April 08, 2012

USA FLORIDA: a monster 637 pound swordfish caught

Another mammoth daytime swordfish -- 683 pounds -- has been caught off the Florida Keys.

Fishing on the Mystique, a 61-foot Viking owned by Katherine MacMillan, Marathon captain Billy Rabito Jr. presided over the catch of the broadbill hooked some 30 miles to the south of Marathon Tuesday afternoon. The fish bit a whole 5-pound bonito hooked to 80-pound braid, spooled on an electric Shimano Tiagra reel. Mike Driskell, the boat's mate who lives on Little Torch Key, manned the reel. It was weighed on a scale, recently certified by the International Game Fish Association and the state of Florida, according to Byron Goss, co-owner of Big Time Bait & Tackle in Marathon, who witnessed the weigh-in at Key Colony Beach Marina.
About 150 spectators, who gathered for the weigh-in, were treated to complimentary fresh swordfish steaks, Rabito said. 


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