The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-12-30

snow. and seen from Santa Catalina
island. sixty miles away. the white
ldomes stand out in remarkable con
trast against the vivid blue OF the De
lcember sky. The sea is SMOOTH, except
where the swordish leaps and falls
Heavily, creating ripple. The fact
that many swordfish are in these wa
tiers now has occasioned interest among
the anglers. especially as some of them
have been trying to take one of these
swordmen OF the sea with the rod, an
Iunheard-of proceeding What mas caus-
ed so unusual a run OF these fish is not
known but they are here in large num-
bers. and that they will strike or bite
WAS discovered some time ago.
A fisherman had a strike, aad like
fash OF lightning something shot
around the boat. making the Ina hiss.
then plunged down deep into the chan
mel, to come up again and leap into
the air like.an arrow quivering in the
sunlight for a moment. then falling.
"a swordfsh!" shouted the boatman-
cut the lihe!"
Not on your life" retorted the angler
stand by your oars and keep the stern
Of the boat TO the fish"
The man .obeyed, but it was evident
that he fully expected 20 be run down
by the fish. The fish. however, had 9TH
er plans. and with rush 1t ran on all
1.-The line and passed on. probably the first
4 he.
incident created no little interest among
langlers devoted to large and unusual
game. and the Tuna club has undertake
en- 10 offer a handsome prize to the an
! gler who shall take a swordfish. 1t Is
barely possible that swordfish will be
taken by casting with live smelt, as the
fish have been seen swimming lazily
along IN circles, so near that cast could
Ieasily have been made among them.
Il will tell you what will be the result
! if you ever bring a swordfish to GAM
which 1 consider is possible, sald an
angler to an enthusiast; when he sees
the boat he VIII turn and ram you; what
you want ia an armored boat
"I'lI take my chances" responded the
other
rye seen a-swordhsh ram a boat Just
for the fun of it," said the boatman IN
| the group. 1T was not here, but on
Long Island New York. 1 used to fish
with a man named Jack Ormsby, and one
day he was pulling along when suddenly
without any warning, up through the
bottom of the boat came the sword Oh
fish. IL passed almost between his legs,
and II it had been a foot more FORWARD
| II would have spitted him like a rabbit
1 knew what 1t was In moment but
Jack was dazed.~ 1 grabbed 1t, and IN
trying to bend il over and break 1t,
split the plank and the boat began TO
fill All the time, the fish was struggling
to get away, and almost tipped us over
I finally managed to get the sword over
the thwart TbsH took off my coaS anu
plugged up 4hS1hOle aa well as could
and Jack pulled for the shore. We
reached there HAIR full Of water. don't
want any swordslsh IN mine
mo one has ever been hit by one In
| these waters" said another boatman.
but there are 80 fighters In the world
like the sWOrdhsh. was rowing along
by Church rock some time ago when
saw a splash throwing the water high IN
the air. pulled up until could see that
the disturbances6-as made by pair of
plainly see their big black eyes. and the
long rapier-lke swords cutting the
water They were swimming In circles
perhaps a hundred feet across. and
would go around perhaps twice. getting
nearer and nearer, then would turn and
fly at each other like a shot out OF
gun; and when they struck 1 could see
the water fly up as though a torpedo had
exploded one of them always being lift
ed out OF the water by the shock. They
made rushes three times while lay
there, and finally the sword of one went
through the other, and they struggled
for five minutes trying to break away.
All at once TREY separated. and I saw
the water dyed with blood. One fish
was evidently done for. he turned
tail and swan off.
The other swan a 4.,tle way, then
turned and headed for him, his dorsai
FIN out OF water and when he struck I
heard It as plainly as though 1t had been
out of water. The sword went complete
ly through the fish, and the champion
jerked himself away and swan off
pulled to the dying fish and caught him
up with a boat hook, expecting every
minute l might get a blow up through
the keel. l had hard work getting the
fish in, as he must have weighed 40
pounds, but when 1 did he was a sight
His sword was broken off for about
eighteen inches, showing that he had
been disabled by a blow from the others
sword Another blow had gone into his
head in front OF the eye. but the quietus,
which 1 had seen, was directly through
the body, leaving a gaping wound.
That was the second fight I have
seen" continued the boatman. The
other was between swordish and
whale and the way they cleaned the
whale out was a caution. was coming
home late one afternoon. When off Des-
canso canyon l saw big whale go out
of water, falling with a crash that could
have been heard mile away. The whale
had no sooner struck the water than It
rolled over and over. striking the sur
face with terrific blows. I knew some
thing was after it and pulled nearer. Up
went the whale again, and I distinctly
saw a big spearfish hanging on. 1t had
driven it's sword SO far into the whale
that il couldn't get it out, and so was
carried into the air. Then l saw seyeraI
killers-a kind of grampus. They rushed
at the whale and seized it by the lips. |
evidently tearing of great pieces of flesh.