Ill 



THE ROYAL PURPLE GAME OF THE SEA 



TO the great majority of anglers it may seem 

 unreasonable to place swordfishing in a class by 

 itself — ^by far the most magnificent sport in the world 

 with rod and reel. Yet I do not hesitate to make 

 this statement and believe I can prove it. 



The sport is young at this writing — ^very little 

 has been written by men who have caught swordfish. 

 It was this that attracted me. Quite a number of 

 fishermen have caught a swordfish. But every one 

 of them will have something different to tell you 

 and the information thus gleaned is apt to leave 

 you at sea, both metaphorically and actually. 

 Quite a number of fishermen, out after yellowtail, 

 have sighted a swordfish, and with the assistance 

 of heavy tackle and their boatmen have caught that 

 swordfish. Some few men have caught a small 

 swordfish so quickly and easily that they cannot 

 appreciate what happened. On the other hand, one 

 very large swordfish, a record, was caught in an 

 hour, after a loggy rolling about, like a shark, with- 

 out leaping. But these are not fightir^ swordfish. 

 Of course, under any circumstances, it is an event 



to catch a swordfish. But the accidents, the flukes, 



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