62 FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



dred to eight hundred or more pounds. The latter 

 rarely runs over three hundred pounds, the average 

 being about one hundred and fifty pounds, this medium 

 weight making it available as a rod and reel catch. 

 The Catalina swordfish is long and slender ; one of the 

 most beautiful fishes in the world, being garbed in a 

 purple coat of extraordinary brilliancy. Its sword is 

 much shorter than in the larger fish, more of a poniard 

 than a sword, and the fish has virtually two, as the 

 lower jaw is sharp and dangerous. Its eye is large 

 and black, its belly silver, its back royal-purple. Its 

 top fin is tall and set into a scabbard ; its tail is large 

 and crescent-like. In fact, no more debonair swash- 

 buckler ever swam the seas than this fish, which at- 

 tains an extraordinary size. 



At times it runs in vast schools, but when it ap- 

 pears at San Clemente and Santa Catalina in July, 

 August and September, it is generally in pairs, and is 

 seen either leaping or swimming slowly along, its tall 

 dorsal and the upper lobe of its tail high above the 

 water, a conspicuous object. 



As might be expected, the tackle for such game 

 must be of the strongest, and that already described 

 for leaping tuna is used. To make the capture 

 more satisfactory the angler generally sits in a rowboat 

 or skiff and is towed behind a launch, with about one 

 hundred and fifty feet of line out, and flying fish bait. 

 The moment a strike comes the skiff casts off and the 

 boatman takes the oars, while the launch lies off and 

 follows the game at a safe and reasonable distance. 

 The swordfish, like a tarpon, has a very hard mouth, 

 hence when the strike comes the angler pays out line, 

 often twenty or more feet, to give the swordfish an 



