CALIFORNIA 



shipments spawned the finest striped bass fishing in the world. 

 Probably more anglers fish for stripers in California than 

 anywhere else. 



Liberated in waters ideally suited to them, with food in 

 abundance and a mild chmate, the fish multiplied with amaz- 

 ing rapidity and attained remarkable size. In 1883, four years 

 after the first shipment arrived, a 17-pounder was caught; 

 in 1884 an i8!/2-pound fish was taken and in 1889, ten years 

 after the first planting, a 45 -pound striper was netted. 

 These records are probably the most reliable in existence 

 with regard to the growth of stripers. 



Thenceforward stripers multiplied so rapidly in California 

 waters that commercial fishermen and sportsmen had a field 

 day. The commercial catch increased to such proportions 

 that it far outstripped anything ever brought in on the Atlan- 

 tic coast. Forty- and fifty-pound stripers fell to the anglers' 

 rods as an almost everyday occurrence. The San Francisco 

 sportsmen and their brother anglers north and south became 

 striped bass-minded and they still are. 



Suddenly the bass began to run smaller although they were 

 as numerous as ever. As has so often been the case on both the 

 Atlantic and Pacific coasts this was found to be due to exces- 

 sive netting. But by this time so many Calif ornians were fish- 

 ing for stripers with rod and reel and so influential had they 

 become through organization that they were able to stop cold 

 the commercial traffic in striped bass in California and to 

 have this aristocrat of the sea designated as strictly a game 

 fish. 



In presenting the case to the California legislature one of 

 the fishermen's arguments was to the effect that in a single. 



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