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gets in the chair and gets strapped down. We get the
cockpit clear, meaning you have to take in all other
lines, all the teasers, and all the time, this fish is
running and taking line. You’ve got your drag backed
all the way off.
The reel has built-in pressure. And that’s why
you can catch a big fish with 80-pound test is you have
to back off and let the fish run and when you realize
that he’s not running, or whatever, you’ve got to reel
like * * * [crazy] to get that line in, until he starts
running again.
This fish takes off and he’s running and he jumps
and we know it’s a 400-pound fish. I mean, we’ve
caught enough fish, we know, you know, we’re not going
to say a one-pound bass is a five-pound bass. We know
what the size is.
An Myrtice works on the fish and works on the fish
and works on the fish and we’re backing down on the
fish and he takes off for his last run and everything
went slack. And we said, you know, what * * *
happened? Well, when we reel it in, the dead line,
the hook, the knot came untied.
As to the second fish, Mr. Peacock testified that
petitioners would have won $350,000 in 1996 had it not got away.
Ms. Peacock described the events giving rise to that misfortune
as follows during her direct testimony at trial:
A. we’re fishing. It was a spring day.
THE COURT: What year? * * *
THE WITNESS: ‘96. There was only a few boats
that actually fished out in this area. It was kind of
like a little secret type thing. You could catch large
fish out there. You might not get a bunch of hits,
but, you know, there were large fish.
This other boat radios over and said, You’re not
going to believe what we just saw. They were cleaning
out the refrigerator and threw a bucket of clam chowder
over. Well, right in the mess of clam chowder, comes
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