#37 Swordwishing

Saturday 10/24/26 & Sunday 10/25/26

Fall fishing is one of the best times of the year. Even though there has been wahoo, dorado, marlin, and tuna swimming in our local waters, we decided it was time for us to bust out the deep drop gear and get some baits in the water. This Saturday was our first swordfish trip of the year, and we were excited to get back into it. Last season we hooked two swordfish, with our longest fight being just over 2 hours until it busted loose. It was quite the heartbreak, but has us eager for redemption.

We left Mission Bay jetty at sunrise and soon found a nice spot along the 9 mile bank to start our first drift. Water temp was around 75-76 degrees. Throughout the day we had a few nice drops, with our baits in what we felt was a nice zone. Bait was present, and all we needed was a bite. We never had a bite on Saturday, but we heard of a sword that was caught on the radio, and saw it being weighed at the scale at Dana Landing on our way back to the dock. Congrats to the guys who landed this beast as it was a solid 500 lb sword. When you see something like that at the scales you have to get back out there, so we made the choice to hit it hard again the next morning.

Sunday we had baits in the water by 8 am, and we were feeling hopeful. We saw one boat deep dropping near us and they were hooked up. We drifted for a long time, so long we became a kelp patty and had yellowfin tuna and dorado swimming under our bow. We had no live bait, but we casted some lures when we saw fish boiling around us, and we caught and released 2 small dorado. We drifted for hours with a good deep scattered bait layer present until the wind came up and pushed us out. We spent the rest of the afternoon trolling for wahoo, but no bites. We had a fun weekend of fishing, and it felt good to drop some baits down deep. We know this fish takes patience, so for now we will keep swordwishing.