What is the Tuna Club?
The Tuna Club was founded in 1898, by Charles Frederick Holder. Holder and the Tuna Club pioneered and popularized sportfishing as a conservation measure to slow down the declining numbers of fish. The goal was to give the fish a fighting chance by using the lightest weight fishing line possible. It is an exclusive club and membership is partially based on the ability to capture certain species of fish using specified weights of fishing line. Images: • Tuna Club and Avalon Bay, 1984 [Courtesy of the Catalina Island Museum] • Mrs. A.W. (Pauline) Barrett and boatman Jim Gardner with the black sea bass she had caught, 1901. Mrs. Barrett was the second wife of George Washington Barrett. The fish weighed 416 pounds and she caught it with a rod and reel. [Courtesy of the Catalina Island Museum] • Winston Churchill, Ben R. Meyer, Captain Monte Foster and a Marlin swordfish caught by Winston Churchill, 1929. The Marlin swordfish weighed 188 pounds and was caught by Winston Churchill in 20 minu
