Evening star., 1901-05-25
SOME RECORD BATTLES

Written for The Evening Star by Charles Frederick
Holder
My first view of the doughty black sea
bass was while fishing along the kelp beds
near the famous sea lion rookery at Santa
Catalina Island. Here the water near
shore is thirty or forty feet deep and rap
idly deepens. on the edge of the channel
the great kelp fronds wave and rise and
fall with unduating movement in the cur
rent. presenting a beautiful appearance
against the deep blue water in their varied
tints Of olive green l had hooked a five
pound white fish and was hauling it in
when UP came gigantic mahogany -colored
object. The foam flew. the water boiled
and presto. my fish was gone and my boat
man was laughing. ! had seen exactly the
same thing on the St. Lawrence, where a
black bass had dashed at the bait while
reeling in. In a few moments this was
repeated my catch again being taken. The
boatman said it was a black sea bass, not
a shark, accepting the inevitable We
began TO fish for black sea bass with
stout hand line. and while | waited for Il
strike the boatman regaled me with tales
OF the fish which Were not encouraging.
There was Louie TOro." he said. he
was jerked overheard by a big one. Old
Capt. Dago had his boat capsized. and It
was towed by the fish for two hours with
the old man in the bottom. Sandy Captiva,
a Venetian carpet-bagger. was pulled over
board but his mate held him by the legs
while Sandy hung on to the fish. few
winters ago said the boaJman. in con-
CIusion. Il was fishing when school of
black sea bass came by, and they follow
up my fish with such ruShes and struck
the bottom OF the boat such heavy blows
that | was afraid they would staye it in,
and so stopped fishing.
Towed by Big One.
During this recital l had noticed various
movements on the line. mysterious vibra
tious which ! assumed were caused by the
current. which sets strongly to the west
ward here. But suddenly the line began to
slip through my fingers with a slow but
positive motion. My boatman had hauled
a long leaf OF kelp aboard as an anchor
and he now tossed II over and moved his
oars into the rowlOckS. over went the line.
faster and faster. until perhaps ten feet
had been taken: then | allowed it to come
taut and with all the force l could COM
mand jrrked it into the game.
The response. / must confess, was a
surprise. | expected rush and proposed
TO slack away but l was several seconds
too late my arms Were both almost
elbow deep in the water and the line
rapidly leaping out of the boat like snake
before | recovered. In a moment, however
! had caught and slipped the line into the
scull hole of the light craft. and we went
spinning away seaward as though d power
engine was propelling us. For ten minutes
| could not move the fish, then gained a
few feet to lose twenty with a rush that
almost carried the boat under water. The
fish was towing us out to sea, so the boat
man took the oars and rowed against it
at first without avail, but after giving and
taking for half an hour l had the game
within twenty feet OF the boat and could
see the water boiling about it.
Biggest of Game Fish.
Foot by foot l gained. and finally the
fish darted around the boat-a huge mass
OF brown-and met the gaff to lunge and
jerk 1t from the boatmans hands. hurting
the water over us, almost capsizing us and
taking fifty feet OF line. Again | brought
1t in, this time holding it while it beat the
water furiously with it's powerful tail. I'M
agine a small-nouthed black bass six feet
long. proportionately large colored dark
brown. sivery beneath. with large blue
eyes, colossal head. but perfect bass
shaped body; well-propOrtioned fish ac-
tive to the danger point, as strong a
bull. and some idea can be formed of this
giant which now hauled our light craft
down to the waters edge
1t was manifestly impossible To take 1t
in. 50 We towed it TO port. four miles or
mOre-a telling illustration of labor sweet
ened under the banner of sport Its weight
If memory serves me right, was 3iI pounds,
and at this time il was considered impoSs-
BILE to catch fish such that with a rod
and light 2l-thread Guilty hunk line: yet
the record fish Of the Tuna Club, which
weighed $50 pounds. taken by Mr.. Franklin
SchenCk of Brooklyn y. Y, was landed in
less than an hour on such tackle. and was
doubtless the heaviest game fish ever taken
I'm any waters with the rod. Three notable
catches have been made here. the one men,
toned. that of Mr. T. 3. Manning Of Phila-
delphia: which weighed $40 pounds. and
that of Mr.. F. V. Rider weighing 81
pounds The catch of Mr.. Manning was
perhaps the most exciting and sensational
as the fight was continued for several
hours, the fish towing the boat an esti-
mated eight miles At the end of the first
hour the angler found himself several niles
out to sea beyond the lee of the island and
In sea SO rough that it was manifestly