FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 71 



and Santa Catalina in summer with rod and reel tax 

 the credulity of those who read, but the accounts are 

 reliable. It is not considered remarkable to kill sharks 

 ten feet long with tuna tackle. Mr. Gilmour Sharp 

 has taken such a bonito-shark a monster big enough 

 to dine on a man. It was played for several hours on 

 a twenty-one line, and killed after a long and deter- 

 mined fight. The great sharks follow the tunas, 

 bonito and other schools of fish, occasionally dash- 

 ing into them like tigers and carrying off their prey. 

 A large so-called grouper or land shark is also taken 

 here, but the really game shark is the long lithe 



HAMMERHEAD 



It is ten or more feet in length, and weighs from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds. This shark 

 is a most forbidding creature. To show its strength, I 

 hooked one about ten feet in length, which towed me 

 a mile out to sea and was never stopped until five 

 skiffs tied on, .the men all rowing as hard as they 

 could. Not until I had its big ugly hammer-like head 

 triced up to the skiff did it give in, and it then more 

 than once almost tipped over the light craft. If one 

 wishes a battle with a spice of danger, a hammerhead* 

 with rod and reel from a skiff can be commended. 



THE BARRACUDA 



The Florida barracuda is a solitary game fish, with 

 the courage of its convictions and the staying qualities 

 of a bull terrier. Its California cousin is a totally dif- 

 ferent fish. It is smaller, rarely exceeding fifteen 



