FOREST AND STREAM 
597 
oarsmanship could have steered away from ship¬ 
wreck on ravening reef if the long reach of line 
remained out. 
How the strength of the tunny made the line 
bite into the coil! and threatened to jam and 
force the angler to pay out, because if it 
jammed, the line would surely break, or the rod 
be torn from Laurie’s hands. 
That’s a test of the eye and trial of the wrist 
and thumb as the rawhide snub smoked, spit and 
snored over the running line. (cf. Oppian, 
Holder and others.) 
Then as if ’twere realized that the attack had 
failed the tunny turned and made for the open 
ocean out beyond Southwest Breaker Buoy, and 
then doubling took a five mile run to Port Med¬ 
way Ledges. 
Holder records a “tunna” fish that towed the 
boat twenty miles, and yet the Catalina record 
is 251 pounds. 
How the churning of that great forked tail 
vibrated up the line and down the rod and every 
now and then the tail would strike the tautly 
strung steel wire leader and would send a gal¬ 
vanic thrill through every nerve. You could have 
sounded a note on that line like the tuning of 
the ultra bass of the great viol. 
Have you felt the striped bass rolling over 
and over and over on the sandy ridges as the 
storm drift and spume beat into your face and 
you fought mile after mile down the beach? 
Have you felt that indescribable boring of the 
sulking salmon thrill up the line over the rod 
bowed to breaking point into your very marrow 
after you had chased the salmon miles down the 
river? 
Then for the first time out in deep water the 
fish rested on the water’s surface and the mot¬ 
tled spots and silvered belly floated upward and 
the battle seemed surely nearing end! 
And then they got him nearer as Buzz rowed 
toward the tunny and all the strain road and 
line would stand was used—but Orcynus Thyn- 
nus had gotten a breathing spell and second 
wind and a new flight of miles took place. Long 
stretches of line ran out and were reeled in— 
but all the time the drag on line and boat was 
forced to desperate strain. 
A long line and a short line—long runs—and 
doubles—and the hours passed. Then there was 
no headway on the boat for the fish was swim¬ 
ming in circles around the boat and a word to 
Buzz showed that Larry could tow the fish. But 
the dread slowness of working that fish toward 
the shore, for the motor boat was away over 
toward the Cape. 
Twice or thrice the fish was near enough to 
be gaffed, but both opportunities were lost, as 
Buzz had the oars and Larry held the rod per¬ 
force. Then as they neared the fishing fleet one 
of the men came out in a dory and got into the 
boat to help them, for with such a fish one must 
have the motor boat to gaff or one man at the 
oars and one man with the gaff. 
Now the quarry yielded to the strain and was 
slowly towed to the side of the boat when the 
new man struck the fish with the gaff, tearing 
the side and nerved the tunny to renewed and 
more desperate effort, and again the fight was on. 
Now the fish towed the boat with three men 
and again the old tactics were resorted to, and 
all the efforts made anew until once more Laurie 
brought the fish to the boat when the new man 
gaffed the fish in the eye and as Buzz thrust the 
lance in his gills the tunny gave a violent lunge, 
broke the gaff and renewed his efforts to escape 
with the blood staining the water and foam while 
farther and farther the line ran off the reel. 
But the quarry was now too weak to tow the 
boat and was brought to the boat when he 
sounded and went down and down in the deep 
water, and to bring that huge body to the sur¬ 
face inch by inch, for the rod was sorely tried, 
was no slight task. 
“You can’t kill him, cut the line,” cried both 
men and the fleet for it was getting late on in 
the afternoon. 
“Nothing doing—not for all the King’s horses 
—even if we don’t get home until morning.” 
The great tunny finally floated to the surface 
and with the gaff stuck in him, the one man got 
a bight around his tail and Buzz speared the 
lance through the gills and then got a rope 
through the jaws and the motor boat came up 
and towed all the tired ones and the dead trophy 
to Tuna Inn. 
The fight lasted 814 hours, and the quarry 
when weighed at Port Medway tipped 710 lbs. 
The fish measured in length 10 feet 4 inches, 
and was 7 feet in girth, and must easily have 
weighed before gaffing 750 lbs., and was taken 
with Conroy rod and line and Vom Hofe Atlan¬ 
tic Tuna reel. 
When the Inn was reached Mr. Henry shows 
his tunny weighing 480 lbs., which had taken 
3V2 hours to kill. 
Truly a world’s record and wonderful sport. 
But there are larger tunny at Tuna Island! 
And there they will break all records and 
make truth out of ancient legends. 
And so after the quest when the night falls we 
lounge in the spacious hall of Tuna Inn before 
the great fireplace with its crackling logs and 
sinking deep in the easy chairs watch the drifting 
smoke from cigar and pipe. The news columns 
or magazines slip from hand to floor—well fed 
and well served with pleasant beds to sleep in 
and anticipations of the morrow and of another 
year—we murmur to contented hearts—“ ‘Tis 
au legere—for the sports of to-morrow!” 
But a word of the Host: Laurie D. Mitchell is 
one of the best known sportsmen in Nova Scotia. 
A great moose hunter and an expert caller. A 
salman angler par excellence and a sure shot 
with the rifle and gun. An advanced leader in 
the fishing for the great tunny of the Atlantic 
Ocean. 
At Tuna Tnn the sportsman will find an out¬ 
fit the result of much thought, time and money 
awaiting him for an expenditure well within the 
means of the most moderate desire of the visit¬ 
ing angler. Motor and fishing boats, experienced 
guides and carefully selected tackle if you do 
not bring your own along. 
Moose you can get with Laurie on the main¬ 
land. Salmon and trout you can get in the rivers, 
and ducks, snipe and shore birds on the island; 
sans ceremonie and yet every service of napery 
and bath. Without exposure, without distress 
or fatigue or even discomfort—Au Legere! 
A LOCH LEVEN TROUT. 
Branford, Conn., August 21, 1914. 
Editor, Forest and Stream: 
At the suggestion of one of your loyal sub¬ 
scribers, Mr. Alfred E. Hammer, of Branford, 
I am sending you, herewith, a photograph of 
a trout taken by me on my vacation. This fish 
was taken at Little Averill Lake, in Averill, Ver¬ 
mont, on July 31st. This lake is supposed to 
contain Landlock Salmon, some Golden Trout 
and some Square-tailed Trout, but this fish did 
not seem to belong to any of these varieties. 
At the Camp (C. N. Quimby’s Cold Spring 
Camp), where we stopped, they classified this. 
as a Loch Leven Trout. This variety is new 
to us and I am interested to have this name con¬ 
firmed. 
I would describe the fish as follows: the back 
was a very dark green, the body shading to a 
beautiful gold on the belly. The sides were 
well covered with very brilliant red .spotting. 
The photograph shows how numerous the spots 
were but does not show the beautiful gleam that 
the fish had when it first came out of the water. 
The photograph was taken on the morning fol¬ 
lowing the catch and, of course, the fish lost 
much of the brilliant markings by laying through 
the night in the coolers. 
The fish was taken while trolling with min¬ 
now for lure and was hooked at 5.40 o’clock 
P. M. He proved to be very gamey indeed, 
and it was 6.30 o’clock before he was landed 
in the boat and at that time appeared to have 
fight left in him. His weight was 5 pounds. 
The dark lines, shown on the photograph, from 
the gills was a trickle of bloody water which 
was running down and which we failed to wipe 
off just before the camera was snapped. 
H. E. THATCHER. 
[The Loch Leven was imported from Scot¬ 
land and is found in many New England streams. 
—Editor.) 
