TALES OF FISHES 



throw off a lot of slack line, then cut it and tie it 

 to another reel!" 



"We might do that. But it '11 disqualify the 

 fish," he replied. 



Captain Dan, like all the boatmen at Avalon, has 

 fixed ideas about the Tuna Club and its records and 

 requirements. It is all right, I suppose, for a club 

 to have rules, and not count or credit an angler who 

 breaks a rod or is driven to the expedient I had pro- 

 posed. But I do not fish for clubs or records. I 

 fish for the fun, the excitement, the thrill of the 

 game, and I would rather let my fish go than not. 

 So I said: 



"We'll certainly lose the fish if we don't change 

 reels. I am using the regulation tackle, and to my 

 mind the more tackle we use, provided we land the 

 fish, the more credit is due us. It is not an easy 

 matter to change reels or lines or rods with a big 

 fish working all the time." 



Captain Dan acquiesced, but told me to try fight- 

 ing him a while with the light drag and the thumb- 

 brake. So far only the heavy drag had frozen. I 

 tried Dan's idea, to my exceeding discomfort; and 

 the result was that the swordfish drew far away 

 from us. Presently the reel froze solid. The handle 

 would not turn. But with the drag off the spool 

 ran free. 



Then we ran away from the fish, circling and let- 

 ting out slack line. When we came to the end of 

 the line we turned back a little, and with a big slack 

 we took the risk of cutting the line and tying it on 

 the other reel. We had just got this done when the 

 line straightened tight! I wound in about twelve 



58 



