FISHING THE PACIFIC 



the fisherman angling salt water, but are particularly trying 

 because he has had to devote so much time to the pursuit 

 and frequently has had to travel long distances for the species 

 he is after. There are days on end when the big game fisher- 

 man fails to find and raise the fish he is after— other days 

 when he may raise them yet cannot get the hook set properly 

 in the enormous mouth. After having them on sometimes for 

 hours at a time the hook will pull out or one of the many other 

 disasters common to this game will overtake him. 



I have had my share of this kind of luck and after six years 

 of endeavoring to catch my first swordfish off Montauk, 

 Long Island, New York, before being successful and having 

 had other long waits after strenuous efforts, I thought I was 

 practically immune to disappointment and could take any- 

 thing. 



It was in 1949, four years after the war ended, that I 

 decided to tear myself away from ice hockey, go to New 

 Zealand and Australia, sample their great black marlin fishing 

 as well as their fresh-water angling and try my luck for their 

 lesser species. Naturally I wanted to meet their famed sports- 

 men. More than anything I was interested in seeing the 

 wonderful country. 



Black marlin is by far the most difficult of all the marlins 

 to catch and the most coveted. It's the most difficult one to 

 hook, has the most tremendous power and some of the fight- 

 ing characteristics of the broadbill swordfish. He is, of course, 

 the glamour boy of all fish since he runs the largest. 



Leaving the United States, I was in the depths of a major 

 slump on Atlantic blue marlin, which is the largest fish in 

 that water. I had put in some forty-five days since the war 



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