CHAPTER IV 



THE LEAPING TUNA 



" First be the fisher's limbs compact and sound, 

 With solid flesh and well-braced sinews bound ; 

 Let due proportion every part commend, 

 Nor leanness shrink too much, nor fat distend." 



OPPIAN must have had this acrobat of the seas 

 in mind when he pictured the physical require- 

 ments of the fisherman, as he who would try con- 

 clusions with the leaping tuna, with the rod, must 

 be in good physical condition, and be skilled in 

 the use of the rod and reel. 



Tuna angling is purely a modern sport which 

 I suggested ten or twelve years ago at the island 

 of Santa Catalina, California, and, like many 

 manly sports, it flashed into popularity and almost 

 world-wide fame. The tuna is the horse-mack- 

 erel, the giant of the mackerel tribe, the doughty 

 head of the family Scombridcz ; an ocean wan- 

 derer, a pelagic swash-buckler of the sea; now 

 feeding upon bluefish, menhaden, or herring in 



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