TALES OF FISHES 



currents, in that mysterious and inscrutable nature 

 of the ocean. And if a fisherman can only pick 

 out the year or have the obsession to go back season 

 after season he will some day see these wonderful 

 schools again. 



But as for the other fish — swordfish, white sea- 

 bass, yellowtail, and albacore — ^their doom has been 

 spelled, and soon they will be no more. That is 

 why I say to fishermen if they want to learn some- 

 thing about these incomparable fish they must go 

 soon to Catalina before it is too late. 



The Japs, the Austrians, the round-haul nets, the 

 canneries and the fertilizer-plants — ^that is to say, 

 foreigners and markets, greed and war, have cast 

 their dark shadow over beautiful Avalon. The in- 

 telligent, far-seeing boatmen all see it. My boat- 

 man, Captain Danielson, spoke gloomily of the not 

 distant time when his occupation would be gonfe. 

 And as for the anglers who fish at Catalina, some 

 of them see it and many of them do not. The stand- 

 ard raised at Avalon has been to haul in as many 

 of the biggest fish in the least possible time. One 

 famous fisherman brought in thirteen tuna — ^nine 

 hundred and eighty-six pounds of tuna — that he 

 caught in one day! This is unbeHevable, yet it is 

 true. Another brought in eleven txma in one day. 

 These fishermen are representative of the coterie 

 who fish for records. All of them are big, powerful 

 men, andVhen they hook a fish they will not give him 

 a foot of liiie if they can help it. They horse him 

 in, and if they can horse him in before he wakes up 

 to real combat they are the better pleased. All of 

 which is to say that the true motive (or pleasure, 



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