Captain hauls in nearly 500-pound sea giant after grueling battle, feeds most of town

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Captain Jose Rodriguez led a Pennsylvania family on a Florida Keys fishing charter to celebrate a high school graduation. The celebratory excursion turned into a grueling, five-hour physical battle against a deep-sea giant. A Florida fisherman changed his luck recently in a big way. Captain Jose Rodriguez Jr. of Cudjoe Key, Florida, takes clients out four to five times a week on a Florida Keys fishing charter to reel in trophy fish. But he'd never come close to catching a monster 500-pound swordfish. On Feb. 18, Rodriguez, along with a Pennsylvania family, landed a giant 480-pound swordfish, one of the largest of its kind caught in the Keys in recent years. OLDER TRAVELERS WHO SKIP KEY STEP BEFORE POPULAR VACATION ACTIVITY COULD BE RISKING THEIR HEALTH "It was definitely a fight and a struggle," Rodriguez, who helps run the family business, Above & B