Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1903 — KING FISHING OFF CAPE FLORIDA. [ARTICLE]

KING FISHING OFF CAPE FLORIDA.

SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT: King fishing is the most exciting sport Of this or any other port. The season lasts from October till May. From fifteen to twentyfive boats go out daily from Miami shore in qnest of this sporty saltwater king. Both electric launches and sailboats are used, the latter being safer, for sometimes the prt~ flier of the launch is broken by the lurch from heavy seas, and then she is fit the mercy of the elements and if succor is not in sight will be thrown into the coral reefs and perish, or if the breeze be off shore she would be carried to eternity at the rate of six miles an hour. The sail boat also. stands better the shock of a heavy swell, being steadied by the spread of the sail. With regard to speed, in a favorable breeze the two craft are well

matched, but when the course lies “dead in the eye of the wind” the sail boat must tack so often that she is soon left well astern. To get the king fish one must cross the bay a distance of four miles, pass through “Norris,” “bears” or some other of the numerous cuts in the outer reef. Here one launches out upon the great Atlantic, with an ever increasing depth to the Gulf stream, a distance of about five miles from the reef beach. “The gulf,” as sailors call it, appears like a great wall of dark blue water piled up some - feet above the adjoining waters, in great contrast with the prevailing green sea which borders it. The larger schools of king fish are found near the stream.] When one boat strikes them all ; the other boats in 6ight rush to ] the field of action. The vessels are kept running, tneking and turning, in order to keep among the fish which usually cover an area of one-half to a mile square of territory. Two or three coarse lines like very heavy chalk lines, one hundred feet long, are permitted to trail behind the boat to which heavy hooks of an inch aud a quarter iu the spread are attach- ] ed, baited with a piece of shining : metal or a white or red rag. The i fish take the hooks so rapidly that 1 often all three lines are hauled in at once. They sometimes pull in heavy and steady but often i dart from side to side like a Rage j pike and occasionally one will dart upward with such power as to carry him twelve or fifteen feet into the air, while the proud man j or woman at the end of the line holds on for dear ‘•fish’’ with blistered hands, admiring this finny kite as it flies upward, glimmering like burnished silver in the sunlight. When hauled up over the side or stern of the boat they put up a heroic tight for liberty aud one must often have assistance to land a 25 pound fish. A sailor stands ready with a war club and deals them a few sturdy blows over the bead which makes them more quiet, when they are cast into a box four feet square with the rest of the catch. Each boat usually brings in from twenty to sixty fish. The best catch of the season was made by Editor Taterin and family which numbered 222 fish. The nctual time of action is usually not more than two hours, the rest of the day beiug occupied in the outward and return trips, and in the search for fish. On the day that myself and companions selected for an outing, fate was somewhat adverse. The long heavy swells were still following the receding storm and our little craft pitched frantically up and down the great green bilious, until all on board wero “pale around the gills,” and three of us became dizzy and reeled like a drunk man, yet we were not drunken, as ye may suppos , being but the third hour of the day. The starch was completely taken out of us and some of the bile, and I think a little sploen was vented at the thought of losing our share of the sport. I was not only sea-sick, but “so sick” I couldn’t tell sea from sky. However, I leaned against the rail for support aud polled in a great forked tailed shiny kin{;, but no sooner was he safely lauded, than my faith failed me again, my courage slacked and my strength waned like a dying moon or an evening breeze. I felt that “my strength had departed from me and I became as other men,” to whom salt water becomes nauseating. I fell prostrate upon the deck, and the few who wero still able to stand up and haul in the freight-

ed lines, used me for a gang plank over which they dragged dozens of those long shiny inhabitants of the deep, to the fish box. Little cared I for these minor details; my spirit was sore vexed and my stomach was troubled. Ever and anon I would crawl over to the starboard side, lean over the gunwale, and with distorted countenance look down into the water and with anguish and groanings that might be heard by the sharks that followed -ns, paid my respects to Neptune, in the bitterness of my agony. But I lived, and just as the sun was slipping down behind the world and the crescent moon above the cocoanut palms, glittering like an olive green jewel in the pink twilight, we landed at the dock and wended our way homeward, sadder, but probably wiser mon.

JOHN E. ALTER