The Yellowtail 139 



boatman, or if the angler desires he can stand 

 and play his fish. 



The shore of the islands is remarkably abrupt, 

 rocky cliffs, rising sheer from the sea, and almost 

 anywhere a ship would strike the rocks with 

 her bowsprit before she would ground. To this 

 is due the close inshore fishing, as it is all within 

 from ten to two hundred feet of the shore. The 

 island is skirted by a fringe of kelp at various 

 points, and just beyond this is the yellowtail 

 highway where the splendid fish sails up and 

 down to the delectation or confusion of the 

 angler. The equipment for yellowtail is one 

 more or less of fancy. I give my preference, 

 and can only say in defence that it has been 

 eminently successful, owing perhaps to the pro- 

 verbial fisherman's luck. The rod of noib wood, 

 greenheart, or split bamboo is from seven to 

 eight feet in length and weighs not over twenty- 

 six ounces, pliable, yet sufficiently stiff to lift a 

 sulker of thirty pounds if perchance the occa- 

 sion demands. The line is a twelve or fifteen 

 strand cuttyhunk, or some equally good make, 

 and there should be three hundred feet of it ; 

 the hook, a 7/0 O'Shaughnessy, though a larger 

 size is more popular, with a six or eight inch 



