Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-09
LANDING 4 BIG FISH,
The Joy and the Labor Of Catch
i1g an Amber lack.
PLU CK OF "A. FinllY FIGHTER.

In the Duel Between the Angler and
Battling Beauty There Is No LuiI In
the Fierce Conflict Till One or the
Other Is Victorious.
y The boatman is telling us Of certain
catches he has seen when, like an cleo
trio shock, comes the sharp staccato Of
the click. There is no mistaking it;
no tide rip here. And see! Look! The
line stiffens. straightens out like a
wire trembles q second, throwing the
water in crystal drops, and then the
gave is given the butt, and the reel
screams, high and low, as the unknown
jerks the line away in long and splen-
did bursts of speed. ;,.
There is always the thought that it
may be shark or a ray or some not
desired yermin, but you have taken the
amber jack before and its sturdy
cousin of the California island. and
there is no mistake about it.
VI Springing to your feet, with the butt.
Of the rod firmly in the leather socket
around your waist. you see what a
game fish can do, what splendid
strength he brings into play as ne
races away, dragging the line from
beneath your thumb and the heavy
brake, seemingly playing with it.
& Fifty, 100. 200 feet of line slip away
before the fish is stopped, and then it
appears to strike heavy, determined
blows at the rod, sweeping around in
IA splendid half circle, the line cutting
the water and the fish rising with a.
peculiar motion.
Amber jacks have been hooked here
that no man could stop. In the lam.
guage Of the boatman, they simply
walked away with the line,' then
when the end came never stopped, and
there is seemingly no limit to the pow
ers of this fellow. s.
The angler has start, the thumb
brake Of leather stops the run, and the
big reel begins the pitiless work, and
while the jack races he is insensibly
coming In all the time M lore than once
he realizes this and plunges down and
If the. water is deep enough sulks and
bores like q salmon and with ten times
its force. But the water is compare
lively shallow, and the game can only
break away and dash off fifty feet, to
be checked again and again. But it
never really surrenders, never really
discovers that it is In the tolls. Like Its
cousin, the California yellowtail, it
fights until it is in the boat, and even
then have seen fish double and send
itself whirling out. of a barrel into the
freedom Of the sea. :5I%
The angler can now see the Jack as
it races around the boat, and the black
boa tman fingers his gaff ready to give
1t the quietus. Nearly thirty minutes
have slipped away, and the attempts
of the oarsman to Keep the angler
stern first to the fish and the powerful
PUSHES have carried the boat out from
shore where the fish has plenty Of wa.
ter. The man at the rod begins to feel
that he has earned his fish. In boxing,
fencing or broadsword play there is a
sslet up, time FOR rest, but in this duel
\
and arms and fingers are stiff and
ache. Pressing the thumb on a leather
pad for half an hour, holding a stiff
rod in one position is deadly, and the
| amber jack appears to have taken his
second wind. Perhaps there is a third
| wind for amber jack, as, suddenly
| when coursing along at the surface,
he apparently sees the boat and goes
crazy. pIunging down to the mad &C.
claim Of the reel, tearing OFF the hardly
won line and carrying despair into the
/ anglers soul. s
4 But this is the beginning Of the end
and, holding the rod and line firmly,
the angler dips the point to the surface
and lifts, smans the pumps & lifts for
all he Is worth, gains three feet on the
sulker, then, dropping the tip, reels
rapidly, and SO, ever repeating the
trickth only remedy when fishes will
sulk-he regains his lost line and has
the splendid fish in sight again. There
Is fash Of silver, yellow and green, a
display Of surface below the resilient
rod, then the reel works it on the guar:
ter, and as the patch OF color surges
kissing along the negro gaffer drops his
weapon quietly, skillfuIly under the
fish and lifts him just under the gills
holds him firmly for a moment while
the spray and spume fly. Then, de
pressing the rail, he slides the gallant
fighter In, where he hammers the bss.
tom as the angler perchance swings his
hat to some distant and less fortunate
friend still at anchor. These are the
moments Of JOY In the life Of the an
gier, and surely life Is not failure
along the gulf stream and Is worth liy-
Ing. Forest and Stream.
An Artists Slip. 81
Sir John Gilbert was once commits.