# Swords, Tuna, Mahi and scattered grass



## sniperpeeps

Left out of Pensacola on Frenchy's boat the Blueprint Sunday around 1230. Crew was Frenchy, Chris, Kevin, Manfred, and myself. Plan was to do some trolling and swording and above all stay the hell away from the sharks. Headed out towards the nipple and found lots and LOTS of scattered grass with some very large grass patches mixed in. We trolled and trolled the area with no knockdowns, just some schoolie mahi stealing the tails of our ballyhoo. We saw a billfish tailing near one grass patch but we couldn't get a bait to her. There were a couple larger mahi mixed in and we tried to catch some for dinner but they were being super picky so we gave it up after a little while and put out the spread and headed to the sword grounds. Pulled the spread in at dark with no hits and made our way to set up our drift. Got set on our first drift and about 30 minutes into it I noticed one of the rods looked a little heavy. We came tight on him and we were hooked up. Frenchy got in the harness and a little while later boated his first sword! It was a 40" fish so after some quick pics on deck she was released a healthy fish. Went and reset our drift and did not even have time to get but 3 lines out when Chris and I noticed something a little weird going on with one of the lines. After watching it for about 30 seconds, Chris said to come tight on it and when I did it was heavy. Got Kevin harnessed up and boy was he in for a battle. Every time Kevin gained some line or got the fish close to the boat, it would take twice that back. After close to an hour Kevin started to put a little more heat on the fish and after just over an hour fight we put a beautiful 150+ pound sword on the deck. Congrats all around and figure out what the heck do do with this monstrosity on the deck. Finally got the fish in one bag with ice and put another bag on top of it since there was no way to get it zipped. After spending the next hour icing the fish and getting some fuel transferred we moved back up and reset our drift. Start our drift and about an hour later get a couple clicks of drag on one of the reels. I came tight and it made a big run only to come unglued. Pulled it in and reset the bait and continued the wait. By this time everyone was sleeping and I was just sitting there waiting on the bite. It was starting to get light and I had pretty much written off the chance at another fish when we got a couple clicks of drag on one of the reels. We came tight on it and it was feeling very weird. We definitely had a fish on but we were tangled with two of the other lines. I get harnessed up and we were able to clear the lines and I got to feel my first sword on the other end of the line. About a twenty minute fight and we boated a 45" sword. Quick pics and a daytime release! You could actually see the fish light back up as Chris revived her, they are absolutely beautiful fish. Kevin got a great photo of the release, hopefully he can post it soon. 

At that point we decided to move on in the direction of the dock and fish any good areas we found along the way. About 30 minutes into our move, with a large thunderstorm in front of us I saw something on the water that looked a little odd. I told them I thought I could see a capsized boat and no one believed me (except Chris). Convinced Frenchy to ride over and take look and it proved to be a great move. We found about a 26' cat capsized and holding a ton of life. Tried hailing the Coastie's to report the boat but no response so we started fishing. There were several nice mahi and a couple wahoo hanging around and we were using spinning and jigging setups to try and catch them. Chris hooked into a nice wahoo and then I managed to entangle my line with his and cost him the fish. I caught a couple nice cows and then Manfred caught a nice bull. It was about then that we noticed that there were tuna blowing up around us so I dropped a jig down and immediately hooked into a small yft. Drop down again and now I hooked into a serious tuna but after a few minutes the hook pulled. I repeated this about 5 more times before I was beat down and told someone else to give it a shot. Frenchy and Chris were finally able to break the cycle and boated a couple nice YFT's on spinning tackle and then I finally got my act together and put a keeper in the boat. During all of this we had a white come shooting under the boat chasing tuna and she was all lit up, cool sight. At this point we were all in the hurt box from lack of sleep and fighting fish so we headed towards the house with a full fish box. Final count was 3/4 on swords, 3 YFT's, and a few Mahi. Thanks to Chris for the great advice and putting us on the swords. It was a truly awesome experience! Thanks to Frenchy for having a great boat and to everyone else as well. We made it happen and had a lot of fun! Hopefully some of the other guys can post more pics, I only have two cell pic because I knew they were taking a bunch.


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## marmidor

Great report! Well done peeps!!!


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## Realtor

AWESOME report, I can't wait till the day I get a sword. Thanks for the post!


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## coolbluestreak

Wow, good job guys!
Sounds like a awesome trip!


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## MrFish

Awesome report!


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## polar21

Wow


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## Naby

Wow, awesome trip!


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## Ocean Master

Great trip indeed. I bet you guy's were tired for a few days..!!


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## JD7.62

Nice job guys. What a trip!

Yall ever hear anything about the boat?


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## team_A_II

Awesome report as well guys!

Pleasure drifting next to you boys out there.

Working on a little quick edits on the video footage of the capsized cat... will try to post it soon.


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## rauber

Thanks for takin my dad out I'm looking forward to coming over in 2 weeks! 
Hope the GSD 26 worked out well 

Ferdi


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## MSViking

sounds like a great trip! Chris V knows his stuff, especially when it comes to swords and jigging!

Robert


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## cobe killer

awesome trip and great read!!!


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## samoajoe

Aint nothing wrong with that!


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## Chris V

I really enjoyed fishing with you guys. Hopefully we will do it again!


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## JMB

Awesome!

Busy time. Lots of action.


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## MillerTime

Sounds like a great time.


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## rauber

I`m posting this on behalf of Frenchy


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## Frenchy

*Great trip and crew*

Thanks to all for coming on this great trip, special thank you to Chris for his patience and mostly sharing his knowlege and basically the way it is done or at least the way it works !!! First Sword for me and the Blue Print, life time memories , believe me, amazing what can happen out there... coming across a capsized catamaran, looking at a marlin chasing bait right next to the boat, over an hour fight for the sword, and the most amazing purple colour ever seen when realeasing a 45" sword under the sun barely rising, magic...
Looking to get back out there end of next weekend weather permitting, it is just too good sometimes.
Gave up on posting pictures, too much time waisted, could be rigging some lures for the next trip instead.


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## Robbr

Fantastic trip guys. Congrats on the pretty Sword. :thumbsup:


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## GASeminole

You said it would be an epic trip, and it definitely sounds like it was!! Awesome!


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## fishsticker

Great report and a heck of a trip. Congrats!!


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## old school

*capsized boat*

Did you find anything about the capsized boat? What kind of boat was it? I have a 26 Glaicer Bay, and it would be very difficult to catsized this boat.

Looks like you had a great trip.


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## sniperpeeps

old school said:


> Did you find anything about the capsized boat? What kind of boat was it? I have a 26 Glaicer Bay, and it would be very difficult to catsized this boat.
> 
> Looks like you had a great trip.



We reported it to the Coast Guard but other than that we were to busy fishing to take to much interest in the details of it.


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## Head Kned

Sounds like a great trip.


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## BamaBoyz

Good job Frenchy.:thumbup:


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## kmarv

More pics


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## kmarv

More


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## kmarv

more


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## sniperpeeps

The release with that sword all lit up was amazing!


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## DAWGONIT

Pretty work & great eatin' size!


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