THE WHITE SEA BASS 329 



presenting a splendid spectacle of power and game 

 qualities, and that disposition never to give in, which 

 appeals so strongly to the angler. The gaffer began 

 to finger his weapon, and, as the big fish swung into 

 position, reeled to the limit of the long wire leader, it 

 stole down and was jerked into the white throat, and 

 the bass lifted, still fighting, still game, and held for a 

 moment before being taken aboard. 



Hold it up, gaffer, that we may gloat over its beau- 

 ties, guess its weight, and commiserate it! And, 

 giving it its quietus, the boatman displays the very 

 king of the tribe, a fish four or more feet in length, 

 long, slender, salmon-like, blazing with iridescence; 

 the colors, especially about the head, being like those 

 of a humming-bird, while a tint of old gold pervades 

 its entire coat of scales. Out of a thousand, or per- 

 haps two thousand, this was the only bass that could 

 be tempted, for though the school was followed no 

 other was hooked; yet they were so near that I could 

 have speared them easily enough. 



So much for this picture of the white sea bass. 

 The following day, possibly, they would bite savagely 

 and could be taken, one after another, without diffi- 

 culty. Whimsical, erratic; both words describe them. 

 The fish come to the islands in numbers from the 

 south in April, — sometimes a little earlier, sometimes 

 later, — and appear to be working up the coast to Santa 

 Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and Anacapa, being 

 taken beyond San Francisco. I had mxy best luck in 

 May; and to illustrate how these fishes bite when in 

 the humor, a certain first of May may be referred to 

 when in two days I luckily took five white sea bass, 

 my companion taking five. 



