Cape Breton's Magazine

w I felt a kind of jump to the line & called out "the leader was across his tail & has just come off." A moment later the line went slack (what an awful feeling!). On reeling in • after 10 minutes on the most solid- feeling fish in my life, with practically none of the familiar jig-jig-jig tugging which always comes from the wagging tail • from which I conclude that he was so large that he was swimming that much more easily • I found that the Ashaway Green-stripe Dacron line, 2nd yr. of use, had parted at the brass clip at the end of the double. The thread wrapping above the break was still O.K., yet the seized end of the double at my end of the double was pushed back towards the fish, leaving a couple of feet of slack on one side of the double, which put the full strain on a single half of the double • whteh broke at the clip! A fair tension test on my double-bar scale broke this line at 83 lbs! Wet! A new piece of the same line broke at the same strain • dry & wet at 85-90 lbs. • very poor line! tM the 117 lb. (wet) strength of 39 Thr. Linnen. What nnay well have happened in this case was that the Tuna re? versed, fast, wrapped 25 ft. of leader & over the 30 ft. of double line around himself and, in pulling clear of the upper end of the double, he pushed the end back, down, causing the slack on one side of the double which caused the break at the sharp radius where it went round the brass clip • as a single line! Moral is splice the upper end of the double to the main line with the Ashaway splicing needle! 3 1/2 hrs. later a large fish was seen thrashing about in the shallows on the shore of Jersey Cove • probably my poor friend, trying to get rid of the hook & 25 ft. wire leader • a sickening thought. 1967 At least three schools of Tuna jumping clean out, some 7 to 8 ft. some under 100 lbs. and only one big tail showed • followed them in to inner Bay in afternoon. More than 36 "sightings" in the day • no Takers. 1968 Arrived July 17th. No Tuna seen as yet; on Aug. 16th caught a glimpse of two Tuna fins between Red island and the nets • and that's all for 1968 • an all-time record low for St. Ann's Bay. Neither Angus nor Malcolm MacDonald of S. Gut have seen Tuna from their commanding view. Altogether a queer year: • no cod except 8 very small ones from 3 1/2 hrs. hard fishing.... Angus Montgomery reported no cod elsewhere • Wreck Cove Bank, Island Bank, Lighthouse Bank no squid, no Gaspereau, v. few dog? fish, no Doilarfish, no Jellyfish, no Sunfish, no Shari<, no Herring. A small, steady supply of Mackerel in the two nylon nets 40 top & 1 bot? tom supply & a few Hake. If there is a law of averages, next year should be a dandy! 1969 Plenty of cod & mackerel • inner net set in from old net. 4 people in all reported seeing Tuna between Aug. 7th and 15th. We saw none however. Ail summer there were unusually large schools of Mackerel ail down the coast. The unusual thing is • outside of a fair quantity of small cod on the banks • no dogfish (not one!) 4 small butterfish (lo? cal name doilarfish) a couple of Hake, na squid, one large sunfish in inner bay • no jellyfish of either colour. Over 60 very large seals feed? ing on cod along outer rocks of Cibou is. in May.... No Tuna seen by us as yet. Two were harpooned up near Ingonish and many were seen 15 miles and more out from Glace Bay. On Sept. 4th saw one Tuna splash ahead of us between Bmce's & Tuna Brook on Rocky? side at 11.30 and at high tide, around 4 p.m. a big splash was seen in outer bay • which was then full of Blackfish! ...Another terribly poor year only 2 to date at Wedgeport! 1970 ...no sightings • a sad season's lishing." 1971 Mackerel very numerous all summer, 400 in nets once. Few on N. S. coast. No dogfish, no jellyfish & hence no sunfish (1 in a salmon net outside) only a couple of herring • v. few gaspereau. Caught a couple of flounder, mostly from Black Head in, in 5-6 fa. Scallops pretty well fished out (3-5 draggers out there every day!). An alarming thing was that on the mn from Fairy Hole to the White cliffs on the N. shore we ran into patches of what we took to be a very unhealthy-looking al? gae • long, black, hair-like strands coating the scoops (about 18"-24" long) • can this be a "dying" section of ocean • maybe where the Bras d'Or & St. Anns tides meet & gather the pollutant substances!? In the first week of Sept. we saw Tuna break once off our point in the tide and again 6 times off Englishtown. Then no more signs! 1973 Arrived July 7th and, as last year, found the place in fine shape and running! No one saw a Tuna all summer • in or out of the Bay. Heard they were off Aspy Bay in August. Codding fair, but the scallop drag? gers have cleaned out the Bay and left.... Large seiners (Scandinavi? an) have cleaned all the flounder out of the Bay. Only saw dogfish once in nets and Blackfish in outer Bay once • no large fish of any kind seen at sea! From Dr. Ken MacKenzie of Dingwall about the fine, large Queen Crab to be bought from the Neils Harbour Fishing Co-op • at 65 cts/ib • already cooked. They are cheap and lovely eat? ing....We missed the freak hail & ft. of snow (requiring snowplows!) & 100 m.p.h. winds oh June 17th. INTRODUCING HYUNDAI'S ALL NEW SURPRISE FOR 1991 THE FIRST LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY IS THE START OF THE LOVE AFFAIR. AND ITS PERFORMANCE LIVES UP TO ITS LOOKS. "TEST DRIVE ONE TODAY. HYunoni "Where the smart money goes" 34 STATE STREET cnf A'A A SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA QOy "*+ f I 1 P.O. BOX 728 B1P6H7 1974 Tuna sighted off North River entrance?... That's all • ! 1975 ...This has become a Tu? na camp in name only- there is a rumour this year of very small Tuna playing up the North Riv? er near Goose Cove! Un? confirmed! Saw one sun? fish off Wreck Cove while cod fishing. The Macke? rel have been our only supply of fish • nets & handline. Cod are hard to find 16 or 18 per day and only off Wreck Cove • the Island Banks are n.g. Not one dogfish, practi? cally no jellyfish, 6 or 8 squid in nets, 6 herring,