Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-11
SHARK SHARES
IN BIG CATCH
DISCIPLE OF ROD RELATES
FISH TALE
MOUNTAIN AND SEA FISHING
REPORTED GOOD
Reward Is Offered for Big Malibu
Trout Which Has EIuded Many
Hooks for Several
Seasons

Roy F. B. Shaver, an enthusiastic
disciple of Izaak Walton, is RESPONSE
BILE for a hard-luck fish story, without
a doubt one of the best told this sea-
son. A sharks abnormal appetite for
surf fish resulted in the loss OF the
fishing party's entire catch and cast
gloom over the devotees of the rod ana
reel.
'Thursday morning a number OF
friends and myself and family went to
Sunset to pass the day. We had tished
all the morning, catching a few small
corbina AS we went about to pull IN
our lines and go up to the hotel Tor
luncheon 1 felt a tremendous pulling on
nv line; yelled to ore of the boys TO
help me. When the fish reached the
surface, still struggling, we had the
biggest specimen of corblna ever
saw. We were so delighted over this
catch that we consented to remain an
other half hour in the hope of landing
its mate l put the big fellow in net
work bag and lowered the bag TO the
water so as to preserve life in the
fish as long as possible. 4 friend slt-
ting next to me had been telling me OF
some of the big catches he had Prev,
ously made, and during the tale had
casually glanced down at the fish.
Say. Roy he said, you had better pull
your fish out of the water, there is
big shark swimming around 1t. L
glanced down and sure enough shark
was passing to and fro. Just as l
reached the rope which held the fish
the shark made a swift pass. and as
thought, hit the bag. Well as you can
imagine our surprise was great when
we found that the shark had bitten the
bag in two, taking bag and half of the
big fish with him. AS l was pulling
the bag up about fifty fish, consisting
of the days catch, dropped out OF the
bag through the hole made by the
shark. We thought we had enough
fishing for one day, so we packed up
and went home"
Matilda has been a center for fish
ing parties since the opening of the
trout season, and the reports from that
camp are encouraging.
Among the Los Angeles anglers who
have been trying their luck there are
j. r. Hardy, r. P. Hillman, e. B. Mer-
chant, w. L. Valentine, II. w. Robin
son, F. B. Harper, c. B. Horton, E. e.
Arnoldson, John A. Mason, A. S. Shell
don, M. Strickland and Charles e.
Rose.
Messrs. Sheldon and Strickland
landed a steelhead weighing five and
a half pounds and measuring thirty
inches long. Chapo Ayalo caught two
twenty-inch steelheads, but j. II.
Hardy holds the highest average for
a days catch.
H. I. Pritchard, state fish and game
warden, discovered several open
screens in the trout streams at Matilda
last week and it is feared that many
trout escaped into the reservoirs. Mr..
Pritchard Immediately had the screens
put in order. He said some of the
farmers had been drawing water for
irrigation purposes and had failed to
provide proper screens.
A party headed by Louis Breer in
vaded the Sespee district and report
excellent fishing. They say the water
there is only about one-third as high
as 1t was at this time last year, and
it is not necessary to resort to bait, the
fish readily taking the fly and hook.
In the lower waters of the Ventura
river one angler caught fifty trout, six
of which measured over twenty inches.
Another angler filled his basket by
whipping the stream between the
mouth of the San Gabriel canyon and
the railroad bridge A few days later
he caught seventeen as far down as
Rio Ronde
A plan is on foot to offer a reward
of $25 for the angler who catches a
certain big Malibu trout that has eluded
the hooks of anglers for many seasons,
but who was seen few days ago by
Justice j. c. Steele, who has just re-
turned from the Santa Monica district,
and reports that he almost had the
trout, it having bit, but got away on
the take-in.
II. l. Pritchard has also seen the fish
and calls it the "foxiest of its species"
-