Fish and Fishing 



over 600 pounds, but it is comparatively scarce 

 compared to the jewfish and bass. 



THE YELLOW TAIL 



The Pacific Coast is rich in game fish, or rather 

 rich in anglers who, at all times, prefer to catch 

 their quarry by game methods, and no fish is more 



popular or more deserving of that 

 Good Fish- ,. - , 



ing on the name than the lively and powerful 



Pacific yellow tail, or amber fish. Every- 



body takes a hand in the fun when 

 the first great school comes up in the Bay of Avalon, 

 about the 1st of April. Not all fish with rod and 

 reel; hand lines are much in evidence, as the fish 

 is a large one, requiring great strength to 

 hold, the average being twenty-five pounds, 

 some running up to eighty pounds. The tyro 

 will find he is soon to be engaged with a tackle 

 smasher, in fact rod smashing is the rule unless 

 they are wielded by old or experienced hands. 



The beautiful bay may be as calm as a mirror, 

 when, all at once, a big school appears chasing 

 the smelts right on to the beach, breaking up 

 the water into a mass of foam. Scores of boats 

 put out among them, and excitement reigns 

 supreme, for the yellow tail is a fighter, a veri- 

 table " blue-fish" in shape and pugnacity, the true 

 type of a real game fish. Its most con- 

 spicuous feature is the powerful forked tail 

 of a vivid yellow, which is carried out in a stripe 

 along the middle of the body, the back and upper 

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