Pics do not = it happened........VIDEO DOES!!!!!

What's that Al?  Looked kinda like a lobster tail but I think it's something else.

That just blew my mind.

Thanks for posting that up Art. Gave me chills down the spine to think about seeing one of those while diving. jim

What's that Al?  Looked kinda like a lobster tail but I think it's something else.

Lancet fish filets!
 
 
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Well, I'd like to be able to start this story by telling you that I finally trust Art enough to share my swordfish spot with him and that after repeated drops down the the 70 fathom range we finally found what we had been searching for, but I think this time we'll start with the truth and see where we end up...

Art and I decided to go out for a dive but since we're both a bit lazy we opted for the afternoon shift.  Finally at about 1:30 we're loaded up and heading to the spot on 101 when we run into some traffic issues...rather than wait around we took matters into our own hands.  Let's just say we got out of there pretty quick.

One obstacle down and now we're on a back road talking about our last trip.  We didn't shoot anything but we spotted a some other fish that our guns wouldn't have been able to take down.  So during the conversation Art said that he would take down some perch if he needed to...I told him that I was going blue water hunting.

Finally at the spot, we unload and suit up.  Things are looking a bit sketchy...windy and a nice size swell.  Eager to shoot a perch Art says we're going anyway.  We paddle out a bit.  Art's messing with his gear and I jump in the water.  When I get into the water I grab my float line and start to untanlge it, at this point I'm pretty much looking straight down.  After a second or two I pick my head up a bit just to get a feel for where I am and notice something that looks like I bill fish. I started to pop my head out of the water to tell Art but then I quickly realized that I should take a second look before I look like a kook.  The second look confirmed what I had seen and I popped my head out of the water to tell Art.  He obviously thought I was kidding around.  After a second I put my head back in the water and took a deep breath, having forgotten that I didn't put my snorkel back in my mouth.   

The fish came up pretty close to me and then it dove down a bit and headed over towards where Art was.  I told him it was passing right under him but he didn't see anything.  I followed it a bit but then it went into the thick kelp and I lost it...thinking I wouldn't ever see it again.

I swam around a bit looking for it and ended up in the spot where I had first seen it and sure enough, there it was again.  This time I called Art over and that's when he caught the video.  That time I was in the water with it for a couple of minutes, it would come pretty close and swim in a circle.  I probably could have reached out and touched it.

A part of me was amazed, and a part of me was a bit nervous that it might become aggressive (you might have heard in the video where I asked Art if it would "mess" us up)..I've avoid prison specifically to prevent myself from being penetrated by anything and I sure as hell didn't want it to happen in the ocean either.  More than anything though I was a bit worried that something might be around hunting it.

After that we got back into the boats and talked about it for a bit but the swell and wind was picking up so we decided to head in.

Art couldn't wait to get back home to see if it had come out on the video so he put out the APB for Big Jim who quickly responded and told us to go over to check it out and share a Bud Light Limon.

All in all, I think it's going to be hard to top that experience.  It's amazing to think that out of all the places we could have decided to dive, at that particular time, at that specific anchor spot, before the first actual dive of the day, we would have run into a fish like that.  A lot of things had to line up for us to have had that experience.



Side note: I think that the experience had a pretty profound impact on Art...the whole way home he kept trying to set the mood by setting the radio station to some romantic crap... a couple of times he also mumbled something about the way Big Jim holds his eel.

All in all, I think it's going to be hard to top that experience.  It's amazing to think that out of all the places we could have decided to dive, at that particular time, at that specific anchor spot, before the first actual dive of the day, we would have run into a fish like that.  A lot of things had to line up for us to have had that experience.

Amen to that.

Well, I'd like to be able to start this story by telling you that I finally trust Art enough to share my swordfish spot with him

QUOTE OF THE YEAR! 

Man... I've watched that video at least a dozen times and can hardly believe it.  Art and Angel are sure lucky that swordfish showed up on the GoPro to back up their story.

Does anyone know how common they are around here?

Perhaps that fish was some escapee or rejected specimen released from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. That might explain it's shabby condition.

I called bs when I first heard about this. Then my jaw dropped when Art posted the video.


Primo might not be far off when joking about his honey hole.
On page 6:

"In the summer of 1982 drift gill net
operation began to expand northward to Morro Bay.
Currently a small number of vessels are fishing on an
exploratory basis as far north as Monterey Bay. All
drift gill net operations north of Point Conception are
severely limited by sea conditions."

http://calcofi.ucsd.edu/newhome/publications/CalCOFI_Reports/v24/pdfs/Vol_24_Bedford___Hagerman.pdf

I called bs when I first heard about this. Then my jaw dropped when Art posted the video.


Primo might not be far off when joking about his honey hole.
On page 6:

"In the summer of 1982 drift gill net
operation began to expand northward to Morro Bay.
Currently a small number of vessels are fishing on an
exploratory basis as far north as Monterey Bay. All
drift gill net operations north of Point Conception are
severely limited by sea conditions."

http://calcofi.ucsd.edu/newhome/publications/CalCOFI_Reports/v24/pdfs/Vol_24_Bedford___Hagerman.pdf

Some of the largest commercial landings of swordfish happen off our coast, but they're usually caught way offshore, think 2000+ fathoms.  Nearshore like this is definitely not normal behavior.  That one in the pic looks sick.

Still ... a once in a lifetime sighting!!!

-Allen

Lol....mooch called about ten other people as soon as he found out.  First thing angel says is that mooch better not blow up his swordfish spot and that we know who to blame if we go back and all the swordfish are gone. 


The pre-dive jokes have become pretty auspicious. Last time at this spot we were joking about all the white sea bass we were gonna shoot and the fish magnet sights a white seabass.  This time its all the bluewater diving he's about to do and bam....sword.  I'll be steering the next pre-dive subject toward the topic of mermaids.

He's been looking for a suitable new screen name....perfect storm is currently the best bit I don't think glocestermen have seen that kinda action.

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and to think I gave the waiter at the Crow's Nest restaurant static about the "local swordfish" on the menu.  I owe that guy a bud light limon 

Man... I've watched that video at least a dozen times and can hardly believe it.  Art and Angel are sure lucky that swordfish showed up on the GoPro to back up their story.
Does anyone know how common they are around here?

Perhaps that fish was some escapee or rejected specimen released from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. That might explain it's shabby condition.

You usually hear about them from guys fishing albies offshore......nearshore in kelp, pretty much unheard of.  Im thinking along the same lines as allen, all that discoloration, one of the theories was that it came in on a squid spawn and got stuck in a seine.  It looked like it was movin through the water pretty good though...but my guess isn't any better than anyone elses.  Just happy the video came out.


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He's been looking for a suitable new screen name....perfect storm is currently the best bit I don't think glocestermen have seen that kinda action.

I suggest that we call Angel  "Blue Water" from now on   .......Look out Fuzz, you've got some competition now

What an amazing sight!  It the old days it would have been.... "Dude, I swear we saw a Swordfish today... really!"
Gopro tells no lies. Grest stuff!!!!!!!!!