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.”’ 
Oprian 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 Scomébrzde; an ocean wan- 
derer, a pelagic swash-buckler of the sea; now 
feeding upon bluefish, menhaden, or herring in 
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