Big Game at Sea 



stall, and the oarsman rows as rapidly as possible to 

 the beach. If the fish is large it may break away 

 several times during this operation, to be pumped in 

 again; and as it approaches the shallow water it will 

 invariably make a last effort. Reaching the beach, 

 the boatman leaps over, takes the line by the trebled 

 portion, and drags it in, the angler slacking out as it 

 goes by, overrunning his reel, always ready for a 

 rush, as, if the boatman is forced to drop the fish, he 

 must be ready to take it without giving the fish any 

 slack line, which often would be fatal. Assuming 

 that the fish has been beached, it is measured, length 

 and girth and weight determined by the old fishing 

 formula the square of the girth in inches multiplied 

 by the length in inches, divided by 800 will give the 

 approximate weight. 



In tuna fishing almost the same tackle is used; a 

 2i-thread line is amply large. The smaller the line 

 the greater the test of skill. The tuna boats at Santa 

 Catalina are the most perfectly equipped fishing boats 

 to be found anywhere, being built and designed for 

 the purpose, and are eighteen or twenty-foot launches, 

 rigged for two anglers. The fishing is in blue water, 

 six or eight hundred feet in depth. The fish swim in 

 pairs, as a rule, or in a school, and when the strike 

 comes it is a swift surge; the fish comes for the boat 

 along the surface at full speed, and does not stop; 

 hence the angler is not required to set the hook, the 

 fish almost invariably hooking itself. Sharks are 



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