FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



flourishing tunny fisliery has deserted Nice. Upwards of four thousand 

 tunnies were caught off that port in one day, during the spring of 1855, 

 but five years later the fishery was abandoned, and has never revived. 

 The most regular and profitable tunny fisheries to-day are those of 

 Madeira and the Biscay coast, with handlines. The bait used at the former 

 is a mackerel, whereas off St Jean de Luz a shredded husk of maize is 

 preferred. Throughout the Mediterranean these fish are taken in various 

 forms of fixed nets, and in the Sea of Marmora the " talian," an ancient 

 kind of fish -trap, may be found in general use, while here and there the 

 tunny is still speared at night with the aid of a fiare hung over the prow 

 to attract it within reach. 



The food of the tunny apparently consists of all manner of small 

 surface-swimming fishes, and notably mackerel, flying-fish, herring 

 and gaspereaux, the last-named being a kind of shad abundant in 

 Canadian waters. It also devours quantities of squid, and we noticed 

 that on days when these swarmed in St Ann Bay the tuna rarely touched 

 our baits. 



The tackle already described for tarpon fishing will approximately 

 answer also for tuna, though where these fish run their largest, as at 

 Gape Breton, everything must be more powerful, as their strength is 

 enormous. Even at Santa Gatalina Island, where they run smaller than 

 farther north, one of them towed Mr Holder's boat up and down the coast 

 for fifteen hours and then broke away, and Ross was on one occasion 

 towed for nineteen hours by a fish that also escaped in the end. Much 

 of the tuna's superior speed and strength, and, above all, much of its 

 wonderful endurance, may be attributed to the fact that it remains under 

 water, and wastes little of its energy in leaping. The tarpon's jumps 

 may occasionally give it freedom, and are always embarrassing to the 

 fisherman, but they undoubtedly account for the short time in which so 

 large a fish is brought to the gaff. 



Without doubt, the most efficient outfit for such big game fishing that 

 I ever saw is that designed by Mr Lorenzo Mitchell Henry, and the 

 accompanying photographs (for which I am indebted to "The Field") 

 illustrate some of the many improvements effected. 



In the first place, it will be noticed that the rod rings, or " guides,*' 



are not, as hitherto, bound to the rod, but are detachable, and may be 



slipped over the top of the rod, and used on either side, so that the tips 



can be bent alternately in any direction, and the strain equalized. With 



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