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Reviving billfish: tips to know when releasing sailfish, swordfish, and marlin

Last summer we had an unfortunate incident with a swordfish that we brought onto the boat.

It was around 8:30 pm and we had been ready for about 45 minutes when we had our first bite, the second balloon at 150 ‘primed with a dead squid started screaming. My brother Rocky was on the rod and the instant he pushed the drag up to hit, which on our rods is set to 25-30 pounds of drag, the fish stopped and Rocky spun the fish effortlessly. Less than five minutes later we had a small swordfish boat. We couldn’t see the hook and since this fish was brought into the boat so fast, we didn’t want this green fish to go through any trauma.

Rocky handed me the pliers and I held the leader as close to the swordfish’s mouth as possible. The swordfish drifted away and seemed fine, then less than a minute later, on the other side of the boat, we saw the swordfish belly up. We pulled the anchor adrift and moved the boat towards the swordfish. Rocky grabbed his beak and led him over the side of the boat. I started an engine and Rocky held the fish’s beak underwater in hopes of reviving this little swordfish. After a minute or so of trying to revive, the swordfish turned even more coppery, stiff, and lifeless. We realized that there was no hope of reviving this fish, so we took it on the boat. Once it was in the boat we inspected the fish and the hook we decided to cut was just inside the corner of its mouth and did not bleed at all. Since this fish was brought to the boat in minutes and did not receive any trauma from the fight or from us being released, it led us to believe that this fish must have had heart failure.

Incidents like this are rare, especially when fight time is kept to a minimum. But they do happen and it reminds us that even though we have a conservation mindset and try to practice good catch and release, there is always a chance that a caught fish may not survive after being released.

There are many things that we as fishermen can do to try to ensure a healthy release of any marlin we catch. For one thing, as long as we have a green billfish in the boat that we plan to release, just cut off the leader as close to the fish’s mouth as possible and as fast as possible. Holding any large billfish along the side of the boat is one of the most dangerous things we can do in the sport of fishing. When a partner leans over the gunwale to hold a marlin, especially on a high freeboard boat, he can seriously injure himself and fish. Billfish fighting along the side of the boat often injure their eyes, bill, and gills by striking against the side of the boat. This is why simply cutting the leader as close to the fish’s mouth is much safer for the fish and people on board.

Any attempt to remove the hook from a marlin can do much more harm than good to the fish. Poor attempts to remove the hook from a fighting fish can cause severe bleeding and bruising on the fish. So unless you have a smaller billfish in the boat and you can clearly see that unhooking the fish will be an easy task due to the hook placement, just cut the leader as close to the fish’s mouth as possible, you will have much more chance of survival.

In case you are trying to unhook a smaller billfish, try unhooking the fish while its head is underwater. Once a swordfish’s head is above the water, it will hit it violently.

When you are about to release a billfish if it is not struggling to get away, it is not lit and has a coppery color, grab the fish’s beak by holding the fish’s beak and head underwater and then start the boat so that the water runs off the gills of the fish. Once the fish begins to kick on its own or begins to fight, gently release the beak and let it swim freely.

Never consider a billfish dead, always try to revive the fish as it may be exhausted from a long battle or unconscious from the lack of water (oxygen) running through its gills.

Tight lines,

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