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| al in ■ || D il lis n| ll m t l» Id W . t _ 1 n ta ll fc J, ri *• ,j .„ r 0 r a 14 D C k s g J» J i e g g d I. P r „ s r t 1 I , . j « 1 1 7 i ■ I a of j] » ■•_ i MwauwrananamnnnBiiaviwii SIX THOUSAND POUND SHARK f » Big Fish Story That Is True— How a Sea Monster of Unusual Size Was Captured in Peaceful Northern Waters. "Here comes the his risli!" That was the oft-repented shout that would linns us hurriedly out it Of the hunk-house to get another look at the monster - or" the hriu.v blue that had invaded the peace ful waters siirroundinjf Crawfords lodging camp on n the British Colnnihi.i coast about 400 miles north h af Vancouver. When 1 first heard one of the boys s telling of seeing a sea monster of unusual size I I thought that it was a sen lion or else he was just I seeing things, so paid lit tie attention to it. I hadnt long to wait, though, for that evening g someone shouted that lie was coining, so I hurried d ont to investigate. What I saw was a huge black k Tin projecting altout two feet out of the water and d ciming in our direction. The camp was built on • large float whi, h was anchored near the shore, so 0 I hurried to the outer corner where I could get a a -..nd look at it. On came this big fin, Hke the periscope of a a submarine, almost directly far where I stood. J . i i t t u!i, mi a few yards away he dived ■ little deeper. bnt still I could plainly see the huge slate-colored 1 Ito.ly and the sweep sf the mighty tail as he glidd |J l,y without rawing the slightest ripple on the c . iters surface. I made him out to lie some spe- - cies of n shark and then estimated him to be be- - Iwnii sixteen and twenty feet in length. I have done a lot of fishing along Ibis coast, • trolling for the gamy spring salmon, fishing for r end lialilmt Where rive hundred feet of line wouldnt t reach bottom and snagging herring with a stick il driven full of nails, but here was a new one to » me and the next thing to do was to eaten him. .loo Zomaske is as enthusiastic a fisherman as I myself, as we set to work rigging up ear heaviest hoc les and Uses, Then, placing ■ choice piece of t be.f on the groups of hooks, we hung it over the ■ids of the float and waited for re ults. The big fellow was now making regular trips I around the lagoon, following the shore, and nearly I always went either under or close to the side of f the float, bul he wouldnt touch the bait. Thinking thai mayl e he wasnt used to a beef diet, we * wiim out and CSUnht a nice red cod and after care-fully planting the hasfcs in this We n:; it out where 1 we thought it would look the most tempting. But t nothing doing. SYeing him coming toward the bait t one day. I thought Id experiment with him. So. . getting hold of the line, I waited till he was only a few feet from the bait, then I pulled the bait l just enough to attraci his attention. Instantly the big fellow dived and didnt appear again that day. That proved that, for some unknown reason, he was bait shy and we would have to change our tseties. PLAN HOW TO CAPTURE HIM. Joe and I then got hnsj and did some tall plan- sins;. Also som. of the rest of the boys made •osae hold promises about how they were going to » rapture him: that is, -while they were iu the bunk-r li. use with the door securely fastened. Our war Mtaaril ended in the firm conviction that that fish had to be esnght, and if he wouldnt willingly take ■ halt then we would make him bite. Joe was soon bnsf in the blacksmith shop and I when lie had finished he had a harpoon that looked I to us like a tare winner. This was u piece I f steel Shoal four inches long, sharp pointed at one 1 end and curved at the other, with a socket in the ! center that fit onto an iron red which we lashed 1 to a twelve-foot pike pole. To the center of the slnrt pipoe we attached n double whistle wi.v iheavy clothes line wire leader. Onto this was fastened three hunch-,,! feet of one-half inch rope. The harps— wa- so nuule that, when driven in. it would come off the Iros rod arid then, whin the Hue was tightened, the iimnd end at the back would turn ii uaainise inside with the leader pulling from the center. When all sou complete we loaded our outfit into lees rewhast, the harness handy, the Mae carefully coiled in the bow. my .32 special Winchester handy -and the Kvinrude clamped in place. Now for a alght Of the shark. But he had changed bis hours and only made the rounds while we were working. At noon and in the evening when we returned from work our first csnesttss sf the ciek would be. "Has the big fish been around." and his answer would most likely be. "Yes. 1 anie right under the kitchen about SB hour ago." Thus it went for three or i four day-. Then one evening we saw the familiar periscope entting circles around the head of the bay. In a jiffy ere had scrambled into the boat and the Evin. rude was balking its challenge as we hurried up there. When we arrived at the- place where he BBghl lo have been iheie was not a sign of Man. A-ain he had disappeared. HAD OUR GAME SECURELY HOOKED. The rest of the Imi.vs. who were lined up on the float, were all do:., Iy watching the water for n I sight of our ijiiarry. One would shout. "There lie ■ is over by that point!" On going over there we oii!.l find ■ lu:l diver kicking up a few liny I waves. Then another Would shout that he was i •Sate other place. We kept rushing from place to | place to find that the cause of our excitement was only a salmon leaping or a seal getting his supper, c Why. they discovered shout twenty sharks thai : a evening and we ouiy started out after one: Never did the lookout in the crows nest of a dcsiiMVci I scan the waters more closely than we did then. I At last a great shawl want up from the camp, i "Here he i-! Hire he is!" and away we sped, i Sure enough, there was the periscope we had been I looking for. 1 stood in the bow, harpoon poised, i while Joe, handling the motor, maneuvered for : position and ran in cpiarteriiig from the rear. I When about eight foot away the shark saw us and 1 started to dive, bnt I struck with the harpoon. catching him in the side just back of the dorsal fin. Instantly the water was lashed to a foam. It surged and balled around us. rocking 1 lie boat so if nearly threw me off my feet. When I re- rorered my bum are the big fish had disappeared, but the line was rapidly paying out of the bow of : a our boat. Now for the test. Bid our harpoon • work? Was it set deep BBSWgh to stand the strainV I caught hold of the line and as il lightened up our boat sped ahead. Hurrah ! We bad our gam- l -oiuioiy hooked and now all we had to do was to • tire him out and land him. Easy to say. but Utile t W« knew what a task was before us. It was now :i :■!." in the evening. I After the first mad rush he settled down to a s go.,,1 three mile speed and kept en the bottom, j circling, turning, cutting figure eights, never at- tempting to stop and never getting off the bottom. s though I kept all the •tram o» the line that I r tboabht it would stand, taking a turn around the seat iii ihe boat. When he would strike deeper :l water and want to go down, he simply went, taking the bow of the boat down till it began to ship " water; then 1 would have to stack the line. An hour went by. then two hours and no change. • ■ lie hadnt slowed up any and we hadnt seen him. ■ About tee oclock two mere sf the boys came ■ out, so we lashed their boat sbmgsMe, but it made I no difference in his speed. Darkness settled b dews seer On lagans and then for the first time k since we stru k him ere could s,-e our game. ; AN AWE-INSPIRING SIGHT. p The water here is phosphorescent and while it « wsa dark the great IxkI.v beneath BS was i lcarly p ontlined. livery fill was edged with a line of fire. « While from the great tail, making Its regular p twelve-fast sweep, there was a trail of fire like ,, ,,f great shower of meteors, often reaching hack f, twentl feet or more. This was one of the most awe-inspiring sights I ever witnessed. Once he l. i. dually raised till the tip of his dorsal fin was ■ cut of the water, not more than three feet ahead ,, of the bow of tie beat. Directly under my feet t, io was ihe mammoth body and ju-t elsuriag the stern ;! the boat was that powciful tail, with one |j ■links of which In- could njnash our boats to kind- r, and -end u- lo the happy hunting grounds. ti iliag tin- Iscgeaa is about a mil,- in length with many p ansa and bays and b lilhci by the tides through f » it - on n h s I I I g d k d • so 0 a a a a t t 1 |J c - - • r t il » I t I I f * 1 t t . l » ■ I I 1 ! 1 i I ■ I i | c : a I I i i I i : I 1 : a • l • t :i I s j s r :l " • ■ ■ ■ I b k ; p « p « p ,, ,,f f, l. ■ ,, t, io ;! |j r, ti p a narrow entrance near the center. The tides here have a range of twenty feet and over. At half-tides the heavy salt water rushes through this BUnWW, crooked, bowlder-strewn entrance, forming a regular cataract, making it dangerous to take a boat through except at slack water. Many times tht- big fish headed iu the dirctioa of the narrows, but we always got him turned before he got too elose. At last lie seemed determined to head for the open sea. "Hes geisjg ,ut through the narrows!" we shouted and our hearts stepped beating at the thought. Tic iHo was falling and through the darkness came the sullen roar of those turbulent waters. On he went, straight for the entrance, and in vain we tried to stop him. Louder and louder grew that menacing roar as the water surged and boiled through that rocky gorge. On he went. What should we do? It was so dark we could hardly make out the outlines of the surrounding hills, I could see the phosphorescent glow where th« seething water was lashed to a feathery foam on the jagged corners of the rocks and Straight into il our fish was pulling us. "Shall we cut him loose?" I put the question to the boys. "Never!" shouted Joe. "Jooel boy, Joe!" I said, "Well stay with him, if Iip tows us to Honolulu." Then as we braced ourselves for the plunge he turned and went back into the lagoon. OUR ALL-NIGHT VIGIL. At midnight we were gel ting hungry, so two of the boys took the spare boat and brought out a hunch from camp, thereby setting a new record in my fishing career, being the first time I ever had two men with a boat hauling food to me while I played a fish. Hour after hour went by. When lie would get mar the surface I would grab my ririe and wait for a chance to put in a shot. But the chance never came. Even with his back fin projecting out of the water his nearest vital p,,int was covered with three feet of water, flesh and mnjgh hide. How I wished he would raise his head clear of the water for just a second. At 4 a. m. we w.re stiil working him as hard BB we dared. If anything, he seemed to be getting more lively. Surely he hadnt tired a bit. And then at 1:L the line snapped. The boats came to a stop. He was gone. Oar chance for a record catch was gone forever. Whats more, we couldnt even tell about it. For, without anything to prove it. no one would ever believe such an un- usual fish story. We would lie branded as liars, What did I say? Nothing! I. for the first time. realized that I was tired— dead tired, too weary o even cuss. But Joe — why. if Id even write a fraction of what he said. Id get a life sentence it hard labor. Why. the trees on shore just curled ip their leaves and died. We went wearily and sadly to camp and to bed. The next morning, as I was finishing breakfa-t. some one cailed, "Hey! Jackson; here comes your big fish looking for you." I hurried out to BM if he looked ai ything like I felt. CAME BACK TO TAUNT US. Well, after working him as hard as I could for eight hours and thirty-five minutes, keeping iU, average strain on the line of at least one hundred and fifty pounds, with him towing the boats at least twenty -five miles, there he was not ten feet away, making Bis regular patrol as if nothing unusual had happened, and I dont believe lie ever knew we had been out after him the night before. If he had kept out of sight it wouldnt have been so had. But for him to deliberately come right back in front of the whole crew the first tiling next morning was surely rubbing it in. Joe and I were now more determined than ever to catch him. We made a new harpoon and a heavy gaff hook on an inch line. By the time all was ready the big fish had disappered completely. We uiad- scvenii trips around the lagoon, but couldnt find a sisrn of him. so decided that maybe he didnt enjoy our form of entertainment and had tn.vxl to more peaceful feeding grounds. We were sadly disappointed, as it looked now that our chance for a prte catch was surely gone. About a week latev. one Saturday evening, here he came on the old bea I airain. We decided to wait till Sunday, as we didnt like the idea of an-Bther all night session. On the following morning, as soon as breakfast was over, August ";, 1910, we were out after him. At about 9 a. m. we found him and. running in close. I drove the harpoon against his hide with all the strength that a one hundred and eighty-pound lumber-jack eauld command. But his tough hide- was too thick to allow the harpoon to penetrate deep emmgt to hold. The three-eighths inch iron rod doubling up like a piece of soft wire, as soon as I tightened up on the line, the harpoon fcdl out. We had go; our second chance and failed. This time when Joe started to say things that arent in the- dictionary it was no solo. The leaves ewrsfed, the water boiled and the gulls hurried out of that part of the country. We were just getting nicely started with our duet whin, to our great surprise, there was that familiar back fin cutting the water right close to a rock bluff. Again we bore down on him, the Brinmde spit ting: a challenge as never before. This time I took the gaff and BS we came near he started down, but was not quick enough to escape. for I struck out with Ihe gaff, catching the big dorsal fin near the base of it. He then made the quickest move I ever saw him make. His great tail came ont of the water iu a circle just over my head, barely missing my hat and came down on the other side of the boat with splash that drenched both of us. Away we Weal as before. As we had tackle this time that We knew would hold we took it over the side of the beat. Been then, with both of us sitting on tlie opposite edge or the boat, he would take it right down till we had to slack away. An hour we clMhld around among numerous inlets, bays and islands, always turning, circling, zigzagging, back and forth. At times we would get him within a law Beet of the surface; then he would go down fifty feet; one hundred; one hundred and fifty. Then we would have- it all to do over again. HAD POWER OF STEAM TUG. Two hours had gone by and we had gained nothing. There we saw one of the other boys out in boat, so we called him over to us, unci he and tee went and got a dry cedar log about thirty in length that was floating near by. This we put alongside with the line over it and a hitch around one of tlie seats. At last we had him so We could handle him, as the dry log was too much for him to take clown. We were now in sight of camp, so another of the Imi.vs came out to join the fun. Even then the four of us could not pull an inch of slack in the !im- when he wanted to keep down. Now. though, we could hold what we got; so, liitle at a time, we gradually raise, 1 him to tlie siiil.ne. Kven now. with him towfng the three row boats, one of them and the thirty-root log cross-wise in the water, his speed was not noticeably diminished from that of pulling the single boat bow first. Why! lie had the power of a -t sm tug. tiradtially we got him up till his tail was ont ■r water. Then we gal his back out of the water and 1 got the rifle into aciioa. but it had no mars effect than so many rain drops. After three ami a half hours hard fighting the giant shark, making a la-t mighty effort to free himself, raised! Lis bead Clear of the water and with one shot from the rifle all was ever except towing him home and beaching him. What a monster he was with a total length of twenty-six feet nine inches and, as estimated. Weigh! of at least sis thousand pounds. His great propeller was »lx f,.,.t fear inches across and we got over three and one-half barrels of oil from his llrer alone. Although claimed by some to be the Btan-eatiag variety no human bones wars found in .Mr. sharks vast Interior. I have aiuay been an advocate for light tackle. but will say now thhl then- are times when I wont abject lo heavy tackle. MOW, 1 suppose if some of you members of the Tuna Club hap| en glance aver these pages you will Banff at the .ilea of using an inch inaiiiia rope for a fishing line, bin if von are ,v,iy unlucky enough to get :t fisi: like ours on your nine thread tackle. I would like lo see .vein Bias him out. but would hate to pn jrsu by tile hour while Banra dmmj it. — "Jackson" in ttpntm, Train ami Trapper.
