Experiments in Sea Angling 167 



deep, a most propitious environment, and telling 

 my oarsman to pull in, I played this shark with 

 complete enjoyment; its rapid rushes, its power- 

 ful, never-ceasing pressure, its sudden changes, 

 its dashes in and out, its semi-leaps, all sug- 

 gesting that it was good game and far ahead 

 of the average shark. It was constantly taking 

 us out to sea, despite the efforts of the man, 

 who was rowing with all his strength ; so I forced 

 the fighting as well as I could with my light 

 tackle, and by sheer good luck brought the shark 

 alongside, still full of fight. My tackle was of 

 a most delicate character a nine-thread line, 

 preferred by some anglers for black bass and 

 often sold for this purpose; yet it had almost 

 killed a large shark that certainly could not 

 have weighed less than one hundred and seventy 

 pounds. Several times the fish dashed around 

 the boat; then it would suddenly sound, roll 

 over, come in with a rush, and feeling the slack, 

 which it was almost impossible to take in, dash 

 away with irresistible force, only to be reeled 

 in again. For nearly an hour this shark fought 

 and was fought, and had it been called a salmon 

 or some very large game fish, it would have been 

 considered a splendid fight. But the prejudice 

 against sharks cast its shadow over the play, and 

 when it came to gaff it was merely a shark. 



I hooked and caught several about the same 

 size in this bay which gave a satisfactory demon- 



