320 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



be handled to much greater advantage in shallow 

 water, provided — hien entendu — that he is steered 

 clear of the kelp. If hooked in deep water, he may 

 sound at once. If he does this, in the fulness of 

 his strength, no cutty-hunk line can stop him. 



As I write, a letter has just come from my friend. 

 Professor Holder, who held the record of '98 with a 

 fish that scaled 183 lbs. He tells me that he 

 caught the first tuna of '99, upon the 26th of May. 

 This fish tipped over the boat and was brought to 

 gaff in forty minutes. Col. Morehouse of Pasadena, 

 who caught the first tuna in '96, now holds the 

 record with a fish of 251 lbs., caught in three hours 

 and a half. A Mr. J. H. Woods, of Lima, Ohio, 

 deserves honourable mention, having (with the as- 

 sistance of his boatman) played a large tuna for 

 fourteen hours and fifteen minutes ! 



The tackle to be used should be of the best. 

 Hardy Bros, of Alnwick-on-Tweed, and Edwin Vom 

 Hofe of New York may be trusted to furnish the 

 stoutest rods and reels. In Florida, tarpon fisher- 

 men scorn to use line heavier than eigh teen-ply ; 

 the tuna has not yet been captured wdth a cutty- 

 hunk finer than twenty-one ; twenty-four is the 

 favourite. When your quarry sulks he must be 

 lifted, or at least snubbed ; a fine line under such a 

 strain snaps like pack-thread. A sixteen-ounce rod 

 (split bamboo) should be bound from the butt to 

 within three feet of the tip. The broken rods, so 

 far, have generally snapped within a foot of the 

 reel. I understand that Mr. Hardy has built a 

 double-cane tarpon-rod with steel core. With such 

 a rod, binding, doubtless, is unnecessary. 



