The Taking of Big Game Fishes 



Assuming that the fish has been successfully taken 

 aboard, felicitations are timely. If the boatman has 

 done well, he should be complimented, and the angler 

 will not be proof against the statement of the latter 

 that, " he'll be dogged if he ever saw a tarpon so 

 well handled before " ; and as " Mat," " Billy," or 

 " Jim " wipes his lips, he really believes it. 



Such, with variations, may be said, at least in my 

 experience, to be a typical catch, although it is the 

 unexpected which always happens in fishing, and the 

 resources of the angler are frequently exhausted. 

 Thus a well-known tarpon fisherman had a fish leap 

 into the air, and, as it came down, crash through the 

 bottom of the boat. At present few anglers gaff 

 their fish; they are unhooked at the boat, or towed 

 ashore. In the former instance the angler plays the 

 fish until it is fairly " tamed " ; then the gaffer grasps 

 the line, which is doubled or trebled for a foot or 

 more above the leader for this purpose, and holds the 

 fish while he inserts a short, unbarbed gaff under the 

 lower jaw; by this a clever man can hold the fish 

 firmly and detach the hook, releasing the fish after 

 taking an estimate of its length or weight. If the 

 fish is large, or the sea is too high, the fish is beached 

 a most laborious operation, if the beach is some 

 distance away, as the angler must hold the fish, keep 

 it headed to the boat, having the line reeled so far in 

 that the first swivel is against the agate tip. The 

 reel is held by the thumb brake and left-hand thumb 



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