198 SPINY-FINNED FISHES 



with rod, reel and line, to angle for this monster, and van- 

 quish Strength and Weight by Tackle and Skill. 



This is hook-and-line fishing with a vengeance. The be- 

 ginner hopes to catch a Tuna heavier than 100 pounds, in 

 order to gain membership in the Tuna Club. The club mem- 

 ber always hopes either to improve his own record or break 

 all others; but, record or no record, the button of the Tuna 

 Club is a good thing to wear by right of conquest. 



Beyond question, when treated as a game fish, and fairly 

 challenged with rod and line in the watery arena of Santa 

 Catalina, in more senses than one the Tuna is great! Mr. 

 C. F. Holder for two years literally the holder of the Tuna 

 championship with a 183-pound fish which fought four hours, 

 and towed his captor ten miles says that the Tuna, "when 

 played with a rod that is not a billiard cue or a club will give 

 the average man the contest of his life. My idea of a rod is a 

 7 or 8^2 foot greenheart or split bamboo, with a good cork 

 grip above the reel, the latter of Edward vom Hofe's make, 

 with a leather pad, brake and click." 



The sport in catching a Tuna a la Santa Catalina consists 

 in bringing the monster within gaffing distance by the aid of 

 the rod and reel alone. The hooked fish leaps into the air, or 

 rushes seaward, or to the bottom, or plays on the surface 

 like an escaped fire-hose in all directions at once. 



The game consists in tiring out the fish without a break, 

 and sometimes ten miles and ten hours of strenuous struggle 

 are reeled off between the start and the finish. 



The beautiful waters of Avalon Bay, the bare and frown- 

 ing mountain sides rising like the walls of a rock-built colos- 



