3i6 Reminiscences of 



ftil are the so-called blue-fish, not to be classed with 

 those of the same name on the Atlantic Coast, being 

 shaped like the cod, excepting flatter, and good eating. 

 The small sharks are a great bother, plentiful and 

 worthless. Sometimes a school of large mackerel 

 is struck, from which a number may be taken, weigh- 

 ing from two to four pounds. Also a school of sea 

 bass, not the striped, introduced in late years from 

 the Atlantic waters, but the indigenous silvery bass, 

 which run from fifteen to sixty pounds, and afford 

 good sport from their gamy qualities, fighting hard 

 for five or ten minutes, but passive when yielding. 

 These are highly esteemed for market fish. They 

 are not generally struck with the salmon, but by 

 themselves apart, and more often about the beds of 

 kelp, and when found may be well followed up for 

 sport, and a good score may be made from them, as 

 a school is often extensive. 



Yellowtails come in later in the season, running 

 from ten to thirty pounds, which are very gamy, but 

 not applicable for food. The leaping tuna is also 

 an occasional visitor at Monterey Bay, and it is a 

 great sight to see a large school of these moving rapidly 

 forward on the surface of the perhaps rough water, 

 breaking and splashing the waves with their power- 

 ful tails, leaving a wake of foam and commotion. 

 They are, however, very rarely taken in the bay, 

 as they frequent the waters south more plentifully, 

 particularly at the Catalina Islands. 



I had the good fortune on one occasion, when a 

 school was about in Monterey Bay, to take one of 

 sixty pounds, which gave me great play, and which 

 at several moments I expected to lose when brought 



