# Destin Swordfish Shootout on the "Betty B"



## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

First of all, other than the horrible congestion at the weigh-in and some other little issues with that, I'd say it was a very successful tournament that had a good turnout, great prizes, and that we look forward to fishing next year. Our crew consisted of Phillip Kerrigan, his son-in-law Catlin (Cast-N-Call), Landon Bell from the Anna Marie and yours truly.We headed out at the 12:00 departure time stopping to get some hardtails before heading to our destination. Seas were relatively calm and the current wasn't bad at all. With the sun still up, we sent a bait down deep on a 50W loaded with braid. After about 30 minutes or so we hooked up to a big shark 900ft. down which luckily broke us off. I'm guessing a thresher since the leader was skin rashed 13ft from where it was cut. We didn't have much daylight left so we decided to get set up for the night bite and move a little further out. We had our 5 line spread spread out just before dark and checked baits about every 45 minutes or so. At 10:40 we were resetting lines when one line went slack on the drop. Catlin reacted immediately by cranking as fast as he could and by the time he caught up and came tight the fish was 30ft. from the boat and came all the way out shaking his head at us. Catlin got harnessed up and the fish pulled out about 250 yards of line straight down. That fish whooped his ass hard for over 45 minutes but felt the cold, hard steel in the end and was put on a bed of ice by 11:30. For the next few hours we had it out with the sharks. We would pick up and run like hell and no matter where we went we had sharks around the boat within minutes. After performing a little street justice on a few we finally sent them the message and they left us alone. At 4:00 on the dot, one of the balloons laid over and Landon came tight to what seemed like a better fish. This one behaved perfectly and after only 15 minutes I had the leader in hand. Of course thats where he decided to give me a hard time and at one point I had to lean as far over as I could and get my arm under the boat to keep him from breaking us off. Once he came out of hiding Catlin stuck him right under the dorsal, I grabbed his bill and to his death he went. We iced them down and headed home after that. 

We ended up taking third in the open division and won some money in the calcutta andtook home a good chunk of change. Our swords weighed in at 104 and 118. Pics will followsoon when Catlin either gets them to me or posts them himself.


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## Xiphius (Oct 10, 2007)

Chris nice report Wow two nice fish..way to go. Tell us some more... how many boats winning fish blah blah...


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

The winning boat was the "Moveable Feast". I'm not sure where they were from but they weighed in an absolutely amazing 442lber. I believe it is the second largest sword ever caught on rod and reel in the gulf. I never thought I would see a sword that big. Second place was a 270lb fish caught on a hydro sport named "tunavision". The rest were smaller fish but I think at least 10 out of the 15-20 boats caught fish. It was a fun tourney to fish andI think next years will be even bigger. I'm not sure what the total prize money ended up being but I know the top boat won a little over 17K and we brought home close to 10K. Tunavision didn't put their money in the right pockets andI think they won a little over 3K. Lots of giveaways and some truly awesome prizes for even 4th and 5th place fish including custom rods, hydro glow lights, gear bags, etc. Where the hell were you and Keith?


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## BlueH20Fisher (Mar 20, 2008)

Good Job! We were supposed to fish this tournament, but things fell through. We headed out yesterday morning anyway and tried some daytime swording and fished through the night. Caught one 58" and had several strikes. What were the lengths on your fish? I'd like to know because I've yet to weigh one and have guesstimated on every one we've caught.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

62" and 64" short length. A 58" fish would probably weigh around 85-95lbs.


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## Cast-N-Call (Apr 21, 2009)

First off I would like to thank Philip for putting this trip together for us, and Chris and Landon for the great time. For a crew that has never fished together I think we did a pretty damn good job. Here are some pictures of our catch.










Landon's Fish after he felt the cold steel.




























Landon with his fish.










Me with my fish.

As Chris stated earlier the second fish gave him a hard time on the wire, and he did a great job keeping him out of the props. I am already planning for next year. I am so happy that we finally put a bill on the "Betty B" for Philip.

I would like to add, if anyone would like to take Chris along fishing to keep the sharks away, he figured out what works and I think he enjoyed it more than the fishing.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks for posting the pictures Cat. I've been telling Phillip that he needs to start swording and I think after that trip he'll be wanting to go a hell of a lot more.


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## Jhoe (May 4, 2009)

when is dinner? :hungry


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

In about an hour. R U coming over?


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## Jhoe (May 4, 2009)

I wish. haha. I've eatin swordfish once and it was Delicious.


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## [email protected] (Mar 20, 2008)

Nice swords!


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## Cast-N-Call (Apr 21, 2009)

From the Gulf, to my grill, to my belly. I messed up and gave some fish to my coworkers, now they are going to be pissed if I don't bring back swordfish every trip.


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## TCAT (Oct 9, 2007)

Congrats!! Nice swordies. Geez, I didn't know that there was a tourney. So much for being in the know. 

I might break out the squids/lights saturday night.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Hell Keith we had a thread started on it in the pre-tourney discussion section, where have you been? And when are you going to break in that rod I made you?


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## nextstep (Jun 27, 2008)

nice fish:bowdownand a double header too:bowdown

and yummy:hungry


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## Razzorduck (Oct 22, 2007)

Nice job Chris and those are some might tasting looking steaks.


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## gwhite33 (Jul 23, 2008)

> *tunapopper (7/12/2009)*The winning boat was the "Moveable Feast". I'm not sure where they were from but they weighed in an absolutely amazing 442lber. I believe it is the second largest sword ever caught on rod and reel in the gulf. I never thought I would see a sword that big. Second place was a 270lb fish caught on a hydro sport named "tunavision". The rest were smaller fish but I think at least 10 out of the 15-20 boats caught fish. It was a fun tourney to fish andI think next years will be even bigger. I'm not sure what the total prize money ended up being but I know the top boat won a little over 17K and we brought home close to 10K. Tunavision didn't put their money in the right pockets andI think they won a little over 3K. Lots of giveaways and some truly awesome prizes for even 4th and 5th place fish including custom rods, hydro glow lights, gear bags, etc. Where the hell were you and Keith?


there outta destin i go to school with the owners daughter.


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