While it would be nice if every fish behaved in the same way, unfortunately we all know that some fish won't make a long run on the surface. When a fish goes down, the fight changes dramatically. ''When a fish goes down deep, it's usually doing the same thing it does at the surface - it's just making its run under the water. They rarely, if ever, go straight down.''

In order to determine which diection the fish is going down deep, Hays says you must turn the boat around the line to ''find the angle.''

''When the angler's hunched over in the chair, line's peeling off the reel and the rod's bent over and you can't do anything, you turn the boat until you see the rod lift just a bit. That's the direction the fish is heading and you just back down or move forward at 5 or 6 knots on that heading and start to pick up line. That's probably one of the most important things you can do when you have a big fish down deep. If you don't turn the boat, you can back down on a 45-degree angle of line for hours without making any progress.''

The lifting of the rod tip when searching for the direction of the fish's travel can be almost imperceptible at times, and it's the deckies' responsibility to keep a close eye on the rod. Once you move down the line in the same direction as the fish, it will relieve some of the pressure. Sometimes that's enough to make her come back up to the surface.

''I try to catch all my fish within 15 to 20 minutes. You should at least have your hands on the leader in the first 10 minutes or so - unless they are absolutely huge, gi-normous monsters. If I find myself still fighting a fish that I don't think is tail-wrapped after a half-hour, then I'm thinking the fish is better than 800 or 900 pounds. If it goes-45 minutes or an hour, then you know it's a really nice fish. But you can catch a grander in 10 minutes - even quicker sometimes,'' says Hays, ''but a lot depends on the guy in the cockpit as well. If you get the mate the leader and if the fish is there - he takes two wraps and it's a caught fish.''

Hays says he follows pretty much the same basic routine no matter what size the fish, but he does admit that you become much more aware of all the details. ''You're much more constantly aware of everything, what's going on with the line and everything else. There isn't any rocket science involved with any of this,'' says Hays. ''If you can turn a boat in a marina, then you can turn and chase a fish quite nicely.''