WOMAN’S STRENUOUS PURSUIT

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 99, 21 January 1936, Page 11

WOMAN’S STRENUOUS PURSUIT

Big-Game Fishing

ANIMAL WELFAREWORKER

A little elderly lady, who arrived at Wellington yesterday by the Makura from Sydney, surprised reporters when, after describing herself as an active member of tlje Animal Welfare League, she added that her own particular interest was tlie strenuous sport of biggame fishing. She was Mrs. O. Gibson, a Melbourne social worker, now on her way to San Francisco. About two years ago Mrs. Gibson fished in New Zealand waters, ott Cape Brett, making her headquarters, at the Bay of Islands. On her second day out she hooked a fine striped mini lin swordfish, and after a 55-minutes’ battle succeeded in landing it. The fish measured 10 feet 7 inches, and weighed 2421 b.

“Twice my height and twice my weight,” commented Mrs. Gibson. “I was lucky." She stated that she hau had the fish skinned and mounted; it was now in her Melbourne sitting, room. When she had returned to Melbourne after her sporting triumph, she had noticed a certain coldness in animal welfare circles, due to her having Indulged in a blood-sport. She did not, however, try to reconcile her two interests. It was woman’s prerogative to be inconsistent.

Her present visit to the States, said Mrs. Gibson, was purely a holiday trip. She hoped to try her hand again at deep-sea fishing at the famous Santa Catalina resort.