A 132-pound swordfish.

I keep telling everyone that I over-married. When my bride gave me the okay to go on a 2-day swordfishing trip the day after Christmas, I proved it. Captain Jeremy Williams was putting together an offshore trip aboard his 43-foot sportfisherman J-Hook. The game plan was to grouper fish our way southwest to and from the Steps by day, and slip a little deeper for swords by night. I joined the captain along with Mark Adams, his son Luke, Don Martin, Nick Booker and Sean Garrison.

With the air temperature hovering in the low 40s, we left Daybreak Marina in Pensacola at 10 a.m. and began the 60-mile run, stopping along the way to hit a few familiar grouper spots and do a little exploring for some new rocks that proved to be productive. Crisp winter air keeps some folks at home under the blankets and by the fire, but to me, there is no better time to be on the water. The almanac picked this day as second worst day of the month for fishing and the grouper bite backed it up, though we did manage a few decent gags for the grill.

We arrived at the Steps around dusk, and the wind was not the “variable at 5 knots” as forecasted; it was more like 15 knots and steady out of the northwest. We begrudgingly deployed the sea anchor to slow our drift, necessary due to the wind’s 3- to 5-foot seas, though it does have a way of providing an escape mechanism for savvy swordfish that can wrap your line around it. “Ninety percent of the time, we are dealing with so little current and calm seas the anchor isn’t necessary,” Williams explained. But, winter cold fronts can be more aggressive and unpredictable than the long stretches of calm seas we get during most of the summer months along the Panhandle.

As the boat came about and our drift certain, the crew was putting dinner on as Jeremy was lowering the first bait down, a large squid. This was to be a deep bait at about 400 feet, and that’s where the first fish hit. Williams knew it was a sword, because the line went slack with an 8-pound weight on it. “Two out of three swords will eat the bait and head straight for the surface,” detailed the captain. He began reeling as fast as he could until he felt the fish and began to apply pressure, careful not to set the hook. “With 6 to 10 pounds of weight on the line, swords are pretty good at hooking themselves,” he explained.

We managed to get a harness on Williams. He would fight this fish on standup gear. In just 10 or 15 minutes, we saw the blue-and-green Lindgren-Pittman light located about 12 feet above the hook, and the fish saw us. At this point the sword realized he was hooked and headed straight back down, ripping line off the 50 wide reel. Swords aren’t really fast, but this fish peeled line steadily for what seemed like an eternity, but was 8 to 10 minutes in reality. We all knew this was a good fish.

The wind and sloppy seas didn’t make fighting this fish any easier, but Williams pressed on for 45 minutes, then an hour and at the 85-minute mark, we saw the light again. The fish headed under the boat and we thought we were done, but Jeremy turned him. Then he headed for the sea anchor, but we got lucky again. He finally swam within reach for a shot with the flying gaff, and Nick made a perfect shot.

Don, Sean and Nick hoisted the fish into the boat and she lay over 10 feet long from tail to bill and would weigh 132 pounds back at the docks. She was a spectacular fish and we all high-fived and cheered; we couldn’t help thinking that Santa came a day late for us. It seemed fitting for Jeremy to catch the biggest sword of the year on the last trip of the year. He’s usually up on the bridge and when he is in the cockpit, almost always hands the rod off so that others can list a swordfish among their catches.

I did say the first fish right? At about 1 a.m., I was on watch and I saw the light on the same rod about 40 feet behind the boat before the drag started screaming, and if you’ve ever heard a Tiagra drag in the still of the night, you know it is loud. I came down from the bridge so quickly that I don’t think I even used the ladder. Sean barreled out of the cabin and got in the harness to fight this fish, which would be his first sword.