Last summer we had an unfortunate incident with a swordfish that we brought onto the boat.
It was about 8:30pm and we had been settled in for about 45 minutes when we took our first bite, the second balloon at 150′ baited with a dead squid began to scream. My brother Rocky was on the rod and the instant he pushed the drag up to hit, which on our rods is set to 25-30lbs drag, the fish stopped and Rocky effortlessly pushed it out. Less than five minutes later we had a small boat side of swordfish. We couldn’t see the hook and since this fish was brought to the boat so quickly, we didn’t want this green fish to suffer any trauma.
Rocky handed me the pliers and I cut the leader as close to the swordfish’s mouth as possible. The swordfish walked away and seemed fine, then less than a minute later on the other side of the boat we saw the swordfish belly up. We raised the anchor to the drift and moved the boat towards the swordfish. Rocky grabbed the bill from her and carried it to the side of the boat. I started an engine and Rocky held the fish’s beak underwater in hopes of reviving this little swordfish. After a minute or so of trying to revive him, the swordfish turned even more coppery, stiff, and lifeless. We realized that there was no hope of reviving this fish, so we brought it back on the boat. Once it was in the boat we inspected the fish and the hook we decided to cut was a little bit inside the corner of its mouth and not bleeding at all. Since this fish was brought to the boat within minutes and did not receive any trauma from the fight or from us releasing it, it led us to believe that this fish must have had heart failure.
Incidents like this are rare, especially when fight time is reduced to a minimum. But they do happen and it reminds us that even though we care about conservation and try to practice good catch and release, there is always a chance that a caught fish may not survive after being released.
There are many things that we as anglers can do to try to ensure a healthy release of any billfish that we catch. For one thing, whenever we bring a green marlin to the boat we plan to release, simply cut the leader as close to the fish’s mouth as possible and as quickly as possible. Holding any large billfish along the side of the boat is one of the most dangerous things we can do in the sport of fishing. When a buddy leans overboard to grab a boarded billfish, especially on a boat with a high freeboard, he can seriously injure himself and the fish. Billfish struggling along the side of the boat often damage their eyes, bill and gills by hitting the side of the boat. This is why simply cutting the leader as close to the fish’s mouth as possible is much safer for the fish and people on board.
Any attempt to remove the hook from a billfish can cause far more harm than good to the fish. Poor attempts to remove the hook from a fighting fish can cause severe bleeding and bruising to the fish. So unless you have a smaller billfish in the boat and you can clearly see that unhooking the fish will be an easy task due to the location of the hook, simply cut the leader as close to the fish’s mouth as possible. They have a much better chance of surviving.
In case you are trying to unhook a smaller billfish, try to unhook the fish while its head is underwater. Once a billfish’s head is out of the water, it will shake it violently.
When you are about to release a billfish if it is not struggling to escape, is not lit and has a coppery color, grab the bill of the fish by holding the bill and the head of the fish underwater, then start the boat so that the water runs off the gills of the fish. Once the fish begins to kick on its own or begins to struggle, gently release the beak and let it swim freely.
Never consider a billfish dead, always try to revive the fish as it may be exhausted from a long battle or unconscious from lack of water (oxygen) running through its gills.
tight lines,
