

will save some of the skin on your knees and knuckles. Buy a 

 fishing license. Now you are equipped. 



Pick yourself a low tide (see your daily newspaper) and head 

 for a place on the West Coast where rocks instead of a sandy 

 beach stop the waves. A minus tide and a lazy surf are considered 

 essential by some upside-down fishermen. Both are desirable. 

 Either one will usually uncover abalone clinging to rocks you 

 can reach dry-shod. 



Climb out on the rocks and start looking. Abalone love the 

 darkness rather than the light, and you'll find them on the 

 underneath sides of table rocks or deep in the inkiest crevices. 

 You will see oval shells in black, brown, or pink-like bumps on 

 the rocks. Some of these will turn out to be bumps on the rocks. 

 Others will be abalone. 



Select large ones at least 5 inches across for black or brown 

 and 6 inches for pink, but you want them much meatier than 

 that. Push the thinned end of your car spring between the rock 



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