THE TUNAPLANE OE KITE 



of the Santa Catalina group, we located a big school of leaping- 

 tunas about five miles to the southeast of Santa Catalina, and 

 for several days endeavoured to take one, a most soul-grilling^ 

 and exasperating proceeding when the fish will not bite. And 

 these big tunas would not ; yet there they were, ten thousand,, 

 perhaps fifty thousand, Ijdng exactly in the right place, the off- 

 shore lee of Santa Catalina, a region the Tuna Club anglers call 

 the ' doldrums,' also famous for the beautiful dolphin. There was 

 no wind, but a long swell, and when a wave passed over the school,, 

 which was lying just below the surface, we could see the splendid 

 shapes of the giant tunas standing out against the sapphire- 

 blue of the Santa Catalina Chaiinel, hke gems. There they were,, 

 tunas of vast size, one of which would have carried off the More- 

 hous record and several thousand dollars' worth of cups, medals,, 

 rods, gold, silver and diamond trophies which have been accu- 

 mulating in the Tuna Club and offered by enthusiastic anglers, 

 ever since I took the first very large tuna, one hundred and eighty- 

 three pounds, after a battle of four hours and a tow of twelve 

 grilling miles. 



Nothing more exasperating could be imagined as we sailed 

 and re-saUed over them, now slowing down, now at full speed, only 

 to see them sink, then rise, as we cleared the school, rise so near 

 the surface that it was boiling with the movement of ten thousand 

 fins. I had landed many tunas in former years when they hunted 

 us in the bay, and did not fish, so that my companion would have 

 all the chances. 



I devoted myself to the task of trying to devise some new 

 scheme. While I was doing this and not accomplishing anything^ 

 and Dr. Pinchot was fishing, holding his rod with the patience of 

 one described as smiling at grief from the top of a monument, I 

 noticed Mr. Hooper and Mr. Murphy trying to imitate the leap 

 of a flying fish by jerking the big eighteen-inch bait (a flying fish) 

 from the top of a swell, letting it faU with a crash just as a flying^ 

 fish does fall, with a splash, generally, to be grabbed at by the 

 tuna which had been following it like an avenging itfemesis for 



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