The Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass 



bass, ranging up to sixty pounds, while 

 the barracuda, tuna, albicore, and others 

 afford the sport esteemed by blue fishermen 

 in the East. 



From the Santa Barbara Islands to the 

 Coronados, and beyond, is the field of the 

 Southern California Walton ; the islands 

 of the Santa Barbara channel, Santa Cata- 

 lina and San Clemente, being particularly 

 famous in the piscatorial annals, and the 

 Mecca of lovers of this sport, winter and 

 summer. The island of Santa Catalina 

 is the principal rallying-point, being the 

 largest, possessing the small town of Ava- 

 lon, a popular summer resort, with numer- 

 ous bays and harbors protected from the 

 inshore wind that blows in beneath the 

 steady trade. An ideal spot it is, --a 

 series of mountain ranges, from one thou- 

 sand to twenty-six hundred feet, rising 

 green-hued from the blue waters of the 

 Pacific, and extending twenty-two miles 

 down the coast, and an equal distance 

 from it. From the slopes of the Sierra 

 Madre, forty miles away, the island appears 

 formed of two lofty peaks, sloping gently 

 to the ocean ; but standing upon its highest 

 summit, I looked down upon range after 

 range, cutting the island into a maze of 

 canons that wound in every direction to 



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