The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1899-05-26
Big Stories Of Big Fish
The Tuna Man Put to Flight by tho
Black Sea Bass Man.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
hTVERYTHING is upside down or
this side," said rotund member
of the Tuna club, Santa Catalina, who
WIS watching Mexican Joe, his boat
mnu, rig up tuna bait. ION the Allan.
tic we have the gulf stream flowing
north. Here we're ON the KurosiwO,
the Japanese current that flows south
and gives us this fishing; but t he trou'
bic with the old thing is that it wabbles
Sometimes it's off shore, sometimes
clean in; sometimes it runs up into the
Arctic, sometimes cutting across be.
low; and that's what affects our fish.
ing and climate, according to my mind
When the Kurosiwo is off shore, as ii
was five years ago, the fishing is off
too. That year the yellow tail were
as scarce as hens teeth, and the rea-
son was the warm current was off shore
and just touched the islands of south
ern California. This year we're right
in it. People have been bathing all win
ter at Avalon, which shows that tie
water is warm; that's the reason the
yellow tail have struck in so soon. Joe
s,.w a school going north yesterday
that covered 20 acres and was an hour
passing. He reckoned that there were
millions in the school,"
'How can he reckon?" asked a
chronic kicker. ''He can't read OF
write"
swell, he can savoy, can't he?" re-
torted the Tuna clubman.
This seemed unanswerable, but the
kicker presently came to the front
again. "You say Joe saw a million fish
Ell? and they was an hour passing.
Dye know how that was? Why, he
saw school of 400 or 500 yellow tails
that's what he saw, and, like they al
ways do at the first run, they was swim
. ming in a circle, and Mexican Joe was
drifting on the circumference of the
circle, and the same fish went under
him about a million times. He's got
double multiplying sight, anyway, like
reel, like all them Ananias club boat
men; what they don't see when they're
out of bait is caution. Why, look what
they talk up now; trying to make out
that black sea bass is equal to a tuna
swell, so he u.s." responded the 1eshy
man.
what" said the other. '@Compare
that great overgrown hunk of fish to
a tuna?"
'Well, I hold the record for the big
gest fish on top of the earth with the
smallest line for game fish, and that
fish was 327-pound black sea bass" re-
piled the clubman.
Here comes the colonel" said some
one; he holds the belt for the biggest
fish story
And claims everything in sight," re-
torted the black sea bass champion.
What do you consider the earnest
fish in these waters, colonel?" asked the
kicker, as the other man came up.
"Why, everyone knows that the leap.
ing tuna is in a class by itself. Why
rolling his eyes around, 1--WE would feed
our tuna on full grown tarpon, if we
could get them. 1t can't be-" added the
colonel, turning to the black sea bass
champion, shat you are still clinging
to that silly delusion that your fish beat
mine. I'll tell you what I'll do,'' talk.
ing so fast that the black sea bass man
could not get in word. "I'll tell these
gentlemen the story of my catch, then
you tell yours, and let them settle it.
WELL" continued the colonel, clear.
ing away the hooks and wire on the
Mexican's stand and sitting down. 81
hooked my fish one morning about six
o'clock-two of us were fishing. We
had 12-ounce rods, seven feet long and
21-thread lines, and plenty of it-sO(
feet or more. The first we knew there
was rush and two big fish came boil
ing along astern; then you should have
heard those reels! You may talk about
high c; they simply hummed, and the
line was jerked off so quick that before
l could think 500 feet was gone, while
the fish my friend had hooked hac
taken everything and was off. There
was sort of a shrek from the stee
throat of that reel, and 900 feet of gooc
line went. I kept my fish well in hand
SSASoot Wy ~ oPCClCS VI luck, dnC
stopped him in less than 800 feet, ant
when felt that the brake was telline
and that he was towing the boat anl
not taking line I thought I had :
chance; but just then began some O
the strangest maneuvers I ever saw il
fish. Suddenly I thought he was gone
You who have caught tunas perhap
know this popularity of the fish in get
ting off when there is no strain on tn
line; another tuna sometimes cuts i
with it's back. Well, thought this ha
happened, but a second later I saw
CLEAN on the water, and it was my fish
heSwas coming for me like shot and O,
the surface, his blue back and yello,
fins blazing in the sunlight. 1 reele
for my life, there was no doubt abou
that. I had big multipEer that at
up line like windmill, but no reelin
on top of the earth could have met tina
rush, and saw my line slack and mad
up my mind that the game was up. Th
fish stopped 20 feet from the boat, or
soon as he saw me, whirled about, an
fairly dazzled me as the sun struc
him, and was off.again with 200 feet bt
fore. could stop him. Then he bega
to plnnge to the bottom and drag til