TALES OF FISHES 



However, not one in a hundred fishermen who come 

 to Long Key will go after them with light tackle. 

 And likewise not one out of twenty-five sailfish 

 brought in there is caught by a fisherman who de- 

 liberately went out after sailfish. Mostly they are 

 caught by accident while drags are set for kingfish 

 or barracuda. At Palm Beach I believe they fish 

 for them quite persistently, with a great deal of suc- 

 cess. But it is more a method of still fishing which 

 has no charms for me. 



Presently my boatman yelled, "Sailfish!" We 

 looked off to port and saw a big sailfish break water 

 nine times. He was perhaps five hundred yards 

 distant. My boatman put on speed, and, as my 

 boat is fast, it did not take us long to get some- 

 where near where this big fish broke. We did our 

 best to get to the exact spot where he came up, 

 then slowed down and trolled over the place. In 

 this instance I felt a light tap on my bait and I 

 jumped up quickly, both to look and let him take 

 line. But I did not see him or feel him any more. 

 We went on. I saw a flash of bright silver back of 

 my brother's bait. At the instant he hooked a 

 kingfish. And then I felt one cut my bait off. 

 Kingfish are savage strikers and they almost in- 

 variably hook themselves when the drag is set. 

 But as I fish for sailfish with a free-running reel, of 

 course I am exasperated when a kingfish takes hold. 

 My brother pulled in this kingfish, which was small, 

 and we rebaited our hooks and went on again. 

 I saw more turtles, and one we almost ran over, he 

 was so lazy in getting down. These big, cumber- 

 some sea animals, once they get headed down and 



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