The Salmon of Monterey 207 



they sometimes enter the drift-net of the salmon 

 fishermen and tow it about until they drown. 

 An angler informed me that one day when troll- 

 ing for salmon he looked down into the water 

 thinking that he saw something gray or brown, 

 and discovered that it was an enormous shark 

 that had taken its place just beneath his boat, 

 its head under the stern, and was complacently 

 following his every motion. It made no effort 

 to take his fish, made no disturbance, but the 

 big attendant gradually got on the angler's 

 nerves and he told the boatman to go in. 



This shark, which followed them into shallow 

 water, was harpooned and caught. It was of 

 the basking shark variety and was forty-two feet 

 long; a huge, harmless monster, so far as biting 

 is concerned, yet the big flail-like tail of this 

 shark wrecked several Japanese boats, killing 

 the owners and breaking up the shark-oil in- 

 dustry at Monterey. 



The Monterey fleet was collecting to the south 

 and we followed them and watched the men haul 

 in the big fish with hand-lines. Presently we 

 had a strike, my pipe sinker dropped away, and 

 I was playing a salmon. This fish attempted to 

 jump, but succeeded only in rolling over at the 

 surface, the sun glancing from its silvery scales 

 in a blaze of glory. It was a delight to stand 

 up and play such a fish with a nine-ounce rod 

 and nine-thread line, dropping the butt into the 



