Some fishermen even employ a third hook on the leader, allowing it to trail 

 just past the tail of the bonito. As soon as the bait is attached, it is paid out 

 on the heavy hand line about 100 feet to 125 feet of stern. This live bait is 

 trolled very slowly, either under sail or by rowing from the shore of the 

 northern coast out to about a distance of two miles, in a north or north- 

 westerly course. This course sets the fisherman at the most advantageous 

 angle in relation with the prevailing wind. They fish this limited area of 

 about two miles of coast line to a limit of not more than three miles from 

 shore, until the early afternoon. It was our observation that the majority of 

 the fish are caught in the early hours of the morning and the majority with- 

 in a mile from shore. Quite often the black marlin are hooked within 100 

 yards of shore around the rocky points. Unless the fishing is exceptionally 

 good, a fisherman seldom operates in the middle or the late afternoon. Dur- 

 ing the marlin run most of these craft have two men aboard. They take 

 turns fighting fish on the hand line while the other man steers or paddles 

 the boat. Occasionally, if the black marlin are not too prevalent, a single 

 man fishes. 



Generally speaking, the oceanic bonito is a hardy bait and when care- 

 fully hooked will swim very actively when trolled slowly. As a rule, it tends 

 to troll about 8 to 12 feet below the surface, and in consequence the marlin 

 and the sharks are seldom observed when they strike. The general pro- 

 cedure is to give the fish a fairly substantial amount of line when it takes 

 the bait, in order to hook it as deeply as possible. This, of course, will vary 

 with the speed of the strike. Due to the extreme shallow water in the 

 vicinity, the fish are very active on the surface. Both the black and the 

 striped marlin will jump immediately when hooked. Large black marlin 

 will jump as many times and show as much activity as small stripers or 

 sailfish. Each boat carries about 200 fathoms of hand line and it is very 

 seldom that a large fish will take out the full amount, or any great part of 

 it. If this should occur, a balsa float is attached and thrown overboard. 

 The only great loss of the larger fish seems to be due to inferior and weak 

 line. 



On black marlin the average killing time is about two hours. When the 

 fish is brought alongside it is killed with a club, or as in Cuba, if it is very 

 active, it is lanced or knifed in the gills and allowed to bleed. 



The method of bringing a large fish aboard in these small dugouts is 

 interesting and amusing. A fish of 800 to 1 ,000 pounds is almost as long as 

 the boat itself, so the procedure is to pull its head and shoulders over the 

 combing, at the same time allowing the craft to fill with water, and then it 

 is a rather simple procedure to float it in. When the fish is secured, the 

 boat is bailed out. Since their capacity is one fairly large fish, boats im- 

 mediately return to the village to deposit the fish either in the pick-up 



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