330 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



On this May Day the harbor of Avalon was filled 

 with schools of sardines, and unexpectedly some one 

 caught a white sea bass, the first of the season. The 

 word was quickly passed, and I was soon on the ground 

 with rod and reel. The big fish were lying under the 

 sardines, the latter rising in every direction, showing 

 that the large game was occasionally charging them 

 from below. The rod used was of greenheart, two- 

 jointed, about seven and a half feet long, about eight 

 ounces in weight; the line was what is known as a 

 No. 15, very small, not much larger than an eyeglass 

 cord, yet capable of sustaining a dead weight of thirty 

 pounds, but so light that a jerk of almost any kind 

 would break it. The leader was about three feet of 

 piano wire, in two links, connected by brass swivels; 

 the hook a No. 7 O'Shaughnessy, to my mind the 

 best all-round hook. These data are interesting 

 to anglers, as the line is what some anglers use for 

 four-pound bass on the St. Lawrence, in Canada, 

 and was used to give the fish more than fair play. 

 The hook was not baited, but lowered among the sar- 

 dines, which were packed so thickly in their terror 

 that a jerk impaled one, and a live bait was the result. 

 The sardine rushed about wildly, sank beneath the 

 school, the line tautened suddenly, zip-zeeeeeeee ! the 

 slight iDoat careening, the reel crying, the reel handle 

 flying around so rapidly that it could not be seen, and 

 a bass was hooked. 



Avalon Bay is not more than an eighth of a mile 

 across; the bass seemingly went nearly half that dis- 

 tance in the first rush, and it had not been brought to 

 a stand, the boat just moving off gallantly, when my 

 companion shouted, and his reel gave tongue. Being 



