Popular Salt=\Vater Game Fish 



its islands, there are vast submarine forests of 

 great density, immense, broad, deep-green leaves, 

 growing to a length of several hundred feet, sway- 

 ing back and forth in the current, forming a forest 

 maze of sea-weed so thick as to be hidden from 



.. ,. ^ human eyes. Here, in the deep blue 

 Habitat • \ i pi • • i i i 



water is the home of the gigantic black 



sea-bass. Innumerable smaller fish of many 



kinds swim in and out of the tangled mass, while 



the monsters slowly move among them, at times 



darting after them churning the water into a 



veritable maelstrom. To such an environment 



the sea-bass is supposed to arrive in April. About 



July and August, the fish spawns, and fish caught 



at this time are filled with enormous masses of 



eggs w^hich are deposited under the weeds in 



shallow water about twenty feet deep near the 



shore. During this time the fish are voracious, 



eagerly taking various baits. About the last of 



November they become scarcer and are rarely 



caught. It is supposed they run in schools at 



this season, and retire to deep water. 

 Grounds '^^^^ jo^^g of the black sea-bass are 



never caught ; it is believed they stay and 

 feed at the bottom below the weeds, and then go 

 out to the ocean, and do not return till mature 

 fish. Small fish under 100 pounds are rarely, if 

 ever, seen. 



Fishing for this giant as a sport has long been 



in vogue at the islands off Los Angeles County, 



and previous to 1895 they were caught entirely 



by hand lines ; but about that time a large fish was 



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