FISHING THE PACIFIC 



It might also interest the reader to average up the size of 

 the swordfish taken here. 



It took me six years to catch my first swordfish in the 

 Atlantic— and the twenty-ninth fish I baited I caught. Yet, in 

 seventeen days' fishing off Chile on my first trip I caught 

 three and was told I had bad luck. You will never know 

 much about swordfish unless you try them off Chile. Even 

 then you won't know half there is to know although you 

 may return again and again. I shall attempt to set down here 

 the knowledge of baiting, hooking and catching them that I 

 have acquired in the many years I've put in at the game. 



It is generally agreed that swordfish usually feed beneath 

 the sea's surface— much of the time very close to the bottom. 

 Their swords would not be so chipped, scratched and battered 

 simply as a result of fighting. I am confident these injuries are 

 suffered when they slash them against rocks or other sub- 

 marine obstructions while feeding. 



In all my experience I can remember only four occasions 

 on which I have seen swordfish feeding on the surface, as 

 marlin do, and I've never seen them feeding thus off Chile. 

 In these waters 90 per cent of the contents of the stomach 

 proves to be squid and while it is true that squid come to the 

 surface at night in South American waters, I do not believe 

 the swordfish feed only in the dark. Off the New England 

 coast a great many squid are also found in them together with 

 butterfish and whiting, and the last two varieties are never 

 known to come to the surface— except for the butterfish 

 which may do so in very rare instances. Another factor that 

 leads me to believe that low feeding is typical is that so 

 many swordfish are taken at various points in the Mediter- 



14 



