182 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



ground is reached one can perhaps take a bonito — one 

 of the deHght-givers of these azure seas. Perhaps the 

 fisherman is using a nine-thread hne and a nine-ounce 

 rod, with a wire leader and a sardine as bait. Almost 

 before he is ready, if this is his lucky day, smash goes 

 something; the rod has been jerked nearly out of his 

 hand, the reel is screaming in a high C, and the deli- 

 cate line is melting away. There is nothing quite like 

 this rush, though in a day's fishing here one is apt to 

 say the same thing of every fish, from the yellowtail 

 up. The distinctive characteristic of the long-finned 

 tuna is his going down and staying there, and sulking 

 like a dozen salmon. If you really wish to test this 

 fish, to compare him with the salmon as a fighter, 

 procure a salmon rod and take a long-finned tuna 

 with it. It will be an interesting experience, and it 

 will require time, of which there is abundance at the 

 Channel Islands. I have seen this fish when he sulks. 

 His head is pointed downward, he has his broad side 

 to 3^ou, and he never ceases to bore down and down. 

 It requires from twenty minutes to half an hour, the 

 latter at least for me, with Three-Six tackle, to turn 

 the game. Slowly he comes up, fighting every inch 

 and foot; at last at the quarter your gaffer gathers 

 him in, puts him out of his misery, holds him upon 

 the scales and declares the weight; it is forty- three 

 pounds. 



A sturdy, handsome fish is the long-finned tuna, with 

 his powerful compact body, big black eyes, long 

 poniard-like fins, a mass of muscle and nerve. Once 

 found at Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Anacapa, or Santa 

 Catalina, it is not necessary to troll. We allow the 

 launch to drift, and the boatman "chums" — tosses 



