The Royal Catch 271 



during which ten or twelve inches will fall; a rainy sea- 

 son in name only, for from May until November, and 

 sometimes December, a storm of any kind is unknown 

 on these fishing grounds, while extreme heat is 

 a stranger to the vale of Avalon. Day after day the 

 bays and coves are disks of steel, and the angler drifts 

 along in the shadows of the lofty cliffs, in the enjoy- 

 ment of absolute relaxation, and the best of sea fishing. 



There is another feature which makes rod tuna 

 fishing possible here. The tunas at Nova Scotia and 

 other localities on the Atlantic Coast average six or nine 

 hundred pounds. Large fishes predominate, at least this 

 is my experience. I have collected data from 1850 on, 

 and such game is doubtless beyond the field of the rod 

 angler. On the Pacific Coast very large tunas are rare, 

 the record rod catch of Avalon, held by Col. C. P. 

 Morhouse, weighing but two hundred and fifty-one 

 pounds, the average tuna seen being one hundred and 

 fifty down to seventy pounds. This accounts for the 

 number caught, a number large when the agility of the 

 fish is considered, but small in reality. 



It is these conditions, the absolutely quiet water of 

 the Kuroshiwo as it flows down the coast, which have 

 produced this tuna ground, a veritable paradise for 

 good anglers. The angler who has fairly killed a tuna 

 weighing over one hundred and fifty pounds after a con- 

 stant fight of four or five hours has accomplished, in 

 my opinion, a feat more difficult than shooting a tiger 

 from the back of an elephant or a lion from cover. I 



