THE LAST DAY’S FISHING. 
109 
He weighed seventeen and a half kilos, or over 
thirty-eight and a half pounds. 
Now, while we are resting under a rock, I 
want to say something purely practical about 
playing dorado. Whether his first rush be 
upstream or down, you must hold him hard, 
harder than you believed it possible to hold fish. 
Remember that your trace is piano wire and 
your line is or ought to be cuttyhunk, with a 
breaking strain of about fifty pounds. The 
only uncertain factors are the hold and the rod. 
You will never kill a big fish lightly hooked, so 
the sooner he kicks off the better. As to the 
rod, use a strong one and hold him as hard as 
the rod allows. If you do not you are asking 
for trouble, for he will get right away where 
you cannot follow. The ordinary check on your 
reel is not heavy enough. You must have some 
brake. I hate all mechanical brakes, and you 
cannot use your fingers as in salmon fishing, or 
you would be cut and burnt. Far the best plan 
is to wear strong dogskin gloves, the thickest 
you can buy, and keep your finger and thumb 
on the line, and incidentally if your gloves have 
gauntlets you will bless your foresight a 
hundred times a day in protecting your wrists 
from mosquitoes and sandflies. 
Therefore during those first wild minutes you 
must dominate him, or he will dominate you : 
you must give it him, hot and strong, or the 
fight will be infinitely prolonged and your 
