Adventures with the Biggest Bass 



twenty years ago, but I doubt if he would remember 

 this adventure in any other way than that. The bass 

 was caught by himself. 



In the intervening years I took a number of jew- 

 fish and several honestly and fairly, single handed; 

 and this has been accomplished by scores of anglers. 

 Perhaps the most interesting catch was made by Sen- 

 ator Charles Bell of Pasadena. He always fished in 

 a light canoe-like boat and would capture his gigantic 

 game, bring it to gaff, and tow it in in triumph single 

 handed. As time went on the Tuna Club was organ- 

 ized for the establishment of a higher standard of 

 sport and the protection of the game fishes of the 

 coast, and prizes were offered for the man who would 

 take the big bass with a rod, and to-day three or four 

 are often taken in this way in a day in summer from 

 June to September. 



Among the many catches I have made, one will 

 perhaps illustrate the strength and endurance of the 

 fish, as I happened to know the weight of the boat, 

 a small impossible skiff weighing one hundred and 

 twenty-five pounds. An acquaintance who had never 

 caught a black sea bass, and who was trying to reduce 

 his weight by rowing, insisted upon acting as boat- 

 man and pulled to the grounds, about six or seven 

 miles. Ten o'clock found us anchored in the kelp 

 one hundred feet offshore. This, too, being before 

 the fish had been taken with a rod, though I had often 

 tried it, but never succeeded, the fish breaking my too 



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