Everybody wants to catch a big one until the big one wants to catch you…
Deep-sea fishing is one of the absolute best ways to spend a day. When I lived in Florida, me and some buddies would call off work on a few Fridays a year and hit the Gulf in search of grouper and a few too many beers, and while we always talked about hooking a giant (and one time a guy on the boat landed two big kingfish) I’m actually a bit thankful we never had the experience these guys did in this wild video.
Swordfish are one of the coolest fish in the sea for obvious reasons. They commonly grow to over 10 feet in length (the world record being 14 feet 11 inches) and typically range in weight from 50 to 200 pounds, but if the circumstances are right they can be downright massive, as the 1,182 pound world record shows.
They’re also one of the fastest swimmers in the sea and can reach a top speed of 60 miles per hour while having the ability to survive both near the surface and at the astounding depth of over 2,200 meters (~7,200 feet for my fellow freedom lovers).
But, hands down, the most striking thing about them is the hard, sharp bill jutting off their nose that can reach 5 feet in length (similar to that of a marlin) and can cause some serious damage if they strike near top speed.
If you needed proof that a multi-hundred pound fish with a sword for a nose and swimming at highway speeds is capable of some insane power, this video is it.
It shows a group of anglers on a boat with one hooked up with a giant swordfish. Now, I’m really only familiar with this “big game” type fishing from Hemingway books, but I do know you never want one of these giants swimming directly at you. Remember when this marlin sent a group of anglers tumbling?
Well, that’s exactly what was happening and there was no time to get out of the way and this swordfish slammed into the boat’s hull with some serious impact. The camera then cuts to show the puncture left from the impact and my goodness I’m glad that bill didn’t hit a human because it would have gone through like a hot knife through butter.
Take a look for yourself if only to appreciate the skills it takes to land these monsters. Sure, we have the upper hand of tackle and technology, but at the end of the day, it’s a massive, angry beast at the end of the line that doesn’t care at all whether you live or die.
