330 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tAFSn.29i 1899. 
where the banks grew steep and compressed the water 
into a narrow channel. At the further end of this chan- 
nel the water poured into a swiding pool. Beyond the 
pool the stream was a succession of rippling rapids. 
Failure to secure a nibble made me careless. I had 
come to think there were no trout in the -brook. There- 
fore it was an agreeable surprise, as my bait swished over 
thfc miniature fall, to catch a glimpse of golden lightning 
as it flashed in the dark water of the pool. Then there 
•was the unmistakable song of the reel. I let him have 
the bait a short while, then struck. He proved to be a 
nice little fellow of %lh. Two others were induced to 
come to creel here, an,d each one was a trifle smaller 
than the first. 
The ripple yielded four, but three were under the limit, 
so I returned them to the water. 
For the next 400yds. the stream was a succession of 
swift rapids and quiet pools. The baiiks were lined with 
a heavy groAvth of pine, chestnut, oak and hickory trees, 
and the sunlightjell through the bright young foliage on 
the pools and rippHs^ golden -patehes. ^ had fished this 
stretch for perhap^^half its length; then I came to where 
the streart$as^^pt Mj a long- fallow rapid to the right 
and tumbled mto a*deep hole under the roots of a num- 
ber of large trees. "Ah!" thought I. "here, surely, is a 
spot where the big ones liyg; now. if H. hajsn't caught 
them all, I'm in for sport." 
I fished this place very cautiously for a full half hour, 
then began to lose heart. It seemed that there surely 
must be fish there. In fact, it was the most trouty-look- 
ing spot on the brook. Time after time I allowed my 
line to drift down with the current and fall into its daric 
waters, but all to no purpose. Finally I gave up, and 
was about to start on down stream, when I detected light- 
ning-like gleam-s flashing through the waters of the pool. 
Upon closer examination I was surprised to observe 
eight or ten large trout dashing through the water in all 
directions, and either a muskrat or mink among them. 
The water was about 6ft. deep in its deepest part, and 
I could see quite plainly, but hardly plain enough to dis- 
tinguish whether the animal was a mink or muskrat. 
Whatever it was, it was quite deep in the water. T saw 
it make three or four dashes among the trout, but the 
fish seemed not to be much frightened. If they had been 
frightened it would have been an easy matter fox them to 
have dashed either up Or down the stream. Finally the 
animal disappeared under the roots of the trees. I tried 
to poke him out with the rod, but without success. T 
have always been puzzled as to whether the animal was 
really after the trout. If so, did the fish know they could 
easily avoid him, and were they having some fun with 
him? Who can tell? 
Continuing down the stream, I met with varying suc- 
cess. The trout bit well, but ran femall; too small, in fact. 
I took none over ^Ib. in weight, and threw many back 
that were under size. I took enough to add spice to my 
outing, and really cared more for the bright spring sun- 
shine, the sweet, blossom-scented air, the happy songs of 
the birds, and the ever-shifting shadoAvs of the woods 
than I did for the fish. Had I" to dispense with either, I 
would say: "Take the trout and leave me the rest." 
From the time we began to fish I had seen nothing of 
H. I knew he was somewhere ahead of me, however, and 
about noon I came upon him; he was sitting on a log on 
the bank and appeared to be about worn out. "Hello!" 
said I. "What luck?" .: 
"Oh, I have a few. I would have caught more, I think, 
had I fished more carefully." He had about as many 
as I, and none of them were larger. 
"Did you take atiy from the pool under those lar^ 
trees?" • ■; 
"No: I fished it awhile, but didn't get a nibble. There 
were no fish there." - ' 
He \yas surprised when I told him o! what I had seen. 
"I noticed nothing unusual about the pool at all." said 
he. "I let mv line drift in a few times, then came on 
down stream." 
We voted to have lunch" and rest awhile. It was de- 
licious out there in the free woods under the trees that 
bright soring day. The soft breeze fanned our heated 
faces and toyed Avith some wild geraniums growing near, 
which bow and nod in a stately wa^^ Butterflies flitted 
here and there and bees sped bv on droning wing. A 
robin regaled ns with a burst of melody and two gray 
squirrels frisked among a bed of golden cow-slios near 
the edge of the brook. The brook rippled a mellow lul- 
laby, which was so condttcive to sleep that we were 
overcome and did nap just a little. 
After an hour's siesta we started off on the business of 
the day again. A dark, heavilj' wooded ravine was be- 
fore us, and H. in.sisted on my fishing ahead of him; this 
I would not consent to. Trout streams are handy to mv 
door; I can fish them any day in the proper season. I 
knew that H. enjoyed no such orivilege. and I proposed 
that he should experience the pleasure of taking as many 
trout as possible. After persistent urging on my part he 
started in looyds. ahead of me. 
A bend soon hid my companion from view and I fished 
cautiously along behind him. Great oines hid the sun, 
and few rays of light penetrated this fissure of the hills; 
it was damp and gloomy there. The stream rushed nois- 
ilv along, its bass echoinar along the ravine's dark sides. 
Now and then a black, white-laced swirl, or an ink5^ lim- 
pid pool yielded a trout, but owing to their small size 
few_ found the creel. I followed the stream through the 
ravine for nearly an hour, and it was so damp and col 5. 
that I became thoroughlv chilled. A dozen times or more 
^ decided to let the fishing go and hunt the sunshine. 
Then some alluring pool or ripple would come in sighr 
and the temptation to fish it would orove irresistible. T 
finally reached the end of the ravine, and found that 
here the brook widened out into a long, shallow ripple, 
which danced and sparkled in the sunlight as if happy to 
escape from the gloom and darkness of the ravine. The 
ripple ended in a small mill-pond, where the water was 
still and deep. 
From the spot where the ripple entered the pond I took 
over a dozen trout. ^ Not one of them, however, proved 
to be up to the limit, and all were returned. This spot 
seemed to be the ending place of our day's sport, for a 
dam spanned the brook just below, and I knew the 
sream'was posted beyond the dam. 
I found H. enjoying a sun bath. He had selected an 
emerald grassy mound for a couch and round about we'-e 
sprinkled those diminutive forget-me-not-appearing blos- 
soms, which are among the earliest spring flowers. Here 
we emptied our creels, and the little speckled fellowj 
showed to good advantage as they lay side by side on 
the bright, green grass. They were all above the limit, 
but not one would weigh ^Ib. 
"Well, H.," said I, "shall we fish on below tJie dam 
until^we come to the signs, or shall we quit now?" 
"To tell the truth, I've felt like quitting ever since we 
had our lunch. I dread the tramp across the mountains; 
yet the sooner we make it the sooner-it will be over." 
He certainly looked tired. • ■ 
"Very well. But so long as the shortest way to the 
road is by the brook, I'll try a couple of spots below the 
dam. You can wait for me by the bridge." 
The dam is of masonry, and a sawmill stands bv its 
side. This dam is about 12ft. high, and I tried the rough 
water_ at its foot without success. A small pool just be- 
low yielded better results, for I took two trout there, and 
each weighed about %^h. Then I ioined H. at the bridge. 
It was nearly 3 o'clock when we started to cross the 
mountain. I never saw a more tired man than was my 
companion when we finished the four miles to my house. 
Supper and a six-mile drive home through the fresh, 
blossom-scented air of the spring evening, however, re-^ 
freshed him so much that, when I bade him* good night 
at his gate, he declared his intention to try it again some 
day. 
My string counted nineteen that day, and H. took 
home fully as many. William H. Avis. 
HiGHWObCi Conn. 
The Yellow-tail Season. 
Santa Catalina Island, April ii.—Editor Forest and 
Streaik: The fishing season has opened at Santa Cata- 
lina, California; th.at is the summer fishing, and the gamy 
yellow-tail is testing the rods and lines of Eastern anglers 
in- Avalon Bay, and the members of the Tuna Club are 
getting their rods and tackle ready for the fray, which 
begins when the first flying fish are seen. 
Santa Catalina is a delightful sort of a place, pic- 
turesque, romantic, a big mountain range, lifted out of the 
sea, with deep canons and sheltered bays ; the ideal spot to 
while away a summer in; the shores are abrupt, great 
walls of rock rising one, two or four hundred feet or more 
directly from the sea. And it is along these shores that 
your boatman rows you when after the gamy yellow- 
tail that lurks along the kelp beds, singly and iii schools. 
It is difficult to persuade yourself that you are eighteen 
miles out to sea, so calm is it, so glass-like the water, and 
I never can quite convince myself that I am not being 
rowed around Grenadier Island on the St. Lawrence by 
Bill Massay, my old oarsman, instead of Jim Gardner 
or Mexican Joe, of the yellow-tail belt. The north coast 
of Catalina, \yhich is twenty-two miles long and sixty 
miles around, is the favorite fishing ground, abounding as 
it does in quiet bays and still waters, clear as crystal and 
deep — deep as the ttnfathomt;d caves of song. 
The yellow-tail has no Eastern (Northern) prototype, 
though he recalls the bluefish, and is a' cousin of the little 
pilot fish of shark,^, Some call him the white salmon, 
and he is the salmon of southern California. They are 
really very far removed, being Seriola dorsatis of the 
books. He averages I7lbs., but attains possibly too. The 
largest fish I have seen weighed 62yjlbs; but one was 
caught at the island last year -which, when cleaned and 
headless, weighed Solbs., and this I assumed must have 
been very near a loolb. fish, as the head of such a fish is 
enormous. The yellow-tail is a beautiful creature, with 
eyes soft, liquid and beautiful as a woman's. Then its 
colors are radiant as spring flowers; the median line, tail 
and fins a golden yellow, the itpper surface in the water a 
rich green, the central surface a blaze of silver. But as it 
comes in on the gaff it becomes a veritable hummingbird ; 
its back blazing with colors, an iridescent turquoise now, 
labradorite blue prevailing. 
It comes first in March in great schools, then divides 
up into pairs and small groups, and is a sociable fellow, 
often crowding the boat and reveling in the ripple at the 
stern post within arm's reach, while the smelt bait is 
dragging 70ft. astern. Sometimes he will not bite, and no 
fish is cleverer in distinguishing a hook, certain old "sea 
lawyers" defying the skill of all comers. Again, when 
"jchummed" they bite eagerly, and when the strike comes 
ho one can mistake it. Sometimes it is a gentle nip; 
sometimes he fondles the bait and rubs his nose against it, 
but more often take's it with a rush that makes the reel 
scream in agonj' and carries 50 or looft. of line away be- 
fore he can be stopped. The rods most in use are of short 
greenheart with slender tips, but stiff enough to lift a 
sulking 2olb. fish ; the reel, a good multiplyer, such as the 
Vora Hofes and Conroy make, indeed their reels, while 
expensive, are the only ones which seem to stand the vio- 
lent work. The line advocated by the Tuna Club is a 
15-strand, and while I have taken large fish on a smaller 
one, a line of this size is necessary to lift a fish which 
becomes entangled in the weeds or kelp. The reel should 
have a leather pad, in fact, is useless without. 
So equipped in either a rowboat or one of the many power 
launches of Avalon Bay. we move slowly away: all at 
once the water is seen to be covered with fins, and a 
yellow hue tints the surface, and glancing down into the 
blue depths they are seen to be filled with fish. There 
were thousands of all sizes, but they would tiot bite. A 
mile further in, beneath high cliffs, the. reel suddenly 
rings out its alarm — zee — zee — zeee — and z.\vay goes feet 
and yards of line with a msh that warms the cockles of 
the angler's heart. An old salmon fisher who knew Loch 
Nass said no salmon ever made a braver fight, and if the 
truth were known, salmon tackle would be a plaything 
for a yellow-tail; and it would be a long and tiresome 
play before he could be landed. The fish in one splendid 
burst took 200ft. of line, then was stopped, to plunge down 
and sulk. Then he rose, coming it fast, to break away 
again in fine bursts of speed. Twenty minutes slipped 
away before the silvery gleam of the yellow-tail could be 
seen, and it was half an hour be fore the gaff slipped be- 
neath its belly and the noble fish slid into the boat. In 
the course of an hour two more were caught, and finally 
the boat was surroimded by a school of rock bass, white 
fish and yellow-tails, biting eagerly; and it required much 
moral force not to keep ori fishing so long as the fish were 
biting. Btit we were satisfied with five yellow-tails apiece 
for the day, all of which were well won, ranging from 17 
to 30! bs. 
The yellow-tail is the all-round game fish of this region; 
he comes in March and remains until Dec. 15, and some- 
times is here all winter, as in 1897. In April, May and 
June the white sea bass comes along, a fine game fish, with 
a maximum weight of 80 or golbs. The record of the 
Tuna Club, which the writer has the honor to hold with 
light rod, is solbs., though, perhaps, Mr. Beard has beaten 
this in former years. The club record for yellow-tail is 
solbs., held by Frank V. Rider, Esq., of New York, 
honorary secretary of the Tuna Club. In May and up 
to July 15 the leaping tuna runs, and probably no fish has 
created quite so much excitement as the noble creature 
whose home winter and summer is about this island. In 
June the black sea bass runs, and bites, and he runs into 
October. The largest rod catch is 327lbs., by Mr. Rider. 
It may be interesting to true sportsmen and those who 
are making war against unsportsmanlike ways, to know 
what has been done in California by one club. When 
the writer first visited Santa Catalina Island, rods were 
unknown, and for several years, yellow-tails and other 
fine game fish were hauled in on hand lines. One launch, 
as an example, with a load of "pot-hunters" with four 
hand lines out, would bring in a boat load of fish, which 
would be thrown on the beach or towed out into the bay 
and fed to sea lions and sharks^ The rod was introduced, 
and the idea was impressed upon fishermen that no 
sportsman or gentleman would fish with any but the 
lightest tackle that gave the fish the advantage and itiade 
it impossible for a man to take more than three an hour. 
The force of example of men of prominence had its effect, 
and to-day the Tuna Club, whose members have accom- 
plished this work, have the gratification to know that the 
finest fishing ground in America is fished in a legitimate 
manner. The president of the Tuna Club at the last an- 
nual meeting made the following statement, which will 
interest every lover of the rod: 
"It affords me mtich pleasure to report that as a result 
of the efforts and example of the Tuna Club and its 
members, unsportsmanlike methods have, to a large ex- 
tent, been eliminated from these waters. When a few 
years ago one fisherman would, by trolling with two or 
three hand lines, bring in forty or fifty yellow-tails, sea 
bass, etc., tnagnificent fish, ranging from 15 to Solbs:^ 
which were often towed out into the bay and thrown away, 
the same person wiil now, by using a light row, be satis- 
fied with six or eight, and as each fish taken with the rod 
plays for twenty minutes or more, the sport is greatly 
increased. The professional boatmen have heartily co- 
operated in this work, and now use the lightest tuna, 
yellow-tail and -rock bass rods, reels, lines, etc., and the 
reckless, wanton waste of game fish is rapidly becoming 
a thing of the past, a change so marked that the mem- 
bers of the Tuna Club deserve the warmest congratula- 
tions from lovers of true sport and humanitarians the 
world *ver." 
To still further encourage this idea, the club this sea- 
son gives an open tottrnament, in which valuable prizes 
are given,' from cups valued at $100 to rods of the finest 
description, twenty or thirty prizes in all. the only restric- 
tion being that all fish m.ust be taken on lines not oyer 
2i-.strand and light rods. 
The following are some of the classes, the prizes not 
having been all decided on : 
Tournament Sea Angling, May \ to Sept. I. 
Class A — Leaping Tuna (70 to 20olbs.). — i. For ex- 
ceeding the club rod record of iSslbs. : Prize, gold medal. 2. 
For the largest tuna of the season other than the above: 
Prize, silver cup. 3. For second largest : Prize, rod and ' 
reel. This remains the property of the club, the name of 
the winner being engraved upon it, and will be contested 
for every season. 
Class B — Black Sea Bass (75 to soolbs.). — i. For ex- 
ceeding the club rod record of 327lbs. : Prize, silver cup. 
2. For largest fish other than the above : Prize, rod and 
reel. 3. For second largest fish : Prize, red. 
Class C — White Sea Bass (20 to bolbs.). — i. For ex- 
ceeding the club record of solbsi : Prize, silver medal. 
2. For largest fish other than the above : Prize, bass rod. 
Class D — ^Yellow-tail (15 to 6olbs.). — 1. For exceeding 
the club rod record of solbs. : Prize, silver medal. 2. 
For largest single catch other than the above : Prize, 
gaff. For second largest fish: Prize, yellow-tail line. 
Class E — -Rock Bass (3 to I2lbs.).— i. For the largest 
fish taken : Prize, bass rod. 2. For second largest fi.sh : 
Prize, reel. (Rods 8 to looz.) 
Class F — Bonito (8 to I3lbs.). — i. For the largest fish 
taken: Prize, rod. 2. For second largest fish: Prize, 
reel. (Rods 8 to lOoz.) 
Class G— Casting. — i. For the longest cast, tuna rod 
and bait (flying fish) : Prize. 2. For the second 
longest cast: Prize, rod. 3. . For the longest cast with 
yellow-tail bait (smelt not to exceed 6in.) : Prize. 4. 
For the second longest cast: Prize, automatic reel. 5. 
For longest cast, rock bass rods and bait (sardine), 10 
or 120Z. rods : Prize, gold medal. 6. For the second 
longest cast: Prize. 
Class H — Professional Boatmen. — 1. For the best 
equipped small boat, with or without power, for tuna, yeU* 
low-tail or black sea bass fishing ; rods, gaffs, lines and gen- 
eral equipment to be considered : Prize. 2. For tuna of 
over 7olbs. brought to gaff and landed single-handed (ang- 
ler to manage boat also), 24-strand line or less: Prize. 
3 (a). For the longest cast with tuna rod and bait (fly- 
ing fish) : Prize, (b) The longest cast with yellow-taiL 
rod and bait (small, 6in. or under or any recognized yel- 
low-tail bait except fly-fishing) : Prize, (c) For second 
longest cast: Prize, (d) For longest cast with rock 
bass rod and bait, 10 or i2oz. rods: Prize." Casting 
events in this class to be detertnined July 4, if possible. 
4. For best exhibit by any professional boatman of rods, 
reels, lines, gaffs, boats, etc. : Prize. 5. For fastest and 
best equipped power launch for general fishing purposes: 
Prize. This event to be determined July 4, 
Judges will be the executive and weighing committees 
of the club. In professional events boatmen will select 
three judges not club mem.bers to act with the committee, 
AH records shall be determined by weight of fish at the 
weighing, no allowance for loss being made. All fish 
must be brought to gaff unaided. 
A fishing tournament in which prizes are offered for 
largest fish, where the avowed purpose is to protect the 
