Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-08-22
THE KING OF GAME FISH.
Newspaper Man Tells Some Won
der.u! Stories of tie Sea,
Black Bass Weighing 500 Pounds
Caught Off Catalina 1Siand-A
Glass Bottomed Boat.

lis, Mimi, and formerly on the staff of
the Los Angeles (Cal.) Times, spent a
few days in Milwaukee recently. MI. MIL
Ter tells some wonderful stories about the
giant black sea bass or Jewish, as 1t IS
popularity called, and the leaplng tuna,
beth of which are found in the waters
that wash the shores of Santa Catalina
an island twenty-seven miles south OF
San Pedro and fifty miles south of Los
Angeles. He says the fresh-water Wal
tonite is ant to listen with increduIity to
tales of the capturing with rod and reel
of fish weighing $50 to 500 pounds, bur
the testimony is accommodating at such I:
rate that even the most doubling of IN.
land Thomases are beginning TO take
the stories without the proverDlal gram
Of salt.
Speaking of fishing in the waters
named above, which, he claims, is I'M
ouestionably the finest in the world, Mr..
Miller goes on to say: The varieties OF
fish to be taken with the rod and reel IN
clude, as we'll as the hard-hghtng sea
bass. the magnificent leaplng tuna, whose
gameness is held by those anglers who
have had experience with him, to be su-
perior to that of any other fish that
swims, either in fresh or salt water.
THE black sea bass or Jewish, which
resembles its freSh-water relative not
alone in general appearance, but as well
in the ferceness and determination with
which it resists capture, is the largest
FISH caught in these waters, ana ranges
from four to seven feet in length and up
to 500 pounds in weight. They are gen
orally taken with a hand line (such
anglers being dubbed pot hunters2,
it having always been regarded as too
heavy and strong for rod and reel; but
during the past two or three years sew
eraI have been caught with this modern
apparatus The telling of it, however,
ALWAYS taxes the credulity of ones audi
tors
Feed on Flying Fish.
.'The king of Santa Catalina game
fish" continued Mr.. Miller, lis the leap
ing tuna The favorite food of this mag
nifcent creature is the dying fish, the
average length of which is probably fif-
teen inches. The flying fish rises from
the water, spreading two wing-llke inns,
and propels itself by rapid vibration of
its tail upon the surface of the water,
rising and falling with the undulations
of the waves. 1t will sometimes fly a
quarter of mile or more, or until its
fins become dry, before disappearing be-
meath the surface. 1t is while in pursuit
of this dainty morsel that the tuna will
leap ten or fifteen feet out of the water
while not nearly so large as the black
sea bass, 200 pounds being the limit, the
tuna Is lar superior 10 lIe 1OiI1tI DIS
fighter and slayer. This is what Prof.
C. F. Holden of Pasadena, Cal, an au-
thority ON fish in Catalina waters. wrote
of the tuna in '95: AS l watched. a
strike came, and $50 feet of line and the
tip of the rod paid the forfeit of my alb
sence of mind. The tarpon is slow
coach to this uncaught fsh-uncaught
with q rod-two, one of 115 pounds and
another of $50, having been taken ON a
hand line the past summer. SDortsmen
from the East have devoted weeks to
this fish, hoping to win fame and honor
by taking one on the rod; but so far the
tuna has harvested the rods. reels and
lines and is still master of the situation
During the season of '9S, however,
large number have been caught with rod
and reel, and, by a coincidence, Prof
Holden holds the record-a 1S3-pounder,
which he brought to gait only after
struggle lasting three hours and forty
minutes. c. r. Scudder of ST. Louis got
a strike at Z a. M. but did not gaff the
135-pound tuna till 2 p. m. 1t was
found, however, to have been hooked in
the back, which accounted for the long
drawn struggle. J. NJ. Studebaker, the
South Bend, Ind wagonmaker, landed a
tuna weighing 125 pounds, after a four
hour fight. Mr.. Studebaker had this fine
specimen mounted and sent home