June 29, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
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but their action was of doubtful legality, and 
while for a time the sardines were unmolested 
in the bay, now the netting and destruction go 
merrily on. The policy is so short-sighted, 
the ancient one of "killing the goose that lays 
the golden egg.” 
In the late summer when the sardines are 
small, an 8-0 hook is large enough; in fact, it 
is an open question whether all the hooks used 
are not larger than necessary. The hook is 
passed through the mouth of the sardine, out 
one of the gills, carried back to a point about 
two-thirds the length of the bait and passed 
through from one side to the other, leaving- 
point and barb free on one side, with shank 
of hook lying lengthwise along the other. A 
two-inch length of fine soft wire fastened in 
eye of hook is passed around the mouth of the 
bait and drawn tight, thus fastening the sar¬ 
dine in such a manner that it lies straight and 
should run well in the water. 
Since the island was discovered it has been 
a tradition that sardines will not take a hook, 
and when live bait was wanted it has been the 
practice to “snag” them; that is, a heavy line 
carrying several gangs of three large hooks 
would be cast into a school of sardines and 
jerked back sharply, “snagging” perhaps four 
or five at a time. Usually the sardines are 
brought in so mutilated they die quickly. It *is 
a coarse and cruel method of getting bait. 
The other day—to be accurate, Tuesday, June 
11—the tradition was shattered. Two or three 
hundred sardines and many small mackerel were 
taken on hooks in Avalon Bay. The credit of 
the successful device is due to a Japanese at 
Redondo. As it may be equally successful with 
bait in_ other waters, it is worth while to de¬ 
scribe it: 
On a single or double gut leader four or five 
feet in length, hooks about the size of a No. 
4 are attached by their short gut leaders. No 
bait is used, but about the head and upper shank 
of each hook is fastened a bit of colored woolen 
yarn. These wisps of yarn are of different 
! colors, one hook with white, another with red, 
and so on. It is important that they be not too 
large, just two or three strands bent about the 
shank of hook at eye aqd the ends cut about 
one-quarter of an inch in length, leaving hook 
fully exposed. Drop the device in a school of 
sardines and they will strike at both hooks and 
( yarn, sometimes being caught foul, more often 
w'ell hooked. Not infrequently every hook conies 
in with its sardine or small mackerel, and with 
careful handling they can be kept alive a long 
time. 
i he Japanese who makes this outfit at Redondo 
uses small phosphor bronze wire bent in the 
shape of hooks. It is claimed that this- wire if 
kept carefully polished has decidedly more at¬ 
traction than an ordinary hook. 
Albacore, yellowtail and tuna strike hard, 
| almost invariably getting hooked, while sea 
bass may take hold more warily, and in strik¬ 
ing them the hook is jerked from their large 
mouths. In still-fishing both yellowtail and 
white sea bass may take hold very tenderly, 
and they must be allowed runs of ten or fif¬ 
teen feet. Here the instinct of the natural 
fisherman is w-orth a thousand precepts. 
It is not easy to set a large hook with a light 
rod when still-fishing. The fish may get off 
before the flexible rod takes up the slack of 
f the line. When the fish nibbles, the slack must 
I be taken in gently until line is taut, then the 
strike made in.such manner that the shock is 
taken by line and reel rather than by rod, 
immediately opposing the elasticity of the rod 
as the fish makes its rush, 
j _ Still-fishing for any of the large game fish 
is poor sport as compared w r ith trolling; be¬ 
sides, when the fish are hooked forty or fifty 
[ ’ feet deep they seldom make the long, pretty 
runs they make when hooked at the surface. 
The flying fish makes a heavybait, but'it is 
so beautifully proportioned, it glides through 
the water without much drag. At the Avalon 
end of the island sardines are commonly used 
for all four fish; at the Isthmus end, flying 
fish are used in the season. I have fished day 
after day about the Isthmus with both baits, 
having sardines sent up from Avalon. On the 
whole, the wdiite - sea bass and yellowtail 
seemed to prefer the flying fish, possibly be¬ 
cause they were a few hours’* fresher—more 
likely because they abound in those w-aters and 
are the food the fish are looking for. 
With the flying fish the large tuna or tarpon 
hook is used. The hook is probably larger and 
clumsier than should be used with light tackle, 
even though the bait is big, but the hook ques¬ 
tion has not been threshed out by actual ex¬ 
periments. 
rhere arc several ways of attaching the 
flying fish to the hook. One—the simplest—is 
to pass the hook from the under side of head 
through center of flat bony top and go ahead; 
but this carried point of hook so far ahead of 
the long bait that many fish are lost because 
they strike too far back. Another and better 
way is to. pass hook down throat of fish and 
out through belly, and at point about two or 
three inches from mouth, then sew up mouth 
with twine. In this way the bait will troll all 
day without going to pieces, and if a fish 
strikes anywhere near head it is pretty sure to 
WINFIELD T. SHERWOOD. 
The well-known angler who wrote “Camp Don’t Hurry.” 
get hooked. But,' no matter how the bait is 
put on, it is customary, even when trolling 
fast, if any fish but a tuna strikes, to let him 
run ten or twenty feet, so as to be sure he 
gets the bait. He rarely gofges it, but the 
theory is that with so large a bait the fish may 
take hold midway of body or near tail; hence 
it must be given time to shift bait and get hold 
of head. 
Three times out of four the white sea bass 
will grasp a flying fish about midway and 
move off slowly. It is impossible to tell when 
they will turn the bait to swallow it, and until 
they do, any attempt to set the. hook simply 
jerks the bait out of their mouths. Sometimes 
they will strike a second or third time; more 
often they are frightened and move off. The 
best of fishermen cannot tell whether to let 
them run ten feet or forty; it is all guess work. 
Their mouths are so large, and they hold the 
bait so lightly, just squeezing it. that it is-im¬ 
possible to infer from the feel of the line what 
they are doing. 
The yellowtail strike is more businesslike. 
He takes hold good and hard, and moves off 
quite rapidlv. A run of ten feet may be suf¬ 
ficient; in fact, if fishing near kelp it is better 
to strike at once and take chances of failing to 
set hook rather than let them get a good start 
for the kelp. 
Tuna strike at the head, and they nearly 
always get well hooked. If the launch is not 
moving and a tuna takes the flying fish near 
the boat, it is well to let him run a few feet 
to make sure; but there is seldom any fum¬ 
bling about a tuna strike. It pays to keep the 
flying fish on ice. 1 hey cost $1 per dozen, 
and it pays as a matter of economy; but above 
all, the bait will keep fresh days, and if, as 
often happens, the bait fishermen fail to get 
flying fish, one’s sport is not spoiled. 
The flying fish are netted at night, between 
sunset and midnight. During those hours they 
are apt to sweep along shore in the shallow 
coves; a net stretched from, the beach out 
fifty or seventy-five feet stops them, and there 
they struggle,- foolishly trving to force their 
way through the small meshes. Some nights 
the bait-getters take in hundreds in a few 
moments. Again, not a flying fish will strike 
the net, hence the advisability of keeping a 
few dozen on ice. 
At Catalina all the bait is provided by. two 
or three ptofessional fishermen—not the boat¬ 
men. In return the fishermen get the fish 
caught and market them there- or ship them 
to the mainland. This perquisite is a pretty 
good return for the trouble of seining once.or 
twice each morning for sardines. Of course 
the party fishing keeps his catch if he wishes 
to, but beyond now and then a big one for 
mounting, the amateur has no use for the fish 
caught. Arthur Jerome' Eddy. 
The Rod Broke. 
•Chatham, N. Bi, June 17.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Fly-fishing in this part of the province 
is very late. Spring is cold and backward. A 
fiiend and myself were out on the lower part 
of Bartebogue River at the. head of the tide on 
the _ 5th instant. I happened to strike the first 
fishing. Others preceding us by a day or two 
got nothing. My third or fourth cast in the 
best pool got a 2-pound trout. After doing pool 
over once or twice with Parmachene Belle, I 
changed to.a silver doctor. I got hold of a sal¬ 
mon—a rare thing on Bartebogue—not more than 
one or two being caught every three or four 
years, although using a heavy salmon rod, one 
I have used for years. When I struck the rod 
broke in two places. It must have been too dry 
and old or the line got a turn on the tip. How¬ 
ever, I then tried hauling in hand over hand on 
the line, but the gut parted and I lost the line. 
The salmon jumped once or twice after the line 
broke, as a salmon or grilse will do, so I am 
sure, he was a salmon. 
While patching up my rod my friend, Mr. E. 
Johnson, tried in the same place-and hooked 
another salmon and landed it after a while with 
my assistance and a trout landing net, getting 
him into the net head first. It weighed about 
8 pounds. After I got my rod tied together 
I tried again and hooked another fish, a large 
trout, I think, and my old rod broke again at 
one of my splices and he got awa}L This w.'.-s 
a good half day’s fishing, leaving town at 11:45 
A. M. and getting back at 9P. M., driving 
twelve miles there and back. 
James Miller. 
Off for Labrador. 
James J. Hill, George F. Baker, Samuel 
Thorne, George Clark and several other prop ,i- 
. nent financiers left New York city June 21 for 
the St. Lawrence River, where a party of six 
of Mr. Hill’s friends will board his yacht and 
sail for the coast streams of Labrador, there to 
devote two or three weeks’ time in fishing for 
salmon. 
Bluefish in the Shrewsbury. 
The presence of bluefish near the New Jersey 
coast for a short time last week excited the 
fishermen, but it was a surprise to some of them 
to hear that these splendid fish were taken in 
the Shrewsbury River. 
