15-20 minute search put 5 legal lobster in the boat to use for Cubera bait. That is a hard thing for me to do since every time I see a lobster I think of hot butter, not fish bait. I rounded up the 2 of them and headed for the Yellowtail spot. We arrived in short order, dumped the anchor and deployed 2 chum bags. While Devon readied the lines for everyone, I began sweetening the chum line with hands full of glass minnows. We slipped the silversides on the hooks for bait and began drifting them back. Down I should say! NO CURRENT. This is not a good thing for "Tailing". We managed to catch about 10 or 12 good Yellowtail and as the sun set we blasted out the short 1 ½ miles to the Cubera spot. Fish were marking by the hundreds on the depth sounder but there was no current here as well. This is not a good thing for any type of fishing in S. Florida. Oh well. We set up for drift # 1, lowering 1 lobster for CL and one Yellowtail on Al's rod. 3 minutes into the drift and CL's rod is bent over double and his 80 International is giving up line. He puts the 80 into low gear and pushes the drag to FULL. At full drag we could barely pull the 100# line of the reel with both hands yet this snapper took yards at a time. With the sweat pouring off his face he turned the snapper upward and began gaining on him. There's the sinker and OMG, there is the fish. I grabbed the leader and pulled him in to Devon's gaff and we flopped this "Snappa" on the deck. After several pictures, many comments on the canine-like teeth, and a few guesses on the weight, I pulled out the digital scale to weigh it. A very respectable Cubera at 47#. Most of the fish have been in the 20+ range. There is that smile again on CL's face, just like Sunday night when he caught his first Swordfish. We are already halfway to our boat limit of 2 Cubera over 30 inches.

We made several more drifts without a bite. Mind you, our drifts at this particular spot are only about 600-1000 feet in duration. I only drift as long as I am marking fish. The lack of current is definitely affecting the bite. On the next drift I started noticing an increase of fish on the bottom so I told Al to drop his lobster to the bottom and then make 3 cranks up. Man, you would think I know what I am doing!!! Within a minute or 2 the 80 International is again engaged in a brutal free for all. Al works himself into a sweat as he manages to bring another big fish to the surface. Flop... on the deck it goes! Same ritual of pictures and utter amazement of these huge snapper. The digital scale reports the fish at 43#.

Now with a boat limit of 2, we must fish for release only. WE have 3 lobster left and they haven't touched but 1 of the finfish baits. That one received a split second crushing blow with no hookup. A couple more drifts and Neno gets a hit on the 3rd lobster on Devon’s bent butt planer rod with the TLD 50ll. The fish takes the tip of the rod almost to the water. Neno was working the rod as good as he can under the incredible power of this fish when all of a sudden… BOINK! the tip flies up as the hook pulls. Now we set up for a full lobster assault and dropped both “bugs” to the bottom. We passed over the spot and got hung up and lost 1 full rig and both baits. Now we only have Runners and Yellowtail for bait so we made 2 more drifts and called it a night, packing it in at 11:30.

CL was like a kid in a candy store! He came to Miami seeking a dream he had since childhood, catching a Swordfish. That happened on Sunday night and now he had the icing on this sweet memory by adding a Cubera Snapper catch to the notches on his belt.

Why do I do this job which has such meager monetary reward? It is not about the table food, flour, and hot grease. It is not about the size, quantity, or species of fish. It is not about bragging rights or competency! What it is really all about is making new friends and reinforcing old friendships as well. Most importantly , it is about making people SMILE. That alone, is priceless to me.

Congratulations to you CL, and you're welcome to come back and fish on The BEAST, anytime!

Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
[email protected]
www.beastcharters.com