SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 



the moments that passed after the fish faded 

 away beneath the surface and until he was 

 hooked were moments of great excitement, 

 but the rest of the time had been toq hard 

 work to call it unadulterated pleasure. 



There were members of the Tuna Club 

 at Avalon who had fished for forty, yes, fifty 

 days and had not persuaded a fish to take 

 the bait, and I had hooked one before I had 

 been fishing two hours. They called that 

 good luck but I did not feel that way at 

 the moment, yet I revived quickly. 



A few days later I hooked another large 

 fish, pumped and hauled him for three 

 hours, and broke my rod at the butt. The 

 boatman spliced the rod while I held the 

 tired fish with the tip. I then brought the 

 fish alongside in twenty minutes more quite 

 ready to gaff. The boatman had the leader 

 in one hand and the gaff in the other when 

 the leader caught between the brass cap of 

 the exhaust, which was not screwed home, 

 and the side of the boat. The hook straight- 

 [65] 



