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KNOCK DOWN FISH FIGHTS
Some of the meanest fish in the world often beat up on fishermen, leaving their fishing tackle bruised and busted!
by Terry Lacoss

A major fish fight took place shortly after Dwight Griffis pointed the bow of his sport fishing boat, "Fishin Machine" towards the deep blue waters of northeast Florida's Gulf Stream.
"You had better fish in close to land," Mark Mertz said. "The seas are running from five to seven-feet and the marine forecast is not looking good either!"
Mark Mertz was fishing with Dr. Robert Nuss's sport fishing boat "Par-A-Docs", when they decided the deep waters of the Gulf Stream were getting too rough and headed in closer to shore.
"It was Saturday and we had planned on fishing anyway, weather or not," Dwight Griffis said. "Actually when we arrived at the thirty-fathom curve, the seas had actually laid down. This was one time that the weather man was dead wrong!"
By now it was getting close to dark as they dropped down a pair of barbed squid, fished with light sticks to help guide nearby swordfish to these tempting baits. The boat's running lights were also turned on to alarm any passing boats of their position.
Sometime close to midnight, a fairly large swordfish took one of the barbed squid and began jumping wildly in the total darkness of night.
"That big swordfish took off jumping and you could actually hear the sword hitting the water, but we could not see a thing because of the darkness," Griffis said. "Things began going wrong when the sword ran straight back to the boat, as seventeen-year old Jesse Ladson tried in vain to keep the 80-pound fishing line reeled tightly on his 80-pound class fishing reel. Once again the sword began jumping wildly and eventually jumped over the remaining swordfish line and tangling the terminal fishing tackle. Next thing we knew, that big sword sounded straight down while we tried to untangle the fishing lines. Jesse had all he could do to hold on, as the reel's drag was set fairly tight. Finally the pressure of the swordfish sounding and the complications of the tangled fishing lines put too much pressure on the hook, which eventually tore loose."
Jesse was left totally exhausted from the fish fight!
Later that morning, just after 2:00 AM, a second swordfish took a barbed squid and once again began jumping in the total darkness of night. Jesse Ladson once again took the deeply bent eighty-pound fishing tackle and settled back in the fighting chair for a long, long fish fight!
"Jesse was still somewhat shaken from the first fight with the swordfish that he had just lost," Griffis said. "I could tell that the long hours of night fishing and the long boat ride had also worn Jesse down too."
After several jumps, followed by the eerie sounds of the sword hitting the water in the dark, the hooked sword swam down and began to sulk in the deep depths of the Gulf Stream. However this time Jesse was able to play his sword without the handicap of a tangled fishing line. Finally after and hour and forty-five minute battle, Jesse reeled a 148-pound swordfish up to the transom of the "Fishin Machine"!
You have to take your fishing hat off for the tremendous efforts the "Fishing Machine" fishing party displayed in battling seven-foot seas to reach their fishing waters. Then landing a trophy size sword at night when they had already been counted out for the ten count by a previous swordfish encounter!
Major fish fights also take place close to shore where big game fish feed at inlet mouths and beaches where large schools of baitfish gather.
It was a hot summer's day and redfish were running thick in the deep pass where Dr. Ben Dickens fished dead on the bottom with fifty-pound fishing tackle and large pieces of cut mullet. His rod was stiff enough to land a sizable game fish and he meant business when a fish made the big mistake of eating his chunk of bloody, stinking mullet.
The arrival of a large school of red drum in the deep-water pass was often signaled by large schools of mullet, glass minnows, squid and greenies schooling on and just under the surface. When this happened, Dr. Ben Dickens would prepare for that telltale thud at the business end of his fifty-pound fishing line. With a gorilla like hookset, the good doctor would waste little time in reeling in his catch!
Soon the bottom of his fishing boat would harbor several 15-30 pound red drum, which were stuffed into the boat's fish box once the bite was over. In those days, there weren't many fishing regulations on red drum, so what many fishermen couldn't eat, they would sell or give to their neighbors.
However on one particular red drum fishing trip to the deep redfish hole, located at the tip of Florida's St. Mary's inlet, Dr. Ben Dickens was catching red drum one after another.
There were mullet everywhere on the surface creating a vicious feeding binge between redfish, king mackerel, and a large school of broad shouldered summer tarpon. By now mullet were flying everywhere into the air! A fairly large mullet was struck in mid-air by a rather large kingfish that chomped his meal into tiny pieces with razor sharp teeth.
It was one of those summer fishing days that fishermen die to experience. However Dr. Dickens wasn't paying much attention to the feeding frenzy at hand and was preoccupied with fighting a large fish that had just taken his chunk of cut bait.
Suddenly a one hundred-pound tarpon leaped out of the water chasing the schooling mullet and landed smack dab in Dr. Dickens lap. A hard blow was delivered to the head of Dr. Dickens from the thrashing tarpon, which ultimately paralyzed him for the rest of his life!
During a past fishing trip to Georgia's WR-2 reef Captain Tommy Theobald hooked a massive sailfish, which took off leaping over the summer's dead calm ocean surface to the delight of his charter client. The battle lasted for some fifteen minutes while the angler sat in the boat's fighting chair and reeled, reeled, and reeled some more, while the sailfish vaulted from the ocean in several spectacular leaps.
Finally the angler was able to reel his catch up close to the starboard side of Captain Theobald's "Mona Rose" charter boat where the seasoned skipper reached down to the water and grabbed the bill of the six-foot sailfish.
Immediately the hooked sailfish leaped straight up towards the outrigger cables and became tangled. Captain Theobald soon lost his grip on the sail's bill, which unfortunately resulted in the point of the 8/0 saltwater hook driving right through the back of Captain Theobald's hand. Now both the sailfish and Captain Theobald were tangled in the outrigger cables!
With his free hand, Captain Theobald cut the wire line free, but the large saltwater hook remained embedded in the middle of his hand. The sailfish was soon released, but Captain Theobald had to be rushed to the hospital on his return to the marina where the large hook was cut free with a pair of bolt cutters by the surgeon!
Another sailfish battle occurred when a deep sea charter aboard the Amelia Angler II almost came to end when after an hour's fight the exhausted angler reeled his catch up to the transom of the 32-foot sport fishing boat. Luck was to have it that after all the jumps and runs, the small saltwater live bait hook pulled free and the tired sail began to swim slowly deep and away from its would be capture.
First mate Leroy Powel immediately kicked off his deck shoes, threw his T-shirt off and jumped right into the water after the escaping sail!
"I must have swam some ten feet down before I was able to grab the tail of the sailfish," Leroy said. "That's when the sail made one heck of a run, dragging me with it. But I wasn't about to let go!'
Seconds later, Leroy was able to drag the tired sailfish back to the boat where the fishing charter cheered him on! Unfortunately the second battle did the sailfish in and after a few photos could not be revived.
During a TV fishing show, Roland Martin was fishing offshore wrecks with large blue runners down deep. Here a variety of giant saltwater species preyed on smaller game fish and often beat up on fishermen and their fishing tackle, even the likes of Roland Martin!
As the boat drifted over the deep-water wreck, Roland Martin free-lined his weighted live bait deep down to the bottom of the ocean. Suddenly Martin's live bait became entangled in the sunken wreck. So he thought!
After several attempts to break the fifty-pound fishing line, or free the hook, the fishing rod began to buck wildly indicating a hooked fish!
In actuality, a monster of an amberjack had eaten Martin's live bait and was just sitting there like a large barge on the bottom. Finally annoyed by all of Martin's efforts to free the snagged hook, the amberjack decided to make a fight out of it!
For the next twenty or so minutes, the estimated 70-pound amberjack had its way with Roland Martin and his fishing tackle, until finally giving in to Martin's steady rod pressure!
However the one fish fight that I will never forget took place during the middle of summer and Florida's premier kingfish run.
One of my charter clients was reeling in a beaten, fifteen-pound kingfish up close the gunnel of my center console fishing boat when a large dark shadow began to rise from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
I was just about to grab the tail of the tired kingfish when the shadow appeared only a few feet from my waiting hand. It was a fifteen-foot hammerhead shark!
I immediately retrieved my hands from the water as the large shark slowly swam right up to the rear end of the kingfish and swallowed it whole. Then swam off as slowly as it had arrived.
By now the angler was hooping and shouting over his monster hooked shark. Seconds later the twenty-pound fishing line parted and everyone on board stood speechless for a few seconds over the previous fishing scene!
Real fish fights occur on a regular basis and those of us that enjoy the fight of a real heavyweight size fish are seldom forgotten and often reminisced.

For more information on C & H's full line of wahoo lures, visit candlure.com or call (904) 992-9600. For wahoo fishing charters, call Captain Allen Mills at (904) 261-9481.