Junk 15, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM! 
939 
Light Tackle Sea Fishing.—III. 
To return for a moment to the rod, it is sur¬ 
prising how much heavy work a good light rod 
will stand without taking a permanent set. In 
landing a large fish the rod may be in action 
from one to four or more hours, all the time bent 
to its limit. At the end of the fight the best of 
rods will show some set, but if carefully straight¬ 
ened it is ready for another contest. A cheap 
rod will take at once a permanent set and if 
turned goes “dead” and worthless. 
While using them on some rods I have never 
found any advantage in double guides; neither 
have I discovered any disadvantage in turning a 
good rod. It will retain its life whether one 
side alone be used or both alternately. On the 
other hand a rod with single guides can be 
quickly straightened; in trolling it is easy to 
take the set out by turning it against the draft 
of the line. In old archery days we always took 
the set out of our bows after a round, and they 
never showed any diminution of strength and 
elasticity. 
The moments of greatest danger to a rod are 
when the fish is near the boat and at the instant 
of gaffing or freeing from the hook. The short 
line is a poor protection against sharp rushes 
and only the keenest vigilance on the part of 
the angler can guard against sudden darts 
beneath the launch and about the propeller. It 
is at those times rods are apt to be broken and 
lines parted. The man with heavy tackle simply 
keeps the tip of his rod up and clamps down on 
(his drag, which is the heavy tackle equivalent of 
giving the fish the butt. The man with light 
tackle cannot do this; if he gives the fish the 
butt, he runs the risk of losing part of his tackle. 
He must be prepared to give line and give it 
quickly. When seemingly played out and along¬ 
side ready for the gaff the large game fish 
about Catalina will make sudden and lightning- 
like dives under the boat and about the stern. 
1'hese are trying and exciting moments. 
Inasmuch as the lifting power of a light rod 
nay not be more than two pounds, skill and in¬ 
genuity must be exercised to bring to the sur¬ 
face a big fish sulking 400 or 500 feet directly 
} ander the boat. A steady lift is harder on the 
•od than on the fish, though in time it must win 
|out. The best way when the fish is directly 
leneath the launch is to have the boatman start 
ip slowly and stretch the line out astern, this 
ends to bring the fish up, and what is more im- 
iortant, it gives the fisherman an opportunity to 
ransfer the strain from the rod to the line and 
xert four or five times the pressure. 
Again, when the fish is directly beneath the 
>oat and describing large circles, it is important 
0 recover line as it approaches the boat and 
told it hard without trying to take in line as it 
urves away, thus making the fish approach the 
urface on the outward sweep. Another method 
! I starting a fish that sulks is to rapidly move 
ie rod from side to side, thereby swishing the 
1 ne through the water. Why that should move 
fish is hard to say, but in nine cases out of 
I in it does, and from four to six feet of line can 
1 e recovered each time. 
j With heavy tackle any fish under fifty pounds 
1; pumped up in merciless fashion. The point 
f the rod is lowered as far as seat and socket 
ermit, the reel is clamped tight and the rod 
owly raised, bringing the fish along as if it 
ere so much dead weight; then before the fish 
in get a start the point of the rod is suddenly 
'wered, the slack line quickly reeled in and the 
peration repeated until the fish is brought 
ongside. Pumping with light tackle is a more 
] -licate and difficult operation, requiring good 
dgment and a light, quick hand. 
has its own radius of action no two require 
precisely the same length of line. 
White sea bass and yellowtail are taken, as a 
rule, near shore. One hundred and fifty yards 
of line will land the former, while 200 to 300 
yards of line is ample for the latter. 1 have 
never had a white sea bass take out more than 
50 yards beyond the trolling length. Their 
play is pretty and usually near the surface, with 
long graceful sweeps about the boat. They 
seldom take the “bit in their teeth,” turn tail 
and make a long straightaway dash. 
I he best of albacore can be landed with 200 
yards, but the tuna—that is a different proposi¬ 
tion. There is not enough line made to land 
some of them, and for those that can be 
brought to gaff 350 to 400 yards of nine-strand 
line on the reel is not too much. Not that the 
entire line will be used, but a core or reserve of 
25 to 40 yards makes reeling in that much easier. 
On first impression one might think that 
given a nine-strand line sufficiently long, the 
landing of the fish would be but a question of 
time. That would be true were it not for the 
drag of the line in the water. If there were no 
friction between line and wa^er, the angler could 
calmly sit still and let the fish run a mile if it 
felt so disposed, certain that the steady pressure 
would in the long run bring him to gaff. In 
light tackle sea fishing the friction between line 
and water is an important factor. With the 
large, swift fish it parts the line far more often 
than the tug of the fish. With 800 or 900 feet 
out the line may part at the leader with a 
tremor so slight at the tip of the rod that the 
angler will not realize for some moments his 
game is gone, and when he begins to recover 
the drag of the line in the water will be so 
heavy he is quite apt to think the fish is still 
there. 
lesting 1,000 feet of nine-strand line in the 
air, I found that if a man at the far end started 
running at a given signal the line which tested 
over 18 pounds would part at [iis end, showing 
only 14 pounds on the scales at my end, a loss 
of four pounds in the transmission. 
The following figures give the results of some 
tests in water. They were made from a moving 
launch, the line completely submerged for the 
lengths indicated and without hook or leader. 
The speed of the launch was, necessarily, esti¬ 
mated, but no doubt fairly accurately; the weight 
was shown on spring scales which had been 
carefully tested and compared. 
Light tackle fishing depends largely upon the 
I ae > its length, its strength and the way it is 
I jed. There is no Use trying to stop the rush 
1 a large game fish with a nine-strand line, 
he fish may be checked a little, but with three 
na out of five it is necessary to actually feed 
em the line; that is, it must run out free dur- 
| g the first rushes. They must be given their 
j ad in the hope and expectation they will turn 
i fore the line is parted or out. As each fish 
Drag of a 9-strand 1 linen line in salt water. Nothing 
attached to line, and line fully submerged for lengths 
indicated. 
Launch mov- 
Length, ing miles Drag. 
Feet. per hour. Pounds. 
1000 2 i/ 2 
1000 4 2% 
1000 5 3 
1000 6 4 % 
500 6 iy 2 
The drag of the line will vary with its con¬ 
dition, whether it is new or old, loosely or 
tightly twisted, etc. If the drag of 500 feet of 
line is pounds with a launch going only six 
miles per hour, one can imagine what the drag 
would be with a fish going ten times that speed; 
the drag, together with the mere inertia, would 
part the line though the reel is running free. 
Happily the rushes of the fish are usually 
made when there is but little line out. With the 
trolling length of 40 yards and the launch go¬ 
ing three or four miles an hour the initial drag 
is only a few ounces with the line entirely sub¬ 
merged, but the line is out of water part of its 
length, so the friction with the water is re¬ 
duced to a minimum. As against all fish but 
the tuna I have frequently lowered the tip of 
the rod to the surface of the water, so as to 
more completely submerge the line and thereby 
oppose a greater resistance to the first rushes, 
but with tuna it is safer to lift the rod high so 
as to permit as much as possible of the line to 
run free through the air. 
Whether the line parts in the first rush de¬ 
pends almost entirely upon the thumbing of the 
spool, though the angle at which the rod is held 
makes considerable difference on the freedom 
with which the line pays out. 
Whether the line parts when 250 yards are out 
depends more on the fish than on the angler. 
With the heavy drag in the water, if the fish at 
that distance or depth makes a sudden turn, 
the line is very apt to part. One afternoon 
while trolling for tuna a large swordfish struck 
and leaped several times after being hooked. 
Ihe line held during his leaps and not very 
swift run, but when he doubled and came by the 
launch about forty feet to starboard, the line 
parted, largely from the drag in the water, 
though not entirely, for I was recovering some, 
not knowing where the fish was until he leaped 
almost alongside. If I had paid out line instead 
of recovering the play might have lasted longer. 
This particular fish, after parting the line at the 
leader, went off with the hook in its ja-ws, mak¬ 
ing a series of leaps which would have done 
credit to a tarpon. While he was hooked a 
second of the same species was darting about 
the stern of the launch in what appeared to my 
boatman a threatening manner, and he was glad 
to see them both get away. All sorts of stories 
are told of the ferocity of swordfish in attacking 
boats and driving their long spikes through the 
bottoms, but no one has ever shown me the 
hole. The stories generally agree that when a 
swordfish does dri\ e his spike through the bot¬ 
tom of a boat the best course for the boatman 
to pursue is to grab the spike and hang on, 
thereby stopping the hole—and that seems a 
reasonable thing to do under the circumstances. 
It is further alleged, with many instances cited 
by way of proof, that if the boatman does hang 
on the fish will break away, leaving the spike 
in the hole as a trophy—which also seems a 
thoughtful thing for the fish to do. 
The largest tuna I ever hooked—largest be 
cause I lost him—played me for an hour and a 
half, working, after the first rush, at the end of 
from 60 to 100 feet of line. I was sure of that 
fish. He did not sound deeper than 100 feet. 
Per contra, I could not get it nearer than 60 
feet. During the time we followed him over 
a mile in an irregular course, but all the time 
working toward shore. 
One reason why it is a fair guess he was a 
big one—a fish of at least 75 pounds, perhaps a 
good deal more—is that he took a flying fish 
while the smaller tuna that morning were pass¬ 
ing the flying fish and taking sardines. Another 
reason is that I could not budge him beyond 
the limits within which he wished to work, by 
hard work we could raise him to within 60 feet, 
but all the time he was swimming easily, not 
circling. We thought it only a question of time, 
and Gray had his watch on the seat, but at the 
end of an hour and a half there was a slight 
quiver to the line, and I exclaimed, “Something 
has frightened our fish.” He turned tail and 
sounded, down, down, down—not fast, but just 
steady boring, until the mark on the line showed 
300 yards out, then a motion so faint we were at 
first deceived, and the fish was off. The line had 
parted at the leader. 
“He must have been on the bottom,” Gray 
remarked, “for there can’t be more than 800 or 
900 feet of water here.” 
It is my belief that tuna will sound to the 
bottom wherever there is less than 150 fathoms 
of water. Where there is more water they do 
not sound so deep. The sixty-pounder we landed 
was taken six miles offshore and did not sound 
over 300 feet, though he took out more line 
than that. Much of his play was near the sur¬ 
face and very brilliant. 
Nine-thread line comes in double spools of 
50. 100 and 150 yards per spool, making lengths 
of 100, 200 and 300 yards. While 300 yards are 
sufficient for any game fish, except the tuna, a 
small, compact reel with 350 yards is convenient 
to handle and useful in emergencies. The line 
may never be all taken out, but what remains on 
the spool makes a good core to recover on. 
A knot is a source of weakness, but whether 
a positive disadvantage depends a good deal 
upon where it is with reference to the leader. 
On actual test a nine-thread line is from two 
to six pounds weaker at an ordinary knot. 
Since the drag of the line constitutes a large 
percentage of the strain in the case of a swiftly 
moving fish, it follows that the nearer the 
leader the greater the tension, unless, as often 
happens, the excited angler whips his rod back 
