940 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 12, 1909. 
rate class from those taken in the waters 
around Catalina. In case an angler takes both 
varieties of fish that would entitle him to a 
gold medallion for each, he will be awarded but 
one, and that for the first prize fish recorded. 
The gold prizes will be awarded at the end of 
the season. A. P. B. 
Fishing ai Caialina Island. 
Avalon, Cal., June 3. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Only a few days of fair weather in¬ 
tervene before the opening of the angling sea¬ 
son. The fish already are here and have been 
on hand for a month, but an almost unbroken 
succession of heavy fogs and dark, cool morn¬ 
ings brought with it the usual effect, the fish 
being disposed to feed only at rather rare in¬ 
tervals. Some fine sea bass have been landed, 
the most remarkable achievement to date being 
Alfred L. Beebe’s capture of a 46j4-pounder 
on Three-Six tackle in Goat Harbor last week. 
Mr. Beebe, who is president of the Light Tackle 
Club, has gone to Aransas Pass, Texas, to join 
the California anglers’ colony now there, con¬ 
sisting of L. G. Murphy of jewfish fame and 
"Hard Luck” Hooper. 
Quite a number of sea bass of over forty 
pounds weight have been taken on heavy tackle. 
'I'he other day one was brought in by a man in 
a skiff, fishing at Sugar Loaf Reef. Being alone 
the captor had his hands full managing fish and 
boat single-handed. Owing to a law recently 
passed, making it a misdemeanor to take fish 
for sale within a mile of any sewer, all seining 
has been stopped in Avalon Bay. As a result 
the bay is well stocked with sardines. 
Last Friday afternoon L. P. Streeter qualified 
in the Three-Six Club after working faithfully 
over a year. The yellowtail weighed 20% pounds 
and so well satisfied was Mr. Streeter with it 
that Saturday night he gave a dinner to a few 
friends to commemorate the occasion. A letter 
from A. W. Hooper, at Aransas Pass, was read. 
Some forty button tarpon have been taken on 
light tackle there thus far and the Catalina nine- 
ounce rod, nine-thread line movement has proved 
itself quite equal to the demands made upon it. 
A Mrs. O’Mara took two gold button tarpon 
six feet long or over. Messrs. Streeter and 
Beebe took along their six-ounce rods- and pro¬ 
pose to give the Three-Si.x a good try-out on 
the gulf tarpon. 
The yellowtail are beginning to take hold at 
Clemente. Jacob Poundstone last week landed 
a pair of black sea bass and several good sized 
yellowtail. The weather is a little unsettled as 
yet, but ten days more ought to see it well es¬ 
tablished and the trip worth while. 
Small fishing is becoming much more popular 
here, as anglers generally learn the possibilities 
of the six-ounce rod. This is virtually black 
bass tackle, and a five-pound rock bass offers a 
stirring battle when hooked upon it. Hitherto 
an obstacle to the development of the sport of 
bait-casting for rock bass along shore in the 
kelp beds has l)een the lack of a killing, weed¬ 
less artificial bait. Last Thursday E. P. Abbott 
and I left San Pedro soon after daylight with 
Dr. H. C. Royer in his launch to try out some¬ 
thing novel the doctor has been working on 
several years and finally has patented. It is a 
wooden minnow', ballasted beneath with sunken 
lead plugs, provided with one propeller at the 
tail and a single 6/0 O’Shaughnessy hook just 
behind. Glass eyes and four coats of enamel, 
green above and white beneath, make the bait 
an excellent imitation of an anchovy, the prin¬ 
cipal food of the bass. In a couple of hours we 
caught twenty-two rock bass weighing up to- 
seven pounds and one barracuda. A number of 
the bass were taken still-fishing with the minnow 
dangling beneath a hundred feet or so which 
was a revelation to me„ as I supposed motion 
W'as essential to success with any artificial lure, 
excepting, of course, an occasional freak strike 
that one will get on a still lure. 
A number of Eastern plug baits have been 
tried for bass, but have proved impracticable. 
The bass strike at some of them freely enough, 
but their strong jaws and sharp teeth lacerate 
the baits beyond further use, tear off the triple 
hooks and make the sport too expensive. 
Quite a few yellowtail were brought into 
Avalon Sunday. Albacore are not to be had 
and their whereabouts is a mystery. Tuna are 
reported off China Point, San Clemente. 
Edwin L. Hedderly. 
Proposed Nag’s Head Preserve. 
Raleigh, N. C., June 3. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: A movement is on foot to preserve 
everything at Nag’s Head, including the splen¬ 
did forests which fill the valleys and the hills 
of that country of sand dunes. This forest was 
about to be cut for lumber, but this destruction 
has lieen temporarily slop()ed, pending negotia¬ 
tions for the purchase of the place including 
fresh water lakes which lie in the narrow strip 
of sand there not over a mile wide and which 
separates the ocean from the sounds. A Raleigh 
sportsman spent two days at the fresh water lakes 
and caught fifty-two black bass and said he had 
observed nets hidden in the dense shrubs near 
the lake. He says a caretaker is greatly needed 
and that unless strict watch is kept, poachers 
will catch every fish out of this wonderful sheet 
of water. The largest bass he took weighed 
three and a half pounds. Residents have told 
me there are bass in the lake weighing ten 
pounds and more. The Raleigh sportsman says 
he is confident it is the best fishing place in the 
State for bass. Fred A. Olds. 
Leaders Without Knots. 
Within a year a substitute for silkworm gut 
has been placed on the market and has been tried 
by anglers on both sides of the Atlantic. Just 
what the material is the manufacturer does not 
say. but it resembles gut so closely that at first 
sight one is inclined to believe it is stained gut. 
It has no gloss, which gives it the appearance 
of some of the lon,g strands of Japanese gut 
which are stained in a crude way to kill the 
natural lustre. 
The leaders made from this material have no 
knots save those used to form the loops at the 
ends, or for droppers. Just how long the strands 
can be made without knots we do not know, 
Init those supplied to the trade are made up into 
leaders in three, six and nine foot lengths, all 
without knots, and they are very smooth and 
perfect in form. In sizes they are about equal 
to gut. Some we have measured are .0,30 inch 
in diameter, which is considerably larger than 
any salmon gut. The next size calipers .022- 
inch, about equal to Imperial. From this they 
decrease to trout size, say .007-inch, fine enough 
for all ordinary fishing where undrawn gut is 
employed. 
All of the leaders are made of two or three 
strands, twisted hard and resembling cable-laid 
cord. Each leader is of uniform size through¬ 
out if made without knots, but some are made 
up from three or four sizes in order to secure 
a nice taper. One of these examined, a seven¬ 
teen-foot salmon leader, consisted of five feet 
.022-inch in diameter, six feet a trifle smaller, 
and six feet .013-inch in diameter. It had two 
knots. Another leader, thirteen feet long, with 
two knots, tapered from .017 to .011 inch. 
The color varies. Some leaders are pale pur¬ 
ple or lilac, others slate or grayish. The color 
is flat, without sheen. These leaders seem very 
strong, and it is claimed they are superior to 
gut in this respect. How they compare with gut 
in wearing qualities remains to be learned. If 
anything, they seem to be a trifle less wiry than 
gut, and if this increases with soaking, it may 
be a fault. 
Fishing at New Orleans. 
New Orleans, La., June 5. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The game cemmission has been presented 
with an 8-pound spoonbill catfish caught at Mor¬ 
an eight-pound spoonbill catfish caught at Mor¬ 
gan City, and it adorns the walls of the offices 
of the commission, being properly preserved with 
chemicals. President Frank M. Miller says,that 
Louisiana practically supplies the entire country 
with “Russian” caviar, which sells for $1.50 a 
pound. This caviar is made from the roe of 
the spoonbill cat and canned with the Russian 
label and inscription. President Miller is the 
authority for the statement that the general pub¬ 
lic does not know the difference and believes 
this delightful diet comes from Russia. 
The fishing season is on in all its glory now and 
hundreds of sportsmen are catching green trout 
with rod, hook and line at the various places 
near New Orleans and resorts. The case be¬ 
fore the courts testing the Marston amendment 
in reference to catching green trout with rod, 
hook and line, has been appealed to the higher 
court. The lower court decided that the amend-- 
ment could be enforced. F. G. G. 
Atlantic Tuna. 
New York City, June 2.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: In your issue of May 22 I noticed 
mention of my name in connection with the 
great tuna of the North Atlantic coast and wish 
to say that I have had no experience with this 
fish as yet. The only man I know of who has 
hooked and fought this greatest of game fishes 
is J. K. L. Ross, of Montreal. Mr. Ross’s ex¬ 
periences prove this tuna to be, far away, the 
hardest fighter and the largest of American game 
fish and I am glad to see that Mr. Ross is to 
tell your readers about those he has hooked. 
Wm. E. Carlin. 
All the dsh lazus of the United States and 
Canada, reznsed to date and nozu in foree, are 
given in the Game Lazos in Brief. See adv. 
