Qualifying in the Three-Six Club 221 



hundred feet long, cutting through the blue 

 depths, severing delicate jellies, blazing a trail 

 of silvery bubbles across the water, after which 

 rush several larger fish. The game was hooked 

 in water forty feet deep, but has made for the 

 shore in search of kelp. Not finding it, it is 

 on the surface, bearing off with tremendous force, 

 giving the nine-ounce rod a bend, striking as a 

 line of beauty, but too suggestive of buckling 

 for peace of mind. 



The fish is a surface fighter and makes a great 

 circuit, and the other bait, that has been dropped 

 over, is seized almost alongside the launch. A 

 shout comes from the neighboring two boats, 

 and mirabile dictu! six anglers are playing six 

 fishes, each of which apparently has a method 

 of its own. One angler has hooked a fish that 

 is " sounding " like a whale, while another, after 

 a brief " run for his money," is trying to ex- 

 plain to himself his broken line. All in five 

 minutes, six fishes, the embodiment of life and 

 vigor, have been struck, and most of them are 

 seen surging along the surface. The anglers fit 

 their rod butts into the sockets of the belts they 

 wear, and manipulate the slender whips in a 

 fashion to startle even the immortal Walton. 

 A line snaps and goes rippling, coiling into the 

 air; another bait is on in a second (leaders 

 and baited hooks being ready to hook on), 

 and is taken, not twenty feet away, with a 



