{"id":209926,"date":"2026-03-28T20:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/209926\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T20:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:36:18","slug":"captain-hauls-in-nearly-500-pound-sea-giant-after-grueling-battle-feeds-most-of-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/209926\/","title":{"rendered":"Captain hauls in nearly 500-pound sea giant after grueling battle, feeds most of town"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Fox
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

A Florida fisherman changed his luck recently in a big way.<\/p>\n

Captain Jose Rodriguez Jr. of Cudjoe Key, Florida, takes clients out four to five times a week on a Florida Keys\u00a0fishing charter\u00a0<\/a>to reel in trophy fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he\u2019d never come close to catching a monster 500-pound swordfish.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 18, Rodriguez, along with a Pennsylvania family, landed a giant 480-pound swordfish, one of the largest of its kind caught in\u00a0the Keys<\/a>\u00a0in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a fight and a struggle,\u201d Rodriguez, who helps run the family business, Above & Below Fishing Adventures, told Fox News Digital in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0fought the fish\u00a0for five hours, and it took us at least another half hour to control the fish on the side of the boat before we could pull it over the side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Florida Keys<\/a>\u00a0are known for drawing large species like swordfish, but landing one of this size requires specialized deep-sea techniques and is considered rare.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s in search of a nickel, which is 500 pounds, but it rarely happens in the Keys,\u201d said Rodriguez, 25.<\/p>\n

Florida fisherman Captain Jose Rodriguez Jr. landed a massive 480-pound swordfish in the Keys. Instagram\/captjoserodriguez<\/p>\n

When he started the fishing trip, it seemed like a \u201cnormal\u201d day, he said. A Pennsylvania couple had\u00a0chartered the boat\u00a0to celebrate their son\u2019s high school graduation.<\/p>\n

As Rodriguez first spotted the swordfish, he knew it was large, but he wasn\u2019t sure how massive it would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everyone\u2019s prepared to catch a 500-pound fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen my mate and I got a really good eye on it, and we basically sealed the deal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At first, the Pennsylvania family didn\u2019t realize the\u00a0importance of what was happening,\u00a0he said. But the two children aboard were big supporters.<\/p>\n

Once the swordfish was caught, there was plenty of work to be done. For starters, there was no simple way to store a fish that huge.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Rodriguez and a Pennsylvania family battled the rare catch for over 5 hours. Instagram\/captjoserodriguez<\/p>\n

\u201cA fish that big actually lies on the back deck with ice bags on top of it with towels,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThere\u2019s really no other spot\u201d for it.<\/p>\n

Then he and his mate\u00a0sprayed it with saltwater\u00a0to bring its core temperature down.<\/p>\n

When they were ready to filet the fish, they completed the process on the boat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t have a crane to lift the fish.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNot everyone\u2019s prepared to catch a\u00a0500-pound fish,\u201d the captain said.<\/p>\n

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Only a few such accomplishments have been documented in the last decade, according to available material.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Captain Nick Stanczyk landed a legendary 757.8-pound broadbill off Islamorada, one of the largest recreational swordfish<\/a> ever caught in the U.S., Pelagic Gear noted.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Patrick Vincent, along with Captain Stanczyk, caught a massive 600-pound swordfish off Islamorada, Wild Open Spaces reported.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0Rodriguez\u2019s catch,\u00a0there were about 50-70 people in his community who turned out to admire the fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This huge catch follows other legendary hauls, like Captain Nick Stanczyk\u2019s 757.8-pounder in 2019. Instagram\/captjoserodriguez<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had well over 200 pounds of meat to use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania family took 20-30 pounds of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family decided to donate the rest to people in the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole community was eating swordfish that day,\u201d Rodriguez said, chuckling.<\/p>\n

When asked if he felt like a local celebrity, he said, \u201cAlmost, yeah. Everybody knows about it. \u2026 It\u2019s just about being in the right place at the right time, and it\u00a0ended up happening\u00a0to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Florida fisherman changed his luck recently in a big way. Captain Jose Rodriguez Jr. of Cudjoe Key,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6818,3050,28,30,29,4278],"class_list":{"0":"post-209926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-boats","9":"tag-fishing","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}