The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-11-12
THE SCRATCH PAD
By THOMAS EWING DABNEY.

'sThat 75-pound gar which your Mr..
Fl. F. Gonzalez landed with an ordi-
nary rod and reel" said the stranger,
reminds me of a similar haul ] made
couple of years ago.
81 was living on the Mississippi
coast at the time, and had a 20-foot
sail boat. l was invited on q fishing
trip one time-both and the boat
and with the usual spanking breeze.
we got under way a glorious morning
in the early fall. I never could see
why breeze is always spanking; !
think something ought to be done
about it, and then, maybe, there won't
be so many squalls.
"Well, we sailed around for while,
trying various shell banks, but there
was nothing stirring. There was quite
a swell going, and the fish were prob
ably seasick-that's the only reason
can see for their not clamping onto
those appetizing bats of fresh
shrimp.
Finally tried inshore, and an
chored just off the yacht club at q
little town known as Biloxi. Ever
been to Biloxi? No? Well, it's just
as well.
"And then we began to catch fish.
We? / should say, they did.
"You would think, with four people
fishing from a 20-foot boat, using
the same bait, the same hooks, and
the same lines, that one would catch
about the same as the other, wouldn't
you? Well, it wasn't so, at least, in
my case. The others pulled in the
flappers so fast it wore their arms
out, but nary a fish draped itself
across my hook.
ut was the most remarkable ex-
hibition ever saw. / tried swapping
lines, but that didn't do bit of good.
They simply went for my old line as
If it had been a bargain counter.
"This kept up for an hour and a
half. l finally got tired of being
blacklisted, and began to haul in.
"Now we were fishing for trout and
croakers and used ordinary hand lines
they were about twenty feet long,
with loop to go about the wrist; the
hook was an ordinary trout hook. The
boat was anchored in about ten feet
of water and we were fishing just off
the bottom.
When nay line was about half in,
something happened. There came a
| pull that almost lifted me out of
myself. It wasn't snap or a jerk;
it was steady and heavy and had a
general feel of invincibleness.
'The boys saw something was up
and began to give advice. / never
will understand why the monster did
not go away from there-but paying
the line out through squeezed fore
finger, brought him up with one
inch to spare and started hauling him
in. And when got him close along
side the boat, almost tainted: It was
an alligator gar as big as Mr., Con-
zalezs'. He was off like shot. yell
ed to one of the boys to tie one OF
their lines to mine, but they were So
excited they simply couldn't do a
thing.
"How many times I fought that
fish back to the boat, I don't know.
wore grooves in my thumb and fore.
finger-I remember there was knot
Il in the middle of the line and every
time it hit one of those tender grooves
I felt it all over.
Zone of the boys finally became
coherent enough, when the gar was
alongside, to swat at him with tn,
boathook. After every blow he wa
off again, but I managed 70 brins
him back until one well-directeC
thrust settled his business.
1--WE slipped moose around him
dragged him ashore and weighed him
Seventy pounds, hooked, played ant
landed with a trout hook and twenty
foot line!
I'm pulling my line. up, the hool
had caught just under his jaw, an.
that was the reason why he hadn'
been able to bite the slender thread.