Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-06-08

the Diack sea pass champion as the col
onel concluded; 'it's game fish, but
it's not in the same class with the black
sea bass and I never landed my biggest
fish. 1t was this way: Twas fishing for
whitefish and had on a sardine. got
bite and pulled up, then got heavier
bite, then a still heavier one, and final
ly after hard struggle got the fish up
and to my amazement saw it was
black sea bass. A rockbass had taken
the sardine, whitefish had taken the
rockbass, yellowtail had grabbed the
whitefish and the sea bass had taken
the yellowtail. The fish towed us, an
Choir down, four miles up the coast and
headed for San Nicolas, 70 miles away;
then I said to Jim: L reckon we's out
classed.' The bass was as long as the
boat, as near as we could judge, and l
would have given thousand dollars to
see him weighed. He would have tipped
the scales at 500 pounds, sure. But it
was not our day; he suddenly gave
lu4ge and got away for hundred feet.
While was reeling him in we saw big
furry and o 15-foot eatercame right
out of the water with that bass in his
mouth and bit the fish square in two,
leaving me the head, which I had
mounted as trophy.
'My 327-pound fish, which has accord
ed me the championship of the world,
I landed fairly and squarely in So min-
utes. We were fishing ON the bottom
with 12-ounce rods and 21-strand lines.
All at once my line began to run out.
gave the fish about ten feet and struck.
Well, gentlemen" and the narrator
took off his hat and wiped his brow at
the mere recollection. "Tll give you my
word, thought that fish would take
the boatman under water. Jim threw
off the anchor rope, and with a whistle
from the reel and rush of water we
were off, Jim pulling for his life to get
Roadway on the boat, and working the
thumb brake with all my strength to
stop the rush; but before l knew it had
taken 700 feet of line and worn an inch
leather pad down to nothing. And
that's what bothered me-the smoke of
that burning thumb brake kept getting
in my eyes, though Jim kept tanning
1t away. heard afterward that people
who saw us thought it was q steam
launch But finally the brake burned
up, and used a thumbstall. When that
wore out doubled up my hat, and final.
", after rush of 900 feet, l stopped the
fish. He began to skulk, but I put the
tarpon-pumping movement into play,
and soon started him. Then he began
to rush around the boat, going so fast
that both Jim and I got dizzy. We
couldn't see the shore at all, and finally
had to shut our eyes, and there, Of
course, we lost time; but we kept at the
reel, and several times the rubber began
to melt, but Jim kept pouring water on
it as I reeled, and at last, by herculean
effort, I got that fish within 20 feet of
the boat. 1t was then As minutes by the
clock. What clock? Why, the boat
clock. I never go fishing without a
clock.
"As was saying, we had the fish up
within 20 feet, but to move him another
foot we couldn't. Minutes and seconds
were slipping away, and finally we had
only ten minutes; you see, wanted to
do 1t in an hour, and just then Jim had
an inspiration. He said stop reeling,
sir, and We'll pull the boat up to the
fish, You see, all the time we had been
trying to pull the fish to the boat. So
jim took his oars and rowed alongside
while reeled in the slack; and just IS
minutes from the time hooked the fish
Jim hauled him into the boat, 327
pounds to a dot; there isn't a man on
earth that can do it in less" and the
black sea bass advocate looked around
at the awe-stricken assemblage. But
the tuna man had disappeared.-N Y.
Sun.