FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 63 



opportunity to fully take it. Then the "butt" is 

 given, and if the fish is hooked it will often go into 

 the air in a wild and clumsy leap, falling back on its 

 side with a crash a totally different leap from that 

 of the tarpon or tuna. Now, if well hooked, the fight 

 is on and the swordfish will make a run calculated to 

 give any man's nerves a test. A big fish has been 

 known to walk off with six hundred feet of line and 

 leave the angler nothing for his pains. But the aver- 

 age fish is stopped before this catastrophe occurs, and 

 then it is that the swordfish of the sea will demon- 

 strate that he is the king of all big game fishes, so far 

 as spectacular play is concerned, which is saying a 

 good deal, having the tarpon in view. A lively tar- 

 pon will jump ten or twelve times; a swordfish has 

 been known to leap fifty times before it was caught. 

 I once followed Dr. Gifford Pinchot when playing a 

 swordfish. Before I caught up with the skiff the fish 

 had jumped twenty times, and how many it jumped in 

 the two-hour night chase I do not know; but Dr. 

 Pinchot brought it to gaff fourteen times before he 

 at last got it. This fish swam away with the skiff 

 at a five-mile per hour rate with great ease, and 

 afforded a wonderful illustration of all the qualities 

 known as game leaping, slashing, charging, this way 

 and that in all, a most exhilarating fish to have on a 

 cobweb of a line. 



Some years ago, having taken swordfish in Florida 

 on line and with the grains, I offered a swordfish cup 

 to the Tuna Club, which has now several names on it. 

 Through the adventures of Messrs. Stearns, Conn, 

 Pinchot and others the Santa Catalina swordfish has 

 taken its place as the great game fish of the world, re- 



