June 18, igio.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
979 
Tuna at Catalina. 
Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Cal., June 4.— 
Editor Forest and Stream: Col. John Eldredge 
Stearns, hero of many a hard-fought battle with 
rod and reel, brought in the first tuna of the sea¬ 
son on May 26, and this little town is no longer 
sane in consequence. The wireless was snap¬ 
ping forth its messages to big-game fishermen 
the world over until late that night, while the 
ever-genial colonel was entertaining a few of his 
friends in commemoration of the evenjj 
The colonel’s doctors have told him to cut out 
the tuna and leave them severely alone. He did 
so, but says they met him more than half way. 
have been at this time for several seasons past. 
The tuna are about as much bigger than they 
were last season, as one might expect them to 
be with ten months’ growth. Food being plenti¬ 
ful, there is every reason why they should stay, 
and according to the veteran tuna fishermen they 
are behaving exactly as of old. With the warmer 
weather these densely-packed schools will break 
up and the fish will begin to feed. Stearns had 
several strikes the first bait he put over. They 
meant business. Next day he took out Alfred 
L. Beebe, the energetic and efficient volunteer 
deputy fish warden who has done such good 
work in enforcing the net setting ordinance, and 
more strikes were reported. 
are having no trouble to supply considerably 
more than even the present large demand. 
Col. Stearns was not content with bringing in 
the first tuna, but one day when offshore about 
five miles, on sighting an enormous swordfish,, 
decided to have a try at that also. The colonel 
struck emphatically and the thing tore off like 
a torpedo boat. They followed and stayed in 
the game eight minutes, when taking advantage 
of a slight slack, the great fish jerked the hook 
free and escaped without any breakages. Re¬ 
ports of swordfish charging boats have not been 
borne out in local experience, the difficulty being 
in stopping their haste to get away. A batter¬ 
ing ram of half a ton weight moving at the rate 
With boatman Farnsworth, he wandered off¬ 
shore the other way from yellowtail and sea bass 
ground into the domains of the albacore’s bigger 
brothers, and they were at home. Captain 
George always has some flying-fish secreted 
about his boat, and the sight of the great blue and 
bronze fish surging through the waves was too 
strong a temptation for Stearns’ sporting blood. 
Of course a big one hit the bait. It is ever 
thus when a man wants a little one. Big tuna 
do not help inflammatory rheumatism. The 
colonel’s wrist was swollen as big as his arm 
by the time he had stopped the fish, and the fun 
being over, he besought the boatman to take the 
rod, saying all he wanted was to bring in a fish 
to show the boys, anyway. 
“Take a rod from you! Me! Not to-day. 
You’re too good an old sport. Go in and finish 
him; he’s licked now,” quoth Farnsworth. 
“I guess you’re right,” sighed the colonel. 
Weigjit of fish, 146^4 pounds; time, one hour 
and forty-six minutes. Next day Colonel Stearns 
was as good as ever. He brought in ten fine 
sea bass in one day, several weighing over forty 
pounds, and has been contributing to sporting 
history freely of late. 
The tuna are here and apparently in old-time 
force. Flying-fish are more plentiful than they 
A. W. Hooper, L. G. Murphy, Will E. Jones 
and others at Tarpon, Texas, are counting rail 
joints westward, having been wired for. Every 
launch and rowboat has been engaged by tele¬ 
graph. Catalina seems entering upon a record 
fishing season. Yellowtail, sea bass and smaller 
varieties have afforded good sport. 
Deputy Beebe arrested another market fisher¬ 
man, Steve Williams, for setting nets around the 
island and secured a conviction before a San 
Pedro judge. The fishermen perhaps thought 
Judge Havens, the island official, might be preju¬ 
diced from his residence there, but the judge 
from their own bailiwick could not do other¬ 
wise than find them guilty of violating the law. 
Deputy Beebe has made all his arrests “stick,” 
and the market fishers are gradually acquiring a 
respect for the law that says no nets may be 
set in the waters of California. 
The absence of Commodore Conn is felt in 
tuna circles just now. With his perfect equip¬ 
ment and his indefatigable spirit, Conn would 
have had ten tunas on the dock by now. The 
burning of his factory in Indiana forced him to 
go east, making it a doubly bitter disappoint¬ 
ment after settling down to pursue his favorite 
sport in businesslike manner. 
Sardines are plentiful now and Vincente’s men 
of a torpedo boat would play havoc with a 
launch, but they always have turned off at sight 
of the boat. Edwin L. Hedderly. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
Newark, N. J., June n .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The rain did not prevent a few of the 
regulars from competing in the second of the 
season’s series of contests, held to-day on Wee- 
quahic Lake. The results follow: 
ACCURACY BAIT, HALF-OUNCE. 
Neu. 
Champion. 
Muldoon.... 
Per C’t. 
... 97 7 
... 97 5 
... 96 11 
F. T. Mapes. 
G A Endersby... 
John Doughty .. 
Per C’t. 
... 96 10 
... 96 6 
... 95 2 
ACCURACY 
FLY-CASTING. 
Doughty .., 
. Mapes.... 
... 9S 11 
.... 9S 7 
C. T. Champion. 
T. Mercer . 
... 97 7 
... 97 5 
DISTANCE 
FLY-CASTING. 
Mapes. 
Champion.. 
Feet. 
. 96 
. 94 
Tohn Doughty ... 
P. J. Muldoon_ 
Feet. 
. 89 
. 81 
DISTANCE BAIT, HALF-OUNCE. 
Best Cast, Aver’ge 
Feet. 
Feet. 
G. A. Endersby. 
. 145 
A. T. Neu. 
. 186 
159 
P. j. Muldoon. 
. 169 
130 
F. T. Mapes. 
. 182 
125 
Tohn Doughty . 
. 165 
109 
C. T. Champion. 
. 150 
59 
The next contest will be held on July 16. 
