American Angler in Australia (1937) (14 page)

Off Sydney Heads this day my evil wishes were frustrated by fate
,
however, and the boys had eaten and drunk, and cleaned up their table
,
before I did get a strike. All of a sudden, while I was watching m
y
bobbing cork, my daydreams were dispelled by a big gray fin cutting th
e
water out there above my bait. But suddenly, when my cork shot under, I
r
ealized that fin belonged to a tiger shark which already had my bait. H
e
had come up to take a look at the cork, and perhaps to bite my line. Mak
o
often do that to floating tackle. This gray tiger, a good big one
,
flashed at my cork as he dragged it under. Before he could cut the line
,
however, I struck the hook into him hard and deep. He sheered away
,
plowed along the surface, then disappeared and went down deep. While h
e
took line, Love frantically hauled up the anchor and Peter got the boa
t
in motion.

In a few moments we were all set for battle and getting away from th
e
other boats. I had hung, as we call it, another big fish. That for whic
h
every big-game fisherman fishes had come to pass.

During the succeeding hour and more I gave this tiger what we America
n
fishermen slangily call the works. I whipped him thoroughly, bu
t
something happened that hindered me from completing the job. There came
a
queer jerky giving of my tight line, accompanied by peculiar motions o
f
the rod tip. Usually this thing is caused by the gradual tearing of th
e
hook from its firm hold. Many a fish I had lost after a few of thes
e
happenings.

In this case, however, nothing happened. I did not lose my fish. But th
e
jerky slackings in my line continued, until suddenly I realized that the
y
were caused by the shark rolling up in my leader. He would roll up a fe
w
feet, then the leader would slip or loosen, with the consequen
t
vibrations. This was almost as bad as the tearing out of the hook. Fo
r
almost any kind of a shark will roll up in the leader until he comes t
o
the line, and then he will bite through that.

I told Peter my suspicions and he said he had arrived at the sam
e
conclusion. "Lam into him now or you'll be losing him," he added.

A violent and persistent lamming, as Peter called it, brought tha
t
tiger shark to the surface. He came up belly first, white and wide an
d
long, and the middle and upper part of his body was so tightly wound u
p
in my wire leader that it cut into him. There was no coil around hi
s
gills and the last one circled his head just below his jaw. But he coul
d
open his mouth. Believe me he gaped those wide fanged jaws and shut the
m
with the sound of a steel trap. In fact he was a trapped tiger and as ma
d
as a hornet. He threshed his long tail and curdled the water white. Bu
t
he did not appear to be able to turn over or swim. He just surged an
d
wagged.

My swivel was scarcely two feet from those jaws. So he had thirty-thre
e
feet of wire leader wrapped around him.

"Hold hard, sir!" shouted Peter, as he leaned down with big gloved han
d
extended. "Just in time. A few more minutes and he'd bitten off..
. B
illy
,
stand by with the gaff..
. W
ow!!!"

When Love stuck the gaff into that shark it leaped out, half of it
s
glistening wet body in the air, and frightfully close to the boat. Th
e
gaff did not hold. But Peter did. There was a tremendous tussle an
d
splash. The tiger was hog-tied in my leader, but nevertheless he gave th
e
men a bad few minutes before he was securely gaffed and roped. Even afte
r
we started to tow him ashore he kept snapping at the wire noose which ha
d
proved his undoing.

Resting from my exertions and watching this shark while I seriousl
y
recounted the actions of gaffing and tying up to the boat, I pondere
d
over the hazard and the difficulty of this necessary sporting procedure.

I did not blame Bullen and these other shark fishermen for shootin
g
sharks at close quarters out of a small boat, in some cases smaller tha
n
the shark. An attempt to gaff them would be foolhardy. I will go o
n
record by saying it is better to catch a tiger shark or any great shar
k
on a hand line, and shoot or harpoon him when he comes up to the boat
,
than not to catch him at all. For it is a fine thing to kill thes
e
brutes.

All the same, that is not the great, wonderful, sporting way to catc
h
your big shark. The more risks you run, the harder and longer your figh
t
with him, the stronger and finer rod and reel and line you can afford
,
the more creditable your achievement. There are many reasons to prove m
y
contention, some of which I have mentioned heretofore, and one I wil
l
here repeat.

Many sharks, particularly the mako and tiger, often swim up to the boa
t
before they are in the least whipped. In case of the mako, perhaps als
o
the tiger, too, he comes up to see what is wrong and to do you harm. I
f
you shoot him or harpoon him, then you destroy in one fell stroke aft th
e
commendable and manly reason for fishing for him at all, except the on
e
of killing him.

I have never known an angler who, having once had the thrill of bringin
g
his great fish to gaff and seeing it gaffed, ever went back to the mor
e
primitive method outlined above. Bullen himself gaffed Bowen'
s
eight-hundred-and-eighty-nine-pound tiger shark, and his boatman late
r
gaffed a five-hundred-pound white shark. He assures me he will neve
r
shoot another. This is the nucleus of the idea I would like to inculcat
e
in all Australian anglers. The sport is greater than they have realized.

I venture to hope that the great man-eating sharks will some day have th
e
honor accorded to lions and elephants.

Chapter
X

By May 1st we had finished our south coast fishing and packed to sail o
n
the 5th for Hayman Island of the Great Barrier Reef.

Four months, at least half of which was unfishable on account of hig
h
winds and rough seas! I hesitate to state what number of fish we migh
t
have caught had we had a normal season of warm weather. But it alway
s
blows great guns when I go fishing, and otherwise handicaps me wit
h
obstacles.

Altogether we caught sixty-seven big fish, weighing over twenty-on
e
thousand pounds, nearly ten tons. This seems incredible, but it is true
,
and really is nothing compared with what we might have done unde
r
favorable conditions. Two-thirds of this number fell to my rod. Bowen an
d
his camera men, and mine, caught the rest.

My catches of a green thresher Fox shark, the first ever known to b
e
caught, and the ninety-one-pound yellow-fin tuna, also the first eve
r
taken in Australian waters, were surely the high lights of my goo
d
fortune. To repeat, however, no one can guess what I might have take
n
had the weather given us a break. Perhaps one of those giant white-deat
h
sharks! Or surely a broadbill swordfish, that old gladiator and king o
f
the Seven Seas.

No doubt a few words about tackle or gear in this summary will not b
e
amiss.

I used three big tackles, favoring the Coxe, Hardy-Zane Gre
y
and Kovalovsky reels, carrying a thousand and more yards o
f
thirty-nine-thread Swastika lines. I really did not need fifteen hundre
d
yards of line as I had on the big Kovalovsky, but as I was alway
s
expecting an unheard-of and monster fish, I wanted to be ready for an
y
kind of a run.

My outfit on the camera boat had half a dozen tackles with reels not s
o
large as mine, carrying thirty-six and thirty-nine-thread lines.

Needless to say, they ruined all these tackles, but the fun I ha
d
watching them fight fish was worth the sacrifice. I could hardly ask the
m
to follow me around, running all over the ocean for four months withou
t
fishing.

For Marlin we used fifteen-foot leaders or traces, on which were mounte
d
13| Pflueger swordfish hooks. These traces were made out o
f
nineteen-thread airplane cable wire and were not suitable for big sharks.

We lost many leaders on hammerheads and other sharks. I had a
n
eleven-foot mako bite one of these leaders through and escape, afte
r
leaping prodigiously.

We used hickory rods and some dualwoods made of black palm and hickory.

These were the best obtainable in the United States. I will not recommen
d
them here because toward the end of my stay in Australia I found tha
t
Australian big-game rods are superior to ours. Bullen's Atlanta rod mad
e
by Southam is the most wonderful rod I have used. It is built of spli
t
cane in six pieces. Beyond doubt it is the most beautifully made an
d
finished, the strongest and springiest, the most enduring rod I have eve
r
bent upon a big fish.

The saffron-heart rod runs it a close second. As a matter of fact I a
m
not perfectly sure which is the better. But I have not given th
e
saffron-heart rod the same test that I gave the other.

Also it is no longer needful for Australian anglers to use American o
r
English reels. The two new hand-made big-game-fishing reels, built fo
r
Fagan and Bullen, are just about as good as any reels I own. Upon m
y
return to Australia I shall try out one of these.

But I have found fault with Australian traces and hooks, and especiall
y
Australian lines. These must be improved to compete with the hand-mad
e
Swastika lines.

It seems hardly necessary to say much about methods of fishing fo
r
swordfish. Most anglers have already learned that trolling with
a
revolving bait far back of the boat, and weighted at that, is jus
t
wasting time. Of course a starved Marlin would bite on anything; and i
t
means little that a few fish have been caught by such methods.

Teasers trolled far back is another mistake. They should be close to th
e
stern of the boat, around thirty feet, so that you can see the Marli
n
come, and pull them away from him.

There is no set time after the strike to hook your fish. That i
s
something which has to do with the feel of the strike. In any event yo
u
cannot hook all of the Marlin that strike, nor catch all you hook! Th
e
great thing to learn is to find them--to run the wheels off your boa
t
until you do find them, and that takes patience, endurance, and eyesight.

I attribute my success more to the last than to anything else.