CHAPTER XXI 



QUEER GAME 



A'GLERS who wander from one fishing ground 

 to another have many and varied experiences 

 in the pursuit of the game of their choice ; it 

 is often the unexpected which happens. I have, in 

 fishing for white sea bass, hooked a sea lion, and 

 played it one brief moment long enough to remem- 

 ber the sensation; and I have been followed so per- 

 sistently by seals when trolling that it was impossible 

 to fish; the clever animals took my bait as fast as 

 the trollman put it in, and for a long time I could 

 not see them, so cleverly did they come to the surface 

 to break without being seen. I have had my bait 

 taken by a bald eagle, a gull, a loon, and by various 

 sea birds, when trolling, and doubtless all anglers 

 have had equally strange experiences. Some, which I 

 have heard, are chronicled in the following : 



When fishing one season at Avalon Bay, an inter- 

 esting ribbon or oar-fish was brought in. It was 

 about a foot in length, a rare creature for this part of 

 the world, though at Long Beach, California, a speci- 

 men over ten feet long came ashore in 1901. 



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