Broadbill Swordfish Fishing

Broadbill
New Zealand has a world-class broadbill fishery in both the North and South Islands. The Bay of Islands is famous throughout the world as the home of many record catches.

Catches average between 120 to 250 kg, with the current New Zealand and world record for broadbill on a rod and reel standing at 332kg. Several fish weighing over 450kg have been hooked, but lost due to the broadbill’s notoriously soft mouth. The scientific name for broadbill, Xiphias gladius (the Greek and Roman words for ‘sword’) refers to its most prominent feature: the large, flat, sharp-edged sword that is usually about one-third of the total length of an adult. Although they superficially resemble marlin, sailfish and spearfish in this regard, they are not closely related to these other billfish.

Broadbill have a tall dorsal fin and a single keel – top and bottom, just ahead of the tail. The body of a broadbill is markedly more tapered than the marlin’s and is a greyish-blue above, sometimes with a purple hue and bronze tinge, with silver-grey sides and white below.

Broadbill are very cold-water tolerant. In common with marlin, they have developed blood-heating organs for eye and brain that allow them to work far more efficiently than their prey, especially in deep, cold water down to 10 degrees celsius.

Broadbill Breeding & Feeding
As with black and blue marlin, female broadbill grow bigger than males. They start spawning at around five years of age, at a weight of about 45kg. The approximate lifespan of a broadbill is estimated at 30 years.

Its feeding habits are particularly distinctive - rushing into schools of baitfish, slashing wildly with its sword, returning to swim leisurely through the school eating the dead and maimed. Broadbill have very large eyes and appear to hunt largely by sight, feeding right through the water column on squid, tuna, albacore, mackerel and kahawai.

Broadbill Fishing
Since the late 1980’s, night drifting with light sticks has become one of the most favoured techniques for broadbill fishing. It involves setting up drifts over deep-water structures (or bait concentrations), running two or three baits set at different depths, the deepest at about 50 metres, then 30 metres and one near the surface under a breakaway balloon with a light stick inside. Conditions need to be calm for drifting as the anchor can complicate matters.

In comparison with this drift technique, there is also the option of using downriggers to slow-troll rigged baits. This method of finding broadbill is far more precise, aided by a GPS, sounder and chart-plotter, enabling the skipper to work the deepwater structures accurately and place the baits precisely in position instead of drifting haphazardly. This approach brings a lot more strikes. However, the hook-up rate is not as good as when drifting.

No doubt the techniques for recreational broadbill fishing will become increasingly refined, but more importantly, New Zealand must continue to prevent its broadbill fishery from being destroyed by commercial long-lining, as has happened in the Atlantic and other parts of the world.

Click here for more information on booking your broadbill fishing experience.