THE AMBER FISH 341 



amidships, on the side; and here the boatman, who 

 is engineer, helmsman, and gaffer, sits; his right 

 hand on the wheel, his left on the clutch of the 

 engine. Across the stern is a broad seat with two 

 comfortable chairs in which the anglers sit facing 

 the stern; one fishing to the right, the other to the 

 left. 



The fishing-ground at Santa Catalina is at Seal 

 Rocks, three miles down, to the east end, alongshore 

 to Church Rock, or off Silver Canon; but always near 

 inshore, and generally in deep, smooth water, like that 

 of a lake. If it is a little rough at Church Rock, you 

 run back to Seal Rocks where the sea is like glass. 

 The best fishing at the northwest end is at the Isthmus, 

 at Ship Rock, where usually large yellowtails may be 

 had. It is not necessary to tell the angler this, as he 

 is a philosopher and understands the situation; but it 

 is necessary to tell the non-angler, the reader who is 

 about to become one, that the yellowtail, which can be 

 caught by the boat-load, apparently, to-day, will pos- 

 sibly not bite the next day at the same place, or he 

 may bite still fiercer. 



In a word, even here in the Channel Islands, which 

 have without question the finest sea-angling in the 

 world, there is an element of uncertainty. Were it 

 not for this no one would fish; for nothing so palls on 

 one as to become satiated with fishing. If you can go 

 out at any time, as I often have done, and catch 

 big yellowtails as fast as you can reel them in, the 

 pleasure is soon gone. Some seasons here the fishing 

 is good at one island, poor at another; now it will be 

 beyond the dreams of the most ambitious angler, the 

 next day the reverse. But the average here is beyond 



