458 
recommended to the enthusiastic angler. Hav¬ 
ing landed a yellowtail with no rod at all, 
1 took an ordinary six-foot five and three-quar¬ 
ter-ounce split bamboo bait-casting rod that I 
had had many years and landed the first fish 
struck—a twenty-nine-pound yellowtail—in some¬ 
thing less than an hour. 1 did not follow the 
Commodore’s directions in using the rod, which 
are to keep the butt firmly fixed against the body 
and hold the rod at substantially right angles, 
gradually wearing the fish out. That seemed 
too much like an endurance contest between fish 
and man. I ignored the tip of the rod, letting it 
follow the line nearly all the time. When the 
fish was sulking under the boat I pointed the 
rod straight down and lifted all the line would 
stand direct from the reel. By letting the tip 
follow the line I was able to put from three or 
four to ten pounds pressure on the fish, where¬ 
as the rod held horizontal from the body would 
not lift a pound weight off the floor. Having 
just landed a fish without a rod, it came natural 
to fish direct from the reel. The tip was in the 
way, but the butt was. a great advantage in 
manipulating the reel; in other words, with the 
butt alone I could have handled the fish more 
easily by far than with the butt and exceedingly 
flexible tip. 
As a result 1 came to the conclusion that a 
six-strand line with a breaking tension of twelve 
pounds is altogether too strong for a six-foot 
six-ounce rod; there is no proportion between 
them. It is exceedingly difficult to pass the fish 
around the stern of the launch, and the lifting 
power of the rod is so slight the line is virtually 
a hawser in comparison. The right line for 
such a rod would be about a three-strand, break¬ 
ing at hot to exceed six pounds, and that would 
be too strong. 
The strength of a line increases and decreases 
with the strands added in arithmetical propor¬ 
tion, while the strength of a rod of a given 
length increases or decreases in geometrical pro¬ 
portion with each ounce added or subtracted. 
Hence it by no means follows from the fact that 
a nine-strand line and a six-foot nine-ounce rod 
are fairly well balanced, that a six-strand line 
and a six-ounce rod are equally well propor¬ 
tioned. A strand to an ounce is, as I once sug¬ 
gested, a rough working rule, but to my mind 
time has proved the rule to be very rough, in¬ 
deed. For instance a twenty-four-ounce six-f^ot 
rod would handle a forty-eight-strand line better 
than a twenty-four. 
From my observations the six-ounce rod does 
not make a pleasant tool to work with, certainly 
not with so powerful a line as a six-strand. A 
six-ounce rod is fine for fish that play on the 
surface, but for fish that sound and sulk and 
have to be lifted from almost beneath the boat 
it is too flexible and throws too much work on 
the boatman for real fishing. However, the 
movement will have its enthusiastic fol'owers 
and is certainly a step far in advance of the un¬ 
limited butt proposition. 
It should be mentioned in passing that the 
makers in attempting to turn out six-ounce rods 
with the weight all in the tip have done pre¬ 
cisely what was done at first with the nine- 
ounce : they have made butts of soft pine and 
bored them out so that little remained but a 
shell; the result has been any number of broken 
butts to the disgust of users who had no means 
of ascertaining in advance the strength of the 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
rods they purchased. These freak rods have 
proven no more satisfactory than the freak nine- 
ounce rods at first supplied. 
The unexpected return of the old bluefin tuna 
the middle of August after an absence—so far 
as any amount of fishing was concerned—of five 
years gave the Tuna Club a new lease of life 
and brought hundreds of fishermen to the island, 
one enthusiast traveling across the continent on 
telegraphic notice, although he had left the island 
for the season only two weeks before. 
At the time of this writing some thirty of the 
superb game fish have been caught within two 
weeks and they are still striking freely. So far 
they have averaged a little over a hundred 
pounds, but have run as high as 153. No doubt 
larger will be landed before the school leaves. 
Arthur Jerome Eddy, 
[to be concluded.] 
Salmon Fishing near San Francisco. 
San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 4 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: At the present time salmon fish¬ 
ing is occupying the bulk of the attention of 
local fishermen, the long delayed run of quinnat 
salmon having set in at last. The big game 
fish began to make their appearance in large 
numbers outside the heads about ten days ago, 
and the report that they were there was the 
signal for a rush on the part of fishermen to 
get out and secure a share of the sport. At the 
present time there are a great many fine fish 
being caught, but there would be many more 
taken if it were possible to secure the bait de¬ 
sired. 'Anchovies, which make the best bait, 
are very scarce at the present time, as are also 
sardines, and shiners and tomcods are being 
pressed into service. Many of the trollers have 
been using a spoon exclusively and have met 
with splendid results, a No. 6 bass spoon 
in brass, having proved to be the best. The 
fishing is best early in the morning and late 
in the afternoon, when the wind commences to 
stir up the water a bit. In the morning hours 
the fish are found deep down in the bay and 
bait is then used mostly, but in the afternoon, 
when the water commences to get rough the 
fish come to the surface, and it is then neces¬ 
sary to remove some of the sinkers and a spoon 
comes ih handy. 
The record catch of the season, so far, was 
made a few days ago by F. W. Bohle, of Oak¬ 
land, and J. B. Phillips and O. L. Scott, of San 
Francisco. These fishermen journeyed to 
Bolinas Bay recently and returned with 273 
pounds of salmon, the results of a day’s outing. 
The largest fish was taken by Bohle and 
weighed 43 pounds. It is declared that this is 
the largest quinnat salmon ever taken in these 
waters. In addition to the large fish there were 
three others weighing 40 pounds, one 35 pounds 
and one 23 pounds, besides a number of smaller 
ones. - The fishermen left early in the morning 
and returned about 2 p. m. A No. 18 line and 
an automatic spoon hook were used, and ac¬ 
cording to the fishers, almost all of the fish 
had to be gaffed before they could be landed, 
and several succeeded in getting away. 
Striped bass are now being found in increased 
numbers, but fishing has not set in in earnest, 
most of the fishermen being out for salmon 
while the open season is on. A. P. B. 
[Sept. 18, 1909. 
A Strange Fish from Fortune Bay. 
St. John’s N. F., Sept. 1 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The old saying that "There’s fish in 
the sea, no doubt of it, as good as ever came 
out of it!” is exemplified every year on this 
coast. From time to time strange fish are 
caught, and their identity puzzles the oldest 
fishermen. Here is a cutting describing a fish 
recently captured that defied all the wisest and 
most experienced fishermen to give it a name 
“Capt. Fitzpatrick, of the coastal steamer 
Portia, brings news this trip of a peculiar fish 
recently captured in Fortune Bay. About two 
weeks ago, fishermen overhauling their salmon 
nets found the strange monster rolled up in the 
twine, at Point Rosey. The fish measured about i 
twenty-five feet in length, and about twenty feet 
around the body. There were two fore legs 
measuring five feet each in length, while the 
tail fin held a perpendicular position when the 
fish swam. Having been captured, it was taken 
ashore, and the liver, which filled eight barrels, 
yielded a rich brown looking oil when melted 
by the sun, closely resembling seal oil in smell. 
A portion of the bone, as well as the gill was ' 
brought here by Captain Fitzpatrick, and may 
be seen by those interested at the coastal office 
of Bowring Bros., Ltd. No person on the coast 
has ever seen any product of the sea like this 
latest find, and there is naturally much specula- 1 
tion as to what it is. A small quantity of the 
oil has been brought here with a view of de¬ 
termining its value.” 
Perhaps some student of ichthyology, who 
reads these notes, may be able to locate it.- 
There are many other fish caught from time to 
time, and the fishermen throw them away and 
do not bother about them. Fortunately the 
coastal boat arrived just as the fish was 
brought in, and the captain and passengers in¬ 
spected it. 
The fishing season is over, and the big-game 
hunters are now getting their turn. 
The reports from the various streams indi¬ 
cate that the anglers had good sport. The sea¬ 
son was not the very best; at one time, just 
as the salmon and sea trout were running in 
myriads, we had a hot spurt, with clear brilliant 
sunshine. The fish could be seen lying in , 
shoals in the several pools, and nothing, ap¬ 
parently, would induce them to rise or even 
look at the most seductive lure. Some lucky 1 
fishermen, though, managed to get good creels 
full all through the season. 
American anglers were here this season in 
larger numbers than ever, and as far as can 
be gleaned, they all enjoyed the sport, scenery 
and climate. 
At present, as you know, there are no fees 
charged visiting anglers. There is no rod tax 
levied, nor is any license required. The ma¬ 
jority of the Inland Fish Commissioners are of 
opinion that a rod tax should be levied and in 
the very near future the matter will come up 
for final settlement. In an informal discussion 
at a recent meeting. I was about the only, ad¬ 
vocate of a continuance of the open, free fish¬ 
ing; the consensus of opinion was in tavor of 
a rod tax to help defray the cost of adequately 
protecting the streams. 
I send herewith a few clippings from local 
papers dealing with angling. They may prove 
