FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 26, 1902. 
Spring Fishing at Santa Catalina. 
Santa Ca/alina Island, Cal., April \o. -Fishing sea- 
sons, like climate, change year after year, and the present 
season just opening in southern California proposes to 
break all records- In a word, it has opened up nearly, two 
months ahead of time, and the crowds of tourists who 
have filled the land have reveled in the finest kind of sport 
for the past two months. First, yellowtail came in, thirty 
and forty pounders, and then a school of tunas sailed into 
Avalon Bay in March. They were not due until June 
IS, and naturally created no little excitement. The tunas 
are migratory fish ; they are supposed to appear in June 
and to leave in July or August, but the fact is that they 
are around the west side of the island all winter in 
limited numbers, and several times have been hooked in 
February. But this year several large, hungry schools 
came around the point and entered Avalon Bay in March 
and amused themselves at the expense of the tourists. 
One was caught by Col. Stevens, of Los Angeles, but the 
rest merely amused themselves with the anglers from 
almost every State. Every day strikes were had, and the 
tunas took lines, gaff, tips and smashed reels galore, com- 
pletely "doing up" one angler, who, according to his own 
account, was black and blue all over and "red hot" in- 
side. How big these fish were that defied the anglers no 
one knows, but it is evident that they were away ahead'of 
the average fish that gets away. At the present time the 
"Isle of Tunas," as it is called by enamored anglers, is 
a thing of beauty, covered with the tender greens of the 
California winter. The wild lilac, shumac, wild cherry, 
manzanita and many more shrubs and trees, are in bloom 
on the mesas; the mariposa lily covers the slopes with its 
rich lavender tints; and the island is an emerald in a 
setting of azure. The water is a deep splendid blue— deep 
to the very shores, which rise in rocky cliffs scores 
of feet in height, against which the flying fish das4i be- 
fore the rapacious tuna. The air is as soft as velvet, and 
when the angler rises in the Bay of Avalon and faces 
the snow peaks of the Sierras, fifty miles away, stand- 
ing out in a background of vermilion, he cares little 
whether the fish bite or not; he can take it out in 
scenery. But the fish are biting, and as we shove off 
thousands of sardines are being chased into the kelp 
beds by the sea bass, and before the boat is one hundred 
vards from the shore, zip, z-e-e-e, z-e-e-e goes the reel, 
and the sport is on. My compadre is new at it, and is 
soon in a condition described by the boatman as "all 
balled up." He is a famous black bass angler ; his name 
is in books and on them, but he has lost his nerve before 
this furious rush, and finally the line takes a turn around 
the reel handle and away goes the fish. The owner is 
held, now towing the boat so rapidly that she has a bone 
in her teeth, two or three for that matter, and now 
plunging to the bottom, now rising to lash it with foam, 
this splendid fish makes a grand battle for its life with 
everything in its favor, and slowly comes to gaff, circling 
the boat, showing its charming proportions in the sun- 
light, and finally coming to gaff, a blaze of glory, and 
tipping the scales at fifty-two pounds. 
The white sea bass is not due at Santa Catalina until 
May 1, but this remarkable season saw them caught in 
March. The fish is very fickle, and a really good season 
is rare ; but when an angler can land four such fishes, all 
over fifty pounds, in a forenoon, if he is a true angler, is 
satisfied for a while. The bass fishing here is unique at 
times. Not one hundred feet from the shore lies a school 
of sardines so thick and dense that they form an almost 
solid mass. Into this the unbaited hook is tossed— a silver 
Van Vleck. Down it goes, the fishes paying no attention 
to it. A slight jerk and a living sardine is. impaled, and 
as it sinks, struggling below the school, it is at once 
seized by the big bass lurking there for just such an 
emergency. In this way the writer has picked up five or 
six bass ranging from fifty to fifty-seven pounds in a 
single forenoon. Every California angler has his fancy; 
mine is for this beautiful creature, so rarely caught that 
perhaps fifty fish constitutes the annual rod catch at 
Avalon Bay. Others prefer the yellowtail, which is for its 
size- the gamest fish that swims. The yellowtail never 
knows when it is worsted; never gives up. The writer 
has seen one leap out of a flour barrel and overboard 
after having been caught fifteen minutes, and I doubt if 
the salmon rod or tackle exists that can kill a twenty-five- 
pound yellowtail in less than an hour a pound. At least 
it would be a long and tiresome process. The fishes that 
may be caught here from now on are tuna, yellowtail, 
sheepshead, white sea bass, black sea bass, whitefish, rock 
bass (several kinds), albicore, bonita, skip jack, sea trout, 
and various kinds of groupers and halibut. 
Probably nowhere in the world is there a town like 
Avalon, the single settlement of Santa Catahna, as it is 
devoted almost entirely to anglers and angling, and de- 
pends upon the sport to a large extent, and nowhere will 
the angler find so much preparation for his comfort. 1 he 
town abounds in hotels, boarding houses and cottages of 
all grades and classes, the large hotel occupying the best 
location on the beach, and extending from this around 
the gracefully curved bay are shops, where one may buy 
the latest rods, tackle and lines from the best makers of 
the East The south half of the beach is given over to 
the boatmen, whose gaily painted stands are packed in 
side by side. The bay is fitted with craft, dozens, even 
hundreds of rowboats and scores of fine launches equipped 
for the sport. Each has two comfortable chairs astern, 
where the anglers fish, a rod on either side, while the 
boatman and gaffer stands behind them, working the 
four or five horse-power engine. The boats are engaged 
at the stands, which are canopied seats for the patrons. 
Over them you read: "Mexican, Joe, Chris Ringsen 
"Jim Gardner," "Hugo," "Chappie,", "Harry Elmes and 
many more well known to the angling fraternity Here 
are their rods, reels and tackle, the line driers and scales 
for weighing the big fish, and not far away is the photo- 
grapher, who stands ready for a stipulated sum to prove 
the catch with the camera. The prices charged by these 
men for power launches are from eight to ten dollars 
a day depending upon the size of the launch. A man m a 
rowboat can be had for much less and in July no boat- 
man is needed, as yellowtail are often caught off the en- 
trance of the bay, where forty or fifty rowboats will be. 
anchored in a bunch. Every time a yellowtail is hooked 
the entire population of the floating anglmg city gives 
forth a roar which can be heard a mile away. One of the 
best signs of the times is the fact that the sport here is 
being protected. Canning factories threatened to ruin it 
by insisting upon hauling ten or twenty tons of sardines 
in Avalon Bay during the spawning season. The case 
was recently brought to trial before the Los Angeles 
county supervisors, Judge McKinley representing the 
angling interest, and to quote a local paper: "Chas. F. 
Holder appeared as witness and made so effective a 
showing that the supervisors decided to pass laws pro- 
tecting the sardines," and now no seining or net hauling 
of any kind is allowed in Avalon Bay, or within 200 feet 
of docks or wharves along the coast of Los Angeles 
county. The angling on the Pacific coast has been de- 
veloped from slaughter to skilled rod fishing within 
six or seven years, and to-day all the fishing of this island 
is with rods and the finest and most sportsmanlike 
equipment. Tunero. 
Something About Catfish. 
Catfish stories are not like fish stories in general, in 
one particular at least. You can get a more respectful 
audience for one thing when you are talking about size, 
weight and other details concerning catfish. They are 
a large fish any way, and most people who have ever 
caught them have generally caught good-sized ones. So 
it is not so difficult to interest your hearers. There is 
none of that wagging of heads and sarcastic smiling, and 
winking the left eye surreptitiously or openly expressed 
incredulity which is so soul-harrowing when black bass, 
muscalonge, trout and other fish are the subject of con- 
versation. 
This is an important factor in the fish question, and 
came up recently for general consideration among cer- 
tain members of a well-known club of maritime and pis- 
catorial proclivities, on which occasion some exceedingly 
rare and artistic tales were unfolded concerning this fish 
and the narrator's experiences therewith. 
"While the instance of questionable taste and discre- 
tion which I am about to relate," said Judge Matthews, 
"is not especially identified with the gentle art as our 
patron saint, Walton, found it, it serves to illustrate the 
point that it is the unexpected that happens in fishing 
and what a catfish is capable of doing when out of a 
job." The judge now relighted his cigar for the four- 
teenth consecutive time, and resumed: "I was down 
near the mouth of the River Raisin a while ago, fishing 
for bass and pickerel, with two gentlemen from Detroit. 
We anchored our boat in a favorable spot, where we 
could get a glimpse of Lake Erie ; although candor com- 
pels me to say that we did not get glimpses of many 
fish. It didn't seem to be a first-class day for pickerel, 
and the black bass were apparently off on a vacation; 
perch were somewhat more in evidence, and the Detroit 
friends enjoyed the scenery, the lotus beds and — the 
lunch. All at once my line was nearly snatched from 
my grasp by several vicious tugs at it by some unseen 
object in the water twenty feet away. There was the 
deuce to pay and commotion enough for a school of 
whales. I will not prolong the painful tension of your 
anxiety. I will come to the truth at once. It was a 
catfish. Subsequent investigations and test with the Fair- 
banks' scales, which, I am credibly informed, are entirely 
trustworthy in dealing with the fish question, which is 
probablv the most trying place that they are ever pro- 
duced in, proved that this catfish weighed 19 pounds 
and 14 ounces. This weighing occurred in Joe Swop's 
or Gus Steere's grocery store, and can .be verified by 
Sancomb Durocher, Charlie Kibber, Capt. Swop and a 
number of others. It was declared to be a whopper, 
and nearly everybody had something good to say of the 
catfish as an article of diet. Speaking for myself, I am 
not extravagantly stuck on catfish as a table luxury. I 
seldom spend much time searching for them in the 
markets when whitefish or trout or black bass or even 
yellow perch are to be had. 
"I had never caught a catfish prior to this, and this 
proved a notable capture. I heard so much about the 
edible qualities of catfish at this time that I concluded 
to have him 011 the hot platter Good Friday, dished up 
after the most approved method that I could learn of. 
I even determined to oversee the dressing of him, and 
right there was where I made no mistake. I bossed the 
job from the start. I have read of many curious things 
that have been discovered in the stomachs of fish and 
animals; I have also discovered some myself. I had at 
one time a cow which in the course of time grew very 
tired of simply giving milk and having offspring — dis- 
gusted, in fact, with the daily grind of life, and suddenly 
shuffled off the coil and kicked over the milk stool, 
milk maid and other adjacent objects, and without more 
preparation than that, died. She yielded up from her 
stomach at the post-mortem a large and varied assort- 
ment of kitchen tin ware, and utensils, old rubbers, brass 
buckles, my long missing pocket compass, spoons, etc., 
etc. This belated restitution of property came too late 
to be of any special value to the owner, and was by -no 
means to be considered an offset to the cost of another 
cow. However, I was about to say that probably the 
most unique treasure trove even known from a fish's 
anatomy came from my catfish. Again I will not keep 
you in suspense. It was nothing less than a fine gold 
full-jeweled Jurgensen chronometer, with a rich seal and 
fob attached. (This was not a pelagic seal that you read 
01 in connection with seal fisheries, but a gold one.) Tt 
was certainly a most gentlemanly gift. I was watching 
(excuse the apparent attempt to jar your feelings) the 
process of cleaning the fish, and when the darky who was 
performing the autopsy caught sight of the time piece 
as it came into view, he nearly fell-down the cellar stairs, 
having situated the sloping doors outside for his opera- 
tion, his eyes bulging out of his head with an evident ex- 
pression of regret that he was not alone with the fish at 
this critical moment. 
"There was an immense sensation in that neighbor- 
hood for the ensuing four hours. I encouraged a general 
inspection of the fish and its contents by the lookers- 
on, in order to corroborate any future statement that I 
might make in regard to the same. The reporters for the 
three town papers came over with kodaks and pencils 
and pads; the local photographic artist came, and the 
whole thing was duly recorded, pictures of the fish and 
its captor, with the family history of each, were of course 
the piece de resistance in the ensuing issues of the re- 
spective papers, together with interviews with the fisher- 
man, the gentlemen who were with him, the man who 
owned the boat, the nigger who cut open the fish, and 
the remarks of the small boy who concluded, that 'if 
catfish was that-kind of folks, he was goin' to quit school 
and fish for catfish the whole rest of his life.' The pub- 
licity of the thing, which had its disadvantages, reached up 
into the next town of Dundee, whose citizens had eagerly 
grasped the startling intelligence. The fifth day after the 
occurrence, who should walk into my office but Lawyer 
Rose. His usual equanimity was disturbed; indeed, "he 
was much excited, and it was not long before I was aware 
what it was about. 
" 'Say, Judge, what's all this about that catfish you 
ketched down to the mouth of the Raisin a- Monday. 
They're talkin' about a big gold watch and chain that 
was took out of the critter's stomick!' 
" 'That's a fact, Rose, as sure as you're alive; and 
what's more I've got the watch all right.' 
" 'Sho? Wall, that there beats Jonah! In purty good 
condition, was it — the watch?' 
" 'Ferris says she's practically just as good as the day 
she was made. The catfish took mighty good care of the 
watch.' 
" 'Wall, that most suttingly caps all kinds o' climaxes. 
Say, Judge, you hain't no sort of idee, have ye, that that 
could be the watch that Colonel Wetherbee lost when 
he was here fishin' with some folks o' his'n a spell ago 
along with Cap. Jones and them Toledo fellers down to 
the lake?' 
" 'Why, that was three years ago, Rose, that Weth- 
erbee was here. You don't suppose that catfish would 
wait three years before handing that watch over to me, 
do you? What's the matter with you, anyway?' 
" 'Mebby he hain't had it three years. Mebby he's jest 
recently acquired it. Anyhow, I've just had my boy 
Jim write to the Colonel about the find, and he'll be here 
to look her up right sudden, an' don't ye forget it.' 
"Well, if truth ain't stranger than fiction, I don't want 
any of it. The Colonel came on and proved beyond a 
peradventure that the watch was his, and that he had lost 
it overboard in the marsh three years previous. He was 
awfully sorry not to have met the catfish personally in 
order to express his grateful appreciation, but he se- 
cured pictures of the fish and of everybody and every- 
thing connected with the tragedy from me down, and 
what's more, he took the watch." 
Other reports from reliable persons, concerning the 
personal habits, customs and general conduct of catfish 
would prove of thrilling interest to the readers of 
Forest and Stream, "and it is hoped that they will not 
be withheld. Statements made under oath, before a 
notary public, with the notarial seal attached, would of 
course make them more binding and carry with them 
an air of genuineness; still, as before intimated, this is 
not necessary in catfish statistics, and would involve an 
outlay of from 25 cents to a 5-cent cigar to the notary, 
and I don't believe in pandering to these grasping offi- 
cials anyway. Keuka. 
In New England Waters, 
Boston, April 19.— To-day is a legal holiday in Massa- 
chusetts, and the lovers of the rod and reel have sought 
the trout brooks in good numbers. All the week the 
question has been, Where is there a good trout brook 
within reasonable distance of Boston? Some have gone 
down on the Cape. Others have sought the brooks in 
Essex county. One good sportsman says that he will 
tell me a good story Monday, whether he catches, any 
trout or not, since the others all do. Prospects for 
brook fishing are said to be excellent in Maine, since 
the snow has all gone very early, and the trout will have 
had ample time to get settled in the pools, with no snow 
water to bother. In the New Hampshire streams some- 
thing is to be done later. The waters of western Massa- 
chusetts are now open legally— the three western coun- 
ties being closed till April 15. Good catches will doubt- 
less be made to-day. 
Fishing for lakers in Winnipisaukee has been uncer- 
tain so far this season. The ice left remarkably- early, 
followed by cold and rainy weather. But some good 
catches are now being made. A. G. Ackerman, of Bos- 
ton, has just returned from that lake, with remarkably 
good success to his credit. The first day out was rather 
cold and windy, and he got only two trout. The next 
day was warm and bright, and fishing was good. Mr. 
Ackerman got eight trout, making him a string of ten 
that weighed 45 pounds. One trout weighed almost six 
pounds, and there were two or three that tipped the 
scales to about five pounds. Some of Mr. Ackerman's 
friends were happy Friday morning with fine trout for 
breakfast. Sebago fishing is not yet up to expectations. 
Two or three Boston fishermen have returned disap- 
pointed. One salmon to three rods is all that they can 
report, and that for three days' fishing. Salmon are 
being taken around the upper end of Long Lake, near 
Harrison, Me. Long Lake is connected with Sebago by 
the Songo River, a sluggish stream that the salmon can 
easily go through. At this writing the ice has not left 
Moosehead, though it may go any day. The Rangeleys 
are still closed, and late reports speak of hard freezes 
for two nights this week; conditions not favorable to. the 
clearing of the ice. 
Boston, April 21. — One or two warm days have de- 
lighted the trout fishermen along the South Shore and 
down on the Cape. Nat. Arnold, of Abbington, has made 
a record of twenty-eight trout in one day. Rev. J. J. Mc- 
Millan, one of the best-known anglers at Marshpee, has 
just made a record of thirty-five trout in one day. David 
J. White, clerk of the Rhode Island Senate, has landed a 
trout weighing three pounds from Marshpee Lake. Samp- 
son's Narrows and Marshpee River have had an excel- 
lent run of trout from the salt water this spring. L. C. 
Morse, of Boston, got some large "salts" last week, the 
largest weighing 2yi pounds. Commodore Boggs, of 
Cambridge, has taken some good strings from the Cape 
streams. At Sampson's Narrows fifty and Up to seventy- 
five trout a day have been taken by the more expert 
anglers. Augustus Flagg, of Boston, returned from that 
Igcation last week with a good record. 
