OCEAN FISH AND OCEAN FISHING 75 



a moderate speed, the line is cautiously paid out, 

 and, a hundred yards or so having run out perfectly 

 clear, it is slightly jerked, and the fisherman sees, 

 with a thrill of delight, a streak of silvery light in 

 the dark blue water shooting out from beneath the 

 hull, then another, and still another. 



They are dolphins. Making for the bait, they 

 disappear. Then comes a tremendous tug at the 

 line on the part of the fish, and a handsome jerk 

 on the part of the angler, and he is fast into a 

 dolphin ! It is played at first like a salmon, but 

 it wearies at last, and is triumphantly hauled over 

 the taffrail, a by no means useless prize, for fresh 

 dolphin-steak is not to be despised. 



Another way, as Mrs. Beeton would remark. 

 The " grains " is a weapon resembling a Neptune's 

 trident — a quintet of barbed points that by a 

 screw and nut arrangement can be used either in 

 a line or at right angles. The socket is fastened 

 to a light ash-shaft with a heavy ball of lead at the 

 top, and a line attached. When a fish is struck 

 the shaft turns upside down, completes the 

 impaling, and secures the fish. 



Other oceanic fish, usually captured with a line 

 from the jib-boom, or with the grains if skilfully 

 wielded, are the bonitas and albacores, both belong- 

 ing to the mackerel family. The former are hand- 



