The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-08-16

r,.ant 70 drag me from the boat Ny
reel was snafched from the socket;
''Great Scott, he's got me now
moaned. But In my my spoo sanv'
| nressed the ring, and once more i had
| him. hut had not stopped him. lie ran
| on He took 800 feet OF my Ine. lie han
| 400 feet, and i only hah lie" s'a'o'
| left. c.m
| sighed Az last--it was a desperate move
i determined 20 stop him or break ~
rod. l grasped with all my power w
line and the crank Of my reel anu
stopped him. He strained with an t hao
weight. but still he paused. Then =
gan to reel. All but didn't ! ree'th ave
have mauled rails In my tr rnai,y work
ed before as / worked that re'' win
that drum working the. other emo ,,u
all my might 1 forced hlin Mn !" ,,ards ~
had wound back one hu III Ton OF the
my line. he came 10 t"e wy
water. - beoutyi He
looked as big as man WIN ~ rasn-
fms out OF the wa va, a. f : silver quarter
ond dasbinT with game hre' ne sh" IN, nie
and ONCE more he broke Tor ne O M
more Il was pull upon pun rut ~" of great
rod a single stick. light. put ol sIetaii
s s,sn,s,h bent like n green reed untii
s ss ,ty almost touched the water. Down
10 the bottom he suddenly went anu
Win all his might struck lor ue ',l'tb
v,ater. Again I bore down on nm WIN
VII INV might with both hands. Again ne
,s the fun limit Of my line, ana
AGAIN / had TO test my line strehf,h W
stopping him with main force. but =
stopped him. Again we pulled. l reeied
StUPPi i'm For twenty-five minutes the
royal contest ragged. an, ms,
had him TO the boats edge. An! my
red beauty, have you now! ms snea'
tsil SMASHED the water for an answer,
an1 to The bottom he went. Again 70
'bo limit of my line. Now he circles me
hoat the line playing tune IN me
water. Heavens, he is making ior inc
aH look OUT shouted my friend Don" Don
lose that fish; hes dandy Asan l
forced him 10 stand. Again ~ wa
of main strength. II was wen l : I'm
tarpon roi, else he would have siiia 6nca
800 forced him TO the boat s eosel
Ia az last the gaff-hoOk was poPpeu
through his head and ne mCH ye nounds'
bnttom of the boat. Flity-n'e pou""S'
forty-two inches in length ,,.axa AT
T,n,o hours by the watch we were az
tbis work Just AT fast az our . !%ono
could be thrown into the N'sSai tho |
we stood. and with might ana b man two
bo',re we landed twenty-five mashlnce.e
red drum. Weighing IRON tMeSSS we |
hftv-five pounds. In other Worus &c
averaged drum ho,, Isnu There was not |
a drv thread on either one OF us W.,
from head to foot with perspirauoni' IN %, M
and thumb and forefinger ana "ils' CUM
P'vWte w. had landed 40 pounds Of red drum; |
with eighteen-strand linen lines ana III"
not lose a single rig. , 1r,,rr We |
For once we had enough REQ drum. ia |
were glad. more than glad, when lne . W.
turned and a big school OF bluenSh W. ~
had been playing I'm the SLICK Deni az ~ ~
school OF drum came marching up In. Ud
lie line. We changed our RIGS 10 heaHlel |
tackle that we might liGt the pluei'SA i'''0
he boat without the gan hook. g.,
THE way the bluefish bit WAS tne dui-
hlment OF a fishermans widest uIedii''
one after another we reeied thehl ~
There was something peculiar In the az,
mosphere that day. The fsh were al !
mad-there was some subtle eIeculcaI |
current that seemed 10 animate nature |
and nut her on her metue. we iahuea |
them with rod and reel. and mace the |
score one hundred and five bluefsh. |
Tired wet with the bottom or our pod. |
covered with blood our clothes from head |
10 foot covered with chnm ana Hsh
scales and the boat literally piled win |
Ash. we started homeward. what glo- |
rious day we had AS we looked into our |
boat ballasted with over a thousand
hounds OF FISH, for once was content;
THOMAS DIXON, JR.