Costa Mesa fisherman brings in 311-pound swordfish off coast of Newport Beach
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Some fishermen scour the world looking for the perfect catch. But Costa Mesa resident Dejan Yovanovic’s leviathan was found much closer to home.
The 27-year-old action sports videographer has done his fair share of traveling for work, sometimes taking the opportunity to cast a rod in less familiar waters.
But Yovanovic found satisfaction last Saturday beyond any Black Friday deal he might have come across, bringing in a 311-pound swordfish off the coast of Newport Beach.
A Newport Harbor High School alum, Yovanovic said he was most pleased by the fact that the out-of-the-ordinary catch happened “seven miles from my house.”
He captured the heavy billfish using International Game Fish Assn.-legal stand-up gear, including a 100-pound line and a custom stand-up rod setup. The fight to bring it in tested the limits of his equipment and his strength.
“At about the 40-minute mark, I had the realization, like, ‘Man, if I have to do this for another 20 minutes, I’m not going to be able to physically do it,’” Yovanovic said. “The pressure this fish was putting on me, it was, like, cutting off circulation to my feet.
“… I have a plate that holds a rod and then a harness around my back to support it, so that I can use my hands and adjust the reel and wind on the fish. That harness was just digging into me in both my back and on my thighs from the heavy pressure.”
Newport Beach resident Dave Ogle, captain of the 40-foot ocean yacht “Sleeper,” and deckhand Lamar Lee, of Costa Mesa, each had parts to play. Yovanovic lauded Ogle’s driving, keeping the boat at good angles to continue to reel it in.
When the fish — which measured 125 inches in overall length and 88 inches at its fork — got to within about 10 feet of the surface, Lee took the gaff shot.
“It just would not come near the boat,” Yovanovic explained. “It didn’t want to do it. We’re like, ‘Hey, it’s now or never.’ Lamar’s like, ‘Hey man, I need you to bring it up a couple more feet.’ I took the reel and put it to full drag, which is the maximum amount of pressure that I can put on the fish, and myself, right … I just lifted with everything that I had twice, and he was able to put the gaff in.”
Yovanovic, who employed a deep-drop fishing technique with squid as the bait, likened catching a swordfish to finding a needle in a haystack. He had gone out at least six times this year hoping to catch one without getting a single bite.
The fight to bring in the fish lasted 45 minutes, and it took just as long to bring it aboard. Obligatory photos followed, and then the boat returned to shore, where the anglers recorded the official weight with the weigh master.
“We had a crowd there,” Yovanovic added. “There were kids checking it out. Everybody’s taking pictures. It was great. Then we put it on ice overnight to kind of firm up the meat, so we get the best quality. It took all of Sunday processing the fish and vacuum packing it, so it was properly done.”
The meat was put into six coolers and taken by the three men to their respective jobs and distributed among co-workers and friends.
Yovanovic estimated that the catch of the day — if not a lifetime — fed about 70 people.
