VOL. LXXXV 
JUNE, 1915 
No. 6 
Taking Giants of the Sea on Rod and Line 
The Sport of Great Tunny Fishing on Atlantic Seaboard one that Calls for Nerve, Skill and Daring— 
An Expert Article on Tackle and Methods 
“Whose angle rod was made of sturdy oak; 
For line, a cable that in storm ne’er broke; 
His hook was such as heads the end of pole, 
To pluck down houses ere fire consumes it whole. 
And then on a rock he stood to bob for whale, 
This hook was baited with a dragon’s tail.” 
And now that we have reached what bids fair 
to be the last word in deep sea angling—the kill¬ 
ing of the Orcymts. Thynnus (the Great Tunny 
of the Atlantic on pirn and thread)—I have the 
privilege to venture some information while the 
sport is in its infancy. , 
In writing of tackle for this quarry I would 
borrow Horace Kephart’s phrase—“It must have 
killing power.” 
We have not yet reached where we can recom¬ 
mend with surety, but only speak of trials had, 
and of more experiments to come when we have 
the chance. 
As Forest and Stream in advising the sports¬ 
men blazes the trail and marks the chart—name 
of tackle dealer, the location of the water- 
reaches and the place to go is given without 
stint. 
But under the law of the kill, the chase must 
be under conditions that will afford “good hunt¬ 
ing” and insure good sport. 
This requires that the quarry be given a fight¬ 
ing chance. 
’Tis the law that favors scale, claw and hoof. 
In “Praxis of Salmon Angling,” it is written, 
the “smaller the fly—the thinner the cast, the 
daintier the kill.” No. 8 fly with filamentous cast, 
a light 15 feet rod and a twelve pound salmon- 
may well be considered the ultimate of fly-fishing. 
“The Boy” (my grandson) however says that 
his photograph evidences and emphasizes the last 
By E. J. Myers. 
word—which was of a 29 pound salmon that took 
a No. 8 Myers fly (Forrest tie) at 11 o’clock of a 
starless night and was landed by “The Boy.” 
Forest and Stream prints the picture. 
’Tis the quartering grouse and not the bird 
on the bough—the sky-rocketing cock and not 
while plucking in the marsh—the brant hurtling 
against the spume and the wrack of the gale and 
not while swimming ’mid the decoys. 
It’s the deer crashing through the brush at for¬ 
est edge and not while drinking at the marge— 
sheep leaping in panic—racing through the brok¬ 
en rock for the canyon. 
And when the game falls to such a shot—these 
afford some illustrations of “the fighting chance” 
that make for the summum bonum of sport and 
causes the last red corpuscle to glow when we 
cast the lure in the Pool of Memory or dream of 
the glance down the barrel as the smoke curls 
at winter’s fireside. 
So we bar the harpoon, gun and lance in the 
hunt for the Great Tunny of the Atlantic. 
Equipment of boat and tackle and competent 
guides, full and adequate, are needed for this 
muscle and nerve-straining sport and those that 
will not fail at that. 
The great tunnies prey upon and follow the 
huge runs of herring that strike in the bays 
of Newfoundland and Labrador in early July 
and which later on toward the middle of August 
and September follow the schools of herring 
southward down the coast of Cape Breton and 
Nova Scotia where the largest of the Great Tun¬ 
nies— i. e., between 700 and 1,000 pounds, and of 
gigantic dimensions and game quality, make their 
appearance. These are the “Herring Hounds” of 
the Labrador Shores—the “Horse Mackerel” of 
the coast farther south. 
Further south off Block Island and thence 
down the Jersey Coast, the Tunnies appear in Au¬ 
gust and September but only run from about 
50 pounds to 125 pounds in weight. 
I believe, after trying off Port-au-Basque and 
Hermitage Bay in Newfoundland, after trying 
at St. Anne’s Bay on the Cape Breton coast, in 
all of which places I have seen the Great Tunnies 
in large schools, that the best grounds are off 
Port Medway, Nova Scotia. 
Lines. 
Lines which up to date have proven fairly ade¬ 
quate are made of 42 Thread American Stand¬ 
ard “Atlantic Coast Line,” or 60 stock line Eng¬ 
lish Standard size and woven from the best 
hemp or flax. Three hundred yards in length 
is the shortest line and that’s but scant measure 
for the bullet-like flight of the fish when the 
barb strikes deep. We, Laurie Mitchell and I, 
used a double stretch of the 42 or 36 thread line 
of about 100 feet in length for towing purposes 
leaving about 800 feet of line available on the 
reel for running in playing the fish. 
The Tuna Club of Catalina, California, em¬ 
ploys a No. 50:1 line of flax (corresponding 
to our 24 thread) and grey in color, made by 
Bernard & Son, for angling where the Tuna hard¬ 
ly runs over 250 pounds and I expect to try that 
line next September at Port Medway. 
But I am going to see what can be done with 
a special flax 21 thread line of 500 yards that 
Forrest & Son of Kelso, Scotland, are making 
for me. With Laurie Mitchell at the oars, I 
am going to see whether that line will give the 
