A REMARKABLE CATCH 109 



here, and since this catch Mr. Beebe has taken tarpon 

 with the nine-ounce rod and number nine Une at 

 Aransas. 



The black sea bass, known to science as Stereolepis 

 gigas, is pecuhar to this coast and Cahfornia, ranging 

 from the Bay of Monterey, where it is not common, 

 down to the Gulf of California, where it attains vast 

 size, specimens which weighed eight hundred pounds 

 having been taken in the latter region. It is a kelp- 

 loving fish, frequenting these vast forests of the Cali- 

 fornian seas; a ponderous giant which at times seems 

 to run in schools but more often prowls about alone. 

 It is common at all the Channel Islands, especially 

 Santa Catalina. One of the best fishing-grounds is 

 at the "fence," back of Avalon, where I have had 

 many a bout with them in the old days. Pebble 

 Beach, near Avalon, was then a good ground, and I 

 have seen a two-hundred-pounder prowling about the 

 dock. 



The black sea bass begins to bite in May or June, 

 often earlier. It is caught in the largest numbers in 

 July and August, when it is spawning. That its eggs 

 are deposited here there seems little doubt, yet the 

 angler is rare who has seen a black sea bass under 

 one or two pounds weight. Nearly all the fishes 

 taken run from a hundred and fifty pounds to three 

 hundred pounds; the record rod catch, by Mr. Murphy, 

 is four hundred and thirty-six pounds. The smallest 

 one I ever took with a nine-ounce rod and nine-line 

 weighed about eighty-seven pounds. This was at 

 San Clemente. Recently while I was fishing here 

 with Gifford Pinchot we frequently saw a big bass 

 beneath our boat. It was a fascinating sight — to 



