Jose Manuel Rodriguez, with Above and Below Fishing Adventures, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about his recent catch.
Last week Rodriguez caught a 480 pound, 86-inch swordfish.
He said, “We were battling for five hours. I had some clients on board, very young crew. I believe I had a 10 year old and 16 year old and a mom and dad. They were pacing back and forth. I saw even one of them praying, I think. And the conditions were not very nice. It was very tough out there. It was probably about eight foot seas and a big chop to it. It was definitely very, very tough out there. I was about 24 miles offshore, and we fought the fish for 14 miles.”
When did he know it was going to happen?
Rodriguez said, “About an hour in, I had a good feeling. I was like, okay, this guy is probably over 300 and then once I got eyes on it, I was like, all right, now we’re talking this one’s really big. So swordfish are really, really aggressive fish. They’ll charge the engines, they’ll come at the boat, they’ll jump, they’ll do anything to come off your hook. So we actually missed our first dart shot on the fish, and now the fish knew we had a harpoon. So these things are geniuses. They know they know how to come off, so that actually extended our fight an extra three hours. Eventually we got another shot. And my great mate, Austin, he laid a perfect dart shot into the fish. I have a few mates that work with me and we all, I guess, put a bunch of knowledge into this fishery together. I have up to three different mates that actually work with me.”
Photos can be found on Instagram.
Rodriguez said, “You guys could check me out at Above and Below Fishing Adventures or my personal account, Captain Jose Rodriguez.”
Above and Below Fishing Adventures is a family business.
Rodriguez said, “My mom, she’s like my marketer. She controls my book. I control the fishing. She is definitely awesome. My dad’s actually a commercial fisherman, and he is also one of my other captains. My dad’s been a commercial fisherman down in the Keys for almost 40 years. So he’s been after it for a long time. It’s pretty rare to see my dad like in shock over a fish. I’ll put it to you that way. It’s very rare. It was very exciting. Swordfish could be absolutely anywhere it’s freezing cold water. There’s no real season to it. So down there the water could be 35, 38 degrees. It’s the same temperature water that it is in Massachusetts. So that swordfish could have came from anywhere. It could have came from Cuba or Maine. I do have video of the catch itself, even the pulling it in the boat process. It will be up on Instagram and YouTube. Believe it or not, we’re using 80 pound braid to catch a 480 pound fish.”
For more information, click here: https://aboveandbelowadventures.com/