108 Big Game Fishes 



through it beyond my range of vision. I had 

 but two hundred feet of fifteen-thread line on my 

 yellowtail reel, hence the end soon came. The 

 reel uttered a vigorous protest, and the line 

 parted. But I was well paid ; I had seen a big 

 sea-bass standing upon its head in the heart 

 of this maze of kelp. 



This fish makes its home in these dense lama- 

 rian forests and is found in abundance from the 

 Coronados and Cortez Bank, and doubtless farther 

 south, to the latitude of San Francisco, lurking 

 in the kelp beds around rocky points near shore 

 from April to December. In July and August it 

 spawns, and fishes caught at this time are filled 

 with enormous masses of eggs which are deposited 

 beneath the kelp in shoal water from twenty to 

 thirty feet deep, near shore. At this time the 

 fishes are very ravenous and bite eagerly, but 

 on or about November 15 they become scarcer, 

 and are rarely caught, though they do not entirely 

 disappear. There is reason to believe that they 

 run in schools at this season, and go offshore 

 to deeper water. They attain an enormous size. 

 I have caught many specimens from one hun- 

 dred and fifty up to three hundred and forty- 

 seven pounds, and specimens weighing four and 



