

FOREST 
Vol. XCV, No. 8 

Tuna Ahead! 
August, 1925 
Some Thrills Experienced While Fighting One of the 
Best of the Big Open Sea Groups of Game Fishes 
FEW weeks ago I received the 
last of the works of that enthu- 
siastic New Jersey surf fisher- 
man, the late Leonard Hulit. His 
book, “The Salt Water Angler,” is un- 
like most big game fish stories of 
American waters as it covers the 
North Atlantic and not lower Califor- 
nia and the Gulf of Mexico. 
In choosing his chapters, he allotted 
the twentieth to tuna, which although 
without forethought, is very appro- 
priate, as this variety of our big fight- 
ing demons most certainly belongs to 
the twentieth century and incidentally 
he is a very modern aristocrat. Only 
in comparatively recent years has this 
sport been developed in the North At- 
lantic section. In Mr. Hulit’s work 
he admits he has never had the good’ 
fortune to kill one on his own rod. 
What a pity such a character, devot- 
ing many weeks each year to game 
fishing, should pass away without the 
greatest thrill of all! 
Captain Harry L. Smith, owner of 
the Carnegie II., the converted aux- 
iliary sloop, which is my favorite Block 
Island craft, is the author of this 
statement: “When it comes to select- 
ing a business, I sure do love the one 
I picked.” Captain Smith spends 
twelve months in the year fishing and 
preparing to fish around these waters. 
He is deadly with the harpoon when 
it comes to broad bill swordfish for 
market, and this incidentally is his 
principal source of a very remunera- 
tive income. Harry was_ presented 
with a Carnegie medal for life saving 
a number of years ago when the Joy 
Line Steamer “Larchmont” was sunk 
in a storm off Watch Hill. Accord- 
ingly, he named his boat after the 
medal. 
E not only runs a good prosperous 
business in the sport of big-game 
fishing, but runs it on the plan of a 
mail-order concern. His bulletins are 
ie 
By GEORGE FREDERICK AITKEN 

gs) 
The author, on right, with a Block Island 
sword fish. 
interesting and can usually be de- 
pended upon, but last Summer he made 
one error. My bags were packed, my 
reservations were made, and I was 
walking out of my New York office 
when the following letter was handed 
to me: 
“The tuna have not acted as I ex- 
pected. There were plenty of fish Sat- 
urday and Sunday about twenty miles 
off shore, but they would not strike 
and none have been caught to speak 
of. I know it is hard for a business 
man to come any time, but I would 
advise you to put off this trip until 
later if you can. If you make up your 
mind to come, wire me.” I ignored the 
advice; I wired and left on schedule, 
Contents Copyrighted by Forest and Stream Pub, Co, 
and as in the past, was rewarded by 
first-class sport and real enjoyment. 
It was Professor Charles F. Holder 
who wrote of the tuna as follows: 
“The most sensational fish of these 
waters is the leaping tuna, which well 
compares with the tarpon, and per- 
sonally I prefer it to its Florida and 
Texas rival, and in my experience, the 
average large tuna is a match for two 
tarpon of the same size. The tuna is 
the tiger of the California seas, a liv- 
ing meteor which strikes like a whirl- 
wind, and when played with a rod that 
is not a billiard cue or a club in stiff- 
ness, will give the average man the 
contest of his life.” 
ROFESSSOR Holder, I _ under- 
stand, is one of the original tuna 
fishermen and at one time held the 
record for the heaviest fish on a rod, 
but he always refers to it as the “leap- 
ing’ tuna and is a great preacher of 
the gospel of Catalina tuna fishing. 
The “leaping” tuna of the Holder sto- 
ries is undeniably the same fish as the 
North Atlantic species, but the latter 
are without the leaping instincts. In 
saying this, I speak without consult- 
ing an authority. but simply express 
one man’s opinion. I have never seen 
a North Atlantic tuna jump or com- 
pletely break water. 
The principal food of the Southern 
California tuna is the flying-fish, which 
necessitates breaking water to catch 
the illusive food. Becoming accus- 
tomed to hurdling tactis, it is only 
natural to assume that they would try 
all the stunts they know to avert cap- 
ture. In the North Atlantic they 
haven’t the kind of food that brings 
out the high and broad jumping strat- 
egy, and while often showing their 
dorsal fins and broad dark backs, they 
go no further. Having never visited 
the Catalina waters, I am going to 
dwell in this article on the sport to be 
had loafing around Block Island, sit- 
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