Crews go the distance, haul in large swordfish off N.C. coast

Targeting swordfish well off the Carolina coast has long been in the back of Capt. Brant McMullan’s mind. In July, during – for this summer – a rare calm weather spell, McMullan and a few other Brunswick County, N.C., fishermen decided to get serious about it.

McMullan and his brother, Barrett, headed out at 5 a.m. on July 18 from the business they own and operate in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. – Ocean Isle Fishing Center – aboard their 39-foot Yellowfin. Joining the brothers on the trip were Brant McMullan’s 7-year-old son Brayden, a couple of Brayden’s bass fishing buddies, Connor Yates and Dillon Stone, and cameraman Chris Campbell.

The sea conditions were exactly what Brant McMullan was looking for.

“The sea was slick and we ran about 50 (mph) the whole way,” Brant McMullan said. “You want a good sea to go that far.”

Over two hours later Team OIFC arrived at their destination – 110 miles south of Ocean Isle Beach and east of Charleston to an area called Beaufort Valley in depths around 1,400 feet.

The McMullans were in search of ledges on the bottom and deployed marlin baits to make use of the time.

“We put out a spread of marlin lures to troll around at 10-12 miles per hour trying to find bottom structure to fish on,” Brant McMullan said. “We caught a nice wahoo in the middle of nowhere. We found three different areas that had good bottom contour.”

Team OIFC’s partner boat on the trip, Justin Huntley’s Contagious out of Southport, N.C., had quickly caught a swordfish just over the minimum size limit of 50 inches on a rigged whole squid while fishing what Brant McMullan described as “a 150-foot steep roll that went from 1,350 feet to 1,200 feet.”

The McMullans moved to within about a mile of Huntley’s boat on the same bottom contour.

Self-professed rookies in targeting and catching swordfish, the McMullans had picked up tips on how to go about it on YouTube, including the details of how to rig a bonito belly.

Using a Daiwa Tanacom 1000 electric reel spooled with 80-pound braid and 150-feet of 80-pound mono top shot going to a 12-foot, 300 pound leader, they began drifting the bonito belly over the bottom contour.

While other crew members took an early afternoon siesta, Brant McMullan was staring at the rod tip, looking for signs of a bite from the depths.

“For how big these fish are, the bite is so subtle,” Brant McMullan said. “You stare at the rod tip, looking for the smallest of twitches as the boat’s rocking and swaying.”

At 2:30 p.m., McMullan saw two small taps and more promising rod tip movement, but he was skeptical because earlier the bait had hit the bottom from fishing too deep.

He wasn’t sure he even had a fish on until he noticed the tension on the line when the 5-pound weight hit the surface 150 feet ahead of the bait.

A few minutes later, they knew they had hooked up with what they came after.

“The line began to rise quickly to the surface and out of the water, straight into the air came this beautiful swordfish,” McMullan said. “The excitement was now in full force (with) the realization that we had somehow stumbled onto a nice fish despite our lack of experience.”

Over an hour later, at Brayden McMullan’s request, the crew borrowed a harpoon from Contagious to dispatch the fish and bring it in the boat. The swordfish weighed in at 245 pounds at the dock.

Reel McCoy’s Fish

Four days later, Daniel Simmons and a four-man crew from Ocean Isle Beach headed out to the same area aboard Simmons’ 31-foot Contender, Reel McCoy.

Simmons was onboard Contagious when that crew landed the 50-inch swordfish four days earlier and was intrigued enough to get geared up and give it a shot on his boat.

“On the first trip with Justin (on Contagious), we had five legitimate, unmistakable swordfish bites,” Simmons said. “There are days I’ve flounder fished in Tubbs Inlet and have not had five flounder bites.”

Joining Simmons on the trip were fellow Ocean Isle Beach residents Ronald Stanley, Chris Crowley and Chris Eckert.

Simmons shortened his leaders to be able to fish two rods, one with a 30-foot leader and the other a 20-foot leader. Using rigged whole squid for bait, they began drifting the area at 6 a.m.

The crew had only one bite all day, at 2:30 p.m., the same time the McMullans’ fish had hit.

“After 20 minutes the fish came to the surface 400 yards from the boat and threw up a lot of whitewater,” Simmons said. “I knew we either had a shark or a monster sailfish thrashing around but we couldn’t tell what it was.”

The fish sounded, going back down 1,300 feet to the depth where it took the bait.

“Eight times it came to the surface and we got a visual, then went straight back to the bottom,” Simmons said. “I’ve caught bluefin tuna, caught marlin and the only fish with that kind of stamina is a cobia. A swordfish just does not quit. It’s amazing how much stamina they have.”

The second jump made by the swordfish, about 30 yards away from the boat, is one that remains emblazoned in the mind of Simmons and the rest of the crew.

“The fish was a little over 10 feet long, he skied and his tail was five feet out of the water,” Simmons said. “When he jumped that close to the boat, it’s the first time I’ve been scared of a fish and I’ve caught marlin and had big sharks up by the boat.

“Chris Crowley asked me ‘What in the hell are we going to do with that thing?’ ”

After a draining five-hour fight, the crew harpooned the swordfish to subdue it. With the fish at boatside, the crew thought the swordfish was done and Simmons jumped in the water to put a tail rope on it.

“It started to bang me into the boat, but I got the tail rope around him and we pulled him through the tuna door,” Simmons said. “He was so long we had the bill sticking out one side of the boat, the tail out the other.”

Simmons called Ocean Isle Fishing Center to inform them they would be in late with a large swordfish. Brant McMullan kept the OIFC open well into the night and a crowd showed up to greet the Reel McCoy crew.

“You would have thought we won the Big Rock (Blue Marlin Tournament out of Morehead City, N.C.),” Simmons said. “There were over 100 people there cheering for us.”

The swordfish weighed 409 pounds on the scales at the OIFC.

Notes

Obviously, swordfish have always roamed the deep ledges off the Carolina coast, predominantly targeted by commercial long-line boats. But the distance required to reach them and tackle required to catch them keeps most charter and private boats from going for it.

“It is absolutely out there to be done,” Brant McMullan said. “There’s been a lot of talk, a lot of excitement generated by these catches. It’s a long way to go – 100 miles – and you want the weather to be nice. I think it is something we’ll see more people want to do it but it is limited the number of boats that can do it. What the facts are, we’ve proven they’re out there and can be caught.”

Simmons is impressed with the swordfish action he saw on his two trips.

“To catch two in two trips, I’m very pleasantly surprised at the swordfish population that’s out there,” Simmons said.

Reel McCoy’s 409-pound swordfish fish was just over 30 pounds shy of the North Carolina state record, a 441-pounder caught off Wrightsville Beach by J. Horace Murray, Jr., in 1979.

The South Carolina state swordfish record is a 500-pounder landed by B.H. “Bony” Peace III of Pawleys Island out of Georgetown in 1978.

The catch of the 245-pounder by Team OIFC was filmed by Campbell and will be featured on a video segment on the OIFC’s No Limits Fishing, which can be seen online and on HTC Cable.

For more info, visit www.nolimitsfishing.com.

This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 7:55 PM with the headline "Crews go the distance, haul in large swordfish off N.C. coast."