Baits for Daytime Swordfish

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This sword was hauled up from 1,400 feet of water.

Daytime swordfishing is incredibly challenging, and can be incredibly rewarding. It requires hours of preparation, uber-long runs, great care in setting out the gear, and potentially hours of fighting a fish up from extreme depths. But to catch a swordfish – can there be any greater challenge in the fishing world? However you look at it, this is certainly in the top two or three.

swordfish fishing

This sword was hauled up from 1,400 feet of water.

One of the critical components to being successful when daytime swording is using the right baits. Swordfish love eating squid, so naturally, many anglers use whole rigged squid as baits. Generally speaking, the bigger the squid the better. And yes, they certainly do generate bites.

squid bait

This sword couldn’t resist a whole rigged squid.

But there’s a problem: squid are easily torn apart. When swordfish feed, they often try to kill or stun their prey by first slashing it with their bill.  Half the time when a squid bait gets attacked, it’s shredded and ripped free of the hook before the fish even tries to swallow it. In some circumstances this isn’t such a huge deal, but when you have 1,000 yards of line out, bringing it in to replace the bait is a time-consuming, arduous process. Worse yet, if the angler looked away from the rod for a moment right when the billfish attacked he or she may not even realize there was a bite. In that case, you could be fishing with a blank hook – not good. The solution? Instead of a squid, try fishing a rigged strip bait.

rigged bait

Strip baits are much hardier than squid, and the swords still love ’em.

A rugged strip bait sewn to the hook with rigging floss can be made from any number of common fish, like false albacore, mahi belly strips, or bonito. They often last through multiple fish, and you don’t have to worry you lost your bait after a missed strike but instead can rapidly drop then crank it to try and tease the swordfish into a follow-up attack. Here’s the really shocking thing: they do seem to get hit just as often as squid. The next time you decide to go after swords under a sunny sky, give a strip bait a try – in the long run, your chances of success will get a boost.

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