Imperial Valley press., 1937-07-11
The
Tackle Box
BY GEO. f. BUCKLIN

Excellent catches OF bluefin tuna
and yellowtail were reported taken
in the vicinity of the Mexican Cor
onados last week. Fishermen on
the Star Angler" and Sea Angler"
brought 500 of the fork tails and Is
bluefin to gaff during the weekend
period.
Logs of these two boats show that
passengers have run up 2 total OF
10000 yellowtail since the opening
of the present season. This unex-
celled mark demonstrates the ex-
cellence of deep-sea angling in
waters adjacent to the Coronados.
Bluefin tuna fishing this year has
not yet reached the proportions at
tanned year ago, although in 1896
the season did not really get under
way until August Sportsmen re-
port bluefin present in the Mexi-
can Coronado waters in abundance
but as yet they have not become
sufficiently hungry to respond to
| the lure of the anglers race-horse
sardines. Ocean temperatures are
reported to be above normal which
/ ausurs we'll for the future of the
sport, Tuna should commence to
bite in quantity the latter part OF
this month and during, August.
Those who feel the urge to fish
for bluefin should use the lightest
tackle possible. Captain Bill Mill
Ter of the Star & Crescent boat
COM ny, reported that sportsmen
on the Star Angler" caught 81
bluefin in one. day recently. He
ascribey1 the feat not to luck but to
that fact that the majoriy of an
glers on board used 3-6 tackle.
Passengers on the Mascott III,
and the H. & M. Company's red
fleet of fast charter boats, recent
ly caught 80 bluefin tuna, 8 alba
core and 349 yellowtail during
six day interval. This is good fish
ing in any language Or locality.
The Point Iona barge and var
ious units of the live bait sports
fishing boats are daily recording
great catches OF barracuda. The
snakes" are reported so large that
they look almost like yelloWtail.
Kelp bass and bottom fish are Bit
ing in line proportion.
Albacore, the mystery fish of the
sea, are returning, to San Diego
waters! Little is known OF the
habits of this species of fish. They
may frequent certain ocean locali-
ties for. years and then as suddenly
disappear-no one, knows where
Technically, the albacore. is a long
fin tuna. Their flesh makes one
of the best canned fish products.
Albacore once formed the basis OF
great fish packing industry in San
Diego and San Pedro. They appear
ed in great schools in the area that
extended from San Diego to the
vicinity of Catalina Island.
They, without warning, they fail
ed to make their customary annual
visit in 1926 "Those who go down
to the sea in ships" solved the.
problem by constructing great sea-
going tuna clippers that pur-
sued yellow fin tuna for distances
as great as 5000 miles. Brought back
in refrigerated holds, the fish are
taken to the canneries. Authorities
say this years pack will reach
total of $4,000 tons, or 150,000.0O0
cans.
For years the only albacores
caught were small quantities in the
vicinity of the South Seas, mostly
by Japanese fishermen.
Later, the albacore appeared in
waters off the Oregon coast and as
suddenly disappeared, after fisher
men there had madeelaborate pre-
parations for their reception.
Two seasons ago they appeared
again in San Diego offshore waters
in scattered quantities. About two
weeks ago several of these mystery
fish were again caught in San Diego
ocean waters. Since then more
than ton has been taken by fish
ermen operating from the Bay City
embarcadero.
One angler recently caught an al
bacore with badly frayed tail. Ar
thur Ponsford of San Diego, one OF
the foremost. authorities on sports
fishing on the Pacific coast, adyanc.
ed the theory that the fish had
been travelling near the center of
large school, where tails become
frayed lashing against the numerous
bodies of their fellows, If this
theory Is correct, teeming thousands
of albacore may soon provide un.
rivalled sport for southern Califor-
MIA fishermen.