EARLY MORNING BLUEFISHING 



109 



to look pleasant. She had on a short skirt, 

 s out boots, with one of my caps on her 

 head, and a raincoat over all. I had on my 

 oilers and rubber boots, so we were neither 

 of us getting very wet. It certainly seemed 

 to me the thickest morning that I was ever 

 out. You could see, perhaps, three or four 

 boat's lengths, but beyond that it was a gray 

 wall, while in the distance you could hear 

 the dull boom of the fog-horn on the Island. 

 The breeze, freshening a little, was sending 

 the boat along at a lively pace. We ran 

 along in this way, holding our course due 

 southwest for about twenty or twenty-five 

 minutes, with hardly a word passing be- 

 tween us, the water from the accumulated 

 moisture on our sails dripping from the 

 leach rope, while our clothing and hair were 

 covered with the white moisture. It was 

 just a wet, nasty time, and more than ever I 

 thought how foolish we were to start out, 

 and especially for me to bring my 

 wife out at such a time as this seemed 

 actually wicked. The place for her was 

 home and in bed at this time of day. Sud- 

 denly, from out the mist, came the cry of a 

 gull, and listening I heard more, and then 

 ahead of us I could see the rip in the reef. 

 "Get out your lines, Mary," I called, put- 

 ting over one on each quarter, while the 

 missis put out two more on outriggers, one 

 on. each side, so that we were towing four 

 lines, well spread, coming down to where 

 the rip showed. I put down my helm, 

 trimmed my sails, and stood off to the 

 southward, running along on the edge of 

 the shoal in the smooth water. I could still 

 hear the birds just ahead of us, and once 

 saw a fish break, when "I have got one, 

 John," cried the lady, and sure enough she 

 had, and was trying hard to land him, 

 when one struck my line on the quarter. 

 With the tiller between my knees and 

 facing the stern, I hauled him in and looked 

 around to see how my wife was getting 

 along. She had her fish all right, and was 

 sitting in the bottom of the boat in a snarl of 



bluefish line, with the fish kicking around at 

 her feet. 



"Oh, John, my foot slipped and I fell 

 down," she said. "Well, we will fix that all 

 right," I replied, putting her fish in a box 

 we had for them, and helping her up. 

 "Suppose you try again," pointing to the 

 other line, that had another fish fast. So 

 at it she went, landing it in good shape. 

 Another came my way, making four for that 

 time across; then we went about and stood 

 back on the other tack. With fish breaking 

 all around us and the screaming gulls over- 

 head, it was getting to be quite interesting, 

 to say the least. 



We caught five on this tack and narrowly 

 escaped running down another boat that 

 suddenly loomed up out of the mist. It 

 proved to be the Island boat, with Captain 

 H. and his daughter, fishing like ourselves. 

 The next time across we added more to our 

 string, and at one time had every jig full. 

 Oh, the fun we had that morning, out there 

 in the fog bank ! It was breezing up all the 

 time, and the fog was clearing a little, so 

 we could now see the lighthouse. The 

 madam was doing her part in great shape. 

 She had shed her raincoat, her cap had 

 fallen off, and apparently she had lost most 

 of her hairpins, as her hair hung in tangles 

 around her face. 



"Ain't this fun, John ? " she said, yanking 

 aboard another bluefish. That was what I 

 thought of it, but just at the time I was busy 

 with the boat, trying to go slow enough for 

 us to save the fish. It was a wholesale 

 breeze by this time, and increasing. We 

 went over the ground once more, with the 

 rail under water most of the way, and then 

 gave it up. The sun was by this time shin- 

 ing and I squared away for home. A fair 

 wind it was and plenty of it. 



I winged out the two big sails and with 

 the white water roaring alongside and the 

 breaking seas chasing us astern, we started 

 in for breakfast. 



