Marcu 3, 1906.] 


FOREST AND STREAM. 
SEA AND RIVER FISHING 





Two Big Fish. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In my letter entitled “Three Kingfish’ the 
fifty-pounder therein described was claimed to 
be the largest ever taken in Nassau, and it was 
at least suggested as possible that no larger one 
had been caught anywhere. These claims may 
have been extravagant and due to over en- 
thusiasm and inexperience; at any rate it has 
since been proved that here was at least one 
larger kingfish in these waters, and the future 
may again elevate my standard, even if others 
of your readers have not already surpassed me. 
On Feb. 8 I took, after a most strenuous 
battle, a kingfish measuring fifty-seven inches in 
length and weighing fifty-five pounds and a little 
over for good measure. He put up a splendid 
fight, first making long runs with the speed and 
fury characteristic of his noble race, and after- 
ward resisting all invitation to a nearer ac- 
quaintance, with the heavy deep surges and 
bulldog resistance more often displayed by the 
amberjack. In spite of the greatest strain I 
dared put on my stout tarpon tackle it took 
at least half an hour to bring him to gaff, and 
neither the fish nor myself had any rest during 
the whole of that time. Sometimes the fish took 
charge and sometimes I did, while my crew of 
three were kept busy trimming sail to help keep 
him clear of the boat, under which he made a 
series of rushes that brought my heart well up 
in my throat, with a cold chill every time the 
line grazed the keel. 
This splendid fellow was greatly helped in 
the contest by the fact that my largest amber- 
jack, 51 inches long and weighing 52% pounds, 
was captured only an hour or so before, after 
a struggle from which I was only partly rested. 
Of course such an amberjack is not considered 
very large, but the captor of a fish of this size 
will not soon forget him. As a final result 
both my forearms were painfully sore and lame 
to-night and the fishes were spared any further 
“annoyance from me for a couple of days. A 
photograph of these two fish is enclosed. 
Tackle used was a 6'4-foot, 24-ounce rod, 200 
yards of 24-thread linen line, piano wire leader 
and tarpon hook. The wire leader was cut 1n two, 
and the ends again wound together, leaving half 
an inch or more of each projecting at right 
angles with the line. This prevents the first 
rush carrying the bait up on the line, and the 
almost certain cutting of the latter by the strike 
of another fish. I devised this arrangement 
after having my line so cut half a dozen times, 
and it has proved a complete safeguard. 
The struggles of a hooked fish excite all his 
neighbors, and they will follow him closely and 
strike at anything they see nearby. This is the 
case even with barracuda and amberjack, and 
notably so with the kingfish, which, like most 
of the mackerel family, is gregarious. If a 
second bait is thrown out when the first fish is 
weary and close to the boat, it is more than 
likely to be taken by one of his agitated 
satellites. 
The fishing here is gloriously uncertain. One 
can put in several days with small results and 
then the same ground will suddenly yield an . 
abundant and astonishing harvest. The fish, at 
least those that will bite, appear to be much 
fewer than on the Florida reef, so one’s string 
is smaller in number, but the individuals are 
likely to be of greatly superior size. On the 
Miami grounds the kingfish swarm so that one’s 
catch is often limited only by his sense of pro- 
priety, but the fish will average about ten 
pounds each and very rarely exceed twenty-five. 
Here I have never taken more than five king- 
fish in one day, and many days have been blank 
or nearly so; but those landed have run from 
five to fifty-five pounds and have averaged 
twenty-five or more. As one big fish is worth 
a hundred small ones, from the view point of 
sport, the superiority of Nassau is manifest. 
Beside the barracuda, kingfish and amberjack, 
one also takes in trolling groupers, rockfish and 
the beautiful and succulent mutton fish, all often 
of large size. The latter are taken in shoal 
water and near the reefs and seem to bite best 
when a considerable surf is rolling in. To 
handle a sailboat in such a place, practically in 
the outer edge of the breakers, takes skill of 

AMBERJACK AND KINGFISH. 
a high class in the crew. My own outfit, from 
Eleuthera, one of the outer islands, are a capital 
lot of men, and the way they brought the 
Kestrel back and forth over the spot where a 
big grouper had got me fast in a rock-hole, so 
that I saved rig and fish, in a heavy surf and in 
such shoal water that our centerboard scraped 
once or twice, was the very greatest credit to 
their seamanship. 
My crew dried and salted the big amberjack 
and with others, at different times and places, 
ate freely of it. 
within a few hours, vomiting and purging 
violently, and next day my two men appeared 
with their eyes so swollen and inflamed as to 
be almost closed. This is a well authenticated 
case of the poisoning from eating fish which the 
natives dread so much, and the first instance 
which has come within my own observation. 
Large amberjack had better be omitted from 
one’s bill of fare; fortunately they are so hard 
and tough as to be little temptation. 
The barracuda is also widely believed poison- 
Every partaker was very ill, 
ous, yet I have repeatedly eaten them, finding 
them excellent and harmless, and my men and 
their families have consumed fifty or more of 
my catching here this winter, without any bad 
result, though several of these were large. 
twenty-five pounds or over. 
My catch of the twelfth was a varied one; 
three Spanish mackerel, two rockfish, a fine 
Nassau grouper, four barracuda and a four-foot 
shark. The last took the troll meant for better 
fish and put up a really fine fight, dashing to 
and fro like a kingfish, which he was supposed 
to be until the very last. Finally I struck some- 
thing very heavy, the boat swung up into the 
wind at my hail, and the fish paused a moment. 
Then began a steady but irresistible motion; 
both thumbs pressed hard on the brake and the 
stout rod bent into a hoop, so that another 
pound would have brdken it. Yard by yard the 
line was dragged away and the coil left grew 
smaller and smaller. JI hung on desperately, 
calling to my crew to get the boat round and 
follow, and they tried their best to do it. The 
sails slowly filled and the boat swung a little 
toward the rigid line; but all was useless. The 
coil ran down and down, the bright spindle 
showed itself, the last turns slipped away, there 
was a Sharp snap, and I was left with an empty 
reel and a_ broken heart, while the monster 
sailed off with the whole line towing after him. 
Neither myself nor my boatmen were to blame 
for this disastrous result; all of us did every- 
thing possible, but the fish was simply too 
huge and strong for us. From the character 
of this strike and movements he was pretty 
certainly an amberjack, and his weight could 
not be less than a hundred pounds and probably 
much exceeded that. With a power boat cap- 
able of quickly following, or with a rowboat 
that could be towed, after the manner of tarpon 
fishing, we might have saved him; but from our 
heavy sail boat, playing him from the reel alone, 
this was certainly impossible. 
So vanished into space the largest fish I have 
ever hooked, leaving anguish and desolation 
behind. 
On the 14th inst. I trolled diligently all the 
morning with absolutely no results, and the 
other boats, of which several were out, gave it 
up and went home. In the afternoon, for some 
unknown reason, the fish began to take, and I 
brought in five barracuda, a kingfish of twenty- 
two pounds and one of four, an amberjack of 
thirty-five pounds and a Spanish mackerel of 
twelve. This last is much the largest I have 
taken or seen, and equal to the maximum size 
assigned to this fish by Mr. Goode, but my crew 
say that at Governor’s Harbor these fish are 
caught up to twenty-five pounds, and a kingfish 
up to seventy. So I have decided to go there 
and see and will report results later. 
St. J. NEWBERRY. 
Nassau, Feb. 14. 

The Flying-Fish Problem. 
THE point which I think solves the problem 
is that the fish with its modified form of tail in- 
tentionally gains fresh impetus by lowering the 
latter half of its body into the water and rapidly 
vibrating the tail, without, however, immersing 
or even folding the pectorals. The point seemed 
so obvious to me that I can only feel surprised 
that it should have escaped any accurate observer. 
The motion of the fins seen when he fish touches 
the water is merely an wunsteadiness caused by 
the convulsive movements of the tail. Probably 
the length of each clear flight is influenced by 
force and direction of wind, but I have seen 
them go for quite 100 yards without tcenching 
the surface—J. Lawrence Sowerby, in London 
Field. 
