The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-13

might be expected, was disaster. The
cast parted and the salmon departed.
Many a fisherman has had similar ex-
perience, and sometimes painful, and
even dangerous ones. Fishing in a boat
on the Florida coast, Mr.. j. A. Bren-
ton hooked monster tarpOnt-he fish
known in the gulf as the "silver king
The great fish went straight of, tow
ing the boat behind it; the wind got uD
and so cid the sea; night came on. and
the tarpon showed no sign Of giving il.
But the angler was made of stern
stun, and. in spite of imminent danger
of swapping, he stuck to his captor
and eventually landed it, six miles away
from the spot where he had hooked it.
This fish weighed 1856 pounds.
Even more exciting was the engage
ment between Mr.. c. r. Scudder and a
gigantic tuna, which he hooked off the
California coast. The tuna did as he
liked with Mr.. Scudder's boat for seven
hours, during which time it towed him
a distance of nearly twenty miles The
creature weighed eighteen pounds over
the hundredweight.
One of the fiercest, wickedest fish that
sWimS Is the barracuda, found from the
Gulf of Mexico down to the Brazilian
coast. 1t possesses a fearful equipment
of knife-pointed teeth, and has large,
black, evil-lOoking eyes. No negro viii
battle where barracudas abound. That
famous naturalist, Mr.. c. F. Holder.
once harpOoned a large barracuda of
the Florida reef, which tOwed his dingY
round and round in circles, and very
nearly swamped it. Eventually, when
brought close to the boat, it seized the
oars in its teeth, actually swapping
pieces off them.
The green moray of the Bermudas
looks like a cOnger-eel. but is larger.
and of a bright green color. Its vi
ciOusness is so prOverbial that when the
native fishermen hook one they at once
cut the line. On one occasion, when an
English sportsman insisted on bringing
one into the boat, the awful brute
snapped three fingers clean off the negro
boatman.
The power and ferocity of the ham
merhead shark is almost incredible. Mr..
Holder above mentioned, once hooked
large hammerhead off Santa Catalina
island, which simply ran away with
him, and over and over again nearly
pulled the boat under the water. Ii
other boats had not come to his as
sistanCe. he would have been forced to
cut the line: but it was not until five
boats were pulling together that the
brute could be turned shOreward.
A horrible incident was reported some
little time hack in a South African pa
per A man was fishing for tiger fish
in the Krokodil river, and hooked a
icent, game fish. In playing IL he came
too near the edge of the bank, when a
crocodile lying in the still water under
large specimen of one of these magnif-
a ledge ficked him in with its tail and
devoured him.
To come nearer home, a curious incl
dent took place in Cruden bay, in Sep
TENDER. three years ago. A fisherman,
plying his rod about a mile from shore.
had a heavy bite. and. pulling in. was
amazed to find that he had hooked, not
a fish. but a bird-a great northern
diver"
TIE bird made a furious resistance
and. Just as the fisherman got IL close
TO the boat. suddenly few in his face
with a force that nearly hurled hinT
overheard. with a second dash il split
open the back of his head, and with q
third made bad cash in his fOreheaGs
AT last il was killed with a stretcheT
and found TO measure over three feet
across the wings. The angler had to
go to a doctor to get his wounds sewn
UP.