356 GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



San Francisco Bay, with a cane, bamboo, or otlier rod from fif- 

 teen to eighteen feet in length, made either with or without joints, 

 and a Hght but strong line, either fastened to the top of the pole, 

 or connected with a good large four-fold multiplying reel, at the 

 end of which line there is rather a heavy lead or sinker, above 

 which are tied three or four small hooks about a foot apart, baited 

 with pieces of worms, found among the mussels which attach 

 themselves to the piles of a wharf or bridge. The smelts come up 

 and return with each tide to cast their spawn or melt on those 

 shores and flats of the bay which are either sandy or muddy. In 

 the full season, which is in April, they come up from the ocean 

 through the Golden Gate in enormous quantities, and bite gen- 

 erally so ravenously at the bait offered them that it often happens 

 that the angler hooks and lands three, or even four of them at one 

 time, and when three or four of them weigh each over half or three- 

 quarters of a pound, the angler has his hands full to secure them 

 all on terra Jirtna. In the height of the " take," when there are 

 a hundred rods plying at once, the scene is a very lively and inter- 

 esting one. They are taken about three feet below the surface, 

 and the bait is kept actively in motion. A float may be used, or 

 not, at pleasure. 



BATRACHID^E. 



ToADFisH ; Porous CaX&sii..—Porichthys notaiits. Girard. 



A good edible fish ; bites very freely at the hook, and is abund- 

 ant, but repulsive in appearance. 



GADID^. 



ToMCOD. MorrJnia proxitna. Girard. 



This nice, delicate little fish for the table, even to those ot 

 epicurean tastes, is very plentiful in bays, and in some of the 

 creeks, and affords much amusement, if not great sport for anglers. 

 It frequents near the bottom for its food, and is readily caught 

 with a rather stout hand line and a tolerably heavy sinker and 

 small hooks, say two or three, and No 4 or 5 in sizes, fastened on 

 near the sinker about nine inches apart from each other. The line 

 should be about sixty to eighty feet in length, to be thrown out 



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