The deep sea. A chunky and powerfully built fish with a high, crescent-shaped dorsal fin and broadly forked tail. The pectoral fins are also large and lunate. The distinguishing feature, however, is the huge bill or sword - much longer and wider than the bills of Marlins and Sailfish. The eye is also very large.
Color is mostly dark brown to purple, with whitish undersides.
Among the very best, which is helping skid the species toward oblivion. Although big fish are now rare, Swordfish are hooked so seldom that anyone who fishes for them is advised to use at least 50-pound line, matched to good ocean tackle. The best Swordfish bait always has been a large, rigged natural squid, but rigged baitfishes can work. During the 1970s, many Swordfish topping 400 pounds were caught by sportsmen, who fished by choice on calm nights, mostly during the summer, but also during good weather in fall and winter, and generally deployed two or more baits at different depths. The majority of strikes came at 100 feet or deeper.