FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 51 



mountain. It must have been five or six feet long, 

 ordinarily a most conspicuous object, yet so marvelous 

 was its adaptation to the blue of the sea and the mystic 

 aurelian tint of the rock, that it was with great diffi- 

 culty that I could follow it, although the water was 

 not over fifteen feet deep. Its movements were ex- 

 tremely graceful, slow and dignified. Another time 

 I watched a large black sea bass swimming through 

 the kelp ; saw it take my bait and observed the riotous 

 rush when it was hooked. 



These giant bass, which attain a weight of one 

 thousand pounds, vary much in appearance. Some 

 are long and rangy, well-proportioned; others are 

 short and stout. But they average well, and all, in 

 the main, when alive, are attractive fishes and most 

 graceful in their movements. That so enormous a 

 creature is a powerful foe goes without saying, and 

 that it is now taken with tuna tackle (p. 15) is more 

 than astounding. But the Tuna Club has many 

 medals, cups and trophies which have been won by 

 anglers from all over the world for taking them with 

 sixteen-ounce rods and a twenty-one-thread line. 



There are various ways of fishing for the big bass. 

 It can be taken by trolling a whitefish slowly along, 

 ten feet from the bottom. This is rarely attempted, 

 as it is uncertain, but that it is plausible is shown 

 by the fact that many anglers, when pulling in a line, 

 have seen the big bass come up with a stupendous 

 rush for it, exactly as a black bass will charge a min- 

 now. Another way, and that most followed, is to 

 anchor a launch, Fig. 19, near shore and a kelp bed, 

 in water forty or fifty feet deep. The cable should be 

 made ready to cast off and buoy. The line, exactly 



