298 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 20, 1910. 
We backed water as hard as we coidd and the 
rope was hauled in as fast as possible. By that 
time the fish seemed to be getting pretty well 
tired Out, and when we looked over the side we 
could actually see him—a faint, black shadow 
far down in the clear water. He had a good 
deal of form left, however, for suddenly there 
was a whirr,- and he was off again, towing us 
through the water, though not at such a pace 
as before. After a few minutes he -began to 
slacken speed and Douglas began to haul him 
in slowly and steadily. 
A slip noose, which they call the “tail rope,” 
was in readiness, and when the fish was close 
enough to the boat one of the men grasped the 
harpoon and held it steady, while the other tried 
to slip the noose over the tail. The fish lashed 
about so much and struck against the side of the 
boat that it was a difficult matter to get the rope 
on, but at last with a quick jerk it was slipped 
in place and there was a general sigh of relief, 
for you are never really sure of your fish until 
that is accomplished. The tail is exactly the 
shape of that of a mackerel, and very hard, so 
the rope cannot possibly slip off. The next thing 
was to run the lance into the gills and bleed 
him. There were a few convulsive quivers after 
this and then the big fish lay quite still. He was 
a beautiful creature and his sides and belly 
showed the most lovely opalescent colors as the 
light shone on them. In shape he was like a 
giant mackerel, and on each side from the tail 
to the back fin ran a row of very small bright 
yellow spines. 
Tunny arc not long fish, rarely exceeding seven 
or eight feet, but are very thick through the 
head and middle part of the body, tapering off 
toward the tail. We lashed our fish alongside 
and paddled to the nearest shore to land him on 
the beach before starting out to look for more. 
By this time it was nearly 8 o'clock and the 
men suggested “boiling the kettle” before again 
starting out. 
There is only one place in the world where 
“boiling the kettle” for tea is more practiced 
than in this part of Canada, and that is in Aus¬ 
tralia where the “kettle is boiled” on the slightest 
provocation, the only difference being that 
whereas black tea is used in the latter coun¬ 
try, green is most favored in Canada. 
We lost little time, as we were^ afraid of the 
sea breeze coming in, which would spoil our 
chances for the day until it went down in the 
evening. By great good fortune it was very 
late on this occasion and did not come into the 
bay till after mid day. We got the next fish 
without much effort, as we met a school soon 
after leaving the beach. One of the fish came 
close under our bows and we were soon fast to 
him. This was a much smaller fish and did not 
tow us far. and we soon had him on the beach 
beside the other. 
It was some time before we sighted the next 
school, and after paddling very hard we got 
close to them. Douglas threw the harpoon, there 
was a splash of fins and tails, and they dived. 
The harpoon bobbed up to the surface and we 
saw that we had missed. However, we started 
off again after the same school, as we saw them 
not far away on the port side. This time Doug¬ 
las did not hurry so much, but when we got 
elose, picked out his fish, took steady aim and 
struck him well. At first I did not think we 
had one, as he went straight down to the bottom 
and stayed there several minutes, keeping per¬ 
fectly quiet. William said he was only sulking, 
and would soon start. Sure enough the fish soon 
made a sudden rush and we were off, racing 
through the water. 
This was evidently the largest and strongest 
we had yet struck, for the speed with which he 
towed the boat was extraordinary. It is quite 
a delightful sensation having one’s boat towed 
by this unseen animal, and it struck me at the 
time what a pity it w : as one could not have a 
trained tunny to pull one about. After a time 
the speed slackened and Douglas began to haul 
in. It was hard work, for the weight and strain 
were tremendous. When he finally got the fish 
alongside and after much splashing, the tail rope 
securely slipped on, we saw that we had got a 
huge one of at least 800 pounds weight. We 
paddled to the shore and hauled him up beside 
the other two and a fine show they made lying 
on the beach in the sunlight. By this time it 
was mid day, so the kettle came again into requi¬ 
sition and lunch was. partaken of with zest. That 
we should secure another fish seemed to be too 
good to be true. Only once before had four 
been killed in a day, and generally the men con¬ 
sider themselves lucky if they bring home one. 
However, this seemed an exceptional day. as it 
was still calm, and we could see the fish school¬ 
ing in different directions. * 
After a short rest and a smoke we started off 
again and were soon in pursuit of a school not 
far from the shore. We did not have to follow 
them very far on this occasion. Different tunny 
behave in oddly different ways when struck. 
This one instead of diving to the bottom first 
at once started off with a sudden leap forward, 
swimming near the surface and giving quick 
jerks all the time. This violent behavior seemed 
to tire him out very quickly, and he was soon 
hauled in and dispatched. 
We now made for the shore again, more than 
satisfied with our day’s catch, having altogether 
over 2,000 pounds of fish to take home with us. 
Here was a perplexing question—how to take 
home our unwieldy catch. It was impossible to 
tow them behind, as they do not float after they 
have been dead some time. After united efforts 
we rolled the two smaller ones into the boat and 
the other two were lashed one on each side. We 
were lucky enough to have a breeze spring up 
and were thus able to hoist a sail, which was a 
great help on our five-mile journey home. 
As soon as we reached the village the men set 
to work cutting up the fish. A great amount 
was distributed among friends and the re¬ 
mainder was put into barrels and salted for use 
in the winter. The meat is coarse and rich,, but 
is not bad eating. I consider this one of the 
finest day’s sport I ever had and second to none 
as regards excitement. Of course to get the full 
enjoyment out of it one should be able to throw 
the harpoon, but that requires an expert. 
W. R. Gilbert. 
The Salmon Season. 
Stepiienville Crossing, N. F., Aug. 8 .—Editor 
Forest and Stream: All reports state that the 
salmon fishing has been better this season than 
for years past, catches being made of 113, 68, 
50 and 25 on different rivers. The largest sal-* 
mon I have heard of weighed thirty-two pounds, 
on Little Codroy. C- DuBois Wagstaff. 
Fishing in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 10 —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The interest in trout fishing has 
fallen off somewhat owing to the opening of 
the hunting season, "but those looking for sport 
of this kind are having no difficulty in finding 
plenty of it,.and almost all of the sierra streams 
are still yielding splendidly. Even some of the 
coast streams are still affording some good trout 
fishing, the length of the season having been 
due in a large measure to the activity of the 
California Anglers’. Association in stocking 
these streams. In San Mateo county their ef¬ 
forts have been supplemented by the efforts of 
the Ocean Shore railway, and this fishing dis¬ 
trict promises to become a very important one. 
Fishing in the Truckee has not been very good 
during the past two weeks, as additional water 
has been let into the river from Lake Tahoe for 
irrigation purposes. Members of the San Fran¬ 
cisco Fly-Casting Club have been making regu¬ 
lar visits there, however, and have never come 
away empty handed. In Lake Tahoe fishing has 
been very poor this season for some unknown 
reason. 
Salmon are now commencing to run in the 
bay and anglers are preparing for some fine 
sport, as this year is the one when a large run 
is to be expected. Few have been taken so far, 
but the fish are here, and from the manner in 
which the sardines are commencing to hurry into 
the bay, a big run is not far away. A few salmon 
are making their appearance in the Bay of Mon¬ 
terey, but the sport is no better there than it is 
here. 
Striped bass appear to have been very elusive 
of .late and catches have been very light. How¬ 
ever, black bass are now to be had in large 
numbers, and this fish is occupying the bulk of 
attention from those who do not care to go far 
away for their sport. 
Sea fishermen are much excited over the re¬ 
port that leaping tuna have been seen along the 
coast a short distance from San Francisco Bay. 
This fish makes its home in the vicinity of the 
Channel Islands and has been taken as far north 
as Santa Barbara, but never in the vicinity of 
San Francisco. 
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and his bride have 
been spending a part of . their honeymoon in 
Southern California and Mrs. Roosevelt gained 
quite a reputation as a fisherwoman by landing 
the first yellowtail of the season to be hooked 
with light tackle in the Santa Barbara Channel. 
She succeeded in landing the fish after a strug¬ 
gle of half an hour, this proving to be a thirty- 
one-pounder. A. P. B. 
Anglers’ Club of Milwaukee. 
Milwaukee, Wis., Aug. 8 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: A. F. Bingenheimer won the quarter- 
ounce event and C. A. Rhine and A. L. Stolz 
tied for first place in the half-ounce event in 
the contest held Wednesday, Aug. 3. Following 
are the scores: 
A. F. 
Bingenheimer. 
14-ounce. 
%-ounce. 
. 99 
97 12-15 
C. A. 
Rhine. 
. 98 8-15 
98 4-15 
Tlieo. 
Toll . 
. 98 7-15 
96 12-15 
A. I„ 
Stolz.. 
. 98 7-15 
9S 4-15 
Albert 
Lahman .. 
. 9S 5-15 
98 2-15 
Chas. 
Vandenbnrg . 
. 94 5-15 
97 6-15 
C. L. 
Tolfson. 
97 10-15. 
Harry 
Lewis . 
C. L. Tolfson, 
95 6-15 
Sec’y. 
