104 ALBACORA 



give the fish plenty of line, making him think he is free 

 to come up. It is impossible to raise very big fish on 

 light line if they die on the bottom. 



My favorite technique for fooling fish into a false 

 sense of independence involves the use of free spool. I 

 simply let the line run out unchecked and a sounding 

 fish, encountering no tug or pull from the hook, decides 

 that he has gotten loose and heads back up to the surface 

 again. 



The average amber jack, which runs about thirty-five 

 pounds, may not be a huge fish but he has great strength 

 and can exhaust a fisherman. To catch amber jack on 

 light tackle is a particularly interesting test of skill, 

 since, much like tuna, they prefer to fight beneath the 

 surface. 



Lou and I were fishing off Bimini with Jim Hurley, 

 who writes an outdoor column for the New York Daily- 

 Mirror, when I had my most interesting battle with an 

 amberjack. We had each caught one, on twenty-pound 

 test (six-thread) line and now I was using line that 

 snaps under only ten pounds of direct pressure. My 

 amberjack stayed deep for thirty- five minutes after I 

 had hooked him. I worked hard, trying to raise him, and 

 in the course of the action my line packed itself so 

 tightly on the reel that the reel itself froze solid. It 

 rolled on free spool, but not with the drag on. 



"I guess I'll just have to fight him on free spool," 

 I announced. 



I put the rigid drag on to reel in, and in an instant, 



