Broadbill swordfish
A night predator
Drift fishing overnight
Broadbill Swordfish
Until only very recently it was believed that the only way to catch this magnificent gladiator of the sea was at night. Until the late 1990's we believed that the only way to catch them was to drift at night with fresh squid as bait and dark nights were the best. There was also a school of thought that you had to disguise the hard steel of the hook by wrapping it in wool. I recall fishing many a night back in the 1970's and 80's without even a touch. Drifting at night on a rolling boat in the dark with no horizon to look at is a hard way to fish and many a hardened sailor has succumbed to seasickness. The first broadbill landed off Kenya was taken from one of our boats in 1978 and it was still some years before it became a reasonably common fish to catch.
By Night ?
Then at the end of the 1990's purely by chance it was discovered that broadbill will actually take trolled bait or lure at night. Of course broadbill are no different to any other large predator in the tropics in that they are opportunist hunters. They cannot afford to be so fussy as to only eat squid plus they come up to the surface at night to feed. Trolling at night strike rates were incredible with up to 17 recorded by a boat in the Pemba Channel in a single night. But, they were mostly small with only very few going over 150 lb. Did this mean that we only get small broadbill off Kenya or could there be another twist in the tail of the swordfish sport fishery?
By Day ?
Broadbill have been caught in daylight off Chile, Sasimbra, Portugal and off Venezuela but it was an article that appeared in "Blue Water" magazine that really started things rolling. The article was about the successes of a couple of sport fishermen in Florida who were deep drifting in daylight with an unbelievable success rate. They say that they catch every trip and almost year round and very importantly they finally gave away their secrets. What's more they claim that you catch larger fish in daylight with only the small ones rising to the surface at night. Enquire here ...
Pat got the bug
He went about importing all the gear from America to give it a try. We went out twice in October 2010 to give it a shot without any success. Perhaps it was the wrong time, or the wrong place or depth but we knew it had to work. We were not able to try it again for some months but then on 8th March 2011 Albertus van Brakel, Jonathan Goetsch and Christo Wentzel from South African expressed an interest in giving it a try. Unfortunately Pat was beaten to it by about a week by Nick Michaeledes on White Mischief off Watamu with a fish of almost an identical size. In March a few boats tried their luck with at least two other fish caught and quite a few lost after long fights. This method really does work so if you would like to have go but read Pat's story below of that first broadbill caught from the aptly named Broadbill. Contact us
It was probably not ideal weather
Forecast winds were 19-20 kt, which could make drifting a bit uncomfortable, but by going south into the middle of the Pemba Channel, it was not rough and we were not uncomfortable. We were in 2,020 feet of water, and the wind drift was almost cancelled out by the current. We planned to try for 3 hours and if no luck after that revert to trolling for marlin. Even with 8 kg of concrete, it was not easy to tell when this hit bottom, so we juggled around a bit trying to feel if it was down. I had marked the line and we had well over 2,000 feet out, so it must have been there or thereabouts.
After 3 hours we began to reel in prior to breaking off the weight. Suddenly, Sulemani, the deckie said "Hey, iko kitu ", as line started to peel off the Tiagra 80. Quickly, Christo Wentzel scrambled into the chair and battle was joined. It was evident from the start that this was something very strong indeed. We had a lot of drag on and Christo's bottom was being lifted out of the seat! For over 2 hrs not much progress was made but line was being gained ever so slowly. Finally the fish decided to come up near to the surface and we backed down fast gaining a lot of line.
After 2½ hours, the mono "top shot' was on the reel and we were able to remove the small weight plus one of the lights. We were now only 100 feet from the fish, who was still swimming steadily away.
At this point, a pod of about 15 enormous Pilot Whales arrived, and began attacking our fish. They removed most of its face, eyes and stomach, killing it instantly. One of them pulled the hooks out with a chunk of flesh and technically the fish was lost! Thankfully the hook didn't get the whale or we'd still be out there! However, we were lucky, as the broadbill floated up and by backing down fast we managed to get a gaff in and hold it near the boat.
Now we had a great battle to get the fish lashed up and as much out of the water as possible, all the time trying to fight off repeated attacks from these insatiable whales. I found the only way to keep them from biting more off our fish was to put one engine in gear and give a little rev to whoosh water back in their faces while my crew and clients were frantically trying to secure the fish across the transom. (We tried lifting it aboard, but with most of the head gone, there was nothing to pull on and we were defeated). This has been the culmination of a dream for me as that article has inspired and haunted me ever since I read it, but now I've done it, I am so very happy and it has all finally come together. My angler, Christo was magnificent and I have to hand it to him, he fought that fish so well, and we never needed to tell him anything. It all went like clockwork.
My only dream left now is to get a grander before I get too old to drive my boat. At 80, I don't have a lot of time to do it, but maybe there's one out there waiting for me!
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