THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



the swordfish apparently was as strong as ever. By this tune the sea 

 was so high, as Holder told us afterward, that at times he could not see 

 us between the waves. It was almost pitch dark, too, so that more than 

 once, in the effort to keep close by, he nearly ran us down.' 



A Colonel of the British Army had a very similar experi- 

 ence in the same place, the contest being longer, and if the 

 one hundred swordfish battles of the Tmia Club anglers of 1912 

 could be told they would show a series more exciting than any 

 sport on the seven seas. 



This swordfish is so common in the Santa CataUna channel in 

 the faU, or in August, September and October, that it is called 

 the Santa CataUna swordfish, and it is taken and seen nowhere 

 else in America, though fairly common in Japan ; hence its 

 name, Tetrapterus mitsukurii. It comes in from the unknown 

 to mate and doubtless spawn in the faU, but the yoimg have 

 never been seen here nor anywhere else. The tackle used for 

 this fish is, in effect, the tuna tackle — a sixteen-ounce rod with 

 agate guides, three hundred yards of twenty-one or twenty- 

 four thread line, a long leader of piano-wire with several swivels, 

 and a No. 10 hook. The bait is a flying fish, rock bass, or Bonito, 

 trolled, and many are taken with the kite described elsewhere. 

 These fishes feed on mackerel, menhaden, or fishes which are 

 inclined to school. To see a \>\g XipTiias dash into a school of 

 mackerel at night, which can be seen several miles distant, as a 

 splash of dull fire, due to phosphorescence, is a remarkable 

 experience. The swordfish strikes to right and left, cutting 

 down its prey for the mere lust of killing, then picks them up at 

 leisure. The Santa Catalina swordfish approaches the islands, 

 swims down the edges of the kelp forests, and preys upon the 

 myriads of rock bass which infest these shades beneath the sea. 



The Tuna Club swordfish record, which weighed three hundred 

 and thirty-nine pounds, was taken by the Hon. C. G. Conn, 

 of Elkhart, Indiana, and hangs in the Clubhouse at Avalon. 

 In 1912 the Tuna Club reported one hundred catches for the 

 season, representing a weight of thirty thousand pounds, and an 

 qo 



