Big Sharks as Game 



I have taken sharks ranging from sixty to one 

 hundred pounds with a rod and 21 -thread line, also 

 with a nine-ounce rod and a 9-thread line, and found it 

 excellent sport; in fact, one of the most exciting con- 

 tests it was ever my good fortune to have was with an 

 eight-foot shark, which I hooked in Florida when 

 standing almost waist-deep in the surf, fishing for 

 hog-fish. The hard-fighting creature towed me half 

 a mile down the reef before it was brought to what 

 usually would have been the gaff, but, in this instance, 

 was release. 



Ordinarily a shark twelve or fifteen feet in length 

 is considered game for twenty men. It is hooked by 

 two or three; the others then take the rope, and the 

 big fighter is run up on the beach helpless; but if a 

 man matches his skill and strength single-handed 

 against so large a fish, a vast amount of sport may be 

 enjoyed. True, it is sport of a gladiatorial kind, a 

 fight to the finish, when the superior animal is often 

 overmatched; but the true sportsman is, I fancy, 

 much more satisfied to be defeated single-handed by 

 a large fish than to be one of a party to take it by 

 unfair means. 



It has been my good fortune to catch sharks of 

 all sizes in many waters, and nearly always I have 

 been able to afford the game a fighting chance. 

 When this is done, I can commend the shark as a 

 game contestant. What I mean by fair play is to 

 take all the sharks up to one hundred and fifty, or 



149 



