SPORT FISHING IN CALIFORNIA AND FLORIDA. 203 



pectoral fins. It is followed by anglers and taken with either a 6-ounce rod 

 with 6 or 3 thread line (this for experts) or a 9-ounce rod with 9-thread line. 

 The bait is sardine and the fish are so ravenous that they will at times snatch 

 a sardine from one's hand, or the game can be hooked at the side of the boat 

 when the school is located, during which operation the bait is towed behind 

 the boat. 



The yellow-finned tuna, which is a beautiful fish and attains a weight of 100 

 pounds, averaging 45, is common in Japan and at Honolulu, and appears at 

 Santa Catalina in September. The largest specimens are taken with rod and 

 reel for market and sport. It resembles the leaping tuna but has a short fin, with 

 the finlets a vivid lemon-yellow. (Fig. 11, pi. vi.) It will tow a boat 2 or 3 miles. 



The bonito or skip jack is another of the beautiful fishes of California and 

 other seas. It is taken with a 6-ounce rod, no. 6 line, small hook (7/0), and 

 sardine bait. The hook in baiting is thrust through the mouth, out and into the 

 side, the mouth of the fish closed by being wound by wire. The bonito attains 

 a weight of 20 pounds and is a vigorous fighter, having a peculiar wriggling 

 motion, and playing on the surface entirely. The angler follows it in launches. 



The oceanic bonito comes in early spring. It attains a weight of 25 pounds, 

 is beautifully barred and silvery. It is taken on a 6-ounce rod, and a line that 

 will stand a dead strain of 12 pounds; sardine bait, a long piano wire leader, 

 6/0 hook and light sinker. (Fig. 4, pi. 11.) The boat proceeds at a rate of 3 

 or 4 miles an hour trolling 80 feet of line, and the fish is gaffed when brought in. 



The white sea bass is a food and game fish of California attaining a weight 

 of 100 pounds. It is taken by market men in nets at Monterey, but at Catalina 

 is a great game fish (fig. 7), and to encourage anglers to use light rods valuable 

 prizes are offered for the big specimens. The club record is 60 pounds. The 

 fish is taken with a 9-ounce rod, 9-thread line, by trolling with a sardine on a 

 7/0 hook and 6-foot piano wire leader. It makes a fine play, and requires skill 

 to land. The white sea bass appears in May and disappears in August, and 

 except in Monterey may be considered an offshore fish, being taken in greatest 

 numbers at the Channel Islands of California. In the Gulf of California it 

 attains a weight of 150 pounds, and is often taken in the surf on the east coast 

 of the Gulf, north of Tiburon. It prefers flying-fish bait, but live smelt or 

 sardine is good; also a Wilson spoon in trolling' The live bait is used in still- 

 fishing, the plan being to drop an empty hook into a school of sardines and 

 snag a fish, which, if there is a white sea bass around, will be taken at once. 

 Remarkable catches are made in Avalon Bay, where the fish all weigh over 50 

 pounds. There is another species of the fish, averaging 15 pounds, called "sea 

 trout," which is taken in the same way. Both species are related to the eastern 

 weakfish, or squeteague. 



