Fishing: Gladius the Gladiator

Cervantes could have written a novel about a swordfisherman. He knew the type. Dr. John Staige Davis, for example. A Manhattan internist, Dr. Davis, 66, has spent a considerable part of the past 37 years pursuing Xiphias gladius, the broadbill swordfish, from Montauk, N.Y., to Cape Hatteras, N.C., and from California to Peru. The quest has cost the good doctor something like 3,000 man-hours and many more thousands of dollars. And for what? In those 37 years, Dr. Davis has been privileged to see 100 swordfish. He has hooked eight.

He has...

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