The butt of the fishing pole is planted firmly against the right thigh 

 and the grip is held in the right hand- The fisherman manipulates the 

 pole so as to make the bait swim in the watery and waits for the skip- 

 jack to strike^, When a fish ^ites, before it can change direction the 

 tip of the pole is immediately bent into the form of the character ku 

 / an obtuse angle_7, and the fish is lifted up in such a way that no 

 slack develops in the line. The skipjack is caught under the left arm 

 and the hook is removed from its mouth. 



There are two methods of handling the fish when they are swung in 

 toward the boat„ One is to catch the fish under the left arm, and the 

 other is to swing the fish up out of the water in an arc so that the 

 hook will naturally free itself when the fish is somewhere over the 

 fisherman's head and the fish will fall, into "the boato 



(2) Fishing with artificial lures 



When the skipjack are biting well, the fishermen working from the 

 amidships portion of the fishing platform to the stern will use artificial 

 lures suited to the size of the fish and the fishing conditionSo The use 

 of such lures saves bait, saves the time required for baiting the hook, 

 and increases the efficiency of the operation „ The throwing of appro- 

 priate quantities of bait is continued all the vrtiile so that the school 

 will not disperse„ When all of the fish in the school have been taken or 

 the fish have lost their taste for the bait and have run away, fishing 

 stops and the search for another school is bsguno 



Fishing continues from 10 minutes to one or two hours, and sometimes 

 on rare occasions it lasts all da^^^ It is necessary that the crew be 

 ready at all times to work as a team.. 



It sometimes happens that from A, 000 to 5jOOG fish are taken from one 

 school in the space of about 30 minutes, while at other times more than an 

 hour may be spent in catching four or five hundred fish. With good luck 

 a boat may rE.':ce on a full lead of fish in one day, while other boats may 

 fish for ten days without filling the boat. In addition to the boat, 

 the personnel, and the skill with which fishing is done, the factor of 

 luck also plays a part in determining the differences between the catches 

 made by various boats,, 



(3) Measures taken after the fish are caught 



When the fishing of one school is finished-, the catch is packed into 

 che fish holds with crushed ice^ If fishing continues for a long time, 

 the fish are iced down whenever an opportunity offers. Every effort is 

 made to stow the catch as quickly as possible and to avoid leaving the 

 fish for very long on the deck in the heato Once the bait is used up the 

 bait tanks are also used as fish holds to increase the amount of fish 

 stowage, 



(4) Notes en fishi'. gear 



57 



