Few offshore pursuits test gear and patience like daytime swordfishing, where baits go a third of a mile down and a single snag can cost you a fortune in tackle. Off the Florida Keys recently, the South Florida Fishing Channel joined charter captain Matt of Marathon Sport Fishing aboard his 33-foot Ocean Master, the Falcon, vowing to fish until they caught a sword.
Running about 35 miles offshore, the crew dropped baits roughly 1,800 feet down on a heavy electric reel, using a large buoy clipped above the weight as a surface marker, the standard way to watch for a bite from a bait in the deep dark.
That buoy already had a tale attached. Lost months earlier off Big Pine, it had been found floating off Key Largo a day later by the captain's friend Sebastian and returned. "What are the chances of a buoy getting lost here and getting found by your friend a day later?" the crew asked as they redeployed it.
The drop soured fast. The buoy was clipped to the wrong loop, sending the bait deeper than planned, and was soon dragged underwater by a snag on the bottom. Motoring to free it only ended in heartbreak: the line parted and the entire buoy-and-bait rig was lost.
With one rod left, the crew salvaged the trip on mahi, trolling small skirted feathers under diving birds and pitching squid on the same feathers as the fish swarmed the boat. A hundred-strong pod of dolphins and an eerily empty cruise ship drifting past added to the surreal day. A sword did finally appear, striking the bait twice without hooking up, close enough to sting.
Unwilling to quit, the crew stayed another night, re-spooled the electric reel at midnight and headed back out the next morning for another attempt. They went home with mahi for tacos rather than a swordfish, and a hard-earned lesson in what daytime sword fishing actually costs: long runs, deep drops and no guarantees. The sword, this time, won.