The Hardest Fighters 265 



the tuna is uncertain even in the waters that have known it 

 for centuries ; " their arrival is irregular, in some years 

 early, and some years not at all." This is exactly the situa- 

 tion in Southern California. Tuna bones in the mounds 

 show that the big fishes have been coming here for cen- 

 turies, for thousands of years doubtless, but being a wander- 

 ing fish they form in big schools, and like an armada, visit 

 various parts of the ocean. From 1886 up to 1901 they 

 were seen in vast numbers and for several years afforded 

 fine sport to men who like hard work and big game; but 

 even then they were erratic, and stopped biting without 

 warning, about August fifteenth, and did not appear until 

 June fifteenth. Some years but a few appeared, and in 1907 

 I saw scores of the largest tunas in their old grounds at 

 Long Point. They swam about, acted just as they did 

 when they were affording good sport; but nothing could 

 induce them to strike, though my boat passed through 

 swarms of them not five feet distant. Who can explain it ? 

 No one has succeeded so far. In 1906 the yellowfin tuna 

 appeared up to seventy pounds, and afforded splendid sport 

 with the rod. Dr. Jordan stated that it had never been 

 reported from American waters before, hence was a new 

 game fish. The next season, 1907, they came, but few 

 would strike. I fished for them day after day, saw scores 

 not ten feet distant, taking *' chum," taking everything but 

 the sardine with the hook in it, and confessed that I was 

 not sufficiently clever to hook one. And this was the ex- 

 perience of scores of anglers. In 1908 they may disappear 

 entirely or may come back and bite. 



To old and experienced anglers of trout streams or the 

 ocean these remarks are unnecessary, as they know full well 

 that the charm of fishing lies in the uncertainty, and that 

 all sport is uncertain, but the writer does not wish to be 

 the means of inducing any one to cross the continent or the 

 Atlantic and be disappointed in fishing in California because 

 the much-talked of tuna do not arrive. And so he reiter- 



