FISHING FOR TARPON AND TUNA. 189 



especially in St. Anne's Bay and Mira Bay, Cape Breton. 

 These fish are seldom taken with rod and line but are har- 

 pooned. A few years ago Mr. J. K. L. Ross, writing for a 

 certain sporting magazine said that he never knew of an 

 Atlantic tuna being landed with rod and line, but since that 

 time he has been fortunate enough to capture the world's 

 record tuna taken in this way. This great fish weighed 680 

 pounds. I understand that he used a tuna rod of one piece and 

 butt; a special VomHofereel holding 300 yards of line, and a 

 No. 39 linen line of that length. Mr. Ross is probably the 

 most enthusiastic Canadian tuna fisherman living and has 

 hooked large numbers of these fish but invariably loses them 

 by the tackle giving way or the line being cut by the other 

 tuna. Some of his earliest trouble of this kind was caused 

 by the bait slipping up over the wire leader to the line, 

 after the fish was hooked, and the other fish in their efforts to 

 get the bait bit the line. He put an end to this trouble by 

 , fastening a short piece of wire crosswise of the leader to 

 keep the bait from traveling off the leader and onto the un- 

 protected line. A twelve foot leader is used and it is made 

 of piano wire. The hook is the largest tuna hook with a 

 six inch chain attached. If the fish is finally brought to gaff, 

 a harpoon style gaff which has a rope attached and detaches 

 from the handle after hooking the fish, is the kind that must 

 be used. As such a large fish could not be taken into a boat 

 he must be towed ashore. 



Think of capturing a 680 pound fish with a line that 

 probably would not stand a strain of more than eighty 

 pounds! What fine handling of rod and reel must be nec- 

 essary to check the rushes of such a fish on 300 yards of line ! 

 The fish will tow a boat many miles, and if allowed to have 

 their own way will do so for days. At the very best it 

 would take hours of work to land such a fish and the catch 

 would not dare be allowed a minute's rest until brought to 

 gaff. The Pacific tuna tackle would be useless here. 



