SOME FISH AND SOME FISHING 



hooked. A 404 pound fish was hooked in 

 the anal fin, the hook having passed from 

 his mouth through his gills in some mys- 

 terious manner and fastened in the anal fin. 

 The wire had cut through the gills and after 

 a five hours' fight the fish had bled to death 

 and sank. He had to be handed up as the 

 rod could not lift the weight. It took 

 three men forty minutes to bring him to 

 the surface tail first. His tail was then 

 roped and he was towed twelve miles to 

 Avalon. 



Two fish were brought in wrapped up in 

 the wire leader which had caught the hook 

 and held the fish as in a vise. In both cases 

 the bait was still on the hook. 



The swordfish, when he sees the bait, sinks 

 and the first thing he does is to hit the bait 

 a hard blow with his sword. He seems to 

 do this at times from pure viciousness, for 

 he does not always take the bait after hitting 

 it but moves off. He seems to be a poor 

 batsman for he often becomes foul hooked 



[561 



