52 FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



like that used in tuna fishing, is baited with a 

 six- or eight-pound live whitefish or a big piece of al- 

 bacore; provided with a heavy sinker, it is lowered 

 to within six or eight feet of the bottom; the wait 

 then begins. Sometimes the lure is taken at once. I 

 have had strikes as soon as it reached the bottom and 

 have taken three fish in rapid succession. Again the 

 wait may be a long one. 



The strike of this fish is a nibble, then a gentle 

 running out of the line, exactly the reverse of that 

 of the tuna. The angler slacks away ten or twenty 

 feet, then allows the line to come taut and, in the 

 technical terms of angling, gives the fish " the butt." 

 It is then that the boatman tosses the buoy overboard, 

 and the boat, if a small one, is towed away after the 

 fish, which makes a desperate rush out to sea. At 

 first all that can be done is to press on the brake and 

 try to stop the line from running out, without break- 

 ing it. I have hooked fishes of this kind that I could 

 not move, nor could any one in the boat. Generally 

 the bass will endeavor to reach a kelp bed and wind 

 itself among the trunks of these submarine trees; so 

 the boatman's endeavor is to induce the fish to swim 

 out to sea, pulling it away from danger; once in fairly 

 deep water beyond the kelp zone, an opportunity is 

 afforded to play it to a finish. I have brought an 

 eighty-pounder to gaff with a nine-ounce rod in less 

 than twenty minutes, and have played another, an un- 

 seen fish, for hours with a sixteen-ounce rod and 

 never could land him. 



There is a great difference in these fishes. Some are 

 active and hard to land; others are merely heavy; 

 but the average is a hard-fighting desperate load to 



