Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-10-06
A MILE OF FISHING LINE.
Catching sharks by the Dozen on the Call
ifornia Coast.

Crawling over tho rocks ON the La.
puna beach. near San Juan. in southern
Califorpia fiat hill countless ane.
,,o,es nnaar r;ctIv colored soawoeds. I
ca,,o 10 a Ettlo cave whore the fisher.
men mako their heaaouartors. A great
blnT formed the shelter. and as deep
,vatsr c,,no inshorc 4 harbor was made
for land;ng tho dorias A little shantv
on tl,a biyh sand. n dozen boats. a pile
~ crawfsh trans the tails Of several
sharl.s toId the story md as a center.
n;oco a o,i1olv old fellow. the neneralis-
s;,,o ID yvas waiting for the baiters.
Sor Inc Bna he used needed not ono
mo, hnt dozen or moro 10 halt r.
A. stood thero thew hogan to como
IN from the nils mud over tho beach
f,o,,, o,t ~ tho noolrs and corners. The
tacl,lo nse,d was a fishline n milo in
Ia,,,,th ~ each ana xvna nh anchor and
a bnov in tbe shane of . soldered up oil
can and NJ every three feet or so of
,SiS limo was hool-eo, or more being
neaao1 for a SINGLE limo The line was
laid ont IN coils and tho mon. sitting
,ronna ba;tad tha hooks. replaoed them
Non necessary and coiled the limo as
sl,os haitad
ssyos ;, sa,d the xooiable old fisher
man. athis il n pretty sure way or fish
ipy You see. we cover a milo OF
rround at a time. and every fish that's
swimming down TINT torriotry IA pretty
sure 10 strike one of the GOO hooks
They hook themselves. YOU see. They
swallow the bait then run off with Ii.
or try 10. and the weight of tho line
brings them up with round turn.
Now we mostly take rock cod. but fish
change as tho season does.
"Wo SGT the trawl at 3 o'clock In tho
morning. The line il coiled in tho stern
Of the boat and when we. yet In tho
right spot. clenr of the klein. tho anchor
Is lowered. taking the end of tho limo
down with II. When,y strike bottom.
,ve TOSS over tho buov and row AWAY.
naving ont slowly m the end comes.
when the other anchor Is tossed. over
aud n huov Then wa have the lna
stretched over n mile of bottom. with a
hiatt cvcrv two or three fcet Miohty
fovy fish mass n This we let stay sew.
oral bou,s and thcn yvo hapl i'm. general.
lv from, hoth ends T.uck varies Iye
tate, IN flat line 1vbcn ,yo almost filled
tho boat Every hook would hayo
sonotbing
.aThen again luck changes Ono day
we nulled ami 10 tho line. lint not A can
was IN SIGHT There wasn't INV mis-.
take no we had our hearings enact so
,,,a onIv ,hing to Al was M Conclude
that somothinD had bannoned Wo
n,,llod nm and dowu tho coast thon amt
~ 200, 600 ma inst 40 ,vc were abont civ.
inc IL mr., ,vn law one ~ tbo cans bob nm
opd then aisannenr
eve mn,,aeod 70 hool a. mn aud
,vben va began 10 fake Il In thonght
VOC h,d a ,ybnio but Tho fri tisb that
hove Il, sis,tt WINS n shark abont sir feet
Lone Then came a strotch m 20 hooks
oonc then a sbaylx then sbarka t,v tho
doyo,,--;, yact there ,,nst have Neon 90
or no sharks ON the lin. moi 10 sneal
~ thoro ,hat had been an Wa cut Them
Iooso The best we could rrd figured nm
our LOSSES In fsbbooks. line and halt nj
abont $50 You SEQ. n school Of half
starved shovel uosod sharks had irou.
ned in inst in time and had taken tho
t;sh tbst hal boeu hooked and NO GOT
hoo,,od q tprn
A,,o,bsr ti,,o v.c lost tho Hne for "A