Sea Fishing 323 



was not found north of Point Conception, but of 

 late large catches have been made in Monterey Bay. 

 I have caught them off Pismo wharf in San Luis 

 Obispo County, but Catalina Island is their home. 

 Here they may be taken with rod and reel for nine 

 months in the year — from April to December, and 

 taken by the score ! 



The yellow-tail is stronger and speedier than the 

 salmon, but he has a plebeian love of kelp, and is 

 tricky as any street Arab. No spoon with seduc- 

 tive shimmer will tempt the Beau Brummel of 

 Catalina. He turns aside from smelt and sardine 

 if they swim ever so slightly askew, and he seldom 

 swallows tainted bait — unless cast to the void as 

 chum, when he proves himself less particular than 

 a turkey buzzard. If he disapproves the lure he is 

 apt to rub himself contemptuously against it, with 

 results that (to him) must prove amazing. Many 

 foul-hooked fish are caught thus. 



You troll for this dandy, sitting comfortably in a 

 chair facing the stern sheets, and the boatman who 

 knows his business will use plenty of chum and row 

 around, not through, the schools of fish. At Cata- 

 lina, James Gardner, Arnold Hotson, William Sar- 

 now, Harry Elms, and Mexican Joe, have studied 

 carefully the habits of the yellow-tail ; a blank day 

 with any of these men in the boat is almost impos- 

 sible. Out of one school it is not uncommon to take 

 half a dozen fish. 



The wise man hugs the kelp forest, but keeps 

 an eye to seaward, for the presence of a school of 

 yellow-tail is not to be mistaken. As soon as the 

 fish strikes, the boatman must pull from the shore, 



