FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



the ocean, along Big Grappling and as far as Cape Dauphin. I saw Ross 

 towed by one halfway to the Bird Islands and back. There is steamer 

 communication with Sydney twice a week, and accommodation of a 

 homely sort may be had with the farmers of Englishtown, but there is 

 none of the comfort provided at Avalon. 



The story of Ross's final success is as follows. He was rowed by his 

 yacht's skipper and a second boatman, from the neighbourhood, round a 

 shoal of tunas, and he saw among them just one monster, which he hoped 

 would not take his bait. Needless to say, it did so next moment, and when 

 he struck, it gave one terrific jump, and then settled down to business, 

 its first rush being stopped only when but forty feet of line were left on 

 the reel, so that it had taken out about 850 ft. Ross now started "pumping " 

 in approved American style, and was actually able to wind in all but about a 

 hundred yards before the tuna got its wind back, and was off again. This 

 give and take went on for a couple of hours, always with diminishing 

 strength on the side of the fish, until at last Ross was able to alter his 

 tactics, and force the pace towards the inner harbour, inside the light- 

 house, where, in shallower water, he hoped to have the tuna under better 

 control. The fisherman's difficulty was aggravated by the fact that he was 

 racing against time, since he knew well that in another half -hour the 

 ebbing tide would make it hopeless to attempt what he had in view. 

 Eventually, after a very gallant struggle, Ross got the great fish dead beat 

 in shallow water not more than five or six feet deep. This was the be- 

 ginning of the end, and it remained only for him to throw down his rod 

 and handline the fish to the gaff. One or two failures with the latter, 

 pardonable under the strain of dealing with such a giant, led to success, 

 and at last this splendid fish was hauled on the beach at Eel Gove, and 

 its measurements found to be eight feet ten inches long and six feet three 

 inches in girth. There was no means of weighing such a fish at English - 

 town, and it had to be taken back to Sydney in the yacht next day for that 

 purpose. Such, in brief, is the story of one of the most memorable suc- 

 cesses in all the annals of sea angling. 



Whether these bays of Gape Breton Island (Mira Bay, where the water 

 is much shallower, is another possible spot) will ever become as fashion- 

 able for their big-game fishing as those of Galifornia is very doubtful, 

 since not only the northern climate, but also the undeniable absence 

 of variety in the sport, is against them. Yet the recent visit of H.R.H. the 

 Duke of Gonnaught, and the exciting experiences which he and his suite 

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