376 Big Game Fishes 



doubted my ability to land one of the sharks with 

 my light rod and number twelve line. In a short 

 time I had a strike, and upon hooking the game, 

 up into the air it went, clear of the water, a 

 mauve-colored creature beautifully striped and 

 gracefully formed, to fall with a crash and dash 

 up the beach at a speed that rapidly exhausted 

 my line and forced me to run along the sands 

 some distance before I succeeded in turning and 

 stopping the shark, which had reached fairly 

 deep water, arid was making a most creditable 

 fight, bearing off heavily, darting from side to 

 side, and now and then rising into the air and 

 shaking itself bravely. Had it not been a shark, 

 the miserable scavenger of the sea, the cousin of 

 the tarpon killer, it might have been considered a 

 very gamy fish, as for fifteen minutes it defied my 

 efforts to bring it to gaff, coming in then reluc- 

 tantly, being gaffed in an extremely gallant manner 

 by a fair angler of the party. This shark meas- 

 ured nearly five feet in length, and weighed sixty 

 pounds. The leaping habit is common to the 

 species, at least in this locality. 



The sharks which have been taken in various 

 localities with the rod and very light lines often 

 surprise the layman by their size, girth, and fight- 



