The six-man crew aboard the Trading Desk, a 60-foot Hatteras, left Alabama’s Orange Beach Marina around mid-morning on Aug. 14. They ran straight offshore into the Gulf’s blue waters and started trolling. The anglers kept fishing through the afternoon into the night, targeting offshore oil rigs in water that was around 1,500 feet deep. The crew included Robert Fritze, Harold Wells, Jamie Boyd, Robert Parks, Wes Hagler, and Robert Fritze’s dad, Ron, the boat’s owner and captain. Everyone was fast asleep around 4 a.m., when Robert first heard the reel’s clicker going off. He jumped out of bed and ran to the back deck, where he grabbed the rod and jumped into the fighting chair. The swordfish fought like a dinosaur, taking hundreds of feet of line. Finally, long after the sun had risen, the fish began to tire, and Robert gained some line back. After one final long run, Robert worked the sword close to the stern, and the fish came up on its side, then rolled over, belly-up. After boating ...