THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



the engine. Captain Walker says, respectfully and not for publication, 

 that Mr. Potter hunted for the inside of the boat's bottom. 



' The swordfish veered when alongside, just missing the stem, and was 

 landed after a hard struggle.'^ 



The season of 1912 was one of the most remarkable in the 

 history of swordfish angling at Santa Catalina. The sport 

 lasted even into Ifovember, and the Clnb has records and 

 photographs of one hundred specimens taken with sixteen- 

 onnce rods and twenty-one or twenty-fonr lines. Some of the 

 adventures of the anglers were very graphic, and not a few were 

 startled by the extraordinary leaps of the swordfish about the 

 boat. Mr. Warren informed me that one of his high leapers 

 jumped so near the boat, and was so apparently coming at it on 

 his tail, that they aU. dodged, expecting to be hit. One of, if not 

 the most remarkable catch, was that of Col. J. W. Dorsey of 

 San Francisco, a member of the Tuna Club. The following I 

 quote from the San Francisco Bulletin : 



' Various records have been achieved for angling prowess by sportsmen 

 of the coast, the East and abroad, but it remained for a San Francisco 

 angler. Colonel J. W. Dorsey, to reach the apex of deep-water fame in 

 making a world's record catch of swordfish with a rod and hne, tackle of 

 the regulation Tuna Club requirements — a twenty -four strong cuttyhunk 

 line and a six-foot eleven -ounce rod, with a flying-fish baited tuna hook. 



' In a week's fishing with W. B. Sharpe twelve of these big fish were 

 taken. Colonel Dorsey landed eight, the individual world's record catch 

 of swordfish, and also the added record of having caught the five largest 

 of this species ever taken by one angler. His largest fish scaled two 

 hundred and forty-nine povrnds. Mr. Sharpe caught four — a two hundred 

 and sixty-pound fish, the heaviest of the take, being landed by him. 

 Four of the fish weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds each. 



' The Santa Catalina swordfish is described as long and slender in 

 body, rarely running over three hundred pounds, the average weight being 

 one hundred and fifty pounds, making the fish available as a rod and reel 

 consideration. It is one of the most beautiful fish of the ocean waters, 

 garbed in a purple coat of extraordinary brilliancy with broad, dark 

 lateral stripes on its back and sides. 



' Its sharp sword is much shorter than that of its larger cousin, the 

 common eastern swordfish, also found hi our coast waters. The weapon is 

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