PACIFJC COAST FISHES. 357 



from the wharf as far as it will go. The best baits are mussels or 

 sand worms, to be purchased near the fishing grounds, and which 

 are obtained from the piles under the wharves, or in the swamp 

 sands near the shores of some parts of the bay. Or this much 

 sought after inhabitant of Pacific waters and its bays and inlets, 

 may be angled for successfully with a common rod of a medium 

 length, furnished with a small sized line and common multiplying 

 reel, with a much lighter sinker than the one recommended for 

 hand line fishing. This can be thrown out as far as convenience 

 will admit of, and to any one used to manipulating skillfully a rod, 

 reel and line, is a mode much preferable to the hand line process, 

 and much pleasanter, because it enables you to sit at ease on the 

 wharf without having to get up every time a fish is hooked and 

 cast out again, as with the hand line, and you can wind the fish 

 quickly up by means of your reel while in a sitting posture. 



The Tomcods run in the largest schools when the tide water 

 is flowing only moderately fast and rather muddy, but not too 

 much so. They bite best in those parts of the water on which the 

 sun is shining. There is the same remarkable difference in this 

 fish's biting as in others. Generally the catch is good, but there 

 are a few days that are nearly or entirely blank. They feed 

 against the running tide, both on the ebb and flow. Their roe, 

 both hard and soft, is considered a great delicacy with some 

 persons. They spawn in early spring. 



PLEURONECTID^. 



Flatfish or Flounders. 

 The Platichthys rugosus, or rough flatfish, is the representative 

 •type of Xht pleitronectzds, and is quite abundant at the mouth of 

 the Columbia, but especially in Puget Sound. The eyes are on the 

 left side, the inter-ocular space being of moderate width ; the right 

 is a dark yellow, and the left a reddish brown hue ; the fins are 

 olivaceous, dorsal and anal having alternate bands of black, merg- 

 ing into -longitudinal on tail, the ventrals and pectorals being uni- 

 color. The scales are rugose. The length varies from seven to 

 twelve inches. It is captured in nets, but can also be speared or 

 taken with the hand after the recession of the tide, as it lies high 



