Experiments in Sea Angling 161 



president of a tarpon club at Aransas, which is 

 confined not only to rod and reel fishing, but to 

 nine-ounce rods and No. 9 lines a mere thread. 

 The great tuna is taken with a twenty-one-thread 

 line and light rod, and the end is not yet, as 

 members of the Tuna Club take the swordfish 

 and large sharks with this light tackle, and 

 perform prodigies of valor. 



To any one who has a fondness for shark fish- 

 ing especially, and who has taken large sharks 

 of various kinds with the old-fashioned hand- 

 line, fishing for the same beasties with a 

 rod comes as a revelation. I have, merely be- 

 cause the opportunity has been offered, had a 

 wide experience with sharks, especially with big 

 fellows in the Gulf of Mexico and around Flor- 

 ida, where girth counts. On the Pacific coast 

 of North America, especially in Southern Cali- 

 fornia waters, sharks are very common in August 

 and September, but, as a rule, they lack the 

 bulk which characterizes the big, so-called man- 

 eaters of the Gulf. I have hooked a shark in 

 Florida which was not over thirteen feet long, 

 which required ten men to land on the long, 

 heavy hand-line. On the other hand, I have 

 played a big California hammerhead to a finish, 

 single-handed, from a skiff weighing less than 

 one hundred and fifty pounds. It is this dif- 

 ference of bulk which makes the rod and reel 

 possible in Southern California waters. The 



