Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-04-28
CATCHING THE TUNA.
Fish Weighing Hundreds of Pounds
in California Waters.
Veteran Anglers Keep Busy with
Their Rods During the Winter
MOntbs-The GameEt of
u Fishes.

Rods are not put away during the
winter in southern California, for there
are the white fish, the sheepshead ana
the rock bass always to be had offshore;
but as spring comes on there is greater
activity. and the best fishing, the real
sport, is in the spring and summer, Wnere
the black current that sweeps down the
coast is tempered by the semitropic sun,
and the shore is swarming with bait, says
a writer in Outing Magazine.
The tuna is game for the veteran,
but the inexperienced angler may
work up to it by practicing on albicore,
q gamey, long-fnned oceanic fish tound
at the California islands the year around.
A 63-pound fish towed an angler three
miles before it could be brought to gan.
II larger game is desired without the ex-
IRENE excitement of the tuna, the black
bass affords it, This is the giant OF the
bass tribe, ranging here up to 4eO
pounds. The record rod catch with FL
thread line is a 425-pound fish caught by
Edward Llewellyn. The bass, like all
of it's kind, affects the rocks and the
great beds of kelp which form halls and
parterres beneath the sea- in compare
lively shallow water inshore. The boat
Is anchored in 25 or 80 feet Of water and
ARRANGEMENTS made to cast off at short
notice. The equipment is a single tip
rod the line a thread Of 16 to Il strand,
with long wire leader, and Van Week
;arpon hook. The bait il four or five
hounds of barracuda, or a live white
fish. This is cast into the clear places
In the kelp. or near 1t, or suspended
three or four feet from the bottom, as the
angler may choose; either way accom-
plishes the purpose and lures the big
game. The strike Of the tuna is mag
nificent rush, sometimes a leap upward,
sometimes down; that of the yellow tall
single powerful plunge, a miniature
lightning stroke with electric enects;
but the king of the bass is more deliber-
ate reminding one of the methods or the
great Mexican barracuda. The line be-
pins to move. to tremble and twitch. A
few inches go over the rail, the reel
rounds a note of alarm, then another,
and the line runs slowly out. Five feet
have gone when the bass gives the re-
tort courteous. have seen strong
man jerked elbow depths on the
hand line; but with the reel, it means a
long musical prelude in various keys,
the bass tearing off the line by the
fathom. The boatman casts of the an
Choir buoy, grasps his oars, and heading
out to sea, surging through the water,
lowing the boat. the big game is away,
the sport Is on.
These fishes have resorts In deeper
water from an eighth to a quarter OF a
mile off shore, and they invariably
rush to the groves or deep-lyhg kelp,
into which they can dart, soon breaking
the line. The oarsman rows against the
fish. the angler endeavors to stop the
rush by applying the leather brake, and
finally a vibrant pumping motion is felt
and the bass rises gradually, then comes
In. to suddenly turn and break away.
The contest may be anywhere from
one hour to three; the fish may tow the
boat two or three miles off shore and
bring It in again, or it may play within
a few yards of where 1t was hooked.
Finally the big multiplyer wins and
brings the fish to gaff; and be the angler
a novice, there comes to him out of the
depths an amazing fish, gigantic I'M
age of the black bass, fin for fin, mahog-
any tinted, with silvery belly and large
eyes. AS it feels the gaff its ponderous
tail rises, and angler and garter are
swept with a small tidal wave. 1t rises,
plunges, tips the boat dangerously, and
must be killed before it is brought in,
then almost filling the boat. Little Won
der that those who fail to see such
catches are affected with doubts, as the
black sea- bass is stupendous, and when
hung up at the stand of the gaffer, with
the thread-like line dangling from its
mouth, and the split bamboo standing
against it, 1t seems incomprehensible
that these trifles have killed so power
full, so gigantic fish.