The Great Tunnies 



125 pounds fight an angler five hours. At that time the fish 

 had towed the boat ten miles off shore, or twenty miles per- 

 haps in ail. The angler gave out, the boatman took the rod, 

 and I took the oars and pulled against the fish for two hours, 

 whirling it about in vain efforts to keep the stern to the fish. 

 Then in a heavy and dangerous sea, out of sight of port, a 

 council of war was held. If we continued the contest into the 

 night we should have to make for the mainland, ten miles off, 

 and as a result we surrendered, and the noble fish was ignomin- 

 iously hauled in by hand, and at the gaffing nearly swamped 

 the boat, being as full of vigour and fight as when it was hooked 

 hours before. 



"It was my fortune to hold the record of the largest tuna, 

 183 pounds, for two years, and as far as 1 can learn this fish, 

 which fought me four hours and towed me against the oars of 

 my boatman for ten miles, made the hardest fight on record. Its 

 last run was a rush of four miles, and when the magnificent 

 creature was brought to gaff I had reached the limit of endur- 

 ance; this fish could have towed the heavy boat for hours longer. 



"About forty anglers wear the blue button of the Tuna club 

 showing that they have caught tunas weighing over 100 pounds, 

 and from five to ten are added to the list every year, the record 

 being held at present by Colonel C. P. Morehouse of Pasadena, 

 who took a 251-pound tuna in four hours, bringing it to gaff 

 at night in a heavy sea, into which the fish had towed them. 

 If the adventures of the tuna fishermen could be told it would 

 make a volume of thrilling incidents. Some of the large catches 

 are as follows: C. P. Morehouse, 251 pounds; C. F. Holder, 183 

 pounds; St. J. Earlscliff, 180 pounds; E. L. Doran, 176 pounds; 

 W. C. Arnot, Elmira, N. Y., 140 pounds; J. M. Studebaker, South 

 Bend, Ind., 130 pounds." 



The fishermen about the Gulf of Saint Lawrence sometimes 

 take the horse mackerel by means of steel hooks tied to solid lines 

 and baited with herring, especially in the Bay of Chaleur and off 

 Caraquette. The fishing is quite exciting, although tiresome and 

 requiring a good deal of skill, as in the efforts of the fish to escape 

 they pull with such violence as to endanger the lives of the fish- 

 ermen by dragging them overboard. 



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