. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. 260 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. resistance, causing him to return nearer the surface, and also is a marker for the fishermen. This sounding and returning to the surface sometimes is repeated two or three times before the broadbill is brought to gaff. The reason for this method of catching the broadbills is that their flesh is, comparatively speaking, soft and if a line were secured to the boat the great weight of the fish pulling on a n
. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. 260 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. resistance, causing him to return nearer the surface, and also is a marker for the fishermen. This sounding and returning to the surface sometimes is repeated two or three times before the broadbill is brought to gaff. The reason for this method of catching the broadbills is that their flesh is, comparatively speaking, soft and if a line were secured to the boat the great weight of the fish pulling on a nonresist- ing line would tear the harpoon head out of the flesh, as they average 400 pounds in weight, sometimes growing to considerable size, one being delivered to the fishermen's pier at San Diego in the summer of 1925 that weighed 865 pounds. When angled for on light tackle great care must be taken that these gladiators do not get under the boat, as the line may be cut by the propeller if Mr. Broadbill does not succeed in cutting it himself. One of their peculiarities that makes them more or less easy prey to the commercial fishermen is the fact that a group of eight or ten swordfish seem to inhabit a certain locality to which they are attracted by food or temperature of the water and all the swordfish in the vicinity congregate at these chosen areas of about ten acres square and a fisher-. Fig. 63. Harpooning broad-billed swordfish for market, San Diego, summer 1927. Photograph by Coburn F. Maddox. man may secure one or more from one of these gatherings before the others take alarm and move to some other selected place, moving singly or by twos, not in schools, as is usually the case with fish, but more independently. This swashbuckler of the sea is not a popular fellow among fishes, attacking with the slightest provocation any other fish and fighting to the death. One was brought in recently with his sword severed close up to his head, great chunks torn out of his sides
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