Big Game at Sea 



boatman successfully nets him, for there is no gaffing 

 here, he tosses the water over us in a royal fashion, 

 coming in with a decided protest. 



I can imagine no more attractive catch than this 

 on an eight- or nine-ounce tip with a number-nine line, 

 and as the boatman holds it up, I see a fish four feet 

 and a half long, thirty pounds in weight at least, with 

 the graceful shape of the weakfish, bronzed irides- 

 cent with pink and old-gold hues on its upper surface, 

 gray and silver below, and about the head, the mar- 

 velous tints of the peacock. Such a catch in olden 

 times would have been sent to the emperor and all 

 the great men of the city summoned to the feast. 



But what are the facts on this twentieth day of 

 August, in the year of our Lord, 1906? We are 

 slightly disappointed ; it is salmon that we are out for, 

 and if the truth is told these fish are so plentiful that 

 they interfere with the real game. We do not want 

 them, yet if one such fish was caught at any point on 

 the Atlantic coast it would be heralded far and near, 

 photographed and mounted. The launches on this 

 happy day in the Bay of Monterey brought in at least 

 thirty of these hard and splendid fighters, ranging 

 from thirty to fifty pounds in weight; and that morn- 

 ing on the wharf I saw at least half a ton of them, 

 some sixty and seventy pounds in weight ; brought in 

 by the lateen-rigged boats, having been trapped in 

 gill-nets at night ; and this is repeated from April until 

 October. 



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