TALES OF FISHES 



pale green, iridescent copper, and flaming silver. 

 Then he made a long, low lunge away from us. I 

 bade him good-by, but let the barracuda drift back. 

 We waited a long time while the line slowly bagged, 

 drifting toward us. Suddenly I felt a quick, strong 

 pull. It electrified me. I yelled to Dan. He said, 

 excitedly, "Feed it to him!" but the line ceased 

 to play out. I waited, slowly losing hope, with 

 my pulses going back to normal. After we drifted 

 for five minutes I wound in the line. The bar- 

 racuda was gone and the leader had been rolled 

 up. This astounded us. That swordfish had taken 

 my bait. I felt his first pull. Then he had come 

 toward the boat, crushing the bait ojff the hook, 

 without making even a twitch on the slack line. It 

 was heartbreaking. But we could not have done 

 any different. Dan decided the fish had come after 

 the teasers. This experience taught us exceeding 

 respect for the broadbill. 



Again we were off early in the morning. Wind 

 outside and growing rough. Sun bright until off 

 Isthmus, when we ran into fog. The Jap albacore- 

 boats were farther west. Albacore not biting well. 

 Sea grew rough. About eleven thirty the fog cleared 

 and the sea became beautifully blue and white- 

 crested. 



I was up on the deck when a yell from below made 

 me jump. I ran back. Some one was holding my 

 rod, and on the instant that a huge swordfish got 

 the bait had not the presence of mind to throw off 

 the drag and let out line. We hurried to put on 

 another flying-fish and I let out the line. 



Soon Dan yelled, "There he is — behind your bait!" 



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