Off Cat Cay

With the exception of croquet, fishing is probably the only sport at which women can beat men. Last week brawny members of the world-wide brotherhood of big-game anglers doffed their visors to a member of the sisterhood: attractive, 125-lb. Mary Pouch Smithers Sears, wife of a blue-blooded Boston ichthyologist.

With a 24-thread line, 10/0 reel and 18-oz. rod tip (much lighter tackle than is generally used), Mrs. Sears boated a 730-lb. blue marlin, a new world's record, in the Bahaman waters off Cat Cay./- It took her only one hour and 27 minutes to stop his rushes, lick him, land him.

Among those who witnessed the weighing-in on Cat Cay's swank little dock was New York Sportsman Tommy Shevlin, one of the best big-game anglers in the world,* whom Mrs. Sears displaced as world's record holder for blue marlin. Her fish weighed 94 Ib. more than the 636-pounder he caught in the same waters on June 19, 1935--with a 54-thread line. Angling authorities thought Mary Sears's catch the largest game fish ever taken with a 24-thread line.

/- Usual tackle for marlin and tuna in Bahaman waters: 39-thread line, 14/0 real and 30-oz. tip. Some anglers even use 72-thread line, 16/0 reel, 40-oz. tip.

* Week before, during the Cat Cay tuna tournament, Tommy Shevlin landed three tuna -- a 382-pounder, a 406-pounder, a 485-pounder --within 62 minutes. Fellow fishermen thought it a world's record.

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