Identifier: fishstoriesalleg00hold (find matches)
Title: Fish stories alleged and experienced, with a little history natural and unnatural
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Holder, Charles Frederick, 1851-1915 Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931, joint author
Subjects: Fishes
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and company
Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library

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teen line and a jointed rod,which I had made for yellowtail, a fish that averages seven-teen pounds, and when the strike came the tuna, instead ofplunging down and sounding, decided to play me on thesurface, and dashed away four hundred feet. The details of this game at sea are not essential. I playedthe tuna for forty minutes, then brought it to gaff with myrod slightly buckled. My boatman, Jim Gardner, of Avalon,gaffed it, hauled it in and we were about to give way toexuberance befitting the occasion, when the tuna, as near asI can recall, doubled up, opened out, shot up into the air,and fell upon the rail. As we were standing, we lost ourbalance, and the next I knew, I was treading water. Theboat went down out of sight, then came up bow first, shoot-ing into the air, spilling the oars, gaffs, lines and everythingelse, into the sea, nearly a mile from shore. I was inclinedto take it as a joke, as we had a launch not four hundredyards away; but my companion suddenly announced that he
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< ^ 1^ aj The Hardest Fighters 255 could not swim, and throwing his arms about the bow of theboat, she rolled over in a menacing fashion. Jim and Igot him in, but the boat still rolled, being light and shallow;so we tipped her over, bottom up, helped the non-swimmeronto the bottom, where, by remaining perfectly quiet andlying flat, he was safe. I then looked for the launch, andnoticed that in the excitement I had dropped my rod, avaluable piece of angling machinery. The launch had not moved, and we saw that the enginewould not work; so I decided to leave my companion, as theboat would not hold more than one, and swim to the launch.Gardner was a professional swimmer, and I was fairly athome in the water, having had many capsizing experi-ences in Florida; but I was handicapped by a heavy, impos-sible suit of corduroy, leggings and heavy shoes. The sea was perfectly calm, and I soon distanced Gardnerwho, I thought, had not been very active about arrangingthe boat for my companion, nor

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