VI 

 HINTS TO SPOKTSMEN 



IT is a hard saying, but the sportsman in search of 

 game, big or small, must be prepared to encounter 

 what is more grievous to bear than toil and fatigue — 

 disappointment. It is almost impossible to get reliable 

 information in regard to game and fish, and the stuff 

 printed in railroad circulars, real estate pamphlets, and 

 most of the magazines, is absolutely untrue. More, a man 

 may be honestly willing and able to give information, 

 and the person to whom it is given may find it worthless 

 owing to some misapprehension on his (the sportsman's) 

 part. I could name half a dozen rivers and streams 

 where the steel-head trout may be caught, and the angler 

 might wet his line in vain on such rivers, because neither 

 I nor any one else could predict exactly when these fish 

 would be running. 



Good sea-fishing, however, particularly at Catalina 

 Island, is a certainty. Between the first of May and 

 the first of September the fisherman may confidently 

 count on killing tuna, black-bass, yellow tail, sea-bass, 

 albicore, and bonito, beside many others. This is the 

 only place, indeed, where tuna can be caught. You travel 

 direct to Los Angeles from New York, and Avalon (Cata- 

 lina's small town) is four houcs distant. Here are several 

 hotels, and within a stone's throw of them the stands and 

 boats of the boatmen. Tuna fishing costs from $5 to $7 

 a day. For the other fish, a rowing boat (instead of a 



