Salt water game fishing

Preface

IN the present volume of this series I have attempted to give the angler interested in sea angling alone some general idea of the marine fishes of the United States to which the term game may legitimately be applied. The subject at best is an exhaustless one, and it is somewhat difficult to condense to the essentials and compress it into a little volume which the sea angler can slip into his pocket. I am aware, then, that my sense of proportion may be at fault and that I may have eliminated or omitted some of the very points the reader may desire, but I have endeavored to put myself in his place and have given only the essentials.

As an illustration, a large volume could be written on tackle alone. A ponderous book would be required to describe fully the fishing grounds around New York, Fire Island, etc. This is also true of Florida or California, so I have only hinted at the details and fishes to be found in certain localities.

For the convenience of the angler I have divided the fields of angling into geographical areas, and have given the fishes, the bait used, the tackle to be employed, so that the angler can go to the region knowing what to expect and what to take, and arriving, can obtain the lesser details from boatmen. I have fished nearly all the seaboards from Maine to Aransas Pass, Texas, and from the Gulf of California to Oregon on the Pacific slope, and have taken, I think, all the fishes described or mentioned in the volume. Two regions stand out in strong relief — that of Florida and the Southern California islands. In the former the region one hundred and fifty miles north or south of Cape Sable is the greatest tropical sea angling ground in the world, as here the angler floats over coral reefs and catches the purely tropical game: jacks, kingfish, tarpon, and snappers, yet is but a few hours from New York. There is no place just like it, as a fishing region does not depend on its fishes alone, but must have comforts for your modern angler. I fished the Florida reef in i860, before there was even a telegraph wire from Key West to the coast. To-day you can go to Key West by rail; the finest hotels in the world line the east and west coast, and the day will come

PREFACE 7

when Key West, with its incomparable winter climate and sport, will be a favorite for anglers and tourists.

Equal to this, yet totally different, is the angling region of Southern California islands — Santa Catalina and San Clemente, twenty or more miles from Los Angeles, a city of nearly two-thirds of a million people. Here the catch is semi-tropic — the leaping tuna, the yellow-fin tuna, the long-fin tuna, the white sea bass, and, most important, the leaping swordfish, which attracts to this region the anglers of the world. Here the Tuna Club has taken form, including some of the most influential and distinguished men in America and England, who have conserved the fisheries and elevated the standards of sport. England has the lead in angling clubs, due to its age and maturity, but America is forging to the front, and scores of influential clubs like the Santa Catalina Island Tuna Club, the Aransas Pass Tarpon Club, the Asbury Park Fishing Club, the Southern California 'Rod and Reel Club of Los Angeles, are coming to the fore; not alone to catch fish, but to establish standards of sport, conserve the fisheries, and aid in the establishment of game laws and see that they are observed. Upon the intelligent angler depends the fish supply of the future, as they stand for protection, and without their intervention the alien market fishermen would make desolate the seas, rivers, lakes, and streams in less than a decade. The sea angler of to-day is not only an angler, he is a conservator of the people's interest.

C. F. H.

Pasadena, CaL

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE GROUNDS 13

II. TACKLE SUGGESTIONS 24

Chapter I

FOR the convenience of the reader, the angling grounds for sea game fish in America may be divided into several great divisions. They are so located that the sportsman can begin at a definite point and swing around an angling circle, covering the entire field in a satisfactory manner and during the trip traverse the most interesting portions of America. They are as follows:

New England

First, The New England fishing ground, including the New England States and the vicinity of Cape Cod, Block Island, etc. Here we have the bluefish, the swordfish (Xiphias), the striped bass, halibut, the pollock, blackfish, and mackerel, distinctively game fishes, and many more, such as tautog, cod, hake, haddock, all found in water of greater or less depth, not always game, but valuable; and num- 13 bers of small fry, as the cunner, flounder, sculpin, and others, interesting at times with rod and light lines.

This region, besides the coast from " 'way down East," should embrace the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick (for the tuna fishing), down alongshore to Block Island, where there is excellent sport with the bluefish, and at times tuna, while the big swordfish also waits.

Various steamers from Boston reach Nova Scotia. The mouth of the St. Lawrence and Prince Edward's Island are available from Montreal, Quebec, and Boston, the trip being easy and interesting. The coast of Maine near Booth Bay, Squirrel Island, and Ocean Point abounds in excellent fishing from the rocks, though it is not over exciting. At Ogunquit I have had excellent sport for pollock with a fly and trout rod. From here I went out to the vicinity of Boon Island, ten miles offshore, for halibut, cod, tuna, swordfish, sharks (dogfish), the latter and cod predominating. Not far from here some years ago one hundred tunas were taken, each of which weighed over one thousand pounds. They were caught in a net in Gloucester harbor.

All alongshore there are fishes of some sort, from the dainty cunner I caught when a boy at Red Rock, Lynn, Nahant or Swamscott, to the larger fry off Egg Rock. Excellent fishing is found down by Buzzard's Bay. From New Bedford a steamer may be taken to Nantucket, where most invigorating bluefish trolling may be had and a variety of game, including big sharks not found inshore.

On the strangely named islands off New Bedford, as Cuttyhunk, there are still some striped bass, but not to compare with the sport thirty or forty years ago, when many clubs made these islands famous. Block Island is within easy reach of New Bedford, Providence, and Newport, and may be termed the headquarters of the bluefish and the swordfish industry.

The Tuna Club of Santa Catalina Island set a new pace for anglers in taking a 355-pound swordfish, the feat being accomplished by Mr. Boschen of New York. This was the first Mediterranean, or what is known as the Atlantic, swordfish (Xiphias) ever taken with rod and reel, although Dr. Gifford Pinchot played one four hours in 19 10. It is particularly interesting that this fish should have been taken at Santa Catalina. Why this has not become a sport in the Block Island region long before lies in the fact that to take the fish in the Atlantic one must go to the open and rough water, while at Santa Catalina the game is played in the lee of the great islands, though twenty or more miles at sea and often in water as calm as a lake, an essential when the game is large and menacing.

Fisher's Island, in Long Island Sound, is reached from New London by steamer, and some of the best bluefish, blackfish, and bass fishing I have ever had has been about this island. I often went out and landed my bluefish in the blue, swift-running currents, and half an hour later had the game served for breakfast in the little inn — a dish for the gods, and no one knows the real bluefish unless he has had this experience of immediate eating. With the pollock this rule is even more imperative; it should be eaten at once when taken from the water.

New York and New Jersey

Second. The New York and New Jersey region. This includes the blackfish, the bass, the tunny, weakfish, drum, striped bass, bluefish, mackerel, channel bass, sea bass and many smaller fishes. New York ranks next to London in its interest in angling.

Every wharf has its devotees, and special steamers run out to the banks, loaded with anglers, during the summer, and the pastime has its own patrons, its deep-sea tackle, its rods, reels and lines. Then there are numerous places down the harbor where the weakfish and the drumfish are taken from boats. In the bay near Coney Island I have watched the hauling of a fyke-net and noted the extraordinary variety of fishes caught prowling about the shallows at night, ranging from an occasional tarpon to the channel bass and striped bass, with sharks, rays, and goosefish.

The various inlets on the outer coast of Long Island afford good fishing, easy of access from New York by various lines. The cream of the fishing of this region is that which has the Asbury Park, N. J., Fishing Club as a center of radiation. The fine channel bass or spot comes into the surf to feed and the angler fishes standing on the beach or in the waves. Asbury Park is within a short distance of New York. An important center for striped bass is Harvey Cedars. Following down the coast we come to the great Chesapeake Bay, which abounds in fine fish, as the triple-tail. From here on a change is evident, although some of the Florida fishes, as the tarpon, migrate north, perhaps in the Gulf Stream. To reach the bay, steamers can be taken at Baltimore, or there are boats which leave New York direct for Norfolk. At Old Point and towns on the east shore, boatmen or professionals can be found who will take the angler out.

Florida

Third. The Florida region, which extends from Virginia to Cuba, includes the tarpon, amberjack, sheepshead, barracuda, ladyfish, bonefish, jacks, snappers, kingfish, cero, sailiish, parrot-fish, and an endless variety of small fry, from the angel- and parrot-fishes to the grunts and porgies.

The angler who proposes to make the Florida trip can now reach Key West in a Pullman car in practically two days; if in winter he can almost go to sleep in a winter land and awaken in summer. This is due to modern facilities and the new Flagler railway, which extends out over the reef to Key West, opening up one of the greatest angling regions of the world — that of the Florida reef.

Good fishing is found all along the coast of Florida and Georgia, especially at the mouth of the St. Mary and St. John rivers, and all down the Indian- River country, where there is a chain of beautiful hotels, from St. Augustine, Miami, and around the Cape, up the inside of the Gulf to Tampa; the entire region forming a real angler's paradise. An angler's camp or headquarters has been established at Long Key, where launches, rowboais, and sailboats can be obtained for the outside big game fishing.

The Gulf

Fourth. There is a peculiar fascination about these islands, at least to me, as I knew them well years ago, when they were a terra incognita to the world and only reached by boat from St. Augustine or from Key West by sponger. Now steamers run up and down the coast from Tampa to Key West and Cuba, or from New York to Key West. So, too, with Galveston. Steamers connect it with New York, and it is a short and agreeable trip in the cars via the Southern Pacific or Sunset route. Here is the Galveston Tarpon Club and an extraordinary breakwater or jetty that extends out into the Gulf affording fine sport to the most exacting angler.

About one hundred miles south of Galveston, on a big inland sea like the Indian River, is Port Aransas, where the Tarpon Club holds forth. This is reached by rail from San Antonio, Texas, and is, all things considered, one of the best sea angling points for tarpon on the Gulf. It is comfortable, on the water, and not too hot ashore in August. Tampico can be included in this region from an angling standpoint, and can be reached by rail from the interior and by boat from New York and possibly New Orleans.

The Pacific Coast

Fifth. The Pacific coast can be divided into two distinct fields of sea angling: one from Alaska and Vancouver to about San Francisco ; the other from Monterey to San Diego. In the north the sea angling is mainly the salmon, which is taken trolling at Vancouver with a spoon; sea-trout at Eureka; halibut, rock cod, striped bass, salmon, etc., in San Francisco Bay; while at Capitola, Santa Cruz, and Carmel there is excellent trolling for salmon in July, August, and September. Good and often palatial hotels are found, and the angler, particularly at Del Monte, where there is a sal-

THE GROUNDS fil

mon cannery, finds all the facilities for angling for the great Chinook salmon.

Going south into the last field, angling is to be had at various points, as San Luis Obispo, where there is excellent sport with white sea bass — a giant weakfish, and all alongshore in season the steelhead is in evidence. At the Santa Barbara Islands we shall meet the bonito and albacore in numbers, and when we arrive at Santa Catalina and the U. S. Government island — San Clemente, one hundred miles south, we are in the heart of a wonderful sea angling country, justly famous all over the world. This is due to the abundance of large game fishes on their spawning-beds, which Dr. Jordan states are about the* islands, and the fact that Santa Catalina, twenty-two miles in length, lies so that it constitutes a lee and smooth, lake-like water twenty or thirty miles out in the Pacific. This permits the use of light tackle, and together with the fact that the region three miles from shore cannot be netted in the future, gives the angler the promise of the best sport.

The great current, Kuro Shiwo, the Black Current of Japan, sweeps across the North Pacific and down the coast, and to this, doubtless, is due the presence at Santa Catalina and

San Clemente of many semi-tropic fishes or fishes common to Japan. The swordfish, taken here in large numbers with rod and reel, is so common in Japan that it has a Japanese name, Tetrapturus mitsukuii.

The game fishes found here are the leaping tuna, two swordfishes — Xiphias and Tetrapturus — the yellow-fin tuna, the long-fin tuna, two bonitos, the barracuda, sheepshead, rock bass of many varieties, the black sea bass, white sea bass, sea-trout, roncador, halibut, surf-fish, bony fish, and many more.

The best fishing has been at Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and the Coronado Islands, one hundred miles to the south; but the latter are barren rocks, in Mexican waters, while Santa Catalina has two fully equipped towns, Avalon and Cabrillo and a summer population of ten thousand or more.

One can reach this region from London or Paris in two weeks; from New York in five days. Los Angeles, a modern city of 600,000 inhabitants, is the central point, having various lines of railroads, and there are various lines of steamers to it through the Panama Canal from the great ports of the world. Arriving in Los Angeles, the angler rides to the port in half or three-quaterrs of an hour, there taking the steamer Cabrillo or Hermosa to Santa Catalina. If the destination is San Clemente Island, twenty miles further out, a launch must be chartered, as there is often a heavy sea going or coming. This can be •avoided by making the trip early in the morning, leaving either island by four or five A. M., the voyage requiring about three and a half hours.

In a general way these fields of angling activity include all the sea angling in America. But we have Hawaii and the Philippines, and Bermuda and the Windward Islands are near at hand. In the Florida reef and the two islands — Santa Catalina and San Clemente — we have the best sea angling grounds in the world.

Chapter II

MR. SAMUEL G. CAMP in his " Fishing Kits and Equipment " * has so thoroughly exhausted the subject of tackle that I can not do better than to recommend the book to the angler, and also refer briefly to the specific tackle used in the various sea angling fields indicated in the following pages.

A revolution has taken place among the sea anglers of the world, and to-day fishes are taken on tackle so light as to have been considered impossible fifteen years ago. This reformation was brought about by the Santa Catalina Island Tuna Club. In 1886 I took a black bass rod with a light trout line to Santa Catalina. It was the first ever seen in these dulcet waters. At that time, or soon after, it was the custom to go out with big hand-lines and

* Outing Handbook No. 7. 24 o be

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catch half a ton of splendid yellowtails, a fish that resembles a salmon and tips the scales at from twenty to fifty pounds.

It was to regulate this sport, establish a high standard, that I established this club, which has become famous the world over. The club has given tournaments to encourage the use of light tackle, and its influence has so spread over the world that nearly everywhere light rods and fine lines are now used. With such tackle I landed a 183-pound tuna. I killed a 95-pounder with a twelve-ounce yellowtail rod and a No. 18 line. I took a 17- pounder on an eight-ounce ten-foot Divinemade trout rod and an E enameled line. Others, among them Mr. T. McD. Potter, Col. John E. Stearns, Dr. Gifford Pinchot, Mr. J. E. Coxe, Mr. Boschen, and Mr. Arthur J. Eddy, took fishes of large size with No. 21, No. 18 and No. 6 lines and so revolutionized the sport.

The Tuna Club collaborated with a number of clubs in America, France, and England to make this universal, and so the tackle reform went around the world, and to-day the anglers of the Tuna Club all over the country have had the satisfaction of securing from the legislature a law recognizing Santa Catalina, or its shore and three miles off, as a spawning-ground; a movement not in the interest of the angler alone, but the consumer, as the marketmen were, as is always the case, overdoing the netting and fast driving off the big market fish, particularly the leaping tuna, which was, before the netting, the great game fish here, but now is rare. It is expected that the nonnetting law will bring them back.*

All the angling done in Southern California waters is of this light tackle persuasion, and it has resulted in much new business for the great houses, as the rods demanded are the finest split bamboo, greenheart and noibwood (or hickory) , and of a light, small size.

The Tuna Club advocates for the tuna and fish of over one hundred pounds a rod not over sixteen ounces in weight; the tip not less than six feet. The line permitted is of twenty-four strands, which has a breaking strength of two pounds to the strand; hence such a line will lift a dead weight of forty-eight pounds. This is seldom used. I took my 183-pound tuna with a twenty-one-thread line, the breaking strength forty-two pounds. With this tackle the late Col. C. P. Morehous took a

* The season of 1913, two months after the law went into effect, saw the finest yellow-nn tuna angling in ten years.

Right view of reel in readiness, right thumb resting

on the leather brake, left hand grasping

upper cork grip.

Tuna or Tarpon reel showing position of the thumb pressing the leather brake.

Socket for the butt of the rod.

251-pound tuna, and Mr. W. C. Boschen of New York in 19 13 took a 335-pound swordfish (Xiphias), which is now the record fish of the Tuna Club and the world's record.

The reel used in this sport is large, generally an Edwin Vom Hof e make, and holds six hundred feet. Economy in tackle consists in buying the very best, and while a good outfit can be had for less money, the angler had better pay thirty or forty or more dollars for his reel, fifteen or twenty for the rod, and three or four for the line, as it will be put to the extreme test. The latest reels are as finely made as a watch and have abundant combinations — brakes, etc. The line for tuna or black sea bass should have a fine piano-wire leader eight or ten feet long, with several swivels, and the line for six or eight feet should be doubled. The hook is a No. 10 O'Shaughnessy, though if live bait is used it is smaller. If a flying fish or skipjack, it should be larger.

The rods are beautifully made, of split bamboo or noibwood, ironwood, greenheart, or hickory; have agate guides and just the right resiliency. The reel is set above the grip or between the butt and the left-hand grip, and should be on the upper side of the rod. The reel should always be lashed onto the rod, and the line should be run out and wet before fishing, as the friction will set a dry line afire, and line and hopes will go up in smoke. Sometimes a lead sinker is used to get the line down if the fish are low, as the salmon generally are at Monterey. The butt of such a rod is twenty-four inches long, with a tip seven feet long. On the silver tip of the butt fits a rubber pad, something like the rubber tips on a chair or crutch, but they come flat. In playing a large fish the angler should have a leather belt with a butt cap and use this as a fulcrum. All launches are rigged with a leather cap, fastened to the seat between the angler's knees. Nearly all the very large fish are caught from the seat fulcrum or base.

In this sea angling the tackle has a relation to the boat and is the result of evolution, the survival of the most desirable. The result is a perfect boat and perfect tackle, having in view absolute fair play and all the advantage on the side of the game.

The Santa Catalina boat is a launch eighteen or twenty feet long and wide of beam, built for safety, not for speed. An eight- or ten-horse power gasoline engine is placed amidships, and the wheel is on the right rail on the inside, so that the boatman, who is also the gaffer, can sit with his right hand on the wheel, his left on the bar of the engine. The anglers must sit side by side, facing the stern and in it; one fishes to the right, the other to the left, and when either has a strike the boatman stops the engine and the other angler reels in if it is desirable to give his friend the field. Then with the butt of his rod in the socket attached to the chair between his knees, the angler is in a position to play the largest game.

This is the so-called tuna tackle. Then comes what is popularly known as " 9-9. " The line is a number nine. The term " 9" means that the line has nine threads or strands. Each strand having a breaking strength of two pounds; the entire line having a breaking strength of eighteen pounds. The rod must not weigh over nine ounces, nor can it be less than six feet in length. It is made of split bamboo, noibwood, greenheart, and various woods. A Shaver split bamboo " 9-9 " can be had for $20. It has agate guides and German silver mountings, and with it the angler can land a very large fish — up to one hundred pounds. Edwin Vom Hofe builds a " 9-9 " rod of noibwood which costs from $10 to $14. Any reel can be used, but usually a smaller one is employed that will hold 300 or 400 feet of No. 9 line.

Another grade of tackle in use by the Tuna Club in its tournaments, and invented by T. McD. Potter, a retired capitalist of Los Angeles, is known as " 3-6." Here the rod weighs six ounces. The rod cannot be less than six feet; the line has 6 strands, and a breaking strength of twelve pounds, which explains the name " three-six"; viz., 6 feet, 6 strands, and 6 ounces. With this extraordinary rod, like a trout rod cut off, I saw Dr. Gifford Pinchot play a giant yellowtail five hours; and fishes up to sixty pounds, and doubtless over, are taken with it, the idea of the club being to prevent the slaughter of game fish; as it is impossible to land a fish on this tackle within fifteen minutes or half an hour, the result is most satisfactory.

The Tuna Club has a " sled " and a " kite 1 '* which are employed with the tuna tackle. The former is to keep the bait away from the boat in trolling, while the kite makes the bait imitate the leap of the living flying fish when that lure is used. Tunas and swordfishes are often taken in this manner when they will not

* See pages 143 and 146 touch anything else. This tackle is now used at Aransas Pass in the Gulf of Mexico, where nearly all the tarpon are taken on the " 9-9 " tackle of the Tuna Club. As it is based on sportsmanship and humanitarian ideas, it is gradually spreading over the country where sea angling holds.

Surf casting, whether on the California or New Jersey coast, requires different methods, and a stiffer rod is employed so that a heavy bait can be cast a long distance out over the waves. The casting tackle on the Jersey coast for striped bass or channel bass is a stiff 16 ounce or over rod; the line a No. 24 or No. 30, according to the angler's taste.

The surf fish or roncador tackle on the sandy beaches of California, where the game is small or from one to three or four pounds, is a 9- ounce rod and No. 21 thread line or a No. 9 line.

Along the Florida coast and at Long Key Fishing Camp the all-around tackle used is tarpon tackle, so near the sixteen-ounce tackle of the Tuna Club that a description is unnecessary.

There are three general methods of angling deserving attention.

First. — Trolling, when the bait, generally a fish or a bone jig or a spoon, is hauled or trolled after the boat from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet astern. If it is necessary to go fast, as for kingfish about Nassau, then a good pipe or wing sinker is needed to keep the bait down below the surface; but if the fish does not require speed to delude him, as in swordfish angling, a light one is used.

Second. — Still fishing. This in California is when the angler sights a school of fish — yellowtail or mackerel — and keeps them about the boat by (chumming) tossing over brokenup fish. Here the angler reels in his line and casts, long or short, as the case may be, with or without a sinker. This is one of the most fascinating methods in California, as the water is perfectly smooth and one can pick out the fish he wants.

Third. — Beach casting. Here the angler wades out into the surf with high boots or stands on the sands and casts. The rolling surf lends additional fascinaton to this method, which I have tried for the big Florida barracuda, channel bass, etc.

There is another method employed by thousands — that of wharf fishing, and Southern California has scores of angling piers along her coast, of no use for commerce, but patronized by anglers every day in the year. They use a long bamboo pole, with a stout line and many hooks, adapted to the height above the water. If a large fish is hooked the angler lowers down a grapnel and endeavors to hook the fish up, or gaff it. If it is too large to lift, it is led ashore and landed on the beach in the surf.

Chapter III

the new england grounds

Group i

the swordfish (Xiphias)

IT remained for the Tuna Club to put the swordfish of two species on the angling map as a game fish. The first Tetrapturus was taken with rod and reel by Mr. Llewellyn in 1896, and the first Xiphias by Mr. W. C. Boschen, a New York member, in 19 13. The latter fish weighed 355 pounds and was one of three hooked by Mr. Boschen at Santa Catalina.

The Xiphias, like the tuna, is really a world-wide roamer, but is not common, and I think it varies according to season. The two localities where its catch can be depended upon, as a business, are south-eastern Massachusetts, around Block Island, and in the Mediterranean Sea, both, in all probability, spawning and feeding grounds for the fish.