The orthodox method of catching them on board ship is to cover a
suitable hook with a piece of white rag a couple of inches long,
and attach it to a stout line. The fisherman then takes his seat
upon the jibboom end, having first, if he is prudent, secured a
sack to the jibstay in such a manner that its mouth gapes wide.
Then he unrolls his line, and as the ship forges ahead the line,
blowing out, describes a curve, at the end of which the bait,
dipping to--the water occasionally, roughly represents a flying-
fish. Of course, the faster the ship is going, the better the
chance of deceiving the fish, since they have less time to study
the appearance of the bait. It is really an exaggerated and
clumsy form of fly-fishing, and, as with that elegant pastime,
much is due to the skill of the fisherman.
As the bait leaps from crest to crest of the wavelets thrust
aside by the advancing ship, a fish more adventurous or hungrier
than the rest will leap at it, and in an instant there is a dead,
dangling weight of from ten to forty pounds hanging at the end of
your line thirty feet below. You haul frantically, for he may
be poorly hooked, and you cannot play him. In a minute or two,
if all goes well, he is plunged in the sack, and safe.
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