The four anglers aboard the 35-foot CostaSV center console fishing boat Wound Tight left the boat dock near Biloxi, Mississippi, on Sunday at 5:45 a.m. They needed an early start to make an over two-hour, 130-mile run offshore to a special deep-water spot that boat owner and captain Drew Alexander has fished often.
Powered by four 300-horsepower Mercury outboards, Alexander and his crew zipped over flat seas on the blue bird day with no wind.
“It’s my go-to spot for swordfish over the last four years,” Alexander tells Outdoor Life. “We got there a bit after 9 a.m., and there were some other swordfishermen in their boats drifting in the deep trench.”
The place is well known among Gulf Coast swordfishermen, he says. But there’s plenty of room there for everyone, because the prime spot is about four miles wide. There’s 1,100 feet of water on the high side of the trench, and it drops off to 1,600 feet on the deep side.
“The water was clear, and we quickly set up two deep swordfish tackle outfits and started drifting using rigged squid baits,” says the 40-year-old D’Iberville local and owner of ALJ Maintenance company. “I’ve probably caught 100 [daytime] swordfish there over the last four years. There’s lots of bait, and a nice current washing off the shallow side of the trench that swordfish love.”
They only drifted 10 minutes before one of their baits got crushed by a large swordfish.
“Smaller swords under about 150 pounds sometimes dally around with a bait and you have to finesse them to hit,” Alexander said. “But this fish just smashed a squid rigged with a 10/0 J-hook.”
Crew member Capt. Tanner Noakley got to the rod and began a rugged two-hour battle using stand-up tackle to bring the swordfish topside. He used a custom-built heavy rod with a Shimano Talica 50 reel spooled with 65-pound test braided line. The wind-on leader was 100 feet of 300-pound test fluorocarbon line.
Soon after Noakley settled into fighting what they believed was a huge swordfish, the second baited outfit they had out got struck and another big fish was on. The anglers soon figured the second fish was a shark — one that caused lots of problems as they tried to prevent them from tangling. Alexander and Noakley worked feverishly to maneuver the boat and to keep the swordfish from fouling with the hooked shark.
Fortunately, says Alexander, the shark eventually cut the heavy mono leader and disappeared. That allowed Alexander to use his boat to help Noakley get the swordfish topside.
“But the sword kept diving as soon as he’d get it near the surface,” Alexander says. “I think he raised the sword three times. Then it finally tired and we got it close to gaff.
Eric McNally (the author’s son) gaffed the swordfish in the head, and crew member Shane Shepard used a second gaff to control the tail.
“The swordfish was done and they pulled it alongside our boat,” Alexander explained. “We took a minute to relax and figure how we’d get it into the boat.”
Soon thereafter the crew hauled the swordfish aboard the Wound Tight, then stowed it in an insulated fish bag, filled with ice to keep it fresh.
“As soon as we got the swordfish aboard, it disgorged its stomach,” Alexander said. “There must have been 10 pounds or more of squid, baitfish, bones and liquid that came out that fish. It also lost a lot of blood inside my boat from gaffing.”
The fishermen headed home to Biloxi at 2 p.m., racing to get back to a marina to have the fish weighed before 5 p.m., when most coastal businesses close for the day.
They phoned friends and marinas in the area but couldn’t locate a certified scale large enough to weigh the fish.
“I have a scale and some other places did, too, but they only went to 250 pounds,” Alexander says. “We finally headed over to Marine Mart in Ocean Springs, which is on the water, and they have a large and great scale — but it was out of certification.”
In front of a large group of people at the marina, their swordfish weighed 305.6 pounds. It measured 135 inches long overall, with a 46-inch girth.
A gyotaku print of the swordfish. Photo courtesy Drew Alexander
It was just shy of the current Mississippi record swordfish, which weighed 309 pounds 14 ounces and was caught in June 2021 by Donnie Jackson Jr.
Alexander and his crew believe that their billfish could have been a contender for the state record right out of the water, but without a certified weight, they’ll never know. He had the swordfish inked on a cloth in the traditional Gyotaku method.
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“It’s a good reason to go back offshore and catch another one,” says Alexander good-naturedly. “I’ll be sure to [line up] a certified scale that’s large enough to weigh whatever we catch.”
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