Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-29

doubles beneath the water. You have the
butt damned into a socket hole reamed in
the thwart, and you hang on desperately,
laying all your weight to the reel brake, a
square of moosehide leather that half en-
braces the speel. II is water soaked and
pliable, but still It is fairly smoking with
the friction.
You hear the boatman's voice as in a
dream: 'Snub him! Hold himl' You jab
harder. The reel screams away-1OO yards
are gone--2OO. He is still boiling. You put
your strength into the effort, the reel slows
down and halts suddenly. the line slacken-
ing home. You think the fish is off; but
here is the boatman screaming again, Reel
him in-quicker-reel him int He warns
you. too, to watch out when the tuna
sights the boat. He'll dodge when he does!
yells the man. F1p-fee-eee-eee-ee-away
goes the reel again. The boat backs
through the water sometimes faster than a
man can row 1t, towed by the striving fish.
Then the line slackens, tautens with a
snap and cuts through the water. The
tuna is sounding-once hooked, he nevev
leaps. Again the boatman implores you to
snub him; the fish halts and sulks.
Hot Work at Both Ends of Line,
keep at him! Give it to him! roars the
man. 'PunSp him! Give him a lift You
mustn't let the tuna rest II you aim ever
to gaff him alongside. You chug away,
Fitting with all your strength. Up comes
the fish, sulkily at first, fighting every
foot. The man at the oars whips the boat
about like a teetotum, and away Won go
again, the launch following. II he Is headed
for open water, let him go; but If he points
for the shore, where there are kelp beds
and Jagged rocks, hold him at the risk of
losing all your fine. You'll lose nearly all.
anyway, II he ties it in the kelp or turns
IL around a rock; but once in the omen
water your chances may improve. Then,
again, they may not. The fish may have
taken a hitch Of the line around his tail.
while he pulls with his shoulders like a
team OF oxen
One battle with a tuna lasted fourteen
hours and the boat was towed thirty-five
miles. after which the fish escaped Just as
the gaff was reached for II. The angler
needs about a week to recuperate from
strained arms and bruised fingers alter
such a contest.
The excitement of tarpon fishing off the
Florida coast is sometimes varied with
angling for sharks. A manila rope abou,
the size OF a clothesllne. a chain leader and
a steel hook seven inches long are the
outfit necessary. A ten-pound grouper is
a good bait which the houndlike scavenegr
Of the deep can scent for a long distance
one morning / hooked a very large
shark" says c. F. Holder, in his Log OF A
Sea Angler, which. despite my effor.s.
ran out the entire line. and as our dingy
started ! cast my eye over the side and
saw at least six tiger sharks following.
They were about five feet below the sur
face, and kept with us until I had the
big game in hand. This shark made des-
perate attempts to eapsize the boat. l.
towed us in a circle completely around the
island, about two miles. and was so
erratic in its movements that had there
not been a notch in the bow in which I
kept the rope l believe 4. would have
succeeded. One of its sudden turns jerked
the boat around so quickly that II nearly
filled. 1t would dart around in a circle.
then come at US suddenly. then rush away
At full speed. At the end OF two hours
e had fought us to a point where we were
almost exhausted.
But we held on and gradually gained
until I brought the shark 70 the surface.
ran the dingy over It and secured the
chain, holding the monster At close range
while 1t rolled and struggled in desperate
attempts to sound. One swing OF its tail
truck the dingy a blow that would have
killed a man.; then, finding itself in the
oils, it turned savagely, opened its caver-
GUS mouth. and. selling the cutwater.
urging upward. actually lifted the bow
q the boat out OF water several feet, leav-
ng a number Of its serrated teeth In the
wood. I beat II off with a boat hook then