Big Game at Sea 



The movements of the Monterey salmon are more 

 or less uncertain. They are scheduled to appear in 

 April, and generally do, and they remain, as a rule, 

 until the first heavy storm in winter; and as some of 

 my catches were filled with nearly ripe eggs it is evi- 

 dent that they were soon to enter some river not 

 far away, as the Sacramento, or Russian, and were 

 feeding high in the interim; the vast schools of sar- 

 dines and anchovies affording an omnipresent feast, 

 and in such vast numbers that it was a miracle that a 

 salmon could be induced to take a dead fish on a hook. 



As midday approaches the wind springs up, com- 

 ing first in catspaws, then spreading over the surface 

 until out at sea white-caps are to be seen. Then the 

 small boats put up sail and edge in shore. Perhaps 

 another salmon and sea bass are taken, the latter 

 from the heart of an anchovy school where we saw 

 him lying in state, surrounded by prospective food, 

 and then we join the line, reel up, take a satisfying 

 glance at the big salmon under the canvas, and run 

 in shore, where all the inhabitants of Capitola appear 

 to have come down to count the spoils, and soon the 

 float is piled with the splendid fish, and the amateur 

 fishermen climb the stairs to the high pier and tell 

 the stories and have their salmon packed and shipped 

 to friends who cannot go a-fishing. At Monterey a 

 small army of Japanese have the professional salmon 

 fisheries in hand. They fish from sailboats, and begin 

 when the angler stoos, requiring the strong west wind. 



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