One Blue Marlin, One Big Boost for Swish

A Bite The Crew Will Never Forget

Most blue marlin give you one chance with your spread—maybe two if you’re lucky.

This story tells of one who just kept coming back.

Capt. Michael Mattson had already marked the fish on sonar before anyone ever saw it.

“I told the guys, ‘I’m getting ready to put a mark under the left rigger.’

Seconds later, the blue marlin exploded on the left teaser with such force that it nearly emptied the teaser reel. Mattson thought for a moment the outrigger guiding his teaser line might come down if the marlin didn’t stop. That gives you an idea how intense the bite was –the marlin inhaled the hookless teaser lure. 

The marlin finally surfaced beyond the long rigger, over 50+ yards from the boat, with seconds left before the bridge teaser reel would be spooled. The marlin lifted its head above the water, and literally coughed the teaser back into the wake after swallowing it.

Most would have watched the fish disappear and chalked it up as another story.

As Mattson quickly reset his bridge teaser, unknown to the crew, the blue tracked it right back into the spread and piled on it again. This time Mattson was able to keep the teaser away from the from the marlin as his angler delivered a textbook pitch-bait bite.

The marlin ate perfectly, but instead of turning away content with its catch, she continued swimming pointed at the boat, trying to pursue another bait in the spread. The angler decided to try the marlin but the bait pulled right out of her mouth.

Then she sank deep and vanished. 

Everyone onboard stood in disbelief.

Not ready to give up, Mattson spun Swish through a hard 180-degree turn and immediately started searching the sonar again. When another mark appeared on the screen, he didn’t hesitate.

“She’s coming back.”

Seconds later, the blue marlin charged back into the spread for a third time. This time she committed, crushing a small J-Boy lure on the long rigger rigged with 300-pound leader and 9/0 hook. 

“It was probably one of the coolest bites we’ve ever experienced,” Mattson said.

The fight was on and the crew never pushed the drag aggressively, choosing instead to stay patient while the fish spent much of the fight black-backing behind the boat. Two and a half hours later, they finally brought her alongside and boated a 653-pound blue marlin, earning Swish the Bermuda Billfish Blast title and Heavy Hitter honors in the Captain of the Year International Division.

Sixteen Years in the Making

The victory carried even more meaning because it came aboard a new addition to the program.

While the 78′ Rybovich Swish was only fishing its second tournament since joining the fleet, Mattson has spent the past 16 years with the same owner, building one of the sport’s most respected operations aboard sister ship My Three Sons.

The recently refit 2009 Rybovich Swish was added to the program to primarily chase big blue marlin while My Three Sons continues its successful Pacific campaign.

The owner had never boated a qualifying tournament blue marlin.

Even more special, much of the crew that helped build the program over the past 15 years reunited for the tournament.

“We had a large amount of our crew from Charleston together on the boat,” Mattson said. “It was really cool to have all the boys together and pull it off.”

A Fourth of July Finish Nobody Could Predict

The 653-pound marlin didn’t just win the Bermuda Billfish Blast.

It also qualified for the July 4th World Cup, a tournament where the largest marlin wins and fished all over the world from Hawaii to the Madeira. 

In one of the rarest finishes imaginable, another team weighed a blue marlin that matched Swish exactly at 653 pounds. The World Cup title was ultimately decided by the tournament’s time-of-report rule, awarding the victory to the team, Bad Company, that officially reported first in an earlier time zone in the South Pacific.

For Mattson, there was little time to dwell on what might have been.

After years of knocking on the door with strong finishes aboard My Three Sons, the Bermuda victory delivered the breakthrough the entire program had been waiting for.

“It was a much-needed win,” Mattson said. “Morale is high.”

More than just a tournament win, the 653-pound blue marlin was good for 500 Captain of the Year points in the International Captain of the Year Division, giving the Swish program a little boost in the season-long race.

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