106 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



shoulder come jerks and rushes which make the reel 

 sing, z-e-e-e-e-e-e z-e-e-e-e! and send the blood bounding 

 through the veins. The angler is sitting with the butt 

 of the rod in the leather socket in the seat, which gives 

 him a powerful leverage, and by this slender rod and 

 line the fish is towing the heavy launch. There is an 

 outside kelp bed, a veritable forest which these fishes 

 bear in mind, and they invariably rush for it, towing 

 the boat. This bass has not forgotten the retreat, 

 seemingly knowing that once wound in and out among 

 the vines this strange incubus pulling at its jaw will 

 be removed. 



The angler puts on all the strain he can and by 

 good luck stops the fish in half an hour, the big crea- 

 ture hammering at the line, giving lusty blows, coming 

 in ten or twenty feet, to turn and make a savage rush 

 impossible to stem, taking twenty or thirty more feet 

 of line from the reel. It has now been turned away 

 from the menacing floating garden of kelp, and is 

 towing the launch steadily out to sea by about two 

 hundred and fifty feet of line. 



As the launch shoots astern the angler gains a few 

 feet, then loses; but always this tremendous strain, 

 the rod bending, the line thrilling, humming, vibrating, 

 the battle for supremacy continues. Have you ever 

 held a rod on your left side, with something pulling 

 desperately at it for an hour? Try it some time, and 

 some idea may be gained of the strain a big fish brings 

 to bear. It affects men differently. I have seen an 

 angler after two hours carried from his boat; others 

 give out in half the time. I have seen a big man so 

 demoralized by the strike and first rush that he dropped 

 the rod; and in ray own experience of holding a tuna 



