Speculator's Catch

Lolloping about in the waters off Liverpool, N. S. last week, an enormous tuna noticed a scrap of herring, snapped it up. Inside the herring was a hook which sank into the tuna's bony jaw.

When Thomas Montgomery ' Howell felt the tug on his 550-yd. line, it was a half hour before noon. Captain Thompson pulled up anchor and Mr. Howell's fishing launch moved out of the harbor into the ocean. Behind it came the Thalia, Mr. Howell's large yacht.

In open water, a strong wind was whipping up the sea. For four hours, Angler Howell tried to reel his tuna in before handing his 26-oz. hickory rod to his companion, Arthur De Cordova. All through that night, De Cordova, Howell, Captain Thompson and a seaman struggled with the tuna. When dawn broke the great fish was as strong as ever, still swimming away from the boat and resisting all efforts to turn him. Presently a skiff from the Thalia brought food to the men in the launch. They took turns tugging at their tuna all that day when the rough sea made it look as if they might have to cut the line, and all a second night. By the second dawn all four men were blistered, spray-soaked and exhausted and the tuna was as spry as he had been two days before.

At 10 o'clock the third night, after the sea had calmed down a little, it seemed to Angler Howell that something was amiss. The tuna was pulling at his line a little less sturdily and his runs were shorter. By midnight, the boat, which had been towed approximately 200 miles in two and a half days, was 60 mi. off Liverpool and Angler Howell realized that it was practically standing still. He reeled in his tuna slowly until it was close enough to gaff. Then began a battle to rope the tuna's tail.

By the time this was accomplished it was early morning of the fourth day and the fight that had ended was the longest (by 42 hours) on record between man and fish. When Angler Howell reached shore he weighed his catch. Its 792 lb. were 34 lb. heavier than the record Nova Scotia tuna caught by Novelist Zane Grey in 1929, 6 lb. lighter than the world's record rod and reel tuna caught by Colonel E. T. Peel off Scarborough, England, two years ago.

If Angler Howell's tuna had taken the pains to examine who had caught it last week, it, too, might have been amazed. Thomas Montgomery Howell is a tiny (5 ft. 4 in., 130 lb.) man of 51, with dainty little hands and feet, round shoulders and a small, sad face. Long famed as a speculator on the Chicago Board of Trade, he is accustomed to grappling with titans. Three years ago he cornered 70% of the visible U. S. corn supply, "squeezed" shorts, made himself $1,000,000.

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