Fish of a Lifetime: 622-Pound Swordfish Landed 85 Miles Off Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — What started as a quiet November fishing trip on Wednesday, Nov. 4, ended in South Jersey fishing history.

Eric McDowell, president and owner of Christi Insurance Group in Ocean City, left the dock around 3 a.m. aboard his 37-foot Valhalla, Premium Time. His crew was Dan Petitt, Jason Olsen and Jacob Bowells. They were headed for Tom’s Canyon, about 85 miles off Ocean City.

By the end of the day they had fought for more than five hours and boated a swordfish few anglers ever see.

The Battle at 1,000 Feet

At the canyon, the crew dropped live squid to between 1,000 and 1,100 feet in roughly 1,200 feet of water. The surface temperature was a mild 73 degrees.

When a fish took the bait, McDowell got on the rod, and the fight went on for more than five hours.

“A fish of a lifetime!” McDowell said. “This was possibly the biggest swordfish weighed in in New Jersey. The fish jumped twice. The second jump was clear out of the water. Not many people get the chance to see a swordfish of that size jump like that. It was an incredible experience.”

Once the crew got the fish alongside Premium Time, it measured 10 feet from the lower jaw to the fork of the tail. The bill added another 4 feet.

A Late-Night Weigh-In at the Yacht Club

The crew headed for home and pulled into the Ocean City Yacht Club at 8:20 p.m. There, the Ocean City Marlin & Tuna Club (OCMTC) made the weight official.

Landing that late took some quick work. On short notice, the crew asked Jen Bowman, the yacht club’s club services manager, to open the gate, turn on the floodlights and run the hoist to lift the fish onto the dock. Bowman said her answer was “an enthusiastic YES!”

That kind of help comes from a long partnership between the two clubs. The yacht club hosts OCMTC weigh-ins and banquets throughout the year. In return, the OCMTC helps with the yacht club’s annual Fishing for Kids event, Bowman said.

The weigh-in had a family connection too. The OCMTC’s former weighmaster is McDowell’s mother, Joan Walker.

The scale settled at 622.5 pounds.

Sharing the Catch

A swordfish this size yields hundreds of pounds of meat. In keeping with fishing tradition, McDowell has already shared the steaks with his crew, friends and family around town.

For McDowell and his crew, Nov. 4 will be remembered as the day they hooked, fought and landed a true giant of the canyon.