From November thru April sportfishing boats come to Mazatlán from as far away as California in search of the "king of the Sea", the famed Swordfish. On Saturday April 14th our local fishing wizard Frank Arlaus, better known as "Pancho Postre" called me saying that he had caught a 235 lb. Swordfish. Would you like to do a story Sharky? We met the following Monday. Pancho's friend, Miguel Martínez from Culiacán, Sinaloa, came to Mazatlán for Easter week and wanted to know what his chances of catching a swordfish were. They are out there and I have one of the special baits I use for them Mickey. Let's do it Saturday! Five hours and 30 minutes afterleaving the dock they spotted this swordfish finning at 41 miles out. Pancho baited a 6 ft. Gold Cup standup pole with a 9/0 Penn Senator Reel, handed it to Miguel telling him what to do with the bait. Once it was in place Pancho stopped the boat and told Mickey not to do anything the first time the fish hit the bait. A swordfish will always hit the bait once before coming back to take it, says Pancho. Exactly what happened! After 30 seconds the fish grabbed the bait againand ran with it. Pancho told Miguel to wait 15 seconds then set the hook, hookup! Mickey had no idea what he was in for, says Pancho. We have landed 300, 400 500 lb Marlin in less than 1 hour, but i knew this was going to take a while. Swordfish dive to the depths, they don't jump all over the ocean like the marlin do, wearing themselves out. After 2 and a half hours, the fish was

still down about 150 yards. Pancho was not sure what to do since the reel was spooled with 50 lb test line. We normally use 80 lb test line wher we can tighten the drag and use the boat to lift the fish up from the depths, then back down rapidly to gain line. This was a Mexican standoff, said Pancho, so that's what they did. It worked, and after 3 hours and 10 minutes Pancho gaffed the fish. Miguel must have been happy, says Pancho. He gave me a big hug and a kiss!! We were 43.5 miles out, the fish had towed us 2.5 miles during the fight. Pancho has seen major sportfishing boats, million dollar boats out there with spotter planes looking for finning swordfish. They come from all over to fish for the swords. Some of these guys have spent fortunes trying to catch the "king of the Sea" and they are still spending fortunes trying to catch their first sword. I have been real lucky over the years, saya Pancho. He's even stopped counting the swords he has landed since being here in Mazatlán. He is sure the special baits he uses have something to do with that. He pre-rigs 1 and a half and 2 lb Sábalos (shad) before heading out during the Swordfish season. He normally takes only one Swordfish bait with him unless he is targetting only swords, which isn't very often, he says. Normally it's a day out fishing for Stripped marlin, Dorados, Tunas, etc. and if they see a Sword, then he's ready with the special bait he takes. You can check out the other stories we have written about "Pancho Postre" at our website www.pacificpearl.com, in the archives.