A Sportsman 309 



been caught in European waters with spawn bait. 

 This may be accounted as a compensation by the 

 Pacific salmon for the non-taking of the artificial 

 fly, so universal with its Atlantic and European pro- 

 totype. Nor is there on the Pacific Coast any such area 

 of profusion of bait-taking salmon as that stretch- 

 ing over a distance of fifty miles from Santa Cruz 

 and Monterey to Carmelo. At Puget Sound, and 

 at the mouths of the Columbia and Fraser rivers, 

 the salmon likewise take bait in the sea; but more 

 incidentally on their passage to the rivers, without 

 abiding for weeks as they do off Monterey, and be- 

 fore the ova has advanced toward the voiding con- 

 dition as with those salmon seeking passage up the 

 rivers. 



In fact, the salmon coming off Monterey are more 

 behind those seeking spawning beds. They have sim- 

 ply followed their food supplies from some sea depth. 

 It is a very interesting sight to witness the coming in 

 and arrival of the small fish and squid, accompanied 

 by myriads of predatory birds, who now welcome the 

 harvest days long waited for, which unite them from 

 their before-scattered locations, in clouds composed 

 of many thousands, animated by a common impulse 

 for deglutition and destruction, exponents of the 

 creatures of nature, to kill and devour. The small 

 fish coming in the summer and the early autumnal 

 months into and adjoining Monterey for spawning 

 are largely anchovies and sardines. These fishes 

 are about the size of herrings, though there are two 

 sizes of the sardines smaller than the regular full size. 

 These come in countless numbers, as well as the an- 

 chovies, swimming near the surface, and often cover 



