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TAKING GAME FISH AT SEA Charlie Chaplin the Movie Star Writes of His California Experience Sport Full of Exercise Thrills and Anxiety from Start to Making moving pictures has its thrills but angling for big game fishes like the leaning marlin sword fish is excitement from the moment the fish takes the teaser Once it grabs the hook the speed limit Is off and there is a thrill every minute until the fish is gsffed writes Charlie Chaplin the movie star in the New York Sun SunAngling Angling at Santa Catalina Island Cal for the broadbill swordfish marlin swordfish or more properly speaking the Japanese spearfish tuna and black sea bass the latter a quarter of a ton of fightng gameness attracts in time every man who lias the love of a fight in him and prefers a worthy antagonist antagonistA A square deal for the fish as well as the man makes a good sporting proposition and when in the interest of sport you go out to say San Pedro Channel between San Pedro and Catalina Islands equipped with sportsmanlike tackle such as that prescribed by the Tuna Club you are giving your foe a fair run for its challenge challengeAny Any man or woman and amazing as it is women by their clever handling of the rod and reel have Jxcn successful in taking big fish who following the rules fishes with a wood rod not shorter than six feet over all with a butt not over fourteen inches in length with a tip not to exceed five feet in length and to weigh not more than six ounces with a line not to exceed standard nine thread is certainly asking no odds oddsIt It often hapiiens that a fish weighs much more than the angler In my case my 162 pound marlin swordfish was six pounds heavier than I am but that was nothing to be compared with the anxiety 1 felt for twentytwo minutes Anxiety is the only word for it Will the rod stand the strain Will the threadlike line break Will the fish as it leaps out of the water slash the line and end it all Anxiety is the chief thing that you feel except the thrills thrillsSPORT SPORT FULL OF THRILLS AND ANXIETY ANXIETYThe The thrills of the fight overcome your anxiety but once the fish has leaded and is back again and you are trying to keen a taut line and the marlin starts out on a fresh maneuver are you sure you are going to do the right thing to checkmate him Thats the rub A miscalculation and perhaos days of endeavor are lost lostNo No two swordfish act alike any more than two men or women act alike That is one of the joys of big game angling you never can tell what is next on the program You may take a marlin swordfisa in twentytwo minutes and you may fight it for twentytwo hours and have it get away when tlic boatman has his hand on the leader as has happened happenedIn In angling for swordfish you put on a teaser flying fish tied to pieces of line and towed fifteen or twenty feet behind the boat The anglers bait may be thirty feet behind the teasers The teasers attract the swordfish which are then pulled in and you wait for a strike strikeItiff Itiff bang and the hook goes off at incredible speed and then the marlin swordfish as an over ¬ ture will lean out of the water to show you his size and acrobatic abilities and having done this you both are ready for the combat combatAfter After that first jump there is no telling just what a swordfisli will do The fish may go off in a straight line like a rabbit following a trail to safety or it may turn at a right angle and make a curve or sag in the line that often spells liberty for the fish fishOn On the other hand it may not come out of the water at all but keening close to the surface break water every few feet The next tactic may be to go down two or three hundred feet but this rarely happens unless the fish is near exhaustion and takes this means of iilaying a waiting game in the hope of safety also in the pumping process indulged in by the angler the line may break breakThe The big thing after a swordfisli makes a long run is to pick up quickly your slack line You enjoy these runs but it spells disaster if the slack line is not taken up Give a fish slack line and you show him the way to liberty libertyBULLY BULLY TO CATCH BIG FISH FISHMuch Much depends upon the skill of your boatman who follows the fish A man of the ability of Capt IMinundson it is a pleasure to say nice things of for it requires good team work when you have a couple of hundred pounds of acrobatic gameness on the other end of your threadlike line and you know that a false move by yourself or the boatman may SMil yourVhance of bringing in the big fish fishIt It is a trick of these fish sometimes to run straght for the boat Should the boat cross the line it is likely to be cut by the propeller and there is also danger of the swordfish ramming the boat happenedWhen as it has happened When the swordfish has made its last spectacular jnmp and final sulk and you have thrown off your drags and the boatman has his hand on the leader and the fish is safely gaffed you have a feeling of being tired but you are thankful and happy and when the boatman tells you what he thinks it will Aveigh you smile and you feel the whole world is smiling with you Its a bully feeling to play fair and catch a big fish May be one of these lays 111 do it for the movies and well all smile together
