44 FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



THE YELLOWTAIL 

 (Seriola dorsalis) 



Those who have taken the Amber Jack of Florida 

 will recognize the yellowtail as a second cousin, longer 

 and more slender, but with a green vestment above, 

 silver below, a single stripe of yellow, with finlets the 

 same, which, with its large lustrous eyes, makes it one 

 of the most attractive of fishes. It is a desperate 

 fighter. I have seen a twenty-pounder give a man the 

 buck fever so that he dropped the rod. The yellow- 

 tail is par excellence a Southern California fish, though 

 it is found down and up the coast and in the Gulf of 

 California, but to be seen at its best and in the great- 

 est numbers one should go to San Clemente or Santa 

 Catalina Island. The fish attains a weight of one hun- 

 dred pounds and a length of nearly five feet, but the 

 average fish weighs about twenty pounds, heavy 

 enough for either " duffer " or expert. The yellow- 

 tail arrives in Southern California about March and 

 remains until December, and ranges as far north as 

 Santa Barbara, rarely to Monterey, and some years it 

 is taken at Avalon every week in the year, when the 

 winters are mild and dry. In winter it goes south and 

 off into deep water, being occasionally taken on the 

 outer banks at that time. The tackle for the yellow- 

 tail should be the nine-ounce rod described, but the 

 Tuna Club has a branch, the 3-6, devised especially 

 for yellowtail, which gives this splendid fish the ad- 

 vantage. The rod weighs six ounces, the line is a six- 

 thread, and with this fish up to forty pounds have been 

 taken. The record rod catch of yellowtail is a sixty- 

 one pounder. The hook for yellowtail is a 7 or 10, 



