Big Game at Sea 



envy was coming over the rail when my rod bent, 

 a soft, strange (to me) something struck it, the line 

 rushed away and I hooked my fish. I was anxious to 

 compare the play of the salmon to other fishes I had 

 taken, so held it with a taut line and took my time, 

 while " Doc " adjured me by all the gods, to " snake 

 him in." 



The fish made a splendid run, sweeping up- 

 ward with a vigor that sent waves of tingling thrills 

 up line and rod into every fiber ; this I conceive to be 

 the moment of complete fascination in angling, after 

 the first run when you stop the fish and hold it a 

 second that you may feel its strength, watch the tem- 

 per of bending rod and taut line; and this is where 

 I made a palpable mistake. I felt a strange hammer- 

 ing on the line, distinct, pronounced, as though the 

 fish was deliberately jerking its head from side to side, 

 as I have often seen a tarpon do in air. I am advised 

 by " Doc " that I should have reeled and reeled hard, 

 as the hammering only widened the hole in the sal- 

 mon's jaw, and the next slack the fish got, it threw 

 out the hook. 



This is what happened. I played that large and 

 splendid fish a few short moments, saw it bounding 

 upward, almost anticipated its leap as the water boiled 

 on the surface twenty yards away, and then tell it 

 not in Gath ! there was a sense of goneness. 



" It's all off," said " Doc," sententiously. A wild 

 cheer rose from another handliner on the launch, as 



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