Northwest History. State History. Fishing Commercial. Deep Sea Fish And Fishing.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1935
• Subjects: Best Fisherman; Warren G. Harding; Herbert Hoover; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Orca; Captain Herman P. Gray; Palm Beach; prize warrior; handsome sailfish; the lithe; Galapagos; Bahamas; amberjack kingfish; barracuda; leaping; dashing; regal; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th Century; United States > Fishing Commercial > 20th Century; Harding; Pacific
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/142919

Hoover Ranked Best Fisherman. Hoover Ranked Best Fisherman. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., March 29. (AP)—Three presidents—Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt—have sat in the big swivel chairs on the back deck of the fisherman's dream boat, the 50-foot Orca, Captain Herman P. Gray, out of Palm Beach. But only one of them, Hoover, managed to catch the prize warrior of the sea, the lithe, handsome sailfish that rule these waters. "Fish don't know whose bait they're biting," says Captain Gray, a tremendous, bronzed bulk of a man, peer of southern fishing captains, leader of expeditions that have fished from here to Galapagos and back, "so I guess Hoover was the best fisherman of the three. He seemed to know more about fishing and to care more about details. When he went fishing, he was strictly in earnest." Now President Roosevelt, who is off the Bahamas right now on another expedition, isn't a serious fisherman at all. In fact in two trips with Captain Gray, the first in 1933, the second a year later, he not only didn't get a sailfish but he didn't even fish for them most of the time. He was content with amberjack kingfish, barracuda and the like, not to be mentioned in the same class with the leaping, dashing, regal "sail." "He was a lot more fun to fish with, though," says the captain. "He's about the best-natured fisherman I ever sailed. He was laughing and joking all the time. I guess he enjoyed himself so much he didn't care whether he got fish or not."