The California Sbeepsbead 181 



ging three feet of what appeared to be a cod-line, 

 the hook plainly visible against its white jaw. 



At such localities the angler tarries to try con- 

 clusions with this doughty fish. The boat is 

 anchored within the kelp, one of the leaves being 

 hauled aboard as an anchor. The rods are taken 

 out, put together, and the question of bait remains 

 to be decided. When the fish is in the biting 

 humor, sardines are readily taken, but when it is 

 coy, crayfish, the long-whipped crustacean, which 

 takes the place of the lobster in California and 

 the tropics, is selected. But the sheepshead is 

 no clumsy game, to be caught even on selected 

 bait. At times it scorns anything; but it hap- 

 pens that to-day the fish is in the biting humor, 

 and no sooner has the bait reached the bottom 

 in twenty feet of water than it is taken. A good 

 honest strike this. No nibbler to peck at the 

 bait and examine it, like a customhouse officer, 

 for hidden fish-hooks, but a strong, steady jerk to 

 which you respond with as heavy a hand as the 

 exigencies of the situation and the hard jaw of 

 the fish require. There is no doubt as to the 

 result ; the fish is hooked, the water hisses before 

 the line, the reel sings merrily, and the fight is 

 on, with a royal foeman that tugs, rushes, plunges, 



