378 Big Game Fishes 



hard and closely contested hand-to-hand strug- 

 gles, I may describe a certain catch made by me 

 off Catalina Island. I was fishing for whitefish 

 with a light rod when something took the bait 

 and cleverly cut the wire leader ; the next mo- 

 ment the enormous fin of a shark appeared along- 

 side the small boat and began to circle around it, 

 so near that I could have touched it. My com- 

 panion was demoralized, and demanded to be 

 landed upon the rocks hard by. This accom- 

 plished, I returned and the shark took three baited 

 hooks as fast as I could renew the bait and cast 

 them ; when I hooked it, it merely turned its 

 head, cutting the hook or wire. It was apparently 

 between nine and ten feet in length, and I could 

 plainly see the extraordinary hammerlike head 

 with the eyes upon the ends, hypnotic and ugly. 

 Near me was a boat in which were two Germans 

 fishing, and as they landed a fish they hung it 

 upon a string overboard. This now attracted the 

 shark. I called to them and they jerked the 

 string of fish into the boat, not a moment too 

 soon to save it. The disappointed and hungry 

 fish darted about the boat, striking it with its big 

 dorsal fin, so terrifying the men, who doubtless 

 had never before seen a shark, that they lay down 



