The Man Behind the Angler 



the contest; so his gaff was placed near him, and he 

 was left seven or eight miles off Santa Catalina. Dur- 

 ing the seven hours he was towed a number of miles 

 out to sea, at times having the fish near the surface, 

 again losing it. It was so large that he could not 

 bring it in, and at the end of the fourteen hours' 

 battle he succeeded in raising it so that the huge tail 

 was plainly visible, the leader being wound about it. 

 It was manifestly impossible for him to gaff the fish, 

 so a man from another boat made the attempt. 

 When the great fish felt the gaff it made a desperate 

 plunge and escaped, after the greatest struggle ever 

 chronicled in the annals of tuna angling. 



The moral is, that the boatman has the interests 

 of his patron completely at heart. In this instance 

 skill and dogged determination to win were the char- 

 acteristics, and the boatman here is not only a thor- 

 ough sailor, angler, and fisherman, but he is familiar 

 with all the conditions about the islands and is fre- 

 quently consulted by the government regarding the 

 banks about Santa Catalina. Another such a man 

 at Santa Catalina is Mexican Joe, the dean of this 

 interesting family of Avalon boatmen, the oldest citi- 

 zen of Santa Catalina, and one of the most interest- 

 ing and genial characters on this isle of summer; not 

 only a good boatman and gaffer, but the posses- 

 sor of a wealth of fishing lore. No one knows the 

 islands as well as Joe, and as guide over the green 

 hills and mountains in winter he is pre-eminent and 



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