LIGHT IT UP

• “It’s a swordie—nice one too!”

With a positive species ID now confirmed, we readied the gaffs and prepared for the endgame with a 200-pound swordfish. We were fishing aboard the 72-foot F&S , and were gently drifting in flat-calm seas about a half-mile from the Thunderhorse platform, deep in the upper Gulf of Mexico off Venice, Louisiana. The fish hit the shallow squid bait just after 9 p.m., but the fight had “shark” written all over it for