The sun., 1916-08-20
GAME TUNA BITING
OFF JERSEY COAST
Takes Anglers Bait Like
Steam Engine Going ut
Full Speed.
PROPER TACKLE TO USE
~ ALEXANDER McD. sTODDART

Uuu III WltHOut ElNluk tncHt "ny VIpoi
eunity whatsoever. caught twenty Ash.
As soon as the word was brought to
ehe Asbury Park Fishing Club Joe Cav.
tAorn and Van Camper Heller imme-
diately got out their tun tackle and
made arrangements to go the following
day.
On Wednesday. angling OF Seabrieht
William Scheer OF . West Forty-ffth
street got a strike from n tuna esti-
mated to weigh 500 pounds which he
fought for three hours. In that TIM.
the tuna towed the boat ten miles and
got away through the barb on the hoo"
6eeaking.
Since then any number of men. some
connected with the Asbury Park Fishing
Club, which offers prizes for this class
Of fishing. and other anglers have been
seeking this game fish, for which until re-
Oont years Eastern anglers went across
the continent to Santa Catalina Island
for an opportunity TO try their luck.
The anglers who have taken u In
the waters. OF New Jersey on rod and
reel are few. Indeed few members NJ
he Asbury Park Fishing Club have
taken tuna. one has to go AT the right
dine. have the proper equipment and
must be content sometimes to angle for
days or a week without getting a strike.
The four men who have taken the
most luna In the Jersey coast waters
include L. p. Townsend. who caught the
record fish. weighing 125il pounds
Frederick W. Alexander. whose heaviest
tuna weighed 9S pounds Paul Won
BOchmann. whose largest tuna weighed
q pounds, and William Scheer. who
caught a tuna OF like size.
Samuel ii. Clark. Harry II. Maddox
Charles Savage. Joe Cawthorn, j. :.
English, William Levitt. Jr.. Jacob
Wertheim. Fred Abrams and +. u. Smith
have taken smaller tun weighing from
. few pounds up to Go pounds.
Tuna are rarely ever taken close In
shore. Usually twelve or fifteen miles
on the coast is where to find them. on
Asbury Park and the ridge at Barnegat
are good places. Where the bluefsher-
men chum for blues is a likely place also
70 find the tuna.
Bank Captains Took First Tuna.
While II is only within the last, halt
oosen years that tuna have been angled
tor on rod nj reel. Capt. Fred Foster
Who died last year. after spending rrac-
tically all hts lifetime fishing In the local
waters, told the writer that he first OBJ
served tuna in 1885. with him at the
time was Capt. Louis Harm. who is still
fishing the waters between Asbury rark
and Fire Island. Both Of the men were
on the Schuyler at the time.
At the Spar buoy Capt. Harm noticed
. school Of tuna. He s.gnalled 10 IN,
Becker. a fishing boat. n got from
them a halibut hook. lie fished FOL
tuna. but caught nothing.
Two years later on the Bay Ridge. n
the Cholera Banks. tunas were sighted
again by these men. capt. Harm go
I'VE bluehsh hooks. tied them toIethei
with No. 10 wire and landed the frs
flsh from a fishing boat. The tuna
weighed twenty-eight pounds.
The next day tackle for tuna wa'
brought and Nick Bertain. Capt. Harm
Capt. Al Foster and Capt. Fred Fos;rl
chummed and trolled. Finally they RAJ
into a school and one fish ~ elghteei
pounds was caught.
Several years ago Charles Brandt, an
Cling for sea bass from the Taurus a
the klondike Banks. lost four sea bas'
taken by some larger fish. He determine.
to angle for the larger FISH. and had
most exciting fifteen minuees with "A tun.
which finally lief, at express speed wit
500 feet OF line.
Rhode Island HAS Tuna club.
Since then at Block Island the At
Sentic luna tiup mas peti "'saih@'" '
nsh exclusively FOR this hsh. The Gu
=. q "em,oership eNceeulhs w hno',
anglers compose the bulk Of the member
Ghip. but IL has also attracted "A numbc
If Western men prominent in the an
cling world.
In addition TO the Atlantic TUNA Clul
the Asbury Park Fishing Club offer
arizes for tuna.
What a tun al home H. like is de
scribed nv Hartie l. phillips. who ha
anRled for the fish In the New ,Jcrse,
waters. in the following words:
II was off to sea with a local MAJ IKE
6sherman. Ell Saunders. Tn waite
Vas very calm. suddenly we noticed .
~reat disturbance on ton OF the wata
and headed to md out what caused il.
"As we got closer We found that
circular space about forty feet in diam
eter absolutely resembled "A kettle q
ooiling water. Curious to find the cause
ne moved IN slowly and SAW "A Inrg
tuna, at least fifteen feet long. swim
ming with lightning rapjdity in a circl
around the school of ~mossbupkers that /
had rounded up and the comnot!on wa
made by them i'm their %enleayors To Is
cape.
I'VE Attended to hi, the tuna wiz
An oar. which caused II to d~isaprea
and allowed the imprisoned mossbunker
% scape."
T..L,. ,o- v,,
Just how tuna are iished for ON III
Atlantic coast may be seen from IN
tackle aud bait used by tuna anglers:
Mr.. Alexander uses Il greenhcart ro
~ thread line. or IL thread ln"' de