10 
The Tuna Record. 
Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Southern California, 
June 16. — Editor Forest and Stream: Several years ago the 
writer in articles on the "Game Fishes of the Pacific 
Slope," in Scribner's Magazine and the Cosmopolitan, 
mentioned the "leaping tuna" as a possible catch with 
rod and reel, and for seven or eight years 1 have made 
many attempts to take one, but always failed by using too 
light tackle, and I must confess T would rather faiLthan 
take so noble a fish unless all the advantage was on 
its side. Year after year the leaping tuna gathered in my 
rod tips and lines and hooks. He unreeled 600ft. of line 
and took the tip of my rod before 1 realized what the 
mass of foam astern meant; and Mexican Joe, my boat- 
man, hinted that I was asleep; but I was not. And so 
time went on and finally I laid out a campaign, which 
was to use a reel that would hold 1,000ft. of 21-strand 
line, and before I could find a reel and equipment some 
one else caught the first fish. This was two years ago; 
and now the fish is caught by skillful wielders of the 
rod almost every day, when the attempt is made: and it 
was reserved for me to make the record catch of the 
largest game fish ever taken on the Pacific slope — so it 
is said — with rod and reel; and I am inclined to go 
further and claim that the catch represents the most 
active and hardest-fighting thoroughly game fish ever 
taken on rod and reel and 21-strand line. I am aware 
that this will be disputed by tarpon fishermen all over 
the country, but in making the claim I am perfectly 
loyal to the silver king. I have landed this magnificent 
fish and know it well. I have also caught all the fish of 
the Mexican gulf that can be taken, including the 
Florida jew fish. I have taken, I think, every fish in the 
Atlantic from the striped bass to the swordfish. and on 
the Pacific from a black sea bass, weighing 347 lbs., to a 
Solb. white sea bass; so that, so far as experience goes, 
I consider that I am a fair judge of the fighting qualities 
of a fish, and I have no hesitation in saying that if my 
1831b. tuna was fastened to one end of a rope and three 
1831b. tarpon were on the other end, the tug-of-war would 
be at once decided, as the tuna would wear them out 
and never stop. In other words, I consider that the 
tuna entirely outclasses the tarpon m strength and 
activity, in the fierceness of its rushes, and in the splen- 
did attempts to escape. I confess that the tarpon is 
more sensational in its leaps, which are due to the 
shallow water, but the tuna is the acrobat of the sea, and 
leaps on all occasions, except when hooked, and then, 
having 200 or 300ft. of blue water beneath, he has no 
occasion to take to the air. But I have seen them leap 
10 and 15ft. into the air and seize flying fish in full flight; 
and the grandeur of their feats passes all description. 
Again the tuna is an excellent table fish, bringing a high 
price in the market, and sportsmen feel no hesitation in 
taking a fish which is in constant demand, and not killed 
simply to afford sport. 
I think then that I have proved the claim of the tuna 
to be classed as a thoroughly game fish, and I would 
give it the first place among the oceanic fishes. My evi- 
dence must be the story of my catch, and a description 
of the tactics of the fish, which at the end of four hours, 
I am free to confess, left me exhausted, while the fish 
could readily have towed my boat five miles further. 
I took my fish with a 20oz. rod, about what is used for 
tarpon and striped bass by some fishermen, thotigh pos- 
sibly heavier than some use. The reel was a Vom Hofe 
holding 900ft. of cuttyhunk line, to which was attached a 
6ft. piano wire leader. The bait was a 12m. flying fish, 
the natural food and prey of the tuna. The boat used 
was a regular Santa Catalina yawl, broad of beam, and 
rigged with two seats so that the fishermen face the 
stern, and are back to the oarsman and gaffer, who in 
this instance was "Jim Gardner," an expert and thor- 
ough tuna fisherman. But for his faithful work I should 
have lost the fish several times, as for four hours it kept 
him upon the move to keep me facing the fish. My com- 
panion was Mr. C. H. Heverin, of New York. 
Our boat was fastened behind a launch, and at 3:30 
in the morning we slipped out of Avalon Bay, which was 
as smooth as glass. Mr. Heverin had the first strike, not 
100yds. from the beach, and in an- hour had brought a 
fine tuna to gaff, weighing oolbs. The method of pro- 
cedure is for the boatman to hold the painter, having his 
oars ready, and the moment a strike comes to cast off 
from the launch and back water, getting headway in the 
boat to offset the terrific rush of the fish, which will often 
unreel 500 or 600ft. of line before the fisherman remem- 
bers where he is. I received my strike at 6:30, just be- 
low Long Point, six miles from Avalon, and Mr. Hever- 
in received a strike at the same moment; the fish coming 
boiling along the surface striking in a highly sensational 
manner. Mr. Heverin failed to hook, and slipped 
aboard the launch to continue fishing from her, while I 
began the fight which lasted four hours without let up. 
I had been trolling with about 150ft. of line out, and at 
the rush the fish tore at least 500ft. from the reel, with 
accompanying music that could be heard a long dis- 
tance. Gardner started the boat astern and I stopped the 
fish, the boat rushing through the water for several hun- 
dred yards, the fish now plunging down and beating 
upon the line in savage attempts at escape. Then I 
gained 20ft., then lost 50 in a savage rush. Then the 
magnificent creature rose rapidly from a two minute 
sweep deep in the heart of the channel, until I broke 
water in a cloud of foam 500ft. away. Then turned and 
facing the boat came at me like an arrow from the bow. 
It was a magnificent move, and I reeled for my life on 
the big multiplier, but corild hardly take in the line be- 
fore the fish turned 20ft. from me a blazing mass of 
silver in the sunlight, and shot away with a velocity that 
was inconceivable, bearing off the line in one great 
burst of speed. It was with the greatest difficulty- that 
I stopped the fish at what I believe to have been between 
500 and 600ft., using the heavy leather pad brake as 
carefully as I could, and realizing that had J not soaked 
line and pad in advance the line would have been burnt 
off at the first rush. The fish now plunged down deep 
into the blue channel, sulking like a salmon for a few 
moments, hammering on the line in a peculiar manner. 
Then, as I gained on it in reeling, it rose in great circles, 
towing the boat rapidly, and when at the surface it came 
at me again, hoping to take me unawares. Failing in 
this, it made several desperate plunges, rose to the sur- 
PROF. C. F. HOLDER AND HIS 1S3EBS. 
face and heading out to sea swam rapidly away, towing 
the boat at half the speed of the launch against the oars 
of my boatman, who kept them over, hoping to stop it. 
It towed the boat a mile in this way, during which I 
gained and lost perhaps 200ft. Then I finallv turned 
it, and after a sensational rush in and by me it kept on 
and towed us over a mile in the opposite direction with 
a force that it was impossible to resist with the thread- 
like line I was using. The shores of the island arc lined 
with kelp here, and I fully expected to lose the fish, but 
I succeeded in turning it about 200ft. from the rocks, and 
then the fish began a series of circling, diving, hammer- 
ing, rushing in and out, that I saw would in time wear 
me out. By the greatest effort I three times brought the 
fish to within 50ft. of the boat, when it would break away 
again, all the time towing the heavy boat around in a 
large circle. In this way three hours slipped away, and 
I noted what I consider to be the most remarkable 
feature of this fish: it continually gained strength and 
vigor. 
At about 9:30, or about three hours from the time of" 
the strike, the fish had towed us back to almost the 
identical spot where it was hooked, and after several 
desperate rushes,- which almost resulted in its escape, it 
turned down the island and towed us five miles, stop- 
ping only to rush in several times when I forced the 
fighting, and towing the boat stern first and against my 
boatman's oars, which were held to stop it, and part of 
the distance against a heavy sea. The strength of .this 
noble creature can be imagined when I say that two 
launches, which followed, were obliged to keep up half 
speed most of the time. Mr. Heverin being in the 
Catalina and Mr. C. L. Doran being in his launch, the 
Narod, with Mr. C. R. Scudder, of St. Louis, and Mr. 
Charles Orr, of London, who had come out from Avalon 
to see the finish. 
The fish towed our boat directly home, or to Avalon 
Bay, and I am confident that it would have towed us 
five miles more, but I "forced the fighting," and three 
times brought the fish to the gaff, and three times it 
broke away, and it was then, for the first, that I realized 
its size and proportions. Again it was reeled in, its 
rich blue back and massive silver belly presenting a rich 
contrast, while numerous bright yellow fins flashed like 
gold. For a moment I held him and Gardner put the 
gaff into the silver mass. A wild plunge and the gaff 
went to pieces, and he was away, and we were in des- 
pair. Once more he was reeled in, and this time the big 
gaff caught him and the magnificent creature came slid- 
ing into the boat a mass of silver sheen, a blaze of 
labradorite blue; while a cheer went up from the wit- 
nesses. The deed was done, yet I could not but regret 
taking so magnificent a creature, that had earned its lib- 
erty a thousand times in that hardly fought four hours. 
The fish weighed i83lbs. an hour later, measured 6ft. 
2in. in length, and was about 4ft. in girth around the 
deepest portion. I gave the fish to "Jim Gardner," who 
is having it mounted, and will swing it on his fish stand, 
I presume, to commemorate the record catch, and I 
might add his own qualifications as a perfect boatman. 
To further illustrate the strength of a smail tuna — one of 
I25lbs., when foul hooked, towed Mr, C. R. Scudder and 
Jim Gardner seven hours. The writer joined them, and 
was in the boat the last three hours, and when picked 
up we were seven miles from the island, in a heavy sea, 
and the fish was as active as when it was hooked. It 
towed Mr. Scudder in all at least twent}' miles, and my 
fairly-hooked 1831b. fish towed me, including the turns, at 
least ten miles. 
TUNA. WITH BOATMAN JIM GARDNER. 
All tunas may not fight equally well. All fish differ. 
The long, slender tarpons are the "game fishes," but I 
believe the "leaping tuna," if taken on the tackle de- 
scribed, to be the great game fish of the world, and one 
which will afford unlimited sport to those lovers of rod 
and reel fishing who love big game at sea. 
Charles Frederick Holder. 
American Fisheries Society. 
The twenty-seventh session_ will be held at Omaha, 
Neb., July 20-22. The preliminary programme of pro- 
ceedings shows that the following persons have an- 
nounced their intention to present papers on the topics 
indicated. Other papers will be added to the programme 
as received: 
Dr. H. B. Ward. "Aquacultural Experiment Stations 
and Their Work." 
Mr. James Nevin, "The Propagation of Fish." 
Mr. Livingstone Stone, "The Origin and Infancy of 
the American Fisheries Society." 
Hon. J. W. Titcomb, "Desirability of State Organiza- 
tion for the Promotion of Fishculture and the Passage of 
Legislation by the Several States for the Propagation 
and Protection of Food and Game Fish." 
Mr. J. J. Stranahan, "The Microscope as Practically 
Applied to Fishculture." 
Dr. H. C. Bumpus, "The Indentification of Adult Fish 
That Have Been Artificially Hatched." 
Dr. J. _ A. Henshall, "The Artificial Culture of the 
Grayling." 
Hon. F. B. Dickerson, "The Protection of Fish and a 
Closed Season," 
Prof. Jacob Reighard, "Hoav Can Biological Investiga- 
tion of Fresh Waters be Made of Most Value." 
Mr. J. E, Gunckel, "Fish and Fishing." 
Mr. F. N. Clark, "Notes in Connection with the U. S. 
Fish Hatcheries in Michigan." 
Prof. E, A, Birge, "The Relation Between the Areas 
of Inland Lakes and the Temperature of the Water." 
^ Herschel Whitaker, "Some Popular Errors Needing 
Correction." 
Dr. Bushrod W. James, "The Protection of the Pacific 
Coast as Related to its Food Supply." 
Mr. Seymour Bower, "The Justice of a License Fee for 
Commercial Fishermen and for Anglers." 
The headquarters of the Society will be at the Hotel 
Millard, in Omaha. Members living east of Chicago 
will rendezvous at the Great Northern Hotel, Chicago, 
on the afternoon of the 19th, where the secretary can be 
found, and where assignments can be made in sleeper 
set apart for the special use of members. 
Texas Tarpon* 
Tarpon, Texas. — Mr. W. B. Leach, of Palestine. 
Texas, caught at Aransas Pass Islet, on June 14, the 
largest tarpon on record here taken with rod and reel. 
The weight four hours after taken was I25lbs.: girth 
35jn. ; length, 7ft. 7in. The fishing was in the morning 
with a strong flood tide. The following people were 
present and can testify as to the size and weight of the 
fish, viz.: G. A. Chabot. San Antonio; L. B. Clegg, San 
Antonio; A. B. Daniels, Denver; H. E. Chubbuck, 
Utica; Fred J. Scudder, San Antonio; Simon Veith, San 
Antonio. The tackle used was a bamboo rod, 4.0 Vom 
Hofe reel. Hajl 27 line and 9.8 hook. 
J. E. Cotter, Official Recorder. 
