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BOX CANON AND THE PEND D’OREILLE RIVER. 
Light Tackle Sea Fishing. 
During the season of 1908 I did not have the 
pleasure of visiting Catalina; in fact, did not 
wet a line anywhere, consequently found myself 
a year behind the march 
of events when the sea¬ 
son opened this spring. 
The Light Tackle Club 
has made no substantial 
change in its rules. Un¬ 
fortunately for the de¬ 
velopment of the sport 
along right lines the 
club requires the weigh¬ 
ing of the tip alone, the 
angler may use a butt 
as heavy as he pleases. 
Originally the club re¬ 
quired the weighing of 
the entire rod and under 
those rules a nine-ounce 
rod meant something; 
now it may mean any¬ 
thing from nine ounces 
to two pounds, so long 
as the tip measures not 
less than five feet and 
weighs not to exceed 
six ounces. 
Be it said to the credit 
of the public and the 
dealers, while the rules 
permit an unlimited butt, 
the men, women and 
children who fish at the 
island as a rule decline 
to take advantage of the 
latitude allowed and use 
rods that weigh but nine 
ounces all included. 
This unlimited butt 
notion is the outgrowth 
of the Tuna Club rule, 
which calls for only a 
sixteen-ounce tip, per¬ 
mitting the use of any 
butt of any weight and 
length. It is needless 
to say a rod with a 
five-foot tip weighing a 
pound, and a three-foot 
butt weighing two or 
three pounds is, so far 
as light tackle is con¬ 
cerned, little short of a 
derrick. The Tuna Club 
has never changed its 
requirements in the di¬ 
rection of light tackle, 
so the Light Tackle 
1 lub made the mistake of yielding to the un¬ 
limited butt proposition. 
Oddly enough my good friend, Thomas McD. 
Potter—a more enthusiastic and patient fisher- 
man it is hard to find—was one of the men most 
strenuous in favor of the unlimited butt, even 
like it very much. Certainly it is heavy enough 
for very light yellowtail and for rock bass and 
skipjack; whether it is properly proportioned for 
heavy yellowtail is a matter of debate. 
The six-strand line is plenty strong for yellow¬ 
tail of any size; it is 
practically as effective 
as the nine-strand and 
much more “sporty”; 
the doubt arises regard¬ 
ing the rod. 
The mere fact that it 
is possible to land fish 
with a given rod by no 
means proves its appro¬ 
priateness as an efficient 
tool. Large yellowtail 
have been landed on 
trout rods much lighter 
than six ounces, yet no 
man would advocate the 
use of four-ounce trout 
rods as ideal tackle for 
the fish. It would be 
easy to land yellowtail 
with six - foot rods 
weighing four or five 
ounces. 
As an experiment and 
to get at some basis 
from which to draw 
conclusions, I landed a 
nineteen-pound yellow¬ 
tail in thirty-five minutes 
with a six-strand line 
and no rod at all. A 
No. 2/0 reel was held 
in the left hand and 
manipulated by the 
hands alone, unaided. 
The reel was not wrap¬ 
ped in any way to save 
the hands. If it had 
been mounted on a butt, 
however short, the work 
would have been incom¬ 
parably easier, for the 
reel seemed to have a 
thousand sharp angles 
before that fish came to 
gafif. 
It is but fair to say 
that two fish were lost 
before one was landed. 
The experiment was 
most interesting, for the 
play of the fish was felt 
immediately, there being 
no pliable rod to dis¬ 
guise his movements. 
Fishing with a reel 
alone, the angler is in constant communication 
with his fish, every move is felt, every nervous 
start and twitch ; in short, the fish is much more 
“alive” so to speak. The slightest undue tensior 
on so light a line as a six-strand is instantb 
fatal. The experience was novel and may be 
going so far as to defend the proposition in the 
columns of Forest and Stream, though, I be¬ 
lieve, he always used a rod that weighed only 
nine ounces all included. By way of gracefully 
acknowledging the error of his ways, in 1908 he 
organized the Three-Six movement, the require¬ 
ments of which are a six-strand line and a six- 
foot two-piece rod weighing not to exceed six 
ounces, butt included. To qualify under these 
rules one must catch a yellowtail weighing at 
least eighteen pounds. Many use the tackle and 
