On the Trail of a Moonfish 85 



bait in front of it hoping to see how soon so 

 huge a fish would snap a nine-thread line with 

 a breaking power of eighteen pounds, and a 

 nine-ounce tip. The first big circle we made 

 had no effect, but the fish sank several feet. 

 On the second turn I caught a good glimpse of 

 it, and saw that, instead of a shark, it was a 

 moonfish of colossal size and remarkable appear- 

 ance. At the same moment my line caught on 

 its sandpaper-like dorsal fin that was waving 

 in the air, then I saw my flying-fish bait in 

 front of its mouth; the next moment it disap- 

 peared. Whether it was taken as food, or 

 whether it was sucked into the vortex of this 

 small but extraordinary mouth by accident I 

 do not know; I favor the latter hypothesis, but 

 may be mistaken; it doubtless was not taken at 

 all ; in any event, the line appeared to be stream- 

 ing from the monster's mouth when I began to 

 reel. The fish looked as though it might weigh 

 a ton ; it was a colossus, and as it moved slowly 

 along, while I whirled the handle of my reel 

 about, it presented a most extraordinary ap- 

 pearance. 



As I " gave it the butt," the rough hide, like 

 sandpaper, cut my delicate line like a knife, 

 but I succeeded in hooking up the end, reeved 

 it onto my rod again and tied it, as the fish 

 was only twelve feet or so away, apparently 

 paying no attention to us and moving at a rate 



