"Big halibut off starboard quarter!"
"Yes," said Dr. Jimson, "there it is! Don't you see it," he continued, pointing with his finger, "flapping its tail on the water?"
"I see," said Colin; "but what is it doing that for?"
"Probably attacking a fish," was the reply. "Are you going after it, Captain?"
"No," the fisherman answered; "I've heard that people sometimes catch them without a net, but I never did."
"One of the biggest halibut that was ever brought ashore was caught in just such a way," the trout expert said, turning to Colin. "It was out near Sable Island, and the halibut was attacking a big cod by repeated blows with its tail. A boat was sent out with a couple of men carrying gaff-hooks, and the fight between the two fish was so fierce that neither of them paid any attention to the boat. The fishermen gaffed the halibut and pulled him into the dory, though it nearly swamped them, for the fish weighed over three hundred and fifty pounds. It's rather a queer story, I think, but it is reported as official."
Colin whistled.
"My word!" he said. "It must have been a big one, because a halibut is flat, like a flounder, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's the largest of the flatfish. There's a record of one halibut having been caught weighing a trifle over five hundred pounds. Usually a fish one-fifth of that size is considered large."