July 14, 2014 — The exciting catch of a 378-pound swordfish on Friday night into Saturday morning on the boat Anger Management out of Cape May brought offshore fishing back into the news.
Anthony McAlister was fishing with his dad, Dave, and regular crew of Mike Clairmont, Brian Haywood and Chuck Starn on the 42-foot Ocean Yacht.
Dave said it was a bright moon, a flat ocean and perfect conditions on their overnighter. They had been trolling and were pulling the ballyhoo into the boat when the swordfish started swatting at it, so they saw what it was and how big it was. They fed the ballyhoo back, and the swordfish gobbled it and started to run off.
And, as Dave said Monday, "It was game on."
They handed the rod with 50-pound test line to the 21-year-old Anthony to fight the brute. That was around 10 p.m. Seven hours later, they got it back to the boat. They chased it mostly backing down in reverse for what Dave estimated to be 11 miles in Wilmington Canyon.