Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-22
BEATS THE TARPON.
Senator Quay Must HE Away to the
South Sea for Real Sport
THE KING OF ALL THE GAME FISH
Is the Monster Tunny, Which Turns on lts
Captors in Its Anger.
HOW THE NATIVES USE THEIR LINES
WRITTEN FOR THE DrsrArcH.,

are by nature almost ampnlplous anu are
fully as skilled in the arts of the sea as in
those of the frmer shore. And the sea gives
good reward to those who practice its arts.
| 1t teens with fish of all sizes and shapes
and colors, fish for the net, fish for the spear,
| fish for the trap, fish for the baited hook and
| fish which greedily catch themselves upon
| the flashing lure of the troller.
The fisher stands upon the cool beach in
the early morning. Close at hand where
| the quiet water laps the rocky coral that
| etching of the surface in a myriad cross
hatcheled lines means he orderly school OF
mullet, as toothsome dainty as was ever
drawn from the sea. Just beyond the null
let's feeding ground those splashes of silver
which dart through the air and splash upon
the sea like the first great drops of the sum-
mer thunder shower. are the flying fish
which are caught upon the wing. Fish for
them at night, but mark their place now,
for they are q sure sign of game fish below
greedy for the hook. Far out by the reef
those dark triangles are the great sharks,
20, 80, 40 feet long; they move lazily now,
but let them once feel the spear in the soft
skin behind the pectorals and they can be as
active as a steam engine. Those glistening
streaks near the sharks show where the
swift funny glides.
BUTTERFLIES OF THE DEEP.
Rest the canoe q moment over this patch
of coral, which seems to grow from the white
sand of the bottom like sturdy tree, reach
ing its tangled branches nearly to the sur
face. Look over the side and watch the fish
swimming in and out among those stony
branches; they are as gaudy as the most
brilliant birds, their scales fash all the
colors of the most richly-painted butterflies.
Sometimes the highly-colored fish are pois-
onous. On the shady side of such patch
is the place to drop baited hook, the eager
fish dart out into sight to grasp their food
and the water is so clear and the bottom so
white that the fisher can watch every move
ment and angles by sight instead of in re-
sponse to jerks upon the line, which turn
out to be but pibbles.
The tackle OF these island fishers is simple
and in every respect is of the same sort as
other civilizations have evolved under slmi-
lar conditions. The rod is the green bamboo,
which will resist any strain fish could
bring upon it. Their lines are Of two sorts,
the finer twisted of the fine fiber of the pam
danus Leaf, the latter plated into sennit of
the coir fiber of the husk of the cocoanut.
The pandanus lines are strong, but not very
durable, the coir line is strong and is really
improved by exposure to salt water. In the
utter absence of metal workers hooks are
made from shells by the slow process of rub
bing them down on smooth stones. The
smaller hooks are made from the cone shell
and a painstak1ng workman can make per-
haps ten in long day. Rough-and-ready
makeshffts are sometimes provided from a
iorked twIg to which q sharp cone is affixed
by way of barb; these are untrustworthv be-
cause the twig is apt to break or bend. The
largest hooks used in trolling for such great
fish as the funny are made of pearl she'll,
and are some six or eight inches long, very
sharp, very neatly barbed and usually dec
Grated with a bright bunch of feathers.
NETS AND TRAPS.
Small nets are woven of the pendants,
larger ones of the ooir fiber. Fish traps are
small, but effective affairs. For this pur-
pose fishers make clever use of the covering
which protects the first leaves of the sprout-
ing coeoanut. 1t is a thickly matted growth
of fiber which is cast aside by the leaf when
it begins to unfold; in shape it is a cone
about 20 inches long and very strong. In
the bottom OF this long cone the fisher ties
his bait and sinks his trap in any convent
ent place. The hungry fish runs his head
into the cone after the tempting morsel and
finds too late that he has run his head into
a bag which there is no shaking of. Trying
to back out of the sack he comes to the sur
face, where his violent e1ertions call atten-
u0 cAuduSls ulmSelI
and is easily picked up.
Still another device completes the fisher
mans outfit. A vine which grows abund-
antly about the shore is bruised in the
hands and made into a bundle to which a
stone is attached. This is sunk in a basin
In the coral where fish are seen to be
numerous; in few minutes the sap clouds
the water and the fish as they begin to feel
its influence swim about giddlly for short
time and then float belly up at the surface
1t is necessary to revive fish thus taken by
putting then in uncontaminated water as
otherwise they taint very rapidly.
SOME PECULIAR BAIT.
Almost anything which lives upon the
beach serves as bait from the gorgeous sea
anemone up to the smaller try Of the fish
themselves. Many ofthe molluscs are an at
tractiye bait when cracked out OF their shells
and particularly the cowrie is greedily
snapped up by all fish though it is very diff
fcult to get the meat out of the shell in
good condition. Hermit crabs abound, they
are easily drawn from their second hand
shells and are a good bait for ground
feeding fish. Surface feeders rise readily to
a natural fly or moth tied to hook and
sometimes will snap at a feather.
A combination of bait and tackle is found
in the devil fish or octopus which abounds
has arms a foot in length. When tied to a
hook and dropped overheard this bait is a
three old lottery whose result it is impossi-
BILE to foretell. Either some large fish will
take the octopus and be hooked, or the devil
fish will catch ten or dozen smaller fish
with mis- suckers, or the bait will take such
firm hold of the bottom or of stem Of coral
as not to be dislodged, and in that case it is
necessary to sacrifice the hook and all the
line beyond reach. 1t is a difficult bait to
affix to the hook, for each of the eight arms
is equipped with suckers which draw the
blood from every point they touch and in
the midst is cruel bill like a hawks.
HOOKING THE MULLET.
The mullet likes hermit crab, but the
angler must allow them abundance of time
TO take the bait, and, above all things must
not attempt to strike at the first nibble, for
down under water there is going on some
very pretty maneuvering where the fish is
irving to reach the soft parts of the crab and
at the same time avoid the nipplng claws.
A surface ieeder, which will take almost
anv floating bait, is two or three pound
fish which much resembles the northern
John Dory. 1t has the same shape, though |
its colors are far more brilliant and upon |
each gill cover it has the characteristic |
thumb and finger marks which recall the |
old tradition that this fish is the one which |
Welded the apostles their piece OF tribute |
money This is fish to test the strength of |
tackle to the utmost, and it calls for the |
hest art of the angler 10 land it. Net fish, |
inc is carried on along shore in two ways. |
Each fisherman carries net a fathom in |
length by half that in breadth, and stretch |
lo,,I al 4.