SEA FISHING 



of big-game fishing. Tlie rest of us, whether in Florida or at Santa Catalina, 

 had had the advantage of help from those already familiar with the game. 

 Ross had visited neither region, and had to teach himself. He learnt some- 

 thing from each failure, gradually improved his tackle, and changed his 

 tactics, with the result that at length, on August 28, 1911, his patience 

 was rewarded with a magnificent tuna weighing 680 lb., at once the 

 greatest fish ever taken on rod and line, and the first large tuna so 

 captured in British waters, though he had, only three days earlier, killed 

 a smaller one of seventy-three pounds. 



These mighty tunas have always been known to the fishermen of Gape 

 Breton and Newfoundland, but it was not until the year 1903 that their 

 identity with the premier game fish of Galifornian seas was recognized, 

 as they had always been known in their northern haunts as *' mackerel 

 sharks," " horse-mackerel," or " squid-hounds." They apparently enter 

 St Ann Bay, which is a few miles north of Sydney, regularly during the 

 latter half of July, and they remain until the end of September. 



Unfortunately, with the exception of trout in the neighbouring brooks 

 and sea -trout in some of the estuaries, there is no other fishing of any 

 note to pass the time when tunas are out of reach. Even the pollack 

 fishing, which is described on a later page, is over in July, and the other 

 sea fish are not of a kind to attract the angler. There is, unless Mr and 

 Mrs Ross happen to be in residence at their charming bungalow opposite 

 Englishtown, no society other than that of Scotch crofters of the third 

 generation. 



The bait used for these northern tuna is either a herring, a mackerel, 

 or a gaspereau, the last-named being closely allied to our shad. American 

 fishermen call it " alewife," and to the Indians it is known as '* kyack." 

 Bait was a constant difficulty at St Ann Bay, and it had to be requisitioned 

 by telegram or telephone from markets as far distant as North Sydney. 

 Fortunately a stale herring or gaspereau, if only it can be persuaded to 

 remain on the hook, seems to be as acceptable to the tuna as a fresh one. 

 The hook is either passed through the lips (as at Gatalina) or through the 

 mouth and throat, and in either case the lips are sewn up with thread or 

 gut, the latter being less conspicuous when the water is very bright and 

 clear. St Ann Bay is divided by a long spit of land, on which stands a 

 lighthouse. Occasionally the tunas find their way into the inner harbour, 

 and I once saw them playing like mackerel beneath my window at English- 

 town, but as a general rule they must be sought in deep water nearer 



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