35 6 Life in the Open 



him reach for his gaff and, presto ! he lifts a great 

 silvery creature up out of the blue sea, holds it a mo- 

 ment and laughingly nods at the floating-village people, 

 who send across the water a volley of congratulations. 



And the fish ? A noble fellow silver belly newly 

 polished in the ocean mint, clear as silver can be, tail 

 and fins gold of California, and along the side a stripe 

 of the same. Its back is green in the water, but now is 

 a blue deeper than that of the sea ; the blue you see in 

 some minerals, in the heart of an opal and in the blue 

 heart of labradorite. It is nearly four feet long, and 

 weighs thirty-two pounds, yet nothing is thought of it. 

 The angler slips back into his place and shouts con- 

 gratulations to some other fisherman, as in the three 

 quarters of an hour of play perhaps a dozen such fishes 

 have been caught or brought to the gaff. 



The fishing-ground is a delight in itself. The air is 

 cool, never sultry, and if one wishes wind, why, it is 

 around the turn at Seal Rocks where the fresh inshore 

 breeze, called by the desert, is driving in the scud and 

 spume high on rock and sand. 



So much for still fishing for the yellowtail ; and if he 

 is not in a responsive mood the boats move slowly 

 along the rocky coast about fifty feet from shore in 

 water as smooth as any inland lake (though you are 

 twenty miles out in the Pacific), and you troll with 

 about sixty feet of line out, and perhaps a heavier rod, 

 say sixteen ounces. The bait is a four-inch sardine, or 

 a spoon, and sooner or later it is taken and the experi- 



