500 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Sept. 26, 1908. 
tunas had arrived and several were caught. Mr. 
Jordan happened to be there at the time. 
Another letter reported a big school off Long 
Island, another off Norway. The Tuna Club, of 
Avalon, is thinking of offering the following: 
LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN 
A SCHOOL OF TUNAS. 
May be recognised by piano wire leaders 
nearly all carry. 
ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS 
will be paid and no questions asked for the 
return of the same in good biting humor. 
The fishes for some reason do not come in 
such numbers, and when they do, appear to have 
changed their tastes, though when they were 
here in vast numbers they invariably stopped 
biting on Aug. 15 or thereabouts. The quantity 
of boats, the introduction of “screws” or any¬ 
thing of the kind has nothing to do with it, as 
the tuna pays little or no attention to boats or 
steamers. The fish simply is a wanderer and 
at any time is liable to wander into its old re¬ 
sorts or to appear suddenly as did the yellowfin 
tuna in 1906. 
It is a disappointment to anglers who have 
heard all about the tuna and who see the won¬ 
derful photographs at Avalon, not to find tunas 
biting, but to southern California anglers the 
big tuna does not count for much. No one 
would think of going fishing for them as a 
regular diet. No one would care to kill an 
elephant or a tiger several times a day, and it 
is much easier to kill a tiger from the top of 
a comfortable elephant than to be towed about 
the ocean for hours by a frantic tuna. Tuna 
fishing, namely, for large ones (170 or 250 
pounds) is something to do once or twice or 
so in the season (to be reasonable) to show 
what you can do, but I can hardly imagine any¬ 
one wanting more exercise as a “steady diet”; 
that is, every day, though I must confess I have 
not always restricted myself to my own advice. 
The only member of the Thunnus family that 
can be absolutely depended upon is the long- 
finned tuna or albacore which attains at rare 
intervals a weight of 100 pounds, but averages 
from twenty to thirty. It can be taken by the 
quantity any day or almost any day, spring, sum¬ 
mer and fall and at times in winter. The best 
fish this year weighed sixty pounds or so. This 
and the white sea bass, fifty pounds; yellowtail, 
seventeen to sixty pounds; two bonitos, ten to 
twenty pounds; sheepshead, seven to twelve 
pounds; dolphin, ten to twenty pounds; white- 
fish, seven to fifteen pounds; various rock bass 
and a score of small fry, ranging from two to 
six pounds, constitute the regular catches of ang¬ 
lers to the islands of the Santa Catalina channel, 
and it can be said that they never fail, are con¬ 
stant and ready to be caught at all reasonable 
times, but the big tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ) is 
the reverse. I have seen them luting like a school 
of mackerel, and the next day, though they could 
be seen by thousands, not one would strike the 
most attractive lure. Perhaps some wise angler 
can explain it, but the Tuna Club members 
merely take it philosophically, but they keep 
their tackle ready, and some day suddenly and 
without warning the big flag will be flung to 
the breeze in the picturesque club house and the 
sport of sports will be on again, and it will be 
worth while to see the tunas smash tackle and 
religious convictions unless they have changed. 
In the meantime no one should cross the con¬ 
tinent expecting to surely land a big tuna. Only 
about one angler in twenty ever did when they 
were biting, and only sixty-seven men in the 
Tuna Club have killed a fish over one hundred 
pounds in weight. 
Chas. F. Holder, 
President of Tuna Club. 
A Good Fighter. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have just returned from the land of the 
anglers’ stamping grounds—those who prefer to 
cast a fly with a chance to catch a salmon, 
grilse or trout than to sit in a boat and to jig, 
chum or otherwise angle for sea fish. There 
was a disappointment to the salmon fishermen 
in Newfoundland this season, mostly on ac¬ 
count of the very low water in July and also 
to the fact that the netting at the mouths of 
the rivers has doubled in the last two years. 
My experience this season was that two out of 
five fish taken show net marks. 
I have several letters from fishermen on some 
of the best rivers. Nearly all report the fishing 
poor. Early on the Grand Codroy the fishing 
was fair, Mr. Notman killing eleven salmon in 
June, largest twenty-four pounds. At Platte 
Creek, Hank’s Bay, Mr. Spaulding and party 
reported poor success. I imagine they were 
using too large flies. Mr. Reynolds, on the same 
river, reported from his party on the East River 
good fishing, killing 126 fish. 1 also heard from 
Mr. Carrol, of St. Johns. He has made no 
good catches of salmon, and also stated he had 
information of rivers being poached and netted. 
The fish commission of St. John seems to pass 
the complaints over as a joke, no prosecutions 
having been made against the offending and law¬ 
breaking poacher. It will be no joke to them 
when they realize that thus by their neglect to 
protect some of the best fishing waters in the 
world, the fishermen from England and the 
States will become disgusted and try other 
fields, such as Labrador and the north shore of 
the St. Lawrence, where the salmon fishing has 
been up to its standard. Lady Libbie Gray, the 
Governor’s daughter, stated to me she had killed 
sixty salmon averaging fourteen and one-half 
pounds in seven days at the St. John this season. 
Although I killed but few salmon on the 
river I fish in comparison to past years, still I 
had an experience with a large fish which to 
the mind of an angler fully repaid me for my 
outing to Newfoundland. I hooked a fish in 
what I call the Camp Pool—water dark and 
heavy—at 10:20 A. M. and did not succeed in 
getting him to gaff till 2:15 P. M. Thinking 
he was foul hooked, after playing him two 
hours, making rushes of from forty to sixty yards 
on several occasions, and leaving the water with 
big leaps seven times, I thought of sending my 
man back to camp for refreshments, when Mr. 
Brown, of Auburn, an ardent fisherman, offered 
to act in his stead. He returned in about twenty 
minutes with the needed supplies, and seeing I 
looked a little tired, he proposed to go back and 
bring a camp cot. I offered him the rod, he 
declined saying, “That is your fish, but I will 
stay with you the rest of the afternoon to see 
you kill him.” 
I put on all the power the twenty-one-ounce 
rod would stand. The fish was hooked on a 
silver doctor single hook, No. 8. After he had 
struggled for his life for three hours and a 
half, up and down the river, across the pool, 
then back again to his favorite spot—and it 
seemed to get a little rest of a few minutes and 
wind for a fresh rush—he now made a break 
for down stream, using the strength of the cur¬ 
rent and took about eighty yards of line, the 
under line looked very small on the spindle of 
the reel. Before I could get him headed up 
stream he played the same trick for two more 
rushes, taking out from fifty to sixty yards of 
line. 
My guide gaffed him at 2:15 P. M. in deep 
water, still full of life. If he had missed him 
I think he would have lasted half an hour 
longer. I found he had been hooked directly 
under the tongue. Mr. Thorn and myself were 
two of the most astonished fishermen in New¬ 
foundland. He was a beautiful fresh run fish 
and weighed 19J4 pounds. 
Our largest fish was 22 pounds, killed on a 
No. 8 single hook Jock Scott in forty-five 
minutes. Other fish not landed might have 
weighed more, but it is the same bad luck story: 
had on No. 8 double hooks instead of single. 
C. D. B. W. 
Illinois Bait-Casting Club. 
Chicago, Ill., Sept. 15. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The scores made in our club contest 
Sept. 12 were as follows: 
14-ounce. 
14-ounce, Distance. Dry fly. 
Wm. Stanley . 
Acc’v. 
Av. 5 casts. Accuracy 
99.3 
179 4-5 
D. De Garmo. 
98.9 
182 3-5 
99 
VV. J. Jamieson. 
98.fi 
155 2-5 
98 2-5 
O. C. Wehle. 
98.4 
J. W. McFarlin. 
98.4 
i48 3-5 
J M. Ranny . 
98.5 
S3 2-5 
A. D. Whitby. 
98.4 
125 2-5 
J. P. Mohan. 
98.1 
C. II. Matthews. 
97.5 
iis 1-5 
J. Linderman . 
97.0 
98 4-5 
A. Wagner . 
97.8 
W. H. Ball. 
97.9 
W. O. Van Treese. 
97.5 
i75 4-5 
A. B. Berg. 
97.7 
109 4-5 
J. Amman . 
97.3 
108 3-5 
D. L. Rawlins. 
96.5 
98 3-5 
H. E. Rice. 
92.5 
89 
Re-entries: 
Wm. Stanley . 
98.7 
148 1-5 
W. J. Jamieson . 
153 2-5 
97 4-5 
I. W. McFarlin. 
157 3-5 
A. 1). Whitby. 
156 
t . II. Matthews. 
150 3-5 
1. Linderman . 
97.4 
98 2-5 
1. Amman . 
90 1-5 
D. I.. Rawlins. 
97 2-5 
FI. E. Rice. 
92.5 
... 
Visitors: 
M. H. Cooley. 
99.0 
93 3-5 
C. Nordholm . 
153 2-5 
, , 
Mr. Stanley established a new club record of 
99.3 in the half-ounce event. Mr. DeGarmo also 
sets a new high mark for the longest single cast 
in the half-ounce distance with 219 feet. 
Through an error the score of 99, made by 
J. Amman in the one-quarter-ounce event, Aug. 
29, was credited to W. J. Jamieson. The proper 
correction has been made in Mr. Amman’s record. 
The inter-club contest will be held at 10 A. M., 
Sept. 20, at the grounds of the Chicago Fly- 
Casting Club at Garfield Park. 
H. E. Rice, Sec’y. 
Have you read the terms of the Forest and 
Stream prise story contest printed on page 483? 
A splendid opportunity for our readers to make 
the experiences of the vacation season bring in 
substantial returns. 
