The Albacore 201 



In watching a school of tunas at this time, the 

 albacores are seen, types of activity, rushing 

 hither and yon, in marked contrast to the 

 larger fish, on the alert to steal the prey of the 

 tuna or pick up the silvery morsels which often 

 besprinkle the water after the larger fish has 

 rushed through a school of smelt or mackerel. 

 Like the tuna, the albacore is a pelagic fish, 

 born on the high ocean and a rover in many 

 seas, at home in mid-ocean, coming into shal- 

 low water and near island shores in spring to 

 exercise its voracious appetite upon the small 

 fry of its choice herring, anchovies, squid, 

 smelt, mackerel, and others. 



So far as known the Southern California 

 islands are the only localities where the albacores 

 are caught with the rod ; the conditions being 

 particularly favorable, the fish coming in near the 

 rocky shores from the Coronados to San Miguel 

 Island where there is smooth water in the lee, 

 permitting the angler to play them with pleasure 

 and comfort. I have hooked the albacore within 

 twenty feet of the rocks, but the favorite and 

 most popular trolling-ground is half a mile off 

 Avalon Bay, where large schools, or many small 

 ones, are found, breaking the mirror-like water 



