Aug. x, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
181 
Fishing at Santa Catalina Island. 
Avalon, Cal., July 18. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Regarding the sporting aspect of the 
admission of Clemente records, on a parity with 
those honestly made under the wording of the 
Light Tackle Club’s rule “in the waters of 
Santa Catalina Island,” there seems to be room 
for criticism, and although the resident officers 
of the club seem to be for it, there are plenty 
of others who protest against it as placing a 
further and unnecessary premium upon the rich 
sportsman to whom money is no object; while 
those who have worked hard for gold buttons 
and won them are not altogether rejoicing at 
the daily grist of these highest trophies that is 
being ground out by the Clemente cup chasers, 
parties of whom are leaving every night of late. 
As long as the catches are weighed in, it is 
hard to blame them for taking advantage of the 
opportunity which certainly exists; in fact, it 
may with safety be said that never before in 
the history of Catalina Island have the rod and 
reel men brought in such numbers of yellow- 
tail weighing thirty pounds or better. 
When Alfred L. Beebe went across the outer 
Santa Barbara Passage to Gallegos on Clemente 
and took a qSHLpounder, the angling fraternity 
generally heaved a sigh of relief. That catch 
settled the competition for the season with little 
need to bother any more about the yellowtail 
class. The fraternity is about sighed out now. 
The last feeble grasp came recently when 
W. W. Simpson, of London, a genial Briton, 
brought over and weighed in from the east end 
of San Clemente the biggest yellowtail ever 
taken on rod and reel. Several hours after 
being caught this immense fish weighed 6 o l / 2 
pounds. “From what I have seen of Yankee 
pluck and perseverance, I feel that my record 
will not be allowed to stand long,” has been 
Simpson’s reply to all who have congratulated 
him. There is no authentic instance of a larger 
one. Yet the fish appeared to be in his prime. 
He lacked the split tail rays, and the generally 
debilitated appearance that usually goes with 
an old fish. 
Simpson had a memorable battle with his fish. 
George Michaelis was his boatman, and from 
sundry previous bouts with yellowtail, the angler 
was badly crippled. His right forefinger was 
hors du combat , and his thumb had been scalped 
a little, hardly the condition one would choose 
to meet such an opponent. Furthermore, the 
big yellowtail struck at and missed the flying 
fish, snagging the hook into the junction of his 
ventral fins, which unusual hold may or may 
not have been the reason why the fish put up 
a slow, methodical fight, so utterly unlike the 
run of his kind, even at Clemente, that both men 
felt sure it was a black sea bass. So convinced 
was Simpson that he besought Michaelis to take 
the rod and land the creature just to get rid 
of it, but George wisely refused, and when the 
fish finally came into sight both were glad of 
it. The foul hooking might have had a ten¬ 
dency to turn the fish over and thus kill him off 
quicker, but surely no experienced angler would 
prefer it to a mouth hold, and the time, fifty 
minutes, indicates that the individual was no 
exception to the general rule that at Clemente 
at least the big yellowtail do not put up as 
desperate a battle as at some other places. 1 hey 
show another coloring and appear to be a slightly 
different species, more like the Florida amber- 
jacks. Their weight is greater in proportion 
to their length, and the greatest girth is rather 
further forward. 
Not everyone who has gone to Clemente has 
returned with a gold button, but the majority 
have. Henry W. Coomber came back one night 
with a 46-pounder and another slightly smaller, 
while Herman Heinchen, who landed thirteen, 
had a pair of 38-pounders; one weighed over 
40 when taken. Samuel A. Barron caught one 
of 44^4 pounds. He also took a 107-pound black 
sea bass on nine-ounce gear and nine-thread line. 
Beebe and Wm. M. Hunt, Jr., got gold buttons; 
Beebe on his 48k2-pounder, Hunt on his 43- 
pounder. Simpson’s 6 o‘ 4 -pounder earns him a 
gold button, a dozen cups, rods and other prizes 
going with it unless someone beats it before 
the summer is out. Gifford Pinchot, E. PI. 
Brewster and L. G. Murphy have also taken gold 
button yellowtail of over 40 pounds weight. 
Incidentally the gold star special button of 
the Rod and Reel Club is not proving the im 
possible thing to win that some who objected 
to the high weight-scale predicted. Barron, 
Coomber and Heinchen all have qualified for 
it on Clemente yellowtail. Beside these the 
regular blue buttons have been awarded to A. 
M. Morse and S. A. Barron, the latter having 
taken a 40-pound white sea bass on Three-Six 
tackle earlier in the season. 
L. G. Murphy, the veteran, and A. W. Hooper, 
vice-president of the Aransas Pass Tarpon Club, 
are at Clemente after record fish. Murphy has 
the black sea bass record, 436 pounds. He makes 
his own rods out of second growth hickory, and 
is a left-handed fisherman of the aggressive 
school, verily “fighting his fish” from strike to 
gaff. He, too, has just taken a gold button, 
his first, at Clemente. 
The conditions at Clemente are not bad for 
rod and reel fishing, there being plenty of places 
around the east end of the island where the 
kelp is scattered. The run across from Avalon 
takes five or six hours in good weather, as good 
weather goes in that channel. In bad it is neces¬ 
sary to run far out of the course. The best 
way to go about it is to emulate Forester 
Gifford Pinchot, who has the lighthouse tender 
Madrono at his command and lives on her, 
fishing from launches which can be picked up 
and carried about on the tender’s davits if the 
Fred T. Mapes... 
P. J. Muldoon... 
Chas. T. Champi 
George Endersby 
J Doughty . 
Jacobus . 
Bennett . 
George Moore .. 
Buchan . 
largest trunk cabin cruising boats alone should 
attempt the channel. Most of the anglers leave 
about midnight after the swell has quieted down 
somewhat, and aim to arrive off Gallegos before 
daylight, steering a compass course and fishing 
about three hours, then running back home 
again, leaving the east end not later than 10 
o’clock. Flyingfish are the only bait used, and 
the yellowtail are so hungry and savage that 
they will pounce upon the bait in droves, a 
strike being almost certain every time a bait is 
let down, and small fish being scarce. 
The Tuna Club house was opened last Monday 
night informally and has attracted favorable 
comment from all who have been inside it. The 
furnishings are rather elaborate and decidedly 
comfortable, even to luxury. The locker room 
and bedrooms above, the float, porches and a 
number of other features commend themselves 
to the visiting angler. Col. Dan M. Burns could 
not be on hand for the opening, which was a 
source of general regret. 
Commodore Potter and my wife and I put 
in Wednesday with the big rock bass around 
Ship Rock and Long Point. Francis J. Rabbeth, 
the veteran inventor, who has patented a num¬ 
ber of devices of great value to anglers and 
riflemen generally, and General Duryea, were 
alongside us a great deal of the time. Rabbeth 
is a great man to experiment. He would rather 
catch one fish in a new way than a dozen by the 
old methods. This time he had a cane pole 
about six feet long, equipped with a pulley end- 
guide, and furnished with a large German silver 
wheel reel some nine inches in diameter. Big 
bass are the rule. 
Thus far the biggest yellowtail taken on Three- 
Six gear is Samuel A. Barron’s 34j4-pcmnder, 
caught off Clemente. A. K. Goodwin got one 
of second degree size also on a six-ounce elm 
rod. The use of elm is something new at Cata¬ 
lina. Chappie the boatman corraled a large 
plank of it that had been lying around for ten 
years or more and made some rods out of it 
which he thinks are the real thing. All of the 
boatmen have made rods of this soft stuff since, 
some of which seem to stand up surprisingly 
well, although I cannot say I think much of elm 
as rod stock. Edwtn L. Hedderly. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
The July contest was held on Weequahie 
Lake, Newark, N. J., on the 21st. Three of 
the four events scheduled for that day were 
finished on the installment plan; that is, a few 
casts were made, then all hands grabbed rods 
and coats and ran to the nearest shelter, pursued 
by a deluge of rain. This running back and 
forth and casting continued all afternoon. The 
fourth event was won by a swarm of mos 
quitoes which drove all hands out of the park. 
Event 1 was accuracy casting with half-ounce 
weights, three casts at each distance, 60, 70, 80, 
90 and 100 feet. 
Per- 
60ft. 
70 ft. 
80ft. 
90ft. 
100ft. Demerits. centage. 
. 1 2 
5 
1 
5 
4 
0 0 1 
5 
1 5 
3 
4 4 
41 
97 4-15 
. 2 6 
0 
1 
2 
0 
3 8 2 
7 
4 2 
7 
0 5 
49 
96 11-15 
. 0 1 
1 
3 
3 
0 
7 1 2 
5 
5 1 
12 
7 3 
51 
96 9-15 
. 0 8 
1 
0 
1 
3 
4 8 8 
1 
1 8 
5 
4 1 
53 
96 7-15 
. 3 1 
3 
4 
1 
•» 
O 
1 0 3 
12 
0 2 
i 
4 7 
53 
96 7-15 
. 1 0 
3 
5 
5 
2 
0 14 5 
3 
5 4 
7 
3 1 
58 
96 2-15 
. 1 0 
2 
5 
0 
4 
5 5 10 
15 
3 12 
8 
6 20 
96 
93 9-15 
. 4 5 
5 
3 
5 
3 
9 9 5 
6 
8 15 
o 
7 5 
114 
92 6-15 
. 5 4 
6 
1 
5 
12 2 3 
15 
7 5 
8 20 20 
118 
92 2-15 
. 6 1 
7 
1 
5 
3 
5 13 5 
20 
w. 
That 
failing, 
the 
Event 2 
was 
distance 
casting 
with 
half-ounce 
weights, the average of five casts to count: 
Average, 
George Endersby. 
Fred T. Mapes... 
Perry Frazer . 
P. J. Muldoon. So 
Jacobus .D5 
J Doughty .120 
C. T. Champion. SO 
Connenpen .110 
L. S. Darling. 
Bennett ." 
Single hand fly-casting for distance, the best 
cast in five minutes’ time to count: 
Feet. Feet. 
Perrv Frazer . 98 T. Doughty . «4 
I.. S. Darling. 911 P. J. Muldoon... *_«< 
Fred T Mapes. SO Chas. T. Champion.. uS 
150 
155 
155 
165 
146 
feet. 
154 1-5 
146 
153 
145 
145 
140 
147 4-5 
*■>0 
147 
148 
*125 
155 
119 
85 
120 
125 
110 
IPS 
109 3-5 
115 
105 
115 
110 
*35 
96 
120 
*35 
150 
*95 
*35 
87 
SO 
85 
*60 
80 
115 
84 
110 
115 
*35 
*35 
90 
77 
no 
* 
* 
* 
