Broadbill swordfish for Cook Strait

For fifteen years, Jonathan ‘Jono’ Delich, owner of Cook Strait Fishing Charters and skipper of the charter vessel MV Seafarer II,  had dreamed of catching a broadbill swordfish in Cook Strait. Greg Head relates the tale, as told to him by Jono…

There we were, in 600-800m off Palliser Bay, about two hours’ steam from our base, Seaview Marina, on a beautiful morning in early April. Accompanied by friends Junior Kreyl, Alan Chambers and Rand Govind – who were just as keen to catch a sword as I was – it was the ideal opportunity to try daytime deep-dropping techniques, but unfortunately we enjoyed no success.

So that evening we changed techniques and dropped a rig incorporating 400lb leader and a Mustad circle hook, with a whole arrow squid as bait. A blue lumo stick and diamond light were placed above the bait.

The bait was then positioned down about 80m. Around midnight there was a strike and I hooked into an unknown fish, which I proceeded to play while Junior, Ranch and Al cleared the other outfits away and sorted the flying gaffs and a tail rope.

We were unsure what the fish was, as there had been a lot of blue sharks around, along with some large makos, but I did know it was solid and strong.

Unfortunately, as the fight progressed the fish repeatedly took the line under the boat, forcing me to relinquish the rod to Junior or Al so I could manoeuvre the boat.

Then, after around an hour of fighting, with the fish making strong runs on numerous occasions, steady progress was made, and we caught sight of the fish in the crystal-clear Cook Strait water – yes, a broadbill swordfish! 

While the broadie’s size was hard to determine at this point, we became aware of a very large blue shark circling our prize catch. Extra pressure was therefore put on, and soon after the fish was brought in close enough for Junior to leader and me to put a flying gaff into its shoulder. A second gaff and the tail rope were also placed, securing the fish and helping the crew to drag it onto the deck.

Fifteen years of dreaming and planning had come to fruition; to our knowledge, this is the first broadbill swordfish caught on rod and reel by a recreational angler out of Wellington in Cook Strait. It’s certainly my first one!

This wasn’t a hit-and-miss affair. There is plenty of evidence of broadbill living in our waters. They have been seen on the surface on many occasions; in fact, I saw one the week before in the same area. This fish was on the surface and stayed around the boat for about twenty minutes, but wouldn’t look at any sort of bait or lure.

It’s nice to know that these fish live in our waters and can realistically be targeted. It’s also pleasing to know that Cook Strait has a way of ensuring that these fish are not over-fished – it’s not often flat calm out there! But get that right, along with a good boat, skipper, knowledge and gear, and your dream fish is possible.

For myself and the crew it had been a real team effort, with everyone involved, making the final result even more satisfying.

The gear

For the record the fish was caught on a ‘Gingerbuilt’ custom-made, bent-butt game rod built on a 5’2” Seeker blank with fully rollered AFTCO guides. The reel was a Shimano Tiagra 80 wide two-speed, spooled with Cortland 80lb Dacron and a 200m top shot of 200lb mono.

Finally, what’s next? For a start, it would be impossible not try to again. But there is also another large, challenging fish to be caught on rod and reel out of Wellington called bluefin tuna…