American Angler in Australia (1937) Read Online Free PDF Page A

use, and here in Australia I find myself vastly intrigued an d confounded by the "gear" these fishermen have and the way they use it. T o give them just credit, I am bound to admit that they have done remarkabl y well with wrong measures.
    I have not seen any angler using the drifting method of fishing i n Australian waters. This is the one mostly used in New Zealand. It remain s to be seen how good or bad it will be here. Here they troll from earl y till late, and in our American fishing parlance, they run the wheels of f the boat. I admit that and will say that these gentlemen have starte d right.
    There is no limit to these fishing-waters. Swordfish are here, there, an d everywhere. In deep waters I do not believe they can be located daily a t any given point out at sea. Around the islands and near shore they can b e depended on to come in every few days. So far during my six weeks' f ishing here I find the Marlin ravenously hungry. This makes a vas t difference. Anybody can hook a hungry fish. Which explains the incredibl e success some methods attain. It can be explained by realizing that a hungry swordfish could be hooked with a flatiron or cricket bat. Catchin g it, and repeating, of course, are a different matter.
    Fishing at Bermagui, Narooma and Eden, on this South Coast, is only thre e years old. The first method, and one still in use here, was to troll wit h a heavy lead on the line. It was attached to the leader by a ring fro m which a string stretched up to the boat. In the event of a strike th e lead could be jerked free from the leader.
    Another method, and one still more advocated at this date, is to trol l the bait back a hundred and fifty feet or more, with a lighter lead. Th e revolving bait is considered a desirable feature. In this style th e teasers also were dragged quite far back.
    Modifications and variations of these methods are numerous.
    To catch fish is not all of fishing, to be sure, and any device or metho d is permissible so long as it pleases an angler and lends to his spor t that personal and peculiar fetish which is one of the joys of the game. I d oubt that there ever was a fisherman who did not conceive and inven t some gadget all his own, and some manner of using it that to him was th e best. That is one of the many reasons why fishing, to my way of thinking , is the greatest of all sports.
    The possibilities of Australian big-game fishing intrigue me and excit e me more and more, as I fish myself, and receive more and more word fro m different and widely separated places on Australia's grand coast o f thirteen thousand miles.
    I expected to find Australia and New Zealand somewhat alike, and th e fishing also. They are totally different. In any fishing trip, such as I c all worthy of the name, there are many considerations that make for th e ultimate success and memorable record. The beauty and color of th e surrounding country, the birds and snakes and animals, the trees an d hills, the long sandy beaches, and the desolate ragged shorelines, th e lonely islands--all these and many more appeal to me as much as the actua l roaming the sea, in rain and shine, in calm and storm, and the catchin g of great game fish.
    One of the pleasantest experiences I have ever had, and one the joy o f which will grow in memory, is to be awakened in the dusk of dawn by th e kookaburras. That is unique. The big mollyhawks of New Zealand, th e laughing gulls of California, that awaken you at dawn and are thing s never forgotten, cannot compare with these strange and homely an d humorous jackasses of the Australian woods.
    We ran our score of big fish caught up to twenty-one in seven weeks , which list, considering that half this time was too bad weather to fish , and that it included my black Marlin record of four hundred and eight y pounds, two of the same around four hundred pounds, and a really rar e fish, the green Fox thresher, must be considered very good indeed.
    It turned out, however, that my last