CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
they are fishing—we should judge these 
pots would average 13 to 24 feet deep 
and from 8 to 14 inches in diameter. 
Some of these pots are suspended with the 
mouth down, others suspended with the 
mouth up from the long horizontal line. 
Hach pot has a small hole in the bottom 
to let the water easily escape when the 
pots are raised. The pots are not baited, 
and since it is the habit of the octopus 
to find a hiding place in the rocks, they 
erawl into the mouth of the pot and re- 
main there until they are pulled out. The 
pots are set one day and pulled the next; 
one boat will handle about 200 pots. 
Ordinarily buoy floats are not used to 
locate the lines but they are picked up 
with a grappling hook, for it is believed 
that the floating buoy disturbs the pots 
and prevents the octopus from entering. 
They are also caught by means of hook 
and line. In this method the fisherman 
baits the hooks, several of them on a long 
line, and when they have lowered them 
until they come in contact with rocks, 
they continually jerk the lines. The 
octopus, in feeding, reaches out its arms 
to get the bait with its sucking dises and 
the jerking of the hooks catches the arms 
or tentacles. 
SILVER SALMON AT MONTEREY 
IN 1920. 
Since the last two seasons in California 
have shown relatively poor catches of king 
or Chinook salmon there is an increased 
interest among fishermen and packers in 
the other possible species of salmon that 
might serve to fill in the breach, especially 
during bad years. The most abundant 
of the lesser species is the silver salmon, 
a fish of lower oil content than the king 
and therefore less desirable for canning, 
although it sells readily on the fresh 
markets. Along our northern coast it 
forms a large per cent of the salmon 
catch. The southern boundary of com- 
mercial salmon fishing (Monterey) seems 
to be almost out of the range of the silver 
salmon. ‘The salmon investigation now 
being conducted by the Commission has 
gathered ‘some information as to the rel- 
ative abundance of the two principal 
species and from time to time further 
notes on their occurance, seasons, abund- 
ance and worth on the markets will be 
published. 
In a recent number of California Fish 
175 
and Game (Oct. 1919) it was noted that 
the silver salmon in 1919 did not appear 
at Monterey, just for a few days, but that 
they were caught in small numbers over a 
pericd of eleven weeks with a heavy catch 
on four or five days during the period. 
Detailed notes were kept in the 1920 
season’s run in Monterey Bay and it was 
found that the appearance of silver salmon 
in small numbers extended over a longer 
period this year and that they were not 
caught in great numbers during any four 
or five consecutive days as was true in 
1919. At no time this year did they out- 
number the king salmon. In 1919 the 
first silver salmon was noted on May 10, 
while in 1920 the first was caught on 
April 19.. During the remainder of April, 
1920, a few were caught each day averag- 
ing between four and five pounds apiece. 
For instance, on April 23, the silvers 
made up 4.4 per cent of the eatch in 
number of fish and 1.6 per cent in weight, 
the rest of the catch being kings. During 
May there were very few silvers caught 
at Monterey, but on June 1, they formed 
about one-fifth of the catch. On June 2, 
the silvers were 18 per cent in number 
and 8.2 per cent in weight of the catch 
and averaged a little less than 7 pounds 
apiece. June 3, and 4, the silver catch 
was somewhat less and from the fifth to 
thirteenth of June there were only a few 
silvers caught. On June 14, the silvers 
picked up to 15.3 per eent in number of 
fish and 7.7 per cent in weight in the 
catch. By June 17 they were 24.2 per 
cent in number and 17.5 per cent in 
weight in the catch and averaged 7.8 
pounds each. From June 18 to 21, the 
silvers averaged about 7.9 pounds but the 
per cent in the catch dropped off. On June 
22, the silvers in the catch were 19 per 
cent in number of fish and 8.8 per cent 
in weight with an average weight of 74 
pounds and the average weight dropped 
to 7 pounds for the following week. By 
this time the king salmon season was 
about over so that the silver salmon 
eaught, although few in number, formed 
a relatively higher proportion of the catch. 
For example, on June 24, the silvers in 
the catch were 33 per cent in number and 
22.8 per cent by weight. June 25, the per 
cent of silvers dropped to 18 and from 
then on for the remainder of the season 
there was only an occasional silver salmon 
caught. Wi. L. S. 
