r
with his bill or his tail, and R. C. wound it in, we very soon
discovered that it was not the fish that he had hooked. This is one of
the handicaps of light tackle.

We went on fishing. Sailfish would jump around us for a while and then
they would stop. We would not see one for several minutes. It is always
very exciting to be among them this way. Presently I had one take hold
to run off slowly and steadily, and I let him go for fifty feet, and
when I struck I tore the hook away from him. Quickly I let slack line
run back to him ten or fifteen feet at a time, until I felt him take it
once more. He took it rather suspiciously, I felt, and I honestly
believe that I could tell that he was mouthing or chewing the bait,
which made me careful to let the line run off easily to him. Suddenly he
rushed off, making the reel smoke. I let him run one hundred and fifty
feet and then stood up, throwing on the drag, and when the line
straightened tight I tried to jerk at him as hard as the tackle would
stand. As a matter of fact, however, he was going so fast and hard that
he hooked himself. It is indeed seldom that I miss one when he runs like
this. This fellow came up two hundred yards from the boat and slid along
the water with half of his body raised, much like one of those
coasting-boards I have seen bathers use, towed behind a motor-launch. He
went down and came up in a magnificent sheer leap, with his broad sail
shining in the sun. Very angry he was, and he reminded me of a Marlin
swordfish. Next he went down, and came up again bent in a curve, with
the big sail stretched again. He skittered over the water, going down
and coming up, until he had leaped seven times. This was a big, heavy
fish, and on the light six-ounce tip and nine-thread line I had my work
cut out for me. We had to run the boat toward him so I could get back my
line. Here was the advantage of having a fast boat with a big rudder.
Otherwise I would have lost my fish. After some steady deep plugging he
came up again and set my heart aflutter by a long surface play in which
he took off one hundred yards of line and then turned, leaping straight
for the boat. Fortunately the line was slack and I could throw off the
drag and let him run. Slack line never bothers me when I really get one
of these fish well hooked. If he is not well hooked he is going to get
away, anyhow. After that he went down into deep water and I had one long
hour of hard work in bringing him t