The St. Johns herald., 1900-02-03
CATCH PRIZE FISHES.
Remarkable Captures in Southern
 Pacific Waters
runa aA& Black Sea Bass of Eaor~ mous sfse That Have BssA TakeA Dursns the Lest
 SeasoA.

The report of the seasons catch or game fish found in South Pacific waters by members of the Tuna club of AVaion' Santa Catalina Island, Cal, has aston ished sportsmen throughout the coun- trv. Records for weight of the fish and time consumed in their capture have been broken, and in many ln- stances, where tuna and black sea pass weighing over 300 pounds were cap tured with rod and reel, the skilful work of the members was astonishing.
 The Tuna club announced the deci- .;ons of the judges of the years catches at banquet held recently. The club has for its object the encouragement of rod fishing. the use of the lightest tackle, and the protection of the game fishes of California.
 The special field of this club. whence it gets its name, is angling for the tuna, one of the numerous branches of the great mackerel family, and closely akin to the bonito and albacore. AL though swimming in the Mediterra< mean and other eastern waters, tuna are not found on the Atlantic coast. On the Pacific, especially the South Pacific coast, tuna are caught in large num- bers and grow to immense size. The leaping tuna is the particular variety sought by the California sportsmen, but while the leaping tuna is the shin~ ing mark for the Tuna club members, this years announcement of prizes brings to notice other fish of propor- tions calculated to make the eastetH angler envious>
 This years annual banquet of the club probably brought together more anglers with remarkable records than ever before gathered around the same board. The list of decisions deals first with the leaping tuna- For beating the record of the president of the club. C. F. Holder. fs3 pounds. Col. C.; P. Morehouse wins a hundred-dollar rod. For landing the largest tuna of the sea- son, which weighed 25f pounds. and was caught in 3h hours, Col. More house won a number of cups and med als, and was thereby made eligible tc the presidency of the club, to which he was elected at the banquet. The prize for the second largest fish went to J. M. Elliott, of Los Angeles. The. fish weighed 1So pounds and fought five hours before 1t came to gaff, towing the boat 20 miles in that time.
 F. S. Manning, of Sierra Madra. won medals and cups for exceeding F. V. Riders rod record of 327 pounds. He also won med l for taking the largest black sea bass, 330.pounder, which was fought for 3K hours and brought to gaff in Q heavy sea by pouring oil on the water.
 The prize for the largest white see bass was won by E. M. Boggs. of Los Angeles. Fred F. Gerrish took the first prize for yellow tails, with 37 pound fish. The prize for the largest yellow tail of the season taken by lady was won by Mrs H ". Hoyt, of Seattle. A. B. Bevans, or Decatur, H., took prize for the largest rock ball. The fish weighed five pounds twelve ounces. With 17-pound sheephesd, Dr. George Gale, of San Francisco. took first prize. The first prize for white fish was taken with 7H-pound fish.
 A number of members were awarded the club button, given to those who, unsided, bring to gaff with rod and not over 24-thread line leaping tuna of 100 pounds or more.
 The executive committee called att tention to remarkable tuna hooked ny fellow-member, Mir. J. H. Woods. of Lima, O.. with light rod and 2I- strand line. Mir. Woods played his fish seven hours and fifteen minutes, mak- ing little or no impression on it and making the record fight. He then gave up the rod to his boatman, Harry Films. who played the fish seven hours more, bringing it to gaf after constant fight of If hours and 1s minutes The fish was estimated at 500 or TOO pounds and to be nine feet long and to have lowed the launch 35 miles. It unfor- tunately escaped at the gafing, about IS inches of it's tail being seen above water, the gaffer then being unable to reach its head, though reaching el-- bow deep-St.- Louis be-Democrat..