PDA

View Full Version : Fishing can be dangerous



Timo
11-10-2007, 03:25 PM
http://www.jacksonville.com/images/mdControlled/cms/2007/10/07/206015844.jpg
Swordfish catch leads to accident

While handling fish, angler falls and breaks his back and neck

It is said that the two best days in a man's life are the day he buys a new boat and the day he sells it.

But for a crew of local anglers, fate spun the old adage 180 degrees. For four men, that first day on the boat nearly turned out to be the worst of their lives. And, for one of them, nearly his last.



But for a crew of local anglers, fate spun the old adage 180 degrees. For four men, that first day on the boat nearly turned out to be the worst of their lives. And, for one of them, nearly his last.

They had a plan

Brett Gordon bought a new boat, a 25-foot Bluewater with twin Suzuki 175 four-strokes, but it was down in Stuart. He needed a good pulling machine. That's where Casey Smith came in - he had the truck.

"Originally, it wasn't going to be a fishing trip," Smith said. But they reasoned that they were that far south anyway, and the Gulf Stream was right there. So Adrian Heilman and Clint Bennett were drawn into the plan.

The guys loaded up early on the morning of Sept. 22. They picked up the boat around 1 p.m. After loading it with gas, ice and Coronas, they launched at about 2 p.m. They decided to play with the boat awhile, run out and do a little trolling and bottom fishing until 5 or 6. Then at dark, they would deep-drop for swordfish.

Neither the trolling nor the bottom fishing proved productive, so at around 7 p.m., they found themselves setting up adrift in 1,250 feet of water. They were 20 miles offshore and 20 miles south of Stuart. The Gulf Stream flows north along Florida's coast, and it was the group's intent to use that drift to bring them back north to Stuart.

Around dark, they set out HydroGlow lights, designed to burn just under the surface. The crew was using whole squid for bait. The baits were staggered off the transom at depths of 400, 200 and 50 feet. Each bait had a small chemical light attached to it. The crew members say it was a perfect night with light southeast winds.

The whole storey http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/100707/spo_206015441.shtml