Georgian anglers on Destin charter reel in 70

Jun 08, 2023

For two days, nothing mattered but to catch fish.

But once the Nothin’ Matters unloaded at the docks Monday, getting a shower and lunch topped the list for the six guys from Georgia that landed a 70-pound swordfish plus multiple red snapper, tuna and more.

"It was intense … never felt nothing like it," said Aaron Crews of Putnam County, Georgia.

"It took two of us to get it in," Crews said.

Tanner Bailey was on the rod first.

"I struggled with that thing for a while," Bailey said, before he finally asked someone to come over to help him out.

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Bailey tangled with the swordfish for about six or seven minutes, before Crews took over. All together it took the guys about 10 minutes to get the swordfish to the boat.

"It was a hard pull all the way up … all the way up," Crews said.

"It had been some long days," Crews said, noting they were tired, plus the fish was strong.

The swordfish was the last fish caught on the two-day trip.

Capt. Tyler Brielmayer said they caught the swordfish about 10 p.m. Sunday night on the last spot. They were 68 miles out in 1,600-feet of water when they landed the sword.

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Right after they boarded the fish, captain said they got another swordfish bite.

They had it almost to the boat, Brielmayer said, when it pulled off.

"It was 15 feet from the boat too … I saw it. It was a nice one, but we’re going to pretend we didn't see it," he said. He estimated it to be about 150 pounds.

The group from Georgia boarded the 43-foot boat in Destin on Saturday morning and went offshore in search of tuna.

"The full moon messed up the bite up a little bit, so we came in and decided to fish for some swordfish and snapper," Brielmayer said.

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The crew ended up with a good mix of fish. They had four wahoo ranging in size from 12 to 30 pounds, two yellowedge grouper, 16 big red snapper, two scamps, five blackfin tuna, a mahi, two tilefish and three yellowtail sea bass.

They caught the snapper in 300 feet or more, fishing about 70 spots. The average size of the big ones was between 18 and 22 pounds.

"We had a good old smorgasbord of a smash," Brielmayer said.

This was the captain's first two-day trip of the year.

"But I’ve got a lot more coming up," he said.

"We’re getting more and more of them," Brielmayer said of the overnight trips.

"They’re getting that round of catching snapper and grouper and they want to go out for more. It's always more … can't never have enough," he said.