The White Sea-bass 23 



of a grayish golden color above, merging into 

 silver upon the belly. About the head, the scales 

 were iridescent, flashing all the hues of a pea- 

 cock, blue and green, a dazzling creature when 

 seen just from the water. The fish was well 

 proportioned, long, fairly slender, a noble fish, 

 and well named Cynoscion nobilis (Ayres), the 

 weakfish of California. 



This bass represents a genus well known in 

 American waters, about twenty species having 

 been described. It ranges the coast of California 

 even to Canada, and is most common from south 

 of Magdalena Bay to Santa Barbara; but it is 

 very uncertain in its movements, and equally so 

 in biting. The season may, theoretically, be said 

 to be from May i to July, or even August, but 

 some seasons the fish is very rare and will not 

 bite ; again it comes in numbers and affords 

 sport long to be remembered. 



On the first of May, 1899, with a fellow-angler 

 ten of these fishes, all over fifty pounds in weight, 

 were taken between nine and twelve o'clock, not 

 one hundred feet from the beach in Avalon Bay. 

 A large school entered the bay and remained ten 

 days, affording excellent sport. In our boat, my 

 companion and I each hooked a large fish at the 



