iStockphoto / campbellphotostudio/lillophoto
Swordfish are one of the most highly-sought after pelagic fish in the ocean. The mere sight of a swordfish conjures up images of man battling the sea and chasing after these deep water fish drives anglers to travel the globe in pursuit of catching one.
Typically, some of the best swordfishing is done in extremely deep water in the middle of the night, often in the Northern Atlantic off North America and Europe. In the Florida Keys, however, anglers can target swordfish during the day and at night making it one of the most popular destinations worldwide for this species.
480-Pound Swordfish Caught In Florida Keys
Captain Jose Rodriguez Jr. out of Cudjoe Key in the Lower Keys recently landed a massive 480-pounder that took 5 hours to battle. The captain from Cape Coral, Florida runs Above & Below Fishing Adventures and measured the epic fish at 86-inches once they landed it.
During the nighttime fishing trip, they managed to hook up with 6 swordfish and get 2 in the boat. For the uninitiated, hooking up with 6 in one trip is like Michael Jordan in his prime. LeBron with the Heat. Those are wild numbers.
Look at this absolute unit of a fish:
A 5 Hour Battle!
Captain Jose Rodriguez told WINK News “it’s called Purple fever, because they come up all bright purple. You get the purple fever, and then you’re a sword fisherman forever.”
I wouldn’t know. Swordfish are one of the few pelagic fish species I’ve never caught. I was supposed to go on a charter in Venice, Louisiana back in 2024 but the weather was brutal, water was rough, and we ended up spending that day going after redfish/trout and then going for tuna offshore the next day.
As for the battle, Capt. Rodriguez said they fought the fish for 5+ hours and the boat traveled 14 miles while fighting the fish as they chased it around. But that could all be for naught if the fish got next to the boat and they lost it. That’s the most critical point in the battle, according to Rodriguez.
He said “the most important part of this whole entire fight is sinking a harpoon into the fish. When we missed the first harpoon shot, that added three more hours to the fight. Now, this thing knows that you have a harpoon and it ain’t coming nowhere near you.”
Three more hours because they missed a harpoon shot! I’ve battled blue marlin for 2 hours in a stand-up rig with a fight belt set up for sailfish and I cannot imagine being pushed 2 more hours than that. Your body is so taxed at that point and then knowing that you missed that crucial point and had to basically start all over again would be a massive mental hurdle. But they did it, they got it to the boat:
Cudjoe Key in the Lower Florida Keys is just a stone’s throw from the infamous 7-Mile bridge, about halfway between the bridge and Key West. It is smack dab in the middle of the fishing capital of the world where anglers can chase bonefish, tarpon, and permit inshore in the morning and then run offshore and target every pelagic species under the sun.
Currently, the IGFA all tackle fishing world record for swordfish is one of those records that seems like it will never be topped. The record is an 1,182-pound fish caught in Iquique, Chile in 1953. Back then, Iquique, Chile was considered to be the best swordfishing grounds on the planet but over-fishing and changing weather patterns dried that fishing grounds up.
Here in Florida, the swordfish record is a 612.75-pound fish caught by angler Stephen Stanford back on May 5, 1978 in Key Largo.