FOREST AND STREAM 
407 
Tussle With A 520 Pound Tuna 
By L. Mitchell-Henry, Winner “Forest and Stream’’ Trophy. 
Montreal, Sept. 8, 1914. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There is no reason why Tuna fishing as a 
sport should not be as popular on the Atlantic 
coast as it is on the Pacific. It is true that the 
Atlantic Tuna is a very much larger and more 
powerful fish than that frequenting the waters 
at Catalina Island, as I believe the largest 
taken there, up to date, with rod and line, to be 
251 pounds, whereas a fish of this weight would 
be considered a small one for an Atlantic fish. 
Some eight (8) years ago I first heard of the 
attempts that had been made to capture these 
monsters with rod and line, and it has always 
been my ambition to try for them, and, having 
had a good deal of experience in the playing 
of big fish in Florida during the past quarter 
of a century, I always intended to make use of 
the first opportunity to make an attempt at cap¬ 
turing some of these, the biggest of all game 
fish. It is fairly generally known that up to 
now only one sportsman has succeeded in bring¬ 
ing any of these fish to the gaff, and only 
about four (4) or five (5) have been landed 
with rod and line in some eight ( 8 ) or nine (9) 
years. As an opportunity presented itself this 
year and I was able to get away for about a 
fortnight, I determined to try my luck and after 
much investigation and inquiry I ascertained 
that the most accessible place where Tuna were 
to be found was at Port Medway, N. S., and 
so I went there at the end of August for ex¬ 
perience and to see what improvements could 
be made in the tackle, which I had designed for 
the purpose, and what existed there in the way 
of boats, boatmen, etc. I found the proprietor 
of Great Island, which is an island situated in 
the Bay opposite Port Medway, had all that was 
necessary in the way of skiffs, motorboats, boat¬ 
men and tackle (though this latter I had of my 
own) and has a most comfortable bungalow 
with accommodation for at least twelve (12) 
guests, so I had no difficulty or delay in getting 
out to work (and it is work) the morning after 
my arrival. 
That it is a place for Tuna is shown by the fact 
that the owner has, himself, hooked quite twen¬ 
ty-five (25), and fifty-four (54) have been hook¬ 
ed by guests staying there in the last two years, 
but up to my visit none had been landed. 
There was also a handsome trophy offered 
by Forest and Stream for the capture o'f the 
first Tuna by a registered guest at the “Inn.” 
The second day I was out I was lucky enough 
to land the first Tuna ever landed there, or any¬ 
where else, I believe, on the Atlantic coast, ex¬ 
cepting Cape Breton. After a most sporting 
tussle, extending over four (4) hours in a very 
nasty sea, I succeeded in bringing it to the gaff. 
I don’t think we could have held out much long¬ 
er as the waves were breaking over us, and it 
was only with much skill that the boatmen kept 
the boat head on as much as possible to the 
sea, in spite of the fact that the fish was going 
round the boat in immense but ever decreas¬ 
ing circles; 1 got in line when I could and grad¬ 
ually got it closer to the boat, but still it circled 
around with its side uppermost, seemingly with¬ 
out any exertion: when about fourteen (14) feet 
away (that is: the 12 ft. wire leader was well 
up to the point of the rod) it came straight to 
the boat, which was then broadside and on drop¬ 
ping the rod I seized the wire leader and drew it 
in, and as the fish floated up, one of the boat¬ 
men gaffed it, while the other stuck it with a 
knife in the throat. 
I had always been led to believe that it was 
not possible to land an Atlantic Tuna from an 
c-pen boat in the open sea, but this is a mistake. 
We did not have any great difficulty as the fish 
was so dead beat that it never moved after be¬ 
ing gaffed. We got it into the skiff, after a 
hard struggle on account of the heavy waves, 
with the assistance of the motorboat, which was 
standing by all the time, and towed it home and 
across the bay to the port, where the natives 
met us on landing—the news of the capture hav¬ 
ing preceded us—and it was carried to the 
weighing machine (Standard) .and accurately 
weighed, and pronounced 520 lbs. It was 8 feet 
5 inches long and 5 feet 6 inches girth. 
On Saturday, September 5, the day I left, I 
landed another after an almost three hours’ fight. 
I hooked it at 7:30 a. m. and brought it to the 
gaff ait about 10:15 a. m., got home at 12 and 
left to catch the train for Halifax at 1:30 p. m., 
leaving my host tied up to another fish, and be¬ 
ing towed away out to sea; I sent a motor- 
boat out to his assistance and left without see¬ 
ing him or the fish which weighed 710 lbs. and 
is the record. 
I would like to mention that I played these 
fish without any assistance from anyone and 
brought them to the gaff myself, after having 
reeled in all the line so that the end of the wire 
leader was at the top of the rod and the line 
could not be further shortened. One of the boat¬ 
men offered to take the rod and give me a rest, 
but I would not avail myself of his offer, for I 
think this should be considered the fight of a 
fish against the man and not a fish against a 
syndicate, and if the man is beaten the fish de¬ 
serves to get off, and it would certainly be no 
satisfaction to me to land one with assistance 
any more than it would be to shoot an animal in 
a trap or with someone else’s help. 
During my short stay of nine (9) days’ 
fishing I hooked two (2) more; in one case the 
hook broke in two in striking, through being too 
hard, and in the other the fish got “foul” of a 
sunken herring net, that was being hauled, one 
end was already on board the boat and the other 
anchored to the bottom; the fish went under the 
boat and net, and taking a turn came over the 
sunken part of the net, taking out nearly three 
hundred (300) yards of line at terrific speed; 
luckily the wire leader gave way so that I did 
not lose my line. 
I also had two (2) more “strikes” in the 
first days, but the hook and bait were hauled 
out of the fish’s mouth owing to the bait being 
put on on an altogether wrong principle, with 
the hook inside the bait and the chain bunched 
up losely inside the mouth of the bait; this, 
and many other defaults and weaknesses of 
tackle I remedied and I think I now have got 
for certain what is required. Needless to say, 
these long fights and such terrific and ever-in¬ 
creasing strains will find out any weak spots, 
and only one is enough. 
From the above it will be seen that this sport 
is quite a possible one, and that the only two 
(2) fish I really hooked, I landed, and it is up 
to some sportsman to land a thousand pounder, 
and I feel confident that it will be done, for the 
fish are there, and this sport is at present in its 
infancy. 
I consider the “Inn” at Port Medway an ideal 
place for headquarters; it is situated on the Bay 
and I have seen from the veranda numbers of 
Tuna passing within a few yards of the shore. 
Bait is plentiful and there are numerous bays 
co visit, so that when it is rough in one, another 
can be gone to. The local fishermen, too, are 
keenly interested in the sport, and go out of 
cheir way to bring information where the Tuna 
or Albacore (as they are known locally) are 
seen. The Tuna appear with faithful regularity 
from August to October, and there is certainly 
no difficulty in hooking any number. The strain 
o'f fighting one of these fish is immense, and un¬ 
less physically fit, it would be useless to expect 
to land one; though even if unsuccessful in 
landing one, there is much sport to be had in 
fighting one, as long as one is able. The fish 
must be fought from start to finish wthout any 
“let-up,” as the moment it gets any slack line 
to get its head down it will “sound” and no 
tackle on earth will stop it, then comes the ex¬ 
ertion of “pumping” back line by inches at a 
time. They should also be played to a finish 
before any attempt is made to gaff them and 
the best place for the gaff is in the eye, and 
it is easy to place the gaff there if everyone 
keeps cool; then when the head is held up, it 
has no strength left in the tail to do any 
“shower bathing.” 
I will always treasure the handsome trophy, 
so sportingly presented by Forest and Stream, 
and each time I look at it I will be vividly re¬ 
minded of my tussles, from the first of which 
I ached all over for three (3) days. 
I should have mentioned that both my fish 
were hooked outside of the mouth, which may 
account for the hard fight they put up and also 
for the constant circling. With one of the two 
fish, the wire got round one of the side fins, 
which had split and the first sight we got of the 
fish when it came to the surface was a forked 
fin which made me think I had got hold of a 
new and strange fish. On this occasion I had 
only one man in the boat with me, which is 
quite sufficient, unless under exceptional circum¬ 
stances of weather. I would also strongly rec¬ 
ommend a revolving chair, as used at most 
other places for big game fish, as then it would 
not be necessary for the boatmen to keep pulling 
the boat round and round, if it is the usual 
practice of these fish to circle, which I am in¬ 
clined to think it is. 
I will be glad to give anyone who contem- 
(Continued on page 423.) 
