The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1914-09-17
BIG OCEAN ACROBAT
MoIa, One of the Strangest Crea-
lures of the Sea.
Thousand Pound Fish, all Head, bur
Can Jump-Delicate Pompanoes
Which Glide Like an AeropIanc
Striped Shark That Lesps.

One OF the strangest Jumpers IL mas
been my good fortune to watch and
catch Is the sunfish, or mola, in all
probability the strangest fish In the
sea, as 1t appears to be all head, says
a writer In the New York Press. This
Is so seemingly true that In speci-
men three feet long the vertebra Is
but an inch and half long. Some
Of the fish weigh over one thousand
pounds.
l have had some weird experiences
with this fish. In 1875 was fishing
at the mouth of the st. John river,
Florida, for channel bass, tarpon and
big sharks, when monster sunf1sh
came sailing in and, like a ship,
grounded on the bar opposite Pilot
town. / went out to watch it's capture.
1t was said to weigh 1900 pounds.
and looked it. 1t was IL feet high
The next one saw was off the Isles
of Shoals, In 1877. had been trying
to take a tuna with q rod off Boon
island, and on the way, in the dory,
we nearly ran into sunfish. hooked
on to it with gait and brought 1t in.
Later at Santa Catalina / found a very
large one. ran alongside, seized Its
fin and bent it over the rail while the
boatman cut a hole In the fin and
passed a rope through 1t.
While we were doing this the mon
ster nearly wrecked the launch and
towed us toward shore; when we final
ly got 1t In tow our launch could not
ming the ether way. 1t took two
launches to tow this sunfish, which
must have weighed over 1000 pounds,
into Avalon bay, where I had an ex-
cellent opportunity to watch and study
1t, after which released 1t uninJured.
OF Santa Catalina or San Clemente
in summer thousands Of the young Of
this fish are seen from a foot to three
feet In length. They swim in small
schools; are very social, swimming
about the boats, engaged in a contin-
ual game Of Ieaping. Sometimes wher-
ever you look you see leaping sun
| fish At times they leap very clumsily,
but generally come down with re-
sounding crash. To see dozens Of these
big heads" in the air coming down
in continual patter is fascinating.
The big barracuda and the kingfish
of Florida are jumpers of high degree.
The former is a wild and splendid
jumper after it is hooked, while the
latter makes magnificent leaps after
the bait before it is hooked; SO it Is
in the class with the tuna. | should
not care to go on record with mere
guess as to the length of the jumps,
but they are supreme in vivacity,
length and exhilaration among the wild
| finny tribes of the sea.
That there should be so great q
difference in the mere leaps of game
| fish seems impossible to the layman,
but your keen observing angler no
tees all the niceties of the jump and
| is quick to see it.
Several years ago was fishing just
outside of Arkansas pass, Texas, for
| channel bass, which we took with
shrimp bait in extraordinary holes in
the lagoon when the gafftopsail catfish
would allow it, This was an extra
| ordinary locality for jumping fishes.
Apparently everything leaped, and at
/ the slightest suggestion. If splashed
the water with an oar a score OF
mullets would go into the air, and over
what appeared to be a variety Of tule
| there was a constant flash of scales in
the hot August sun.
Suddenly the pompanoes began to
leap and I was afforded q remarkable
opportunity to watch their methods.
The pompano is a little fish, but very
broad. An ordinary leap covered ten
or Is feet But the peculiar feature
was that this little fish, about the size
Of the palm of your hand, did not
| Jump high, yet covered incredible dis
tances. After watching several be-
lieve solved the mystery.
In leaping the pompano did not go
up; it dashed out of the water at an
| angle and when at an elevation of four
| or five feet I distinctly saw 1t turn on
| it's side, and so, like an aerOplane, with
| its broad surface to the air, it slid
away in long and graceful parabola<
/ saw this repeatedly, as the fish
were jumping by our boat every few
minutes. and one or two fell into the
boat A friend told me that In beat
ing up a narrow river in Florida he
alarmed a school of these delicious,
delightful little fishes and they came
| out of the water in swarms, lombard
ing him, hitting the sail and falling
| into the boat.
At Arkansas, in the pass, hooked a
shark, which jumped so exactly like a
tarpon that was more than once de-
ceived by it. In Catalina Harbor,
Cal, there is striped shark which
leaps when hooked and gives a very
| good imitation of game fish.
National Parks.