Tbe California Sheepsbead 183 



this manner on the west side of Santa Catalina 

 and at San Clemente, I have known these fishes 

 to bite so rapidly that they took the bait as soon 

 as it reached the bottom. It would have been 

 a piscatorial bonanza for a professional fisherman, 

 as he could literally have filled his boat with 

 sheepshead of the largest size. So much for 

 taking this fish with a light rod where it has a 

 fighting chance. If the fisherman really enjoys 

 hand-line fishing, it can be had all alongshore. 



The sheepshead is a valuable food-fish in 

 California, many thousand pounds being dried or 

 salted annually ; but for domestic consumption it 

 would be classed as a " chowder " fish, and is 

 excellent for the purpose. While its praises 

 probably have never been sung before, I com- 

 mend it to the angler, confident that when taken 

 with a fairly light bending rod and a number 

 fifteen or eighteen cuttyhunk line it will repay 

 the expert in the gentle art of angling. 



With the sheepshead, living in its highway, is 

 another gamy fish, the whitefish, Caulolatilus 

 princeps (Jenyns), which attains a maximum 

 weight of twenty pounds, that has afforded me 

 such sport that I may refer to it. Small or 

 medium-sized specimens may be caught almost 



