BIG GAME FISHES OF CALIFORNIA 



of the species. Specimens are taken off the New Jersey coast 

 in the open sea. Santa CataHna has become famous for tuna 

 angHng, owing to the fact that the waters round this island are 

 a natural spawning and feeding ground for the tuna. Here it 

 has thirty miles of quiet bays, and water absolutely as calm as 

 a lake, though thirty miles out to sea. The tunas here run small. 

 They average about one hundred and fifty pounds in weight, 

 the record, by Colonel Morehouse, being two hundred and 

 fifty-one pounds, almost the limit for practical work with rod 

 and reel, and the 21- or 24-line established by the Tuna Club 

 as a fine sporting limit, giving the fish all the advantage. That 

 this is so is shown by the fact that thousands of men have 

 attempted to take a one hundred pound tuna with this tackle 

 (i6-ounce rod), and not over seventy anglers, the voting mem- 

 bers of the Club, have succeeded. 



The Santa Catalina Channel, which lies between the group 

 of that name and the county of Los Angeles, is famed for its 

 big game fishes, as the black sea bass, the yellow fin tuna, 

 white sea bass, many of which have been taken by the distin- 

 guished angler who edits this volume. Among them is one 

 that, with all due credit to the great game fishes of the world, 

 will, in all probability, take its place as the premier game fish of 

 the Seven Seas ; not for its strength or bulldog pertinacity, 

 but for its remarkable versatility and its spectacular prowess 

 on the line. 



This is the Santa Catalina swordfish, a game that attains 

 a length of ten or twelve feet, and a weight of two or three 

 hundred pounds. This sport is but a few years old, and was 



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