Sept. 8, igoo.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
189 
the boat, and I gained by desperate hauling, not moving 
the fish, but pulHng the light boat to him. in this way 
making 30 or 40 feet. Then, without warning, he jerked 
me to rny knees again, and with sturdy lunges strove to 
take the boat under wa^er, and I was content to give, inch 
by inch, foot by foot, until he calmed down. The bass 
was now headed for the off-shore kelp bed, half a mile 
away, towing the boat so rapidly that the foam rose under 
the stern in an ominous wave. The secret in this fishing 
is to fight the game continually, for does the man at the 
line rest, the bass recovers in an equal ratio and the 
contest may be kept up until it reaches some retreat off. 
shore and plunges into the kelp, breaking the line. To 
prevent this I played the bass constantly, haiding when I 
could and slacking only to prevent foundering; now flat 
on the bottom, bracing to withstand a desperate rush ; now 
taking in the line, feeling savage blows, never stopping, 
until fifteen minutes from the time of the strike I saw a 
gigantic black and silver form coming slowly out of the 
blue. When the fish saw me it plunged down in a vicious 
rush, but I turned it up again and by strenuous effort 
brought it near the stern. The boat was so small and 
light that my companion lay in the bottom to preserve 
the equilibrium, and I attempted to gaff the monster, hold- 
ing the line in my left hand and gaffing it amid a terrific 
flurry. Once the iron in, it was jerked from niy hand 
eight or ten times, and I nearly followed it overboard. 
For half an hour I maneuvered, and every time the fish 
was brought within 5 feet it either plunged down or 
. rushed around in a manner that boded ill for our safety; 
indeed, twice the boat almost foundered. The wind had 
sprung up and was now blowing fresh from the north- 
west, and the sea had picked up in a surprising fashion, 
adding to the difficulty; but finally the bass was brought 
alongside and after many efforts a rope was passed 
through its gills and mouth and lashed. Then we sat back 
to breathe and eye the rising sea. The boat, instead of 
rising on the swell, was held down by the fish, and it 
was evident that a breaker might sink her. 
It was impossible to get the fish aboard, and to tow it 
aroimd Church Rock, where there was a_ heavy sea, 
seemed inviting disaster; but we attempted it. and after 
running the gauntlet of the Sphinx, in an hour's pull, had 
the fish in smooth water. For five miles we towed it, 
finally meeting some fishermen, whom we hired to aid us 
in hauling the fish aboard. The fish almost filled the 
boat, and I sat on my game while my companion rowed. 
But we were so low in the water that the least sea 
would have foundered us. so we engaged the men to con- 
voy us in, and finally entered Avalon Bay masters of 
the situation. 
Similar experiences characterized other catches, and 
induced the belief that the big bass could be caught with a 
rod. It remained for Major Charles Viele, of the Cavalry, 
to demonstrate that this could be accomplished. I accom- 
panied him to the same locality one morning, aiichoring 
over a school of fish, undoubtedly, as they bit fast and 
furious. The steam launch Avas anchored in shore, and 
the Major opened the campaign by casting from the small 
boat alongside. The moment he hooked his fish the 
boatman pushed off and rowed after the game, adopting 
the method so successful in ttma fishing. The bass took 
him 100 yards or so to sea in the first run. In the mean- 
time I had cast from the launch, and hardly had the 
bait reached the bottom before my reel began what proved 
a requiem for lost tackle. I was firmly anchored, and 
the bass took my line and tip; then more line and two 
tips, and after I had hooked fotir fish and used up my 
rods, demonstrating that I could not stop them, I threw 
over a hand line, and presently landed a bass of icq 
pounds ; then one of 248 pounds, the latter with the aid of 
the Major, who, singularly enough, left his fish after 
two hours' fight and came aboard for lunch and reinforce- 
ment. The bass had towed the boat about, giving them 
a royal battle, and had finally reached kelp and fouled, but 
it was still on. The line was tautened and the rod lashed 
to a tin oil can and left floating. Later a grapnel w^as 
successfully used to tear away the kelp, and in half an 
hour the bass was gaffed, and with two other large fish 
we steamed for port. The Major's bass weighed 227 
pounds, while my hand-line catches weighed respectively 
100 and 248 pounds. I had timed him at the strike, and 
he brought his fish to gaff in two hours and thirty-eight 
minutes. 
This was in 1894. Then came the catch of Mr. S. M. 
Beard, of New York, who took several large fish with rod 
and reel, and finally that of Mr. F. V. Rider, formerly of 
New York, now of Pasadena, who in 1898 startled the 
angling world by landing in fifty-fiye minutes a bass 
we-ghing 327 pounds — a feat accomplished only by a de- 
termined and continuous fight. During this time the 
fish towed the angler several miles, making a series of 
furious rushes before it was brought in. giving its captor 
the record of the largest fish ever taken with rod and 
reel. During the Tuna Club tournament every effort was 
made to break this record. Col. R. A, Eddy, of San 
Francisco, an enthusiastic member of the Tuna Club, took 
five black sea bass weighing respectively 240, 246. 322, 227 
and 196 pounds. Mr. F. V. Rider landed three fish 
weighing 175. 182 and 151 pounds; Dr. Bently three of 
150. 184 and 165 pounds; Col. Daniel M. Burns, one fish 
of 218 pounds, and Mr. George B. Jess, one of 14S pounds. 
These catches are quoted here as being very remarkable 
when it is remembered that each was made with a twenty- 
one-thread linen line, little larger than many anglers use 
for a 5-pound small-mouth black bass. 
During these days Don Antonio was still rowing. I 
frequently saw him in the • afternoon, when the purple 
shadows were creeping out from the lofty cliffs along 
shore, near the tuna grounds ; or he would be seen riding 
a heavy swell in the lee of the Sphinx, looking as imper- 
turbable, as he chummed for his patron, as the great face 
that was bathed in the spray of the restless sea. On 
such a day I hooked a bass off the kelp beds and lost 
it. then with the camera photographed a more fortunate 
angler, Mr. F. V. Rider, whose boat was rushing away 
with a wave of foam beneath her stern, despite the 
vigorous efforts of the boatman. Again I hooked a bass 
that with brilliant burst of speed took 300 feet from the 
reel and carried the boat on with surprising force, It 
is always the largest fish that escapes, and this was surely 
the "record breaker." I could hardly move it. and the 
Hne sang and hummed like a lute touched by some mystic 
fingers deep in the sea. It was a question of stopping the 
bass before it reached the kelp bed, half a mile off shore. 
For twenty minutes I vainly lifted and essayed to reel, 
each moment the fish nearing the dreaded kelp forest 
The approved and only method of procedure was to 
raise the rod gradually with both hands, then lower it 
quickly, reeling as it dropped, but I believe I never swayed 
this monster far from the even tenor of its way. Ex- 
hausted, I handed the rod to a companion; he too failed, 
and the great fish, now but a memory, dashed into the 
kelp and so passed out of history, leaving a dangling 
line alone to tell the story. 
It was near the end of the season that Don Antonio 
crushed his rivals among the boatmen of Avalon. The 
long days of summer were growing shorter, the cool 
winds that had made the island an ideal spot for angling 
were dying down, and day after day the sea lay like a 
mirror, its surface cut by shoals of innumerable fish. The 
sea birds were coming down from the north — long, un- 
dulating lines of shags passed north and south, clouds of 
gulls followed the bait catchers, and the west at night 
became set in autumnal splendors, ineffable tints of gold 
and red. The delightful fall fishing season was on— 
September — with two more fishing months to follow. A 
rain had cleaned the sleeping air; the blue haze on the 
distant mountains softened the rugged outlines; the 
chaparral and trees took on deeper tints of green — all 
telling of the waning summer and the coming of the 
island winter, the season of flowers. 
One morning when great bands of vermilion shot up- 
ward from the horizon, cutting deep into the sky, Don 
Antonio rowed his patron out from this Pacific Vale of 
Avalon, that in Celdc mythology is a "paradise in the 
Western seas." The channel was calm, and the rhythm 
of the tide gave a gentle undulation to the kelp leaves 
that lay bare, glistening in the rising sun. The tide was 
low, and all along shore the black beard of kelp brought 
out the rocks in strong reUef. On the points eagles stood 
pruning their feathers for the day; a school of sea lions 
were making for their rookery after a circuit of the north 
shore, and as the boat rounded the point and entered 
the light green water as fair a sea and smooth, stretched 
away as one would ever see. Don Antonio dropped Ins 
anchor near the beach, half a mile above the rookery in 
sight of the sea lions that lay basking on the black 
rocks, arranged his rope to cast off at a moment's notice, 
placed his oars in position, baited the hook with 3 or 4 
pounds of albicore, and while the angler made the cast 
began the chumming which is supposed to aid and abet 
the capture of fish in all climes. 
The equipment of this black sea bass angler may be of 
interest. His rod and reel were designed especially for 
leaping tuna and black sea bass; the silent reel was 
equipped with heavy patent anti-overrunning brake and 
leather thumb brake, and held perhaps i.ooo feet of 2_t- 
thread linen line. The rod was a split bamboo, 7 feet in 
length, with long butt and single joint with agate guides. 
A 6 or 7 foot bronze w-ire leader was attached to the 
line, the hook being a Van Vleck pattern — a singular 
shaped silver hook in favor among tarpon rod experts as 
rarely coming out, 
A light wind sprang up and stirred the air and swung 
the boat to the east, gently rippling the water. As the 
moments slipped away the angler leaning back in his 
chair, with rod across his knees, the line overhauled and 
between his fingers, as the big reel had no click, glanced 
over the San Clemente Channel at the long, low island 
that loomed up in the blue haze. It was not a day of 
waiting. Presently came an ill-defined tightening of the 
line; it might have been a drifting kelp leaf possibly the 
shifting current ; then it slackened, and the angler took his 
rod in hand, his right clasping the butt, the left caressing 
the bamboo grip above the reel, as he well knew that the 
largest of game fishes in the bass tribe are the most deli- 
cate biters. There was no mistake here, and Don An- 
tonio dropped his cigarette, threw off the turn of the 
anchor line and held the buoy in his hand. Now the line 
was slipping, inch by inch, through the smooth agate 
guides, and Don Antonio, dropping into Spanish in his 
excitement, whispered hoarsely, "x\hora, ahora !" But 
not yet; the bass might have the heavy bait merely be- 
tween its lips to be jerked out by a too hasty strike. An- 
other foot, until 10 or 12 had gone, then the rod rose in a 
strong well-directed strike, and the gam.e was on. Stse- 
stse-ceese-ceese ! goes the line, hissing through the water, 
the silent reel unburdening itself to the measure. Over 
goes the buoy, around whirls the boat and bravely they are 
away. Stern first it surges with Don Antonio holding 
back gently at the oars. The rod pounds the air under the 
terrific jerks and the expert at the rod is almost lifted 
from his seat by the impetuosity of the rush. Directly out 
to sea the fish goes, headed for deep water, and as at this 
particular point there is no kelp, the combat was to be on 
its merits. In a few seconds the boat was rushing stern- 
first into the swell beyond the lee of the island, a big 
wave beneath the combing stern. Ten. twenty, thirty 
minutes slipped away, and the boat was well off shore 
where the wind was rising, and the angler meantime 
had done little but hold the rod, vainly pumping with 
700 feet of line out, the fish ever boring down. After a 
desperate effort it was turned when it rushed in shore, and 
at the end of an hour was again towing them seaward. 
Sometimes a few feet of line would be gained and as 
many lost, the fish adopting tactics designed to wear the 
unsuspecting angler out; rising suddenly to plunge down 
with irresistible force to circle the boat, then to run in. 
Don Antonio all this time held the oars in silence, back- 
ing water, offering all the resistance possible, and keeping 
the stern of the boat to the fibh. The sea was rising under 
the northwest wind, r.r.d to sit in the stern of the boat 
rushing against a heavy sea was to invite disaster. Once 
a big comber came surging in and rein had to be given 
the wild steed tiiat, fortunately, turned inshore again, 
overrunning its former course. But it was presently a 
question of cutting away the fish or foundering, when 
the angler, in an inspiration, bethought him of a bottle 
of oil in the boat, and a moment later Don Antonio was 
pouring it over the side. The change was magical; the 
fluid mysteriously blazed a spot to the windward of the 
boat perfectly smooth, and presently the singular spectacle 
was witnessed of a low boat in the center of a heavy 
sea, yet in a zone of perfect calm 10 or 12 feet across. 
Here Doii Antonio held the boat while the angler re- 
newed the struggle, and two hours from the strike, reeled 
the fish to the boat. Up it came, slowly swimming 
around in decreasing circles, and as its full proportions 
dawned upon him, Don Antonio made a fervent appeal 
to the saints. The bass seemed as long as the boat — a 
giant— and as it turned, its huge tailed deluged the men 
with oil and water. It was then that Don Antonio reached 
out and gaffed the heaviest fish ever taken with rod and 
reel— gaft'ed it well. But what then? It struggled like 
a wild beast, threatening to carry the anglers down, and it 
was only after a mighty contest that the bass was securely 
lashed astern ; even then it could not be towed, as they 
were three-quarters of a mile off shore. A passing boat, 
wdiose oarsman was a rival of \he Don. was hailed and 
came down to them, and with the comaraderie of sports- 
men the world over, offered their services. By the com- 
bined efforts of five men the bnss was battled into this 
boat, the fish filling it. the cr \v taking to the other. 
In this way the bass was towed into Avalon, where it 
was forthwith triced up on a huge crane and weighed. 
"Three hundred and seventy pounds, seiior."* Little won- 
der that it had towed the boat eight miles and had been 
saved only by pouring oil upon the water. 
In this way did the record pass to Mr. T. S. Manning, 
of Philadelphia, and as Don Antonio walked through the 
little town that night, he was followed by^ a crowd of 
Mexican bovs, who said in hushed tones, "It is he; he 
gaffed it." His victory was complete, and on the record 
book one may read after the entry of his patron's catch, 
"Don Antonio Oromo, boatman ;^the largest game fish 
ever gaft'ed." 
Charles Frederick Holder. 
*On Aug. 20, 1900, Mr. Franklin S. Schetick, of Brooklyn, toolc 
a aSO-pound black sea bass, killing it in twenty minutes. He 
thus holds the record and wins the cups and prizes in the Tuna 
Club tournament of tliis year. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
The Pioneer Fish Breeder of New York. 
A FEW weeks ago, when writing of pioneer fish 
breeders and giving the experiences of Gen. Schenck. I 
had it in mind to follow with brief mention of Hon. 
Stephen H. .A.insworth, of West Bloomfield, Ontario 
county, N. Y.. who was the first to hatch fish artificially 
in tliis State, and therefore the New York pioneer, and 
who as such has had scant justice done him in the litera- 
ture of fish breeding. In May, 1889, Mr. Ainsworth 
wrote me a long letter concerning his experience, and 
this evening I made a search for it, with other papers 
relating to his experiment, and now quote his own 
language: -nt -^r 
'T was born in Burlington, Otsego county, N. Y., on 
the 9th day of March, 1809— eighty years ago last March 
— and had to work my way up as best I could. My 
advantages for an early education were very poor, but I 
had a great deal of energy and a world of push, and 
have been successful in my business operations from 
boyhood to this time. I constructed my trout ponds in 
1859 and commenced the artificial cultivation of trout in 
i860. In 1862 S. P. Allen, the editor of the Rochester 
Democrat and Chronical, visited my ponds and wrote a 
long article about them, and printed it in his paper. It- 
was this article, I suppose, which brought Seth Green 
here soon after to examine the ponds. Green soon after 
went to Caledonia, N. Y., and bought a portion of the 
creek, and came back and wanted me to go in partner- 
ship with him and teach him how to take the spawn and 
how to manage the trout and spawn during the time of 
incubation, etc., which I refused to do, but told, him if 
he commenced in the business I would write him and his 
place up and send all my orders for trout and spawn to 
him, which I did as long as he was in the business; and 
I went to Caledonia several times to teach him to do 
every part of the operation, from taking the spawn to 
the hatching and care of the fry. Vv'hen the State de- 
cided to commence the cultivation o'f fish. Judge Folger, 
then State Senator from this district, wrote me wishing 
me to be one of the Fishery Commissioners, but I did 
not desire the office, and recommended Seth Green. 
He was appointed and served through his life in one 
capacity or another, and made a good officer. So it is 
a positive truth that Seth Green learned trout culture 
of me. 
"Morris, in his book 'American Fishculture,' Philadel- 
phia, Porter & Coates, 1868, gives all the facts of my 
success in the cultivation of trout, and what I did for 
Green, and copies may be had of the articles I wrote 
tor his benefit about his ponds, and also copies of the 
article by S. P. Allen, about my ponds, which brought 
Green to me. In fact, quite a portion of his book is 
devoted to my discoveries in trout breeding. 
"I was really the first sitccessful propagator of brook 
trout in this county. Prof. Ackley and Dr. Garlick 
hatched a few eggs in their office in Cleveland before I 
did, but I did not know it for years after. 
'T was a member of the State Assembly in 1861; Presi- 
dent of the Fruit Growers' Society of Northern New 
York, and President of the Agricultural Society of 
Ontario county. I have two medals — one from the New 
York State Poultry Society, 1869. for the best spawning- 
race, and the other from the Societe Tmperiale d'Ac- 
climatation of Paris, France, for my improvements in 
Pisciculture, 1869. A silver medal of the first class, and 
I was made a life member of the Society." , 
Mr. Ainsworth was a fruit grower in western New 
York, and piped a number of small springs to bring 
them together to make his trout ponds. His invention 
of a spawming race consisted of a double screen of 
wire covered with gravel. The trout ascended from the 
ponds to this artificial race, and in removing the gravel 
to make a spawning bed exposed a wire screen, the 
mesh being of such size as to permit the eggs to fall 
through to a second screen underneath of a mesh small 
enough to hold the eggs. The eggs were fertilized 
naturally, and the eggs first deposited were safe from 
any spawning trouts that came later that might desire 
to eat the eggs of their predecessors. It is true that 
Ainsworth's spawning race is obsolete, but the same is 
true of other inventions in fishculture that were con- 
sidered improvements subsequent to the spawning race. 
